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badkitty3000 · 1 month ago

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You Can't Go Home Again

Chapters 3 and 4

Link to Chapters 1 and 2

Link to Chapter 5

All Five wants to do is rest. But when yet another apocalypse threatens to doom them all, he doesn't have that luxury. This time, the only solution for the Hargreeves to try and save the world is to unite Five with another, alternate version of himself.

Five starts to spiral when he is faced with the alternate life that he could have had, if only he hadn't gone and ruined everything. But maybe, just maybe, there's still time for him to obtain the happy ending he deserves.

An alternate season three rewrite for a request I received.

Warnings: None

More chapters will be posted as I continue writing this multi-chapter fic. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Family

“Damn it!”

Five threw his pen onto the table in frustration, resting his head in his hands while aggressively raking his fingers through his hair. They had been working for hours, and he was starting to feel that familiar brain fatigue creeping in. With his suit coat and vest discarded on a nearby chair, and his tie hanging loosely down over his wrinkled shirt, Five could have really used another drink. He thought about telling his other self that, or even just going to help himself from the bottle stashed in the desk drawer, but he thought better of it.

“What’s the problem now?” the other him grumbled from the other side of the table. He had the briefcase torn apart, inspecting its inner workings and trying to apply his own research to rebuilding it.

“The problem is that none of this makes any god damn sense!” Five spat out. “The only way to make the closed timeline curve even possible is to have a temporally orientable spacetime. And with these numbers, that’s not happening.”

“The numbers are fine. You’re just not utilizing them correctly. Non-temporal orientability is not an obstacle for the CTC if a given general relativistic spacetime is not temporally orientable…” the other Five started to say.

Five, aggravated with being lectured to by his technically younger self, finished his sentence, “…in a spacetime that is everywhere locally the same as the given spacetime and is itself temporally orientable. You think I don’t know that? I’ve been working on this theory longer than you’ve been alive, shit-for-brains.”

“Well, considering you couldn’t even calculate your correct physical age, I’d say you still need to keep working on it.”

Five stood up and leaned across the table, his teeth gnashing together. “At least I’ve been able to actually do something with my powers. Instead of this…” he gestured at the room around him. “Theoretical nonsense! You egotistical moron!”

The other pointed a finger in his face, which Five promptly swatted out of the way. “Listen, you little jerk off, I have no qualms about kicking your ass into the ground right now.”

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try, fetus-brain.”

With a blink, the other Five was across the table, ready to strangle his smaller doppelganger. Anticipating himself doing that, Five created his own portal, appearing on the other side of the room. As both versions stood there with clenched fists, staring one another down, Five rolled his eyes and relaxed his posture. Apparently, you don’t have to be in full psychosis mode to want to kill your other self.

“Fuck, I’m too tired to do this again,” he said out loud, tipping his head back with a sigh. He faced his other self again. “Just sit down, ok? We don’t have time for this.”

“Look, it’s late and I’m tired as hell. I’m going to bed; I’ll work more on this in the morning.”

Five scoffed and attempted a strained smile. “Fine. Do you mind if I continue down here?”

The other him shrugged before heading for the stairs. “Just don’t mess up any of my shit.”

As he watched him trudge up the stairs, Five plopped down onto a chair again. He was exhausted, and he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere tonight, either. But his siblings were all camped out in the living room up there, after Marie had insisted they stay, and Five had no desire to answer any of their questions at the moment. Let the other jackass deal with them. He just wanted peace and quiet and to let his mind clear for a moment. And to maybe have one more drink.

*******************************************

“Jesus Fucking Christ, what happened to you?”

Five’s eyelids slowly peeled back, feeling like they were permanently fused to his eyeballs. The light was piercing and he groaned loudly before closing them again. His head was splitting open with the world’s worst headache, which was not helped by the fact that he was apparently lying on a very hard surface. His mouth filled with saliva as his stomach churned. As a few more seconds passed, he remembered where he was. And who was talking to him. Fuck, can’t this guy give me a break?

Slowly, Five lifted his head, the movement making the acid in his stomach roil dangerously. With another groan, he sat upright and peered through bleary eyes at the face staring down at him with equal parts concern and disgust. His own face.

“Shit,” his other self murmured with a shake of his head. Reaching out to pick up the empty whiskey bottle that was lying on its side next to Five, he replaced it with a mug of steaming hot coffee. “Here.”

Five gave a short snort of appreciation before picking the mug up and taking a small sip. It was rich and flavorful and he sighed with relief at having finally found a decent cup of coffee. It was more than decent, actually. It tasted like heaven.

The alternate version must have noticed the look that had crossed his smaller self’s face and he chuckled softly. “Yeah, Marie makes the best coffee. One of the reasons I married her.”

Five nodded before wiping a hand down his face in an attempt to wake up. He had passed out while sitting at the desk after polishing off the last of the whiskey. The framed picture of his alternate universe family was lying face down next to where his head had been resting. He remembered staring at it while working his way through several glasses, until finally he had turned it over, unable to torture himself anymore. He quickly righted the frame, hoping that the him that was now sitting in a chair on the other side of the small room hadn’t noticed.

As he peered over at the older-looking face of himself, Five noted the morning stubble that had grown overnight. He passed a hand over his own chin, feeling nothing but baby-smooth skin. With another heavy sigh, he took a sip of coffee to hide the frustration he felt at being stuck in his current body. Look on the bright side. You didn’t wake up with a boner this time, which is a small miracle. Probably too drunk for a boner. Can you get whiskey dick at thirteen?

“So, if I had known you were going to polish off my best booze in the course of a few hours, I wouldn’t have left you unsupervised.”

Five gave another sarcastic snort. “Well, if we end up saving the world, I’ll buy you a new one.”

“I don’t really care about the whiskey; I’m more concerned about the teenager that looks they just got back from a three-day bender in Vegas that is currently sitting in my basement.”

“Not a teenager,” Five mumbled into his coffee.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re an old man and much wiser to the ways of the world than myself. Which you have so clearly demonstrated.”

“So, now what? You going to give me some long heart to heart lecture on the error of my ways?”

The other Five shook his head. “Nope. I figure whatever you’ve gone through has been hellish enough to warrant all of this. I could be right there with you if it weren’t for my family.”

Five’s head was pounding and he closed his eyes again. He didn’t really need to hear from this asshole about how wonderful his life could have been.

“Well, we can’t all be as lucky as you,” Five murmured while rubbing his temples.

“I’m lucky now, I’ll admit it. I have my wife and my kids. But it wasn’t always like that. Remember, I started out the same as you. I was part of the Umbrella Academy and Reginald Hargreeves was my father.”

Five had actually forgotten that part. He nodded. “Did Dad give you the same stupid acorn lecture that I got?”

The other man smiled. “Sure did. Unfortunately, the old bastard ended up being right about that. We weren’t ready.”

“Yeah, that’s an understatement.”

“So, what happened to you?” the alt Five asked with genuine concern.

Five had not been anticipating having to get into all the gritty details, but he also felt trapped and his body was not in any shape to be blinking or even walking away at the moment. He sighed.

“I jumped, same as you. Thought I was a hotshot, too. Until my last jump landed me seventeen years in the future, with the world destroyed and me as the only inhabitant.”

“Shit,” the other Five whispered. “And you couldn’t get back?”

“Nope. I tried everything, but I was stuck. So, after burying the bodies of our siblings, I vowed I’d figure out a way to get back and warn them all about the end of the world. Dad always said that was our destiny. To save the world. I figured he must have been right, and the only ones to fix it were the Umbrella Academy.” He gave a short sarcastic laugh. “Turns out, we’re the ones that caused it.”

The other Five paused for a bit, thinking. “But you did make it back?”

“Forty-some odd years later, yeah, I made it back. In this wonderful body you see here. Just had to do a few side jobs involving conspiracy and multiple murders before being pumped full of bullets by my ex-boss, rewinding time, saving these assholes again, and ending up here. Where, as you can see, things are going great.”

“I see,” the other said. “I’m sorry.”

Five looked up in surprise before staring back down at his coffee. “Yeah.”

“You know, it wasn’t all great for me, either. Not that it was as bad as what happened to you, but it took a while to get where I’m at today.”

Five resisted the urge to roll his eyes. What happened? You stubbed your toe once? “Oh yeah?”

“When I jumped, the same thing happened. It was going great until my last jump that I thought was the same day and time as when I left. I was so cocky and sure of myself. I was so excited to get home and show Reggie how wrong he was that I didn’t even notice the bird on the door where the umbrella should have been. When I burst into family dinner time, that’s when the horrible realization set in. My home wasn’t my home anymore. My entire family was gone and their replacements were sitting there looking like they wanted to kill me. When I saw Ben, though, I was so relieved. For about two seconds, until he called for Dad and Reggie came strolling in.”

Five waited for him to continue. When he did, Five noticed his voice was a little shakier and his eyes looked far away.

“You should have seen how he looked at me. Not that he was ever known for giving any affection, but this was worse. Like I was a bug he wanted to crush beneath his foot. Like he had never seen me before; which of course, he hadn’t.” He swallowed hard. “I tried to explain; to plead my case. But he refused to listen. That was the only home I’d ever known. My siblings were gone and my own father didn’t recognize me.”

“So, what did the old man do?” Five asked, genuinely curious.

“Threw me out. He didn’t even ask if I had a place to go or people I knew that could help. Just…kicked me to the curb like I was some piece of garbage he couldn’t be bothered to deal with. I was thirteen.”

Five nodded sympathetically. “Then what?”

The other version sighed heavily, leaning back in his chair. “Then I spent a couple days and nights on the street, trying to avoid some unsavory people and stay hidden. But eventually the cops caught me loitering around the back alley of a restaurant and they took me in. They didn’t believe my story, of course, even though I had the last name Hargreeves. They also didn’t try real hard to figure out where I came from, so I ended up in the foster care system.”

“And that’s when you were adopted?”

