#vorona family

[timesimmer]

The moon cast an eerie glow over the sleeping village. Nadya stood at the foot of Alaric's bed, her heart heavy with sorrow. She had spent hours contemplating her decision, her love for Alaric warring with her duty to her children. In the end, she had chosen the latter.

She had left a letter for Alaric, explaining her reasons for leaving. She still loved him deeply, but the distance between them had grown too great. She couldn't let him risk the lives of James and Ameera trying to correct what she did. The potion had given them strength, protected them from death. She would do it all again, no matter the consequences.

Nadya turned and left the bedroom, her footsteps silent on the wooden floor. She went to her children's room, tucking Gregory and Philippa in for the night. She hated leaving them behind, but she knew it was safer for them to be with Alaric.

As she left the room, she saw James and Ameera standing near the door, bundled up for the cold. Their eyes were filled with anger and resentment. They hated leaving, they hated their father for making them run away.

Nadya understood their feelings, but she knew that they would be better off away from the kingdom of Valois. They needed to find their own place, where they could figure out what other things the potion had done.

James was still staring into his father's bedroom, his eyes glowing with a sinister red light. Nadya pulled him into a hug, her heart aching with sadness. She could feel his tension easing, his anger subsiding.

"It's time to go," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

James nodded, his eyes filled with a strange mixture of fear and determination. And so, they left, slipping into the night, their future uncertain.

[coolest-boooom]

Actually I drew it a long time ago

[itashiro-hitsuchiha]

“It’s a shame your family isn’t around to celebrate your birthday with you, my princess,” Branwen noted with a soft smile as he walked beside her through the castle gardens. It would still be a few weeks before her family returned from their negotiations, so they still had plenty of time together. “We’ll simply have to make the best we