“After about a year of being bounced around to different homes, some of which were not great, I ended up with my current parents. They were kind and they had never had any kids of their own. They were patient with me when I wasn’t very nice to them, and they weren’t freaked out about my powers. After a while, they decided it should be official and they legally adopted me.” He paused. “Because I was already a teen, they asked if I wanted to keep the Hargreeves name. I said yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted the reminder of where I came from and what my first adoptive father put me through.” His voice hardened as Five stared back at his own familiar, cold eyes. “I have been tracking Reginald since that day he threw me out. I know he’s more than just an eccentric billionaire that adopted super heroes for the greater good. I know he’s going to do something horrible. Because he’s an evil man that is only interested in his own self gain.”

Five cleared his throat, not sure what to say. He understood, because of course, he was him, but he was able to look at it from a different point of view.

“You know, that’s not the same Reginald that raised either of us.”

The other Five narrowed his eyes for a moment before nodding slowly. “I’m aware. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s an evil, self-serving bastard that could very well be at the bottom of this kugelblitz stuff.”

“Well, I’ll give you the self-serving bastard part. I’m not sure he has anything to do with the kugelblitz, though. I’m fairly certain we’re the cause alone.”

When he didn’t receive a reply, Five looked into his empty coffee mug and felt his stomach rumble again. He was also starting to realize he probably was not smelling so great.

“Do you mind if I use your shower?” he asked his other self.

“Yeah, sure. Upstairs at the end of the hall, past the kitchen.”

Five nodded. “Thanks.”

Five managed to blink directly into the hallway he needed to be in, effectively avoiding his family that he could hear arguing and laughing in the other room. He needed to sober up just a little more to deal with them. As he headed for the bathroom at the end of the hall, Five noticed the walls on either side were lined in framed pictures. He slowed to look at them as he passed.

Most of them were of the kids. Baby pictures, toddler pictures, first day of school pictures. The boy looked like his mother and the girl was a spitting image of himself. He shook his head, not quite believing how that happened. He stopped when he came to a large portrait near one of the bedrooms. It was a wedding photo, taken during what must have been the bride and groom’s first dance. The version of himself in the photo held his new bride in his arms on the dancefloor. The newlyweds’ foreheads were touching and their eyes were closed, but they were both smiling. The love between them was obvious.

Five swallowed back an emotion he wasn’t sure what to call. Longing maybe? He wasn’t sure, but his chest tightened and he found it difficult to breathe again. Out of habit, he reached to loosen his tie, but found it had been discarded at some point and his shirt collar was already unbuttoned. He took in a gulp of air and tore his eyes from the picture.

“That one’s my favorite,” a voice said behind him and Five jumped.

It was Marie, and Five hastily tried to compose himself, coughing and shoving his hands into his pants pockets. He looked at the floor. “It’s nice.”

Marie came nearer, standing a few inches taller than him. She was holding a plastic shopping bag in one hand. After smiling at the picture on the wall, she looked down at Five. “I just can’t believe how much you look like him.”

“Well, I am him.”

She laughed and Five liked the way it sounded. “Yeah, you’re right. This whole thing is so weird.”

Five chuckled. “That’s for damn sure.”

“I’m sorry for everything that you’ve been through,” she said, her eyes full of concern. When Five’s eyebrows drew together in confusion, she explained, “Your family filled me in.”

“Ah,” he said with a nod, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing nervously around. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he probably smelled like a distillery. “Thanks.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“With what?”

“I don’t know, anything.”

“Letting us into your home is more than enough. Hopefully I can get my half-wit siblings out of your hair shortly.”

Marie laughed and shook her head. “I like having them here. Five always talks about them, from his other life, and it’s so nice to put faces to names now.”

Five paused for a moment. “He talks about them?”

“Of course! He really missed everyone after he left. He said he never realized it at the time, but he was lucky to have a family like yours. Even if you did all drive each other crazy. He said he knew deep down that if he ever needed anything, they were there for him.”

Five scoffed and looked away for a moment. “I highly doubt that. We aren’t a real family. Just a bunch of people thrown in a house together and bonded by trauma.”

“Well, sometimes that’s all you need to be a family. From what I’ve seen, they love you very much. And I think you love them, too. At least…I know my Five does, so I assume you’re the same.”

Five didn’t know how to respond to that, so he stayed silent. After a minute, he cleared his throat and pointed toward the bathroom. “Mind if I wash up?”

“Oh, not at all. There are clean towels in the cupboard in there. And here,” she held out the bag she had been holding.

“What’s this?”

“Our neighbor has a teenage son, so I asked to borrow some clothes for you. I figured you probably wanted to get out of that suit. Although you do look very handsome in it.”

Ignoring the fact that Marie’s comment was something you’d say to a child that had dressed up for Sunday church, he took the bag she offered. Inside were some jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and clean underwear and socks. He gave her a small smile. “Thank you, Marie. That’s very nice.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, before turning around and walking away.

Five stared after her for a moment, before making his way to the bathroom again. He tried to imagine meeting Marie as a young adult and whether or not he would have ended up dating and then eventually marrying her just like his other self. It was hard to think about since he barely knew her. She seemed nice enough, and was pretty with her light blue eyes and petite frame. But there was no instant connection or swooning feeling that pointed towards the concept of soul mates. He didn’t feel anything towards her except being grateful for her hospitality. Which thank god for that, because the last thing Five needed was to be lusting after his alternate self’s wife while stuck in a teenage body.

After showering, Five stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at his pale, hairless body. He knew he should be a little happy that he hadn’t ended up an infant or a ninety year old man when he screwed up the math. Being young did have its advantages and he hadn’t had this much energy in years. But somewhere closer to nineteen or twenty would have been preferable.

The jeans and black t-shirt that Marie had given him fit surprisingly well, and after changing he went to the kitchen, where his siblings were gathered. Diego was at the stove, a dish towel slung over his shoulder, looking like a short-order cook while taking breakfast orders from everyone.

“One at a time! Damn, you people are animals!” he yelled, while whisking a bowl of scrambled eggs and pouring them into a hot skillet. On another burner was a frying pan with sizzling bacon, and another filled with bubbling pancakes that looked like they were about ready to be flipped.

Five strolled over to the coffee maker, trying to hide his amused smile. He actually had no idea Diego knew how to cook. He realized he didn’t know a lot about any of them. As he poured himself a cup, he took in the mass chaos surrounding him. The kitchen table was filled with his siblings, all talking over one another.

“But I don’t like blueberries,” Klaus whined.

“Too bad, Viktor wanted blueberry pancakes, so that’s what I made. You can have eggs if you don’t want any,” Diego huffed while turning the bacon.

Klaus glared at Viktor, who just gave him a smirk in return. Allison sighed loudly and dramatically.

“You guys, Diego cannot possibly make all of our requests, he’s just one person.”

“Thank you, Allison,” Diego said with a smile.

“Now, if you don’t mind, can I just have some egg whites with a tiny piece of bacon on the side, but make sure it doesn’t have too much fat?” she said in her sweetest actress voice.

“Oh! If you’re going to make egg whites, can I have some too? Maybe with some avocado toast? Thanks, babe,” Lila said, coming over to give Diego a small slap on the butt.

“Don’t worry about me, bro. You know I’ll eat whatever. Just make sure the portion is big enough,” Luther added.

Diego growled. “I can’t believe Mom did this all those years without ripping all her wiring out. You guys are unbelievable.”

As Five observed everything, he smiled into his coffee mug, trying to hold in a laugh. What a bunch of assholes, he thought affectionately. Maybe I really did miss them.

“So, Fivey…did you get the time thingy straightened out yet?” Klaus asked, leaning back so that his chair balanced on two legs. Luther stuck out his hand to lower it back to the ground with a stern look. Klaus rolled his eyes.

“No, not yet,” Five replied. “We’ll make some headway today, though, I’m sure.”

“He’s pretty great though, right?” Klaus said.

“Who?”

“You! I mean, the other you. He seems pretty chill.”

“Chill?” Five asked, feeling his jaw tighten.

“Yeah,” Luther added, “Once the psychosis resolved, he seemed like a pleasant guy.”

“And?” Five asked, gesturing in the air with his coffee cup. “Your point?”

“Well, you know…it’s just surprising because…” Luther stammered.

Diego spoke up after flipping a pancake in the air and catching it expertly in the pan. “What the big boy over here means is that this other you isn’t a dick. Which, I think we can all agree, is a bit of a shock.”

Five glanced around the kitchen at his family that just a few seconds ago had actually been giving Five a good feeling. Now, just like always, they went and ruined it.

“Well, if he’s so goddamn amazing, why don’t you ask him to take my place in this family, because quite honestly, I could use the break.” Five gave a sarcastic chuckle and shook his head. “It’s never enough with you people, is it? I am working my ass off to try and get us back home AGAIN, but once more I seem to be the bad guy here.”

“Five…that’s not…” Viktor started to say before Five cut him off.

“No, really, let me apologize. While I am running on no sleep, inside a body that is smaller than one of Luther’s turds, having to deal with another version of myself that, let me tell you, is not as great as you think he is, all while trying to figure out the complexities of time travel, I will be sure and work on my manners so as not to offend anyone.”

The others glanced around nervously, but remained silent. Five waited to see if anyone had any smart-ass comments for him, but seeing as how they all looked like he would disappear from their sight, he would happily oblige.

Angrily topping off his coffee and swiping a few pancakes off a stack that Diego had just plated, he shoved one of them in his mouth before turning to walk out.

“Fuh-ing uh-gra-ful,” he mumbled with his mouth full as he stalked away to the basement again.

Chapter Four: A Different Angle

“I think I’m making some progress here,” Five said as he stood a few feet back from the white board and crossed his arms while reviewing his work. “What do you think?”

The other him glanced up from the miscellaneous parts that were strewn about the table in front of him. After looking the proofs over, he nodded. “Yeah, that looks right.”

From above, Marie’s voice called down to them. “Five?”

“Yeah?” they both answered in unison before looking back at one another.

“I think she means me,” the other Five said with a slight smile.

Five blushed, turning away. “Right.”

“Yeah?” he called up to his wife.

“The garbage disposal is doing that thing again. Can you come look at it?”

“Be right there!” He turned to Five. “I’ll be right back. Meanwhile, take a look at this over here; tell me what you think.”

As the other man left, Five began looking over the instruments and mechanisms on the table. Some were from the briefcase and some were of the other Five’s design. To the average person, it looked like a bunch of coils, wires, and dials, mixed with other things that looked like tiny spark plugs and fuses. Five started to play with a few of them when he heard small footsteps coming down the stairs. When he looked up, the little boy he’d seen from the pictures was standing at the bottom.

“Hello,” Five said.

“Hi,” the boy replied. After they regarded one another for a few moments, he spoke again. “You look like my dad from the pictures at my Grandma’s house.”

The boy was about seven or eight years-old, with blonde hair and blue eyes that matched his mother’s. He was small and skinny for his age, though, which Five could relate to.

“Yes, I’m sure I do,” Five answered.

“Are you my dad?”

“Uh, well, it’s complicated.” When the boy continued looking at him, as if expecting a better answer than that, Five continued. “I’m not your dad, no. But rather I’m a different permutation of him from another timeline. We are the same person, but yet not.”

The boy nodded, pursing his lips together in thought. “That makes sense.”

Five smiled. The boy appeared older and wiser than his age. Which, again, Five was familiar with.

Just then, a flash of blue appeared out of nowhere, revealing the little girl from the pictures, as she blinked directly in front of her brother. She was younger, maybe by about two years or so, and she stuck out her tongue at her older sibling.

“Haha! I didn’t use the stairs!” she gleefully sneered at him.

“Good for you. No one cares, Maddie,” the boy retorted, although Five could see he looked embarrassed.

“You can blink?” Five asked, surprised.

“Yep!” Maddie said with a proud smile. “Jack can, too, but he’s bad at it.”

“That’s not true!” the older boy shot back.

“Ok, then blink. I dare you,” she taunted.

Her older brother’s face turned red and Five was afraid he might start crying. Instead, he clenched his fists, emitting a small glow of blue around them, before relaxing them again. Letting out a loud exhale of air, he looked defeated.

“See?” Maddie laughed. “Told ya!” Then she stuck out her tongue again and blinked away.

“She’s so annoying!” Jack complained, stomping his foot and crossing his arms over his chest. “She thinks she’s so cool.”

Five nodded. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to get involved in this matter. But he was fascinated that his power was passed on to another generation.

“So, what’s the problem? Why couldn’t you blink just now?” Five asked, not sugar coating anything.

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. I can do it, but then sometimes if I start thinking too hard, my head gets all messed up. It’s like all the numbers get scrambled up in my head and then I can’t do it. My dad says I just need to concentrate and try harder.”

“Does that work?”

“Not really. I don’t know, maybe?” Jack scratched at his arm and looked at the floor. “I mean, I try to concentrate, but then either nothing happens or I end up blinking to the wrong place. My dumb sister has always been able to do it good, even though she’s younger than me.”

“Well,” Five corrected.

“Well what?”

“Your dumb sister has always been able to do it well.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “You sound just like my dad.”

Five let out a small laugh. “Sorry, force of habit. I’m sure you don’t need two dads telling you what to do.”

Jack shook his head with a smile and then cocked his head to the side. “How old are you?”

“Fifty Eight. How old are you?”

“Seven. How come you don’t look old?”

“It’s a long story, but let’s just say I understand numbers getting scrambled in your head and blinking to the wrong place. It must be genetic.”

When Jack just nodded, remaining silent, Five continued to look at him thoughtfully. There wasn’t much physical resemblance between them, but Five felt a small kinship with this boy. Annoying sibling, failed blinks, a father that tells you to try harder…Five could sympathize.

“Have you tried concentrating less?” Five asked.

Jack slowly shook his head. “Less?”

Five sat down in one of the chairs and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “If I tell you a secret about blinking, will you promise not to tell my family up there? I have a reputation to uphold.”

Jack nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I promise.”

“It’s not always about the math or how smart you are. A lot of it is feeling, and just allowing your mind to relax. Don’t think so hard about it. Rely on your instincts.”

“What’s an instinct?”

“It’s like listening to your body when it tells you to do something.”

“Ok…” Jack said, looking at the floor again.

“Do you want to try again?” Five asked.

Jack shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets, which Five noted with amusement. “I don’t know, I guess. I probably can’t do it, though.”

“Well, just try. I promise I won’t even look.”

The boy nodded. “Yeah, ok.”

Five turned his chair around, so he was facing away from Jack. “Now, pick a spot that’s fairly easy, like the other side of the room. Run a few quick numbers and then clear your head. Relax and let your body do the rest.”

Five waited for a few minutes. He kept his promise and didn’t turn around, letting the boy have his space. He could hear him breathing loudly and muttering under his breath. After a while, Five was beginning to think he had put too much pressure on the kid and he wasn’t going to be able to do it. Until he heard the familiar sound of the air warping near him and Jack appeared on the other side of the room, facing Five.

The small boy’s face was still screwed up in concentration, his eyes shut tight and his hands clenched into fists. When he opened his eyes, though, and realized where he was, his face broke into a huge grin.

“I did it!”

Five nodded and gestured to him with his hand. “I told you. You just needed to look at it from a different angle, that’s all.”

Jack laughed before balling up his fists and ripping open another portal; appearing near the stairs again. He squealed and pumped his fists in the air.

“Yes! I can’t wait to rub this in Maddie’s face!”

“Alright, big shot, don’t get ahead of yourself. Blinking across a room is one thing. Don’t be thinking you’re hot shit with these puny little jumps you just did. You need a lot more practice before you try anything big. Otherwise you might find yourself on the roof in your underpants and no one wants that.”

“Did that happen to you?” Jack asked with big eyes.

“Maybe once or twice. But remember, you promised you wouldn’t tell my family.”

Jack laughed again, just as his dad came down the stairs. “Oh, I see you met Jack.”

Five nodded. “We were just having a little lesson in blinking.”

The other Five’s eyebrows knitted together as he looked down at his son who was grinning up at him.

Five gestured to the boy. “Go ahead, show him. But remember, keep it small.”

Jack nodded before closing his eyes and biting his lip in concentration. Then his shoulders relaxed as he opened his eyes, at the same time disappearing in a flash of blue. When he popped up a few feet away, he looked up at his dad, waiting for his reaction.

His father’s mouth dropped open and then his face broke into a giant smile. “Holy shit, Jack! That was amazing!”

Jack laughed, right before reversing his new skill and jumping back to where he had been standing. His dad scooped him up and hugged him. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, dad! Now I can blink just like you and Maddie and she can’t make fun of me anymore.”

“Now, just remember, don’t try anything big yet…” the other Five started to warn him.

“Oh yeah, I know. I need to practice more so that I don’t end up on the roof in my underwear.”

“Uh..yeah…” Five’s other self agreed in confusion before setting his son down.

“Can I try to the top of the stairs?” Jack asked eagerly.

“I suppose so.”

In a flash, Jack was gone from their sight and the two Fives could hear his excited voice and the sound of his feet as he hopped up and down excitedly on the floor above them. “I did it! Hey mom, look!”

Both men regarded one another and Five was wondering if he’d overstepped his boundaries. But his other self just smiled and shook his head. “I’ve been trying to work with him on that for months. How did you do that?”

Five shrugged. “I just gave him a different way of looking at things. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

The other him nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you for that.”

Five was caught off guard by his sincerity and he looked away, uncomfortable. “No big deal. Seems like a good kid.”

“He is. He’s the best.”

Five nodded again, staring at the table of weird electrical parts in front of him. Suddenly, he jumped up, knocking his chair over in the process. “Holy fuck! I see it! I see what we’ve been missing! God, we’re so stupid!”

“Speak for yourself. What do you see?”

Five took two gears off the table and held them up. “We’ve been looking at time dilation all wrong. Instead of trying to produce special relativity, we should be producing—”

“General relativity,” the other him finished. “Shit, you’re right.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Why didn’t we see that earlier?”

“I don’t know, but this makes so much more sense now. Do you see it?”

“Yeah,” his alternate nodded, a smile starting to form on his face. “Yeah, I see it.” He chuckled. “If we can get this up and running, then maybe I can finally figure out what our old man has been up to.”

Five frowned, a little concerned that he seemed to be so focused on Reginald. “Let’s just start with stopping the world from imploding, ok?” He looked back down at the table full of tiny, metal pieces. “Alright, we’re going to need more of your wife’s coffee, because this is going to take a while.”

Thanks for reading and if you want to be tagged for future chapters, let me know!

@kaybreezy3000

#five hargreeves #five hargreeves fanfic #number five #number five fanfic #umbrella academy #umbrella academy fanfic #tua fanfic #tua 3 #fanfiction requests #fanfiction #badkittywrites #multi chapter #tua #the umbrella academy

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communistkenobi · 2 years ago

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i never really paid much attention to star wars before the mandalorian so please forgive me if this is super obvious but: are we supposed to view the droids as being kind of alive? beings with artificial intelligence? i was very uncomfortable with how the ugnaughts (sp?) were portrayed in the last episode but i didn’t think much of the droids because always just saw them a technological tool. i was a little surprised when the bartender droid gave their monologue about the droids wanting to work and catch the bad droids, and thought maybe they want to work to fulfill their programming. but maybe i should have been more considerate. (i am kind of a dumb bitch too tho so maybe this is just something that’s super obvious to most people and not me :s)

Narratively I think droids are supposed to represent an advanced form of automation - astromechs are navigational droids that handle the immense amount of math that’s required to travel through space, droids like C3PO house linguistic and cultural information for diplomatic purposes, etc. I think originally, given that Star Wars was created prior to the internet being a thing, they were used to represent mass sums of human information, but access to that information was restricted to wherever those droids happened to be in spacetime. They’re essentially mobile computers, but not in the way we think of them (eg phones). But because they’re mobile and have to communicate with human beings without any touch screens or interfaces, especially in the case of droids like C3PO, they are by default anthropomorphised. It’s on par with people naming their roombas. These are tasks that are within human capability, but have been offloaded and automated to make everyone’s lives easier (and probably also many financial and political reasons, but that gets into like, the political economy of Star Wars, which if you talk about that you threaten to take Star Wars too seriously).

But, given how expansive Star Wars is, the answer to your question is maybe sometimes. Chopper in Rebels seems to fill the role of the beloved family pet. L3-37 in Solo is explicitly calling for droid liberation and insists that she and all other droids are equal to organics. Mouse droids likewise seem to be viewed as robotic animals. Mando again makes equivalent droid automation and slave labour.

However, this becomes complicated because there are also actual slaves in Star Wars. The clones are the most obvious example, but the twi’lek as a species also are often enslaved. There are also slaver “planets” and “races” who base their economy off of the buying and selling of slaves (that was in the clone wars, I can’t remember what episodes though). Droid liberation is often framed as inherently farcical in the franchise, but “droid liberation” also exists as a form of deracialised political action, and I mean that in the real world sense - droids are not analogous to a given real world conflict or historical process the way that like, twi’lek are (who even have french accents and speak space french! Now Filoni is an idiot and says this is because he’s drawing inspiration from the French Revolution as opposed to the much more appropriate and obvious Haitian Revolution, but whatever). So when drawing parallels between slavery as a thing in Star Wars and slavery as a real world historical process, it becomes frustrating to talk about, because droid lib is both set-up and punchline, but it’s also the most “acceptable” way to explore ending slavery in SW because it means the white writers don’t have to engage with systemic racial oppression in a way that might make them feel uncomfortable. As a comparison, there are multiple episodes in clone wars where clones refuse to follow orders or try to escape and they’re treated as defective or wrong or insane. That shit fucking sucks and it takes on a much more insidious tone than “haha, the droids want weekends off. how cute.”

And then the counter COUNTER problem with that, which is explicitly invoked in The Mandalorian, is that droids are essentialised to their code or “base functions.” These are facts about a droid that are intrinsic to their nature and cannot be altered or removed, and to attempt otherwise means perverting the “true nature” of droids - they are doomed to be what they were created for (I guess forget about IG-11 being rehabilitated lol). So when you call them slaves, and then insist they are forever shackled to their programming, that’s not a neutral storytelling choice, and you are essentially invoking the idea that there are some races or people for whom slavery is more naturally suited. Which is explicitly a white supremacist idea. And given the context of this storyline in The Mandalorian’s broader political problems, it becomes particularly nefarious.

All this to say - droids are maybe slaves. It depends on the story being told and why, it depends on the writer, etc. But when analogising it to real world history it becomes fraught, given that there are actual slaves in SW who are intended as obvious parallels to real world acts of slavery in human history, a thing that is omnipresent in star wars while also being largely ignored or dismissed by the writers

#sw.txt #asks

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blackgoldaster · 1 month ago

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Had an idea for an au where Gaster learns to use the save not just to manipulate time, but also space. He starts to experiment, small and harmless at first, like fixing an error in a machine. But gradually, as he learns to use more of its power, he escalates. Not only that, he eventually discoveres too late that each timeline he alters results in a completely seperate universe, and that his behavior, memories, relations and very existence vary greatly in them.

His mind and body starts to become more unstable with each spacetime alteration, his body becoming more and more goopy and black, as the darkness that makes up the fictional plane starts corrupting him, and his mind leaning into extremer points of good, evil, and everything in between.

Until eventually? The Gasters and timelines become so glitched that they threaten to merge together into an amalgamated mess, and gaster starts to fight with himself, as the various alternate gaster minds start to merge, and eventually, he falls into his creation, the details of the fall varying per universe.

This has consequences however, as the merged Gaster shattered into pieces, which spread across time and space, but still somewhat connected to each other, effectively resulting in the whole of Gaster to become omnipresent, yet each seperate instance becomes their own individual as well, albeit most stuck in a schrödingers-cat-like state.

As for Sans and Papyrus? They came into existence as replacements of Gaster, appearing in more and more Universes the more Gaster got corrupted, and eventually replaced his importance all together, with Sans becoming the new main character of the universes, inheriting Gasters varied personalities and sometimes godlike powers and roles.

Papyrus however, became stuck in a limbo between important and not important, and desperatly wishes to be as important as his brother.

And Gaster? Sometimes, he manifests, sometimes benevolent, sometimes malevolent, and everything inbetween, as he longs back for his existence that he lost to Sans.

#Gaster #Idea I had/have #I know everyone else will probably just see Gaster as evil in this idea #But I personally just see him as tragic in this #I mean #imagine you learn to play god only for the universe to punish you for it and create a replacement that then steals your importance #Also my personal explanation of the multiverse and why sans is the main character and gaster the villain in so many of them #And also why papyrus seems tp be inbetween the two

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sirowsky · 9 months ago

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An Unexpected Valentine

Summary: While on a mission to check out some anomalous energy readings, Marcus somehow ends up passing through a rift in spacetime, accidentally shifting himself into an alternate reality, where all of nature is bioluminescent and humans are not the dominant species, leaving their dwindling numbers fighting for the survival of their race.

Rating: Mature/Explicit 18+ONLY Warnings: Marcus Moreno x OFC, entirely Marcus POV, smut, not exactly dubious consent but Marcus gets mildly coerced. Light angst, Missy makes a guest appearance. Word count: 2838

There was no prelude or strange sound, no intuitive feeling warning him that he was about to leave everything known and familiar. He just took a step, and the world was gone. Replaced by a very different, and yet, breathtakingly beautiful one.

Everything glowed, from the smallest little flower to the giant trees and even the mountain tops. But these plants were all different as well. All the trees ten times the size of any normal one back home, every flower seemingly able to move at will, and no insects buzzed around them.

He had just taken all this in when there was a started gasp behind him, and he whirled around to find a woman there. Small and much too thin, as if she'd never had a good meal in her life. But still breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin glowing just like the rest of this world, and her pale grey eyes seeming to sparkle like silver glitter.

"Hello," he tried, but she didn't seem to understand it.

She did seem to grow less fearful of him at the sound, though. Carefully approaching before cautiously taking a turn around him, as if assessing him. When she got back to his front, she stopped and just stood there for a moment, staring into his eyes as if looking for unspoken secrets at the bottom of a well.

Then she suddenly grabbed his hand and started dragging him along a trampled path through the woods, holding on to him so firmly that his fingers threatened to go numb.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm following along willingly, no need to break my hand."

Again, she offered no response, and after another minute, a little house appeared at the edge of a small lake.

"Is this your place?" he asked, starting to feel dumb for expecting her to answer, but feeling equally uncomfortable in total silence.

She walked through the door, pulling him in behind her, not letting go of him until he was safely behind her as she closed and bolted the door. A quick study of the building revealed it to be old. Probably hundreds of years, yet in good condition. It was all wood and despite the age of it, it looked healthy and strong.

She kept peering through the little window in the top half of the door for a minute before seeming to decide they were safe, making him wonder what exactly she might be worried was making them unsafe...

"Is there something dangerous out there?"

Still no reply, but she turned around and met his eyes again, and this time, she looked considerably more fearful of him.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm Marcus," he said, pointing to himself and repeating just the name.

"Marcos..." she repeated, getting the pronunciation slightly wrong but he didn't attempt to correct her. "Halo," she continued then, pointing to herself.

She pronounced it differently than the English word halo, though. The A sounding less like cake and more like bard. He repeated it back to her, and it made her smile. But then she heard something outside and rushed to one of the windows in the back of the house.

"What is it?" he wondered while he followed her, and she seemed to understand the gist of his question at least, because she said something and then pointed to a large tree about a hundred feet away.

It took him a few beats to see what the problem was, but once he did, her fearful demeanor outside started to make a lot more sense. The tree was moving. Slowly pulling up its roots and dragging itself closer to the house. As he continued to watch, a small animal then passed in front of it, at which point, the tree used its branches to snatch it off the ground so quickly he couldn't even see it.

It was brought to the center of the crown where the largest branches then began to squeeze the little critter into a cavity, where it would presumably be trapped alive while the tree extracted its nutrients.

"Trees here eat people?" Marcus wondered aloud, mostly just because he needed to hear that sentence out loud, and then a shiver went through him. "That's absolutely terrifying."

No wonder the damned things were so much bigger here than in his own world. And it could also explain why humans here were apparently smaller than normal, since they probably couldn't find much meat to eat anymore. He wondered if perhaps even edible plants were scarce, given how starved this woman was despite living in the middle of the most thriving woodland he'd ever seen.

Halo gave him a look which clearly seemed to say that life here was always terrifying for one reason or another. Then she nodded towards a different part of the house, what he would call the living room, before starting to head there, so he followed. Once there, she opened up what resembled a whiteboard cabinet, like what teachers might have in classrooms, except there was no whiteboard inside the narrow cabinet.

Instead, there was a very large and complex map over the area, presumably one drawn by Halo herself, given that her house was at the center of it. Going by that logic, the map seemed to depict the diameter she'd been able to explore around her dwelling, and while it was extensive, there was no other human living within that area, as far as he could tell.

"You're completely alone?" he asked, pointing to himself and then to her, before gesturing to the scope of the map.

She answered by repeating the movements and then shaking her head, before motioning for him to follow, taking him to a window at the side of the house where he could see a grave outside.

"Your mother? Or father, maybe."

Somehow, he got the feeling that this woman hadn't been around many men, so he guessed that she had been raised by her mother. Tapping lightly at his arm to get his attention, she then shocked him by pointing at his groin, while saying something which sounded like a question.

What could she possibly mean by that? Was she asking if he was a man? Or if she could see his... man-parts?

"Uh... I'm sorry, I don't understand."

That seemed to make her a bit shy, but it wasn't until she started undressing that he worked out why.

"No, no, no! There's no need for that," he said while trying to stop her from untying the bra-like top she was wearing.

But his reaction made her very sad. Confused, he watched as she once again returned to the map and started trying to explain something, gesturing to the entirety of it and then to herself. She finished by putting up one index finger. One. Alone. And suddenly he got it.

For all of her exploration, he was the only man she'd ever met. Her only chance to procreate, possibly ever.

"Halo..." he started, but didn't know how to say it. "I can't begin to imagine how lonely you are, but... this isn't how we do things in my world. If I can figure out how to get back you could come with me, and have your pick of men. Find the one who would make you happy. But I can't just do the deed and then leave you here."

However much she understood, his meaning clearly came across, because she was crying by the time he fell silent. Somehow feeling rotten about having rejected her, even though he wanted to believe he was doing the right thing, he slumped down on a chair and dropped his head in his hands.

It seemed he'd underestimated her resolve, though, because a moment later, he was being shoved back in the chair while she climbed into his lap, working frantically to undo his belt before he could stop her. His initial reaction was to snag her hands and push her back, but she was a lot stronger than he'd anticipated, getting past both his belt and the buttons of his jeans before he could get a grip on her.

But he only managed one of her hands, while the other one slipped inside his underwear and started exploring, drawing a strong reaction from his manhood. There was something mildly intoxicating about the idea of letting her do whatever she wanted. The only thing holding him back being the notion that she wasn't really acting on desire so much as desperation.

His internal debate aside, her ministrations were quickly sending his resolve south, and before he'd managed to reach a decision, she'd freed him from his briefs and started trying to lower herself onto him. But this was presumably her first time and he wasn't exactly small, especially against her petite form, so her attempts were halted by the pain it caused her to try and simply shove him in before she was ready.

Finally making his choice, Marcus stopped her by standing up, moving over to a thick rug on the middle of the floor, and lowering himself down so that he was on top of her. Then he licked his fingertips, moved his hand down underneath her small, skirt-like bottom piece, finding her naked behind it, and started working her, so she'd know that he wasn't trying to stop her.

She responded so beautifully to his touch, losing herself in the pleasure in just a few seconds. And the more aroused she got, the brighter her skin shined, even seeming to shed a light shimmer into the air, which smelled heavenly to him. Wanting to taste it, he kissed her, feeling her bewildered response before she relaxed into it, letting her tongue dance with his and seeking more whenever he tried to pull back.

She tasted even better than she smelled, driving his own arousal to its peak, so he dipped a couple of fingers into her, finding her gushing wet and eagerly pliant. Frustrated with the restraint to his movements, he then kicked off his pants before settling in over her, and starting to push into her innermost stronghold.

The sensation seemed to overwhelm her at first, making her squirm beneath him, not knowing how to respond or behave, but she soon found her own answers. Maneuvering him until he was in the perfect position to reach her best spots, clawing at his lower back to urge him on, sinking her heels into the backs of his thighs to beg for more. The language of sex, it seemed, was universal.

She came before he did, hard and intense, lasting long enough that the powerful pulsing motions of her cramping walls milked him all the way to his own completion. Spilling into her in long spurts, so strong they were borderline painful, leaving him desperately clawing at the carpet to keep from bruising her while his body spasmed.

He collapsed on top of her eventually, but it felt like it took a very long time before the climax ended. And then he stayed there, buried deep inside her, since the deed was already done and he might as well try and give her the best chance.

At some point he must've fallen asleep, because it was dark when he woke up, and he was on his side with Halo in his arms and a blanket draped over them. He couldn't remember having moved, but he had a feeling she was easily strong enough to move him around however she wanted. Not that it mattered. He pulled her a little closer and fell right back to sleep.

The next time he woke, it was still dark but she was no longer beside him. She was sitting by one of the windows looking out over the front of her house and the lake.

"Halo?"

She answered by beckoning for him to come closer, so he reached for his pants and pulled them on, closing the buttons and the belt while he walked over to her. But once at the window, when he could see what she was looking at, he froze.

Because on the other side of the lake... was a portal. A rift, just like the one he'd been sent to investigate. It looked like little more than a strange beam of vertical rainbow colored light, just sitting midair about three feet from the ground, but it was definitely the same phenomenon.

"Come on!" he shouted excitedly, grabbing Halo's hand and pulling her along as he unbolted the door and started running towards it.

But when he reached it, she yanked free and stopped behind him.

"It's okay, it won't hurt you," he tried to explain, before he realized that she didn't look fearful.

Just sad.

"You can come with me. There are millions of people in my world, you'll never be alone," he said while pointing to them both and then counting out several times on his fingers, to help her understand.

She stepped forward, meeting his eyes while passing him, and then reaching out towards the rift. But when her hand passed through it, nothing happened. Even when she walked right through it, nothing happened.

"You're trapped here..." he realized, feeling his chest tighten at the thought that he might never see her again.

Perhaps not so much because of any stronger feelings he'd managed to develop for her in his brief visit, but just because he hated having to leave knowing she'd be all alone.

"I can't stay. I have people waiting for me at home."

She stepped away from the rift with tears in her eyes, and he couldn't blame her. As amazingly beautiful as this world was, it was clearly very hostile, and living in it by herself would never get any easier. Suddenly, Marcus found himself wishing that his seed would take, so she'd at least have someone to love.

He walked up to her and hugged her close, feeling her tremble as she fought the sorrow. Then he kissed her one more time before letting her go, and she gifted him a soft smile as he backed away.

Just as before, there was nothing to indicate the shift between worlds. It just happened. In less than a blink of an eye, the luminescent world was gone and he was back in his own, which abruptly felt too bright and too barren. So flat and tasteless against his senses.

There was no one there. No team of scientists from the Heroics organisation, so no one else had opened the rift for him from this end. A quick glance at his watch showed that to him, thirteen hours had passed, which should've been enough time for someone to miss him.

"HQ, can you hear me?" he called over the comms, and got an immediate response.

"Loud and clear, Moreno. Did you find the anomaly?"

"Yeah... Just one question. What time is it now?"

"Time? It's 11:43. Why do you ask? You hungry for lunch?"

He'd stepped into the rift at 11:29. Only minutes had passed in this world while he was in the other.

"No. I'm not hungry," he answered the technician, feeling guilty even thinking about food when Halo was probably still starving in there.

----------------------------------

"So, dad, did you have any romantic adventures for Valentine's Day?" Missy surprised him by asking after he'd gotten home later that day and they were preparing dinner together.

"Today is Valentine's Day?" he questioned, wondering when exactly he'd stopped celebrating his late wife on this day.

His daughter just nodded in that superior way she did whenever she got to outsmart him about anything.

"Oh. Well, then I guess I did," he cryptically replied, and her eyebrows predictably hit the roof.

She was bringing vegetables to the kitchen counter where he was chopping them up, and she stopped in the middle of the floor and gaped at him, while he just smiled and winked at her.

"You went on a date and you didn't tell me?!" she dramatically argued, but he just kept smiling.

"Not a date, no. But you might have a sibling in an alternate reality now."

"What alternate reality? When did you go to an alt-..."

Marcus just waited patiently for her to work out the details, and when she did, her expression was priceless.

"Wait... I have a... That means you... Oh, GROSS, dad!!"

"Of course, that's the part you get hung up on. Not the half-sister or brother you might have."

"Why would I get hung up on that?" she calmly pondered, and then her father was the one standing with his mouth hanging open in shock.

"You-... You wouldn't mind having a bigger family?"

"Duh. More people to love is never a bad thing, isn't that what you always say?" she countered, and he didn't have any response to that beyond just grinning happily at her.

Because for the first time since losing her mother, he suddenly realized he wouldn't mind a bigger family either.

"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart."

THE END

Author's Note: I just wanted to write something for Valentine's Day, and this is what came to me when I looked through my image folders. Unfortunately, I'm a day late, but I forgive myself.

Hope you enjoyed it! And thank you for reading :)

#marcus moreno fanfiction #marcus moreno x ofc #we can be heroes fic #we can be heroes au #au fic #valentine's day #happy valentine's day #sirowsky stories

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summerstrash · 8 months ago

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one thing I'm mad about vis a vis the krakoan era is the fact that it only remains implicit that moira's deadly genesis team were, in hindsight, a sort of proto-Five focused around the creation of a mutant state prior to having Krakoa itself on the board.

Like,

proteus was always going to be in her back pocket, trapped as he was. he's the only one to make it to the actual Five, in part because he was never a part of the initial team-building with the others. he's a reality warper and energy vampire, and if I'm not mistaken, omega-level as well.

petra is a geomorph who can generate diamonds with her powers; prior to the entry of krakoa and its flowers into the plan, she could've been absolutely pivotal to the physical and economic stability of a mutant state.

sway is a time manipulator who can replay things she has witnessed. she would be in the role of eva bell, if resurrection was on the table, and/or she could serve as an "objective" observer in a justice or surveillance system.

darwin is evolution itself; his powers appear to have no upper bound, though he is not "officially" classified as an omega-level mutant. I believe he would be a primarily political agent, as a symbol of the nation, given that he is a visible mutant who cannot be killed, but I also believe that his survival powers could perhaps be pushed, maybe with proteus or gabriel in a circuit with him, to create life.

vulcan is an omega level energy blaster with a deep wellspring of rage directed at the shi'ar empire, AND he's the lost summers brother. aware as Moira would likely have been of this, she would have seen the purpose of that blood tie between her team and charles' — the X-Men would have been less likely to cross her team if it holds a member of the summers family.

I also believe that Moira was planning from the beginning to hedge her bets — and this team is perfect for that, too, given that four of them would always be primarily loyal to her, the mother figure who pulled them from the gutters of grief, oppression, poverty, and self-loathing and gave them a new family.

a circuit between these five mutants might be just as potent at terraforming as the Twelve were — Gabriel providing the raw energetic reactions you'd find at the dawn of spacetime, the star at the center of the circuit, Petra giving it physical form and stability and blessing it with untold physical wealth and elemental resources, Suzanne giving it the time it needs to grow, and Proteus and/or Darwin giving it life.

imagine the devotion a populace might give the beings that created their home out of nothing. Imagine, in turn, the loyalty they'd pay to their dear mother.

and Moira, even, familiar as she is with the narrative of the history of mutantkind, would likely have been planning for that, too — by withholding her son from the others at first, she creates a divide that will make it psychologically easier for the rest of the team to sacrifice him for the cause, if he cannot be brought to heel, or if he threatens her all-important life. the tragedy of mutant x is a narrative you can build sainthood or demonization around, and countries and communities need their foundational myths, don't they?

I think it's a devilishly elegant plan, on her part, to find mutants who need her, mutants who can't clean up as well for the cameras or the judgment of a bigoted america as charles' beautiful lily-white teenagers do, and turn them into her own personal nation-building engine.

I also wonder deeply about the Destiny of it all — is sway on the team because, as a time-manipulator, she could move directly against the prophecies of Irene Adler in a way the others can't?

At what point does Moira choose to fully betray the cause? Is it maybe at the moment that her carefully-laid plans and carefully-chosen teenagers are torn out from under her? Did she, in her way, truly love them, like Charles, for all his foibles, loved his original five X-Men?

I don't think I'll ever know for sure, and it deeply rankles at me that it's so.

#deadly genesis #moira x #moira kinross #moira mactaggert #kevin mactaggert #proteus #suzanne chan #sway #petra #vulcan #gabriel summers

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farlynthordens · 1 year ago

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V9 post-reading thoughts

i enjoyed the book a lot. i was all for seeing bisco's wholesome and happy family life as well as red's absolutely soul-crushing and lonely existence. when i started reading, I was surprised that bisco and red get along so soon since i was expecting her to play an antagonizing role for most of it (and possibly try to do things like steal milo away). the cover and pre-release advertising kinda gave that vibe lol

it started off great then fell off for me at certain points in the middle, but then the ending saved it. we also yet again had a last minute plot twist/reveal of the true villain.

n'badu's identity was probably the most confusing part of the whole book and i did have to double back to make sure i understood what was going on. if he's the manifestation of bad timelines, is he a god of spacetime who can consequently only create negative events? it seems that way from when you look back on what n'badu had done throughout the book and what he threatens to do at the ending.

i thought this was going to be the end of the series, so as i got closer to finishing i was very confused how this was going to wrap up. i was pleasantly surprised that there's still going to be one more book. red's character arc is more or less resolved, but she obviously has multiple stakes in the new issues that have arisen so i hope she still plays a notable role in v10. i'm worried there's a good chance red will disappear for good when they inevitably defeat n'badu (see meta section).

i wrote down a couple of gripes/critiques prior to reading the final chapter, but many were resolved by the fact that there will be a continuation + the things cobkubo mentions in the afterword. ex:

i was sad that bisco/milo had zero scenes of just the 2 of them since those were generally the highlight of every other book. however, 9 essentially made red the protagonist and bisco/milo were more there to be HER support rather than the other way around like what we've seen in every other book. cobkubo mentions tho that v10 will be more about bisco and milo's bonds.

we never concluded what happened with milo and he's still stuck in another timeline, so that's yet to be resolved. as well as... like.. you know, everything else... I'm still sad that he wasn't there for the final battle tho.

Meta stuff

Early on we learn that red has never used the choushin bow, but its wish granting power was what I had thought to be the main thing that caused sugar's birth and why she turned out as a literal god, since sugar's powers are the highest form of the choushin ability. So in red's universe, sugar turned out as a normal baby bc red and blue never had that ability. Never being able to use the choushin bow ties into what red realizes at the climax, which is that she never truly believed in [loved] herself. She only fought and kept going bc she thought that's what everyone expected of her. She thought of everyone's love for her as obligations she could never fulfill, rather than seeing that everyone just loved her for herself and wanted the best for her regardless of what that meant in the end.

Because of this, red put the weight of the world on her shoulders and wouldn't accept losing or running away from what she thought was "her destiny". But she failed to save her universe at every opportunity she could have technically had, bc she didn't trust in herself or she doubted the love of those around her (like when she chooses to not kill blue). the timeline could have been saved had she gained the choushin bow, realized her true powers (and thus removed her achille's heel of the souls's power burning her when she used it), and/or if sugar was born as a god, etc.

when we learn at the end that red's timeline was just a copied reality and that she, everyone she knew, and everything she ever experienced were "fake"... my question was then "WAS it really all fake?" n'badu doesn't explain why he made the dark timeline, but i felt the implication was just that it satisfied his own desires of seeing 'bisco' suffer, since that was never able to manifest in the main timeline.

even if red's reality wasn't meant to exist, i don't think that makes her or her experiences any less real than bisco's. she is still a living, tangible being. and as we saw towards the beginning when n'badu tried to overwrite the main timeline, bisco too had begun disappearing in a similar way to how red did when she attacked n'badu. if all timelines are subject to be rewritten like that, then i don't see why one would be lesser than the other.

HOWEVER. framing red in this way makes me worried that she is going to disappear. i expect that in v10 she'll be around as a deuteragonist to bismilo, but in the end they're going to defeat n'badu and cause her to stop existing. it would be a very bittersweet ending, since bisco had invited her to be part of his family. another bit of evidence for this is the v8 epilogue... where in which red of course doesn't show up (cobkubo had not even thought of her character yet at that point).

there is a possibility tho for v10 to end well for red. since the antagonists are gods who can rewrite spacetime, sugar (freed from n'badu's control) may be able to completely remake red's timeline herself and allow her to live happily without rust/n'badu's existence.

re: the "do you love yourself?" bit from cobkubo's afterword:

milo is very confident in himself, bisco is unsure. i think this is exemplified by the parallel scenes of them trying to summon their special bows with only their own power. milo is able to summon it because he is extremely self-assured in who he is and what he believes he can do (thanks to bisco always believing in him/learning from bisco that he is a capable mushroom keeper). HOWEVER, this sometimes leads to moments of over-confidence that rebound negatively on him in some way. summoning the mantra bow completely exhausted him and put him in potential danger because he didn't have someone to share the burden of it with.

bisco was not able to summon the choushin bow at all because he needed someone else there to believe in him. he even specifically says "I can't do it without milo" because milo is the only person he's used that bow with/knows milo is the one who believes in him most of all. having red - functionally, himself - be there and say she believed in him opened up a new path to strength. it showed what he could do if he simply had the heart to believe in his own self.

Final thoughts

my initial impression upon finishing the book is that it probably ranks somewhere in the middle of my overall favorite volumes (maybe between v6 and 8?). i definitely enjoyed reading it a lot, the events felt more coherent than 8, and it surpassed my expectations in multiple ways. i'll prob have a more solid placement once i think on it for a bit longer.

positive/high points:

I think v9 has one of the strongest openings of any volume. the first 4~5 chapters were really good. I think the middle was a bit weak at times, but then the final battle saves it.

Has a pretty big cast of characters, both new ones and old ones who are brought back, but it was handled well and it didn't feel confusing. i think my summary probably made it seem more confusing

Red was overall a good and very enjoyable character. I liked getting to see/learn her backstory in pieces, because each new bit of info is a new sadness gut punch. she's also badass in the final battle.

I thought rust was a good antagonist. you could say there's not much dimension to him since he's just a ruthless and (literal) robotic murder machine who loves to see people suffer. but i like it. the whole point of red's dark timeline is that everything has gone to shit and is as terrible as could be, so rust matches that mood pretty well. not every villain has to be DeepTM

Continued the themes seen in 7 and 8 well, such as the idea that you should feel free to live your life the way YOU want and not feel burdened by others' expectations.

From re-reading thru the summary post and thinking back on the events, i felt like there were a couple hints to n'badu being the Real Bad Guy sprinkled throughout the book that i didn't notice during my initial read. in hindsight, this was not a complete surprise like the v5 ending's kurokawa reveal for example.

negative/low points:

I really disliked having bisco nerfed for most of the book by being turned into a kinoko. I feel like this detracted from the emotional impact of the conversations he and red have during this time. there surely could have been ways to showcase red's character than by eliminating bisco's usefulness to the plot for anything other than talking.

Related to above, while in kinoko form bisco often felt uncharacteristically goofy.

N'badu's speech pattern is annoying

Bisco self-cest hint at the end???? red isn't cool being kissed by milo but kissing her alternate reality self is just fine. it isn't cheating if it's with yourself.... i guess.......

other things of note:

This vol brings back citymaker, lifemaker, AND mantras with lots of new skills showcased for each one. i wouldn't say it was confusing, just maybe excessive.

We get a new tidbit of jabi lore

Domino comes back and gets to have a scene where she fights and is very cool. it was also fun learning her personality a little more since we don't really get to in 3

Salt is mentioned a couple times but literally does nothing the entire volume. i know he's just a normal kid in a story full of god-like powers, but they didn't even give him a single spoken line

#sabikui bisco #sbkb summary series #ITS PRETTY LONG IM SORRY I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD

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mmmmalo · 1 year ago

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Does Kanaya call exclamation marks “Shout Poles” because they resemble tadpoles... That would make “You Forked An Innocent D Loitering Over There By The Shout Pole Minding Its Own Business” sound like Feferi was laying down the law on someone getting too close to the Child, like AR (the law) setting up his barrier around the Frog Temple or Latula (the law) threatening Damara for approaching Mituna... I don’t know WHY that role would be assigned to Feferi but then I never really got why she manifests for Kanaya in the first place.

The next invocation of the phrase is “Yes Your Shout Pole Is Like A Tower Broadcasting Your Fear Across The Ring And You Are Right To Be Afraid” when Kanaya announces that she is training a powerful wizard... but given Kanaya’s history with Rose’s Gamefaq, this feels more like a reference to its server in the Furthest Ring than a frog joke? But this whole conversation is centered around Kanaya’s opposition to Rose’s Green Sun suicide mission, so if the sun becomes a great nuclear lily pad, both it and Rose (who I suppose becomes the frog in this analogy) slot into Kanaya’s phrase, which Rose’s fiery croak being broadcast across spacetime as the sun shines and decimates her bones.

All of this presuming that “shout pole” as “tadpole” isn’t bogus, naturally

#homestuck commentary #nukes #kanaya #rose #slurquest brain has me squinting at the word 'gamefaq'#but to no avail presently

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inspectorspacetimerevisited · 11 months ago

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Being a reality warper, the Tinker has no trouble at all taking over W.I.T.’s weaponry for his own use.

Which he uses to threaten W.I.T. personnel for his own amusement. The Inspector, of course, puts himself in the line of fire, even knowing that it will likely cause his reincarnation.

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nenilein · 1 year ago

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Is the main PPQ story still ongoing? Or has it concluded and we'll have to wait some other time to see Thousand's true face. Speaking of them, do you have any theories/fan designs as to how they may look like?

The first season of the main story of Puyo Puyo Quest finished last year, and we have no idea if there will be a second season, since it ended on a couple of cliffhangers (Thousand escapes from the cops and Eight and Zero strike a deal with Seo to try and locate them, Atari never realizes that Seo was the detective who saved her life when she was a child, Ecolo's history with Seo is not elaborated on, Rokia starts a personal side-quest to learn about magitech and how it could threaten the spacetime continuum, etc.)

I seriously hope we get a second season to address all of this, but so far there has been nothing aside from a couple of story events hinting at more...

I like to imagine that Thousand looks like an androgynous version of a cross between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, in Puyo style.

#neni replies #puyo puyo

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salami-dono · 2 years ago

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DR. JESTER

I recreated a Sonic OC I made when I was 10. The layout of the model sheet is based on the IDW ones. :) They were very helpful. This reference took a long time to complete. I’m finally ready to introduce the evil Dr. Jester! (Most of what I write here will not be things I thought of when I was 10-12 years old.)

Here is a description of his appearance:

Dr. Jester is a robot hedgehog with a grey face and pastel pink quills. He stands at a rather tall 4 ft or 123 cm. The three quills adorning his head are tri-colored. The three colors are pink, white and pale turquoise. Peridot-colored eyes light up on a black screen. The color and shape of his eyes sometimes change depending on his mood. His original stumpy tail was replaced with a crocodile tail. It is the same pale turquoise as one of his jester quills and has magenta scutes. (There is no explanation for the new tail’s existence. It just looks cool.) His hands are black with grey palms. The joints of the fingers and thumbs are magenta.

He wears a white lab coat and white pants. An asymmetrical panel with three large buttons is connected to the collar with a magenta strip. He wears black safety boots with magenta accents. The soles are grey. The sides have screws, and the top part is white.

The most time-consuming part of his design by far was choosing the color palette. The second and third things would be his quills and limbs. From the beginning, I wanted to use a light color for his body to match the greyscale of my old art. There isn’t a single drawing of Dr. Jester with color, nor did I leave any clues in my writing. I wanted pastel pink to work because it’s a nostalgic color. It reminds me of my pink baby blanket, my old room, pink pigs (my favorite animal when I was very young), and a pink dress—very early childhood memories.

Like all of my Sonic OCs, Dr. Jester hails from another universe. It’s more of a “perpendicular” universe to Sonic’s universe than a parallel one. Their universes interact in a way that doesn’t affect spacetime. Traveling there is as easy as entering a Special Stage. No one you know is there (and neither are you), but familiar personalities do exist in that universe. Similar locations also appear. Sonic’s Green Hill is their Emerald Hill. The idea of an alternate universe was based on a very early issue of the Archie comics that introduced the “Anti-Sonic.”

Dr. Jester is a villain of the same caliber as Dr. Eggman, or so he thinks. How did those two meet? That’s what I’d like to know… Dr. Jester referred to him as Dr. Robotnik the first time they were seen together before he learned he was going by the name “Eggman,” and Eggman called him an old friend. Eggman’s robots thought Dr. Jester was mean and unpleasant, but his robot underlings were much more friendly. They’re right.

Dr. Jester earned his name the same way Eggman did. The only difference is that Dr. Jester was called a jester since he was a kid. After a lifetime of torment, he made it his own! He’s proud of it, alright? It doesn’t matter what his real name is.

Just because he’s a robot, that doesn’t make him unemotional. Far from it! Dr. Jester is animated. He’s spiteful and cynical. Things like love and romance disgust him. He’s easily provoked and reacts strongly to insults. If his favorite robot left him, he’d be upset. Still, he smiles and laughs a lot. He’s jolly when things go his way. He enjoys puns, especially of the egg variety. Dr. Jester does not share Eggman’s short-sightedness regarding Sonic the Hedgehog with his own nemesis. When there is a plan, he sticks to it. He loves to trick others and dish out revenge whenever he can with a cold and calculated fury. Eggman is not exempt.

Of course, he also has an uglier, more dangerous side. He doesn’t care for the basic needs of living things: clean air, clean water, food and shelter. His operations threaten the health of the planet, and that endangers everyone. He’s been a robot for some time; he’s detached. It would be better if organic beings gave in and became robots. They could live forever, free from all biological constraints.

Before his mechanical transformation, Dr. Jester was once a living, breathing hedgehog. The process included a mind transfer, also called a soul/consciousness transfer, and therefore irreversible. It’s an alternate method of Robotization. (I can’t say Roboticization. lol) The power source of his robot body is a mystical gem I call the Fluorite Brain, the new home of his consciousness. A robot with a soul, that’s what he is.

For some reason, it is difficult to replicate his level of awareness in other machines. That’s just a risk you’ll have to take when becoming a robot. What kind of person wants to become a robot anyway?

One of the most bizarre abilities of Dr. Jester’s mechanical body that I came across was that he could consume food and drink. I assume he had a habit of drinking coffee when he was alive. He could probably keep up with specific tasks for long periods, but he would get bored doing so. He sleeps to pass the time.

Surprisingly, he has some basic combat skills. He’s a slugger! His main attacks are paralyzing electric-shock punches and sweeps from his metal tail. The tail may be organic because I mentioned that it “turned into steel” before he used it. It’s a magical crocodile tail! Dr. Jester can wield the Chaos Emeralds as well. He used a pink one from his universe to hover in the air and deflect beams and missiles fired by the G.U.N. military.

I was ecstatic to see him in action. I thought he was a wimp! He even defeated his nemesis in a one-on-one battle. I believe his true strengths are his elemental resistance and highly durable body. He does his best to avoid damage to his body. He will run away if he has to. He’s actually better at fleeing than fighting.

Dr. Jester is strong, but he has weaknesses. He is weak to the type of magic that controls electrical signals. It’s possible to take control of his mechanical body, but he is immune to mind control. He fears that magic. In the Archie comics, it’s called Magitek.

He’s also weak to kindness. He couldn’t understand why anyone would show him mercy, let alone his nemesis. In this specific scene, he was completely silent but I wonder what was going through his mind. What did they see in him? Humanity? Laughable. Is there goodness in that metal carapace? All of their problems could have been solved if they had just let him be destroyed with the Egg Carrier.

It was meant to be a humorous scene, but I noticed how strangely Dr. Jester acted during it.

Here is the line that seemingly ended Dr. Jester’s story—without context:

“Dr. Jester is long gone...”

He’s good at running away.

By the way, if you’re familiar with the character Dr. 0 (voiced by James Urbaniak) from Fallout: New Vegas, that’s the voice I think Dr. Jester would have. They have similar personalities, and he’s sort of a think tank himself.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #sonic oc #Dr. Jester #my artwork #I love the T poses

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handsomeamoeba · 1 year ago

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here’s an ask: i know nothing about dragon age outside of what i glean from the context of your posts and what i know from the two friends i have who religiously cosplay two gay dudes from it (Iron Bull and Dorian I think? i am assuming this is the same dragon age but again i know nothing about this except what i have jigsawed for myself). here’s the thing though. i don’t want to actually understand dragon age or be told the plot, i just want to know how you would explain it to me if you were only giving me the most unhinged, no-questions-asked, speed summary possible. preferably raising more questions than it answers.

Okay here's a rundown of all three games from start to finish:

there's an ambiguously possibly undead horde threatening the safety of the world. the common myth is that they're like that because god hates them. only one group of people knows how to kill them, they're an ancient noble apolitical paramilitary society. the cartoon supervillain of this game lets the undead horde win a battle so he can become king despite the fact that his of-age daughter was already the queen consort. anyway, the last survivors of that battle gotta run around convincing a bunch of people to fight alongside them while the cartoon supervillain tries to have you killed. you solve a bunch of political disputes you have absolutely no business resolving because nobody's pressed about the advancing *possibly* undead army until their personal shit is resolved because by sheer coincidence at the exact moment you need political support nobody has their shit together. in the end you kill a big fuckoff dragon who is also possibly undead who is also a god depending on who you ask, and then you either die or you don't die because you fucked a witch or convinced your ally to fuck a witch.

at the same time this is happening, a family flees the advancing undead horde and goes to a city state across the sea founded on slavery that has absolutely no decorum whatsoever about just... not being shy about that past. for some ungodly reason they think this city is the key to a happy fresh start. psych! cue one guy (or gal) having just the worst 6-7 years of their life surrounded by a group of the most dysfunctional bisexuals (and one heterosexual you have to spend $7 extra dollars on) you have ever met in your life. you make frequent trips to the brothel. often to solve murders. no less than two of your friends literally live at the bar. despite being just a wreck of a person who keeps the shiftiest company people keep coming to you for sociopolitical advice until oops! one of your friends starts a fucking war.

a war which you basically resolve in the first act of the next game. you are now some poor unlucky fuck who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and now everybody thinks god sent you to save them, despite the fact that 3 out of 4 of your protagonist options comes from a culture that traditionally does not believe in that god at all. you are given very little room to voice the discrepancy of this. anyway, as the chosen of a god who may or may not exist you are pitted against a new cartoon supervillain, and this guy is one of the guys who caused god to hate the possibly undead horde in the first place, MAYBE. he says that god isn't real but also who fucking knows. you have to run around using the fucking hole in spacetime he ripped open in your hand to close holes in spacetime everywhere else. you also have to fucking... end the French civil war, save the aforementioned apolitical military force from themselves... and then the real villain was the friends we made along the way.

and also, for a game called dragon age, in 2/3 of the games, the dragons are completely optional.

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auranova26 · 1 year ago

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Cryas Darkstalkers Cast Bits 3

I figured for this one, I'd make it a bit shorter to talk about some individuals who have some big influence on aspects of Makai. They aren't in the primary role of characters, but they still are quite important to either world building or to some characters.

Belial Aensland:

Look, the lore makes him out to be this like omnipotent individual. Make no mistake, he is still a powerful individual in Cryas Darkstalkers, but he is more so specialized in certain aspects rather than being omnipotent in everything.

He still is quite the large demon. In a way, he is like a titan golem.

Due to the nature of his towering size and obsidian like body, he is physically strong and durable.

Magic wise, he has the ability to open the Gate with ease.

Belial also has a powerful spell known as Scalephoton. In essence, he concentrates raw energy into a projectile of varying size and intensity and fires it at blinding speed. He has perfected this spell to potentially catastrophic proportions.

The greatest extent of his magical abilities is the ability to bend spacetime in order to create portals to Earth or areas beyond the nexus.

Despite these traits, he is not invincible. While Demitri in the end didn't stand a chance, he still managed some good hits on the titan. Galnan, one who at one point had greater magical potential than Belial, would not challenge Belial's rule despite his dislike of the House of Aensland. While Jedah has a godly healing factor and the potential to overpower Belial if he can absorb enough souls, the amount needed would make it easily noticeable before he could even make 25% of his goal. In essence, with the exception of Demitri, all nobles see challenging Belial as tantamount to suicide.

He still has the general idea from the main lore of viewing Makai as an extension of his own body. He chooses not to be a proactive, iron fist ruler of the realm. Merely, he seeks to let things be, only intervening if things get out of hand with others trying to incite major disruptions.

Till his death, he wears the Ring of Isis. It plays a bigger role in Cryas Darkstalkers.

The reason for him dying is not because of his battle with Demitri or sending that onion head and his castle to Earth. It was because of the third Soul Shard he kept within himself.

Due to the bizarre nature of Morrigan's Soul, the Soul Shard did not sit well with staying in Belial. But he used his powers to keep it contained in him as he believed this one was safest in him while the other was in a special pocket dimension. However, the Soul Shard would fight back, effectively poisoning the Ruler of Makai.

Belial raised Morrigan with the same amount of attention that he had with ruling Makai. He only really intervenes if things get out of hand with her. He merely keeps her around to ensure the House of Aensland would have a new ruler.

The only people he converses with in regard to secret matters are his servants Mudo and Lucien. Those two demons have been loyal to the House of Aensland since sometime shortly before Belial became Ruler of Makai.

While he will punish Mudo and Lucien if they fail a task he ordered, he never threatens them with death or severe pain. Merely a minor punishment that is basically a slap on the wrist.

Zeruru Aensland:

Oh boy, since there is hardly anything about him beyond his name and being the first Ruler of Makai, I got my work cut out. However, there is quite a lot of important aspects about him in Cryas Darkstalkers in regard to the history of Makai.

2 million years ago, current records state that was the general time period when the current systems were set in place for society for generations to come. Under Zeruru's leadership, he and the nobles set up the general structure of society and rule that would be held for eons. However, there is more to this.

Before all of this, Zeruru Aensland was merely the ruler of a large tribe of many races, but primarily succubus and incubus. While the succubus and incubus were the original members of the Aensland Tribe, others were forced in through conquest or some via ensuring loyalty.

Once the discovery of souls and empowerment via the absorption of souls was discovered, Zeruru was the most vigorous among the leaders to hunt down the Sahrijinn as they had the most power.

While the Sahrijinn were able to mostly escape Makai, they couldn't take all their possessions. Chief among them was the Ring of Isis.

The Ring of Isis showed Zeruru visions of the nature of Makai as it did the Sahrijinn. However, this knowledge was ignored as heeding it would not allow for the quick acquisition of power that many sought from consuming souls.

After the foundation of society in Makai was formed, Zeruru would keep the Ring of Isis and repurpose it. It was to show the sign of those who would rule Makai as the Overlord.

Upon his death, his soul was absorbed by the ring. Future Aenslands who donned the ring would be unknowingly influenced by Zeruru's desire to keep the Aenslands in power and to adhere to his desires and will.

The nature and origins of Makai were kept hidden, only possible to be known in the realm of Inkai. However, that realm's nexus point has alluded the nobles for eons.

In time, the Sahrijinn were forgotten by many over the many millennia. All thanks to Zeruru.

Mudo and Lucien:

Loyal servants of the House of Aensland.

They were in the servitude of the father of Belial. Upon the proclamation of Belial's father, they were to serve Belial.

Despite their roles as servants and generally placid natures, these two are quite powerful demons.

They are not related by blood, but the two are inseparable.

They were the ones to proactively raise Morrigan since she was a baby. Despite her rather aloof nature, she genuinely cares for Mudo and Lucien as they are basically father figures to her. Plus, they understand her nature.

They handle the affairs of Castle Aensland. Ensuring all the other servants perform their tasks from guard duty, housekeeping, and meal prep.

During Morrigan's reign as Ruler of Makai, these two would also take to handling the political affairs while Morrigan was away. When she does return to rest, they are able to coerce to perform her duties, which she will do till she is bored and leaves again.

Galnan Voshtal:

Head of the Noble House of Voshtal.

Regarded as not only quite intelligent, but also cruel and callous. Even his own family are safe from his cruelty.

Late in his life, he had somehow stumbled upon the nexus point of Inkai far from the general Makaiin populace. Having access to a wealth of knowledge and souls, Galnan would keep this realm hidden from others.

In discovering Inkai, he also discovered the Inkai Beasts. Among the group of strange creatures was one who called themselves Ozom. He would come to serve under Voshtal for some time, acting as both a guide and interpreter of the Inkai Beasts.

Galnan's power was able to rival that of Belial. While he heavily desired to rule all of Makai, making his disdain of Belial known, he would not lift finger against him. Despite his great power, he was still dwarfed by the golem titan. Not only that, while Galnan knew more spells than Belial, whatever Belial had was enough to fatally wound the head of Voshtal.

While Voshtal at least acknowledged the intellect of Jedah, he found him to be nothing more than a childish whiner.

Voshtal's family despised him due to his blatant abusive behavior.

Even though he was several thousands of years old, his health slowly diminished till he died.

Ozom:

Ozom is originally from the Realm of Inkai. He is an Inkai Beast.

Unlike many of the beast there, Ozom is one of the most evolved Inkai Beasts with far more complex abilities to think.

He has the ability to control the Inkai Beast's nervous systems to make them bend to his will.

While not necessarily powerful, one of his most potent abilities is his ability to plan and manipulate individuals. He has an excellent sense of charisma and is excellent at stringing people along in conversation.

In a sense, Ozom is a full-blown sociopath.

Ozom was the one to orchestrate the death of Galnan. During servitude to Galnan, he found out how the Voshtal family loathed the patriarch.

In collaboration with the family of Voshtal, they would slowly poison Galnan. In return, they would gain control of the House and allow Ozom to consume the soul of Galnan.

In consuming Galnan's soul, his manipulative nature was amplified as was his desire for more power.

He would come to serve Jedah, with the full intent of controlling the House of Dohma. Jedah had no living family.

His charm worked on Jedah, but he wasn't able to fully fool Jedah's other closest confidant, Sierra De Gilman. Still, he took his time to not arouse suspicion.

Once he managed to kill Jedah in Inkai, he would come to control the House of Dohma. While Sierra was suspicious, nothing would be done as she was aware of how Belial worked.

Ozom would relish his time as the Head of Dohma. While he still kept to keeping to affairs regarding the lands and political affairs, he was a detriment to those in the lands of Dohma.

His actions and hunger nearly caused the extinction of the Soul Bees. However, he kept them around still as their honey was a valued export.

Taking in Zabel as his servant on Earth was merely a way for him satiate his hunger for souls as he had to make sure the Soul Bees were kept alive.

While he had plans to also kill Belial and take control of Makai, his ultimate goal, that would never come to be.

Though he was able to kill Jedah, he didn't know that the Shinigami individual was able to resurrect.

Helpless in Makai, he was killed easily by the silent, yet enraged Jedah.

Despite feigning enthusiasm for Jedah's philosophical and political ideology, he did find a genuine love for music.

I likely will try to redesign Ozom in some fashion.

Sierra Del Gilman:

Head of the Noble House of Gilman, her intellect is capable of rivaling that of Galnan.

Since she is only really named and has some description of her in the lore guide, I have full liberty regarding her design.

I will be going for some form of owl demon design to coalesce with her intellect. On top of that, will also look towards influence from Fecto Elfilis.

Magic wise, she knows all sorts of spells.

She is a close friend of Jedah Dohma. The two both agree on how the affairs of Makai are not ideal as it will lead to ruin overtime. Factors like Belial's general passive rule, the stagnant nature of society, and how the lands have slowly over millennia gotten slowly more hostile over time based on records.

She has made an effort to collect any historical records regarding Makai and from whatever can be obtained from Earth.

Due to her collection of knowledge of things from Earth, she caught the attention of the heir of Aensland, Morrigan.

Despite how different both are, Sierra and Morrigan managed to forge a friendship. This friendship would ignite a flame in Morrigan in fueling her desire to visit Earth for thrills and pleasure.

Not only would she bring souvenirs for Sierra, but she would ramble about what she did and found there.

She is well acquainted with Mudo and Lucien. They engage in civil and friendly chats.

Sierra was once called to Belial. He made it clear he is not happy with Morrigan's bouts to Earth and is aware her friendship with Sierra is the start of this. However, he makes doesn't punish Sierra for this but makes it clear that if Morrigan is killed on Earth, Sierra will have to answer to him.

While Ozom was in rule of the House of Dohma, she made efforts to help those in the land of Dohma, especially the Soul Bees when things were getting bad for them.

She is capable of flying of her own accord. However, she also can float and fly via magic.

She chooses to adhere to her power via treaties and discussions with others rather than general warfare. However, she still assures her armies are well trained in magic.

She has the power to open the Gate.

That should do it for now. Hope you enjoy this Makai addition to lore! As always, feel free to ask questions if you are curious. Till next time!😎✌️

#cryas darkstalkers #darkstalkers #auranova26 #lore #makai #belial #aensland #zeruru #ozom #galnan voshtal #sierre del gilman #mudo and lucien #demon nobles #demons #id say this is some cool stuff

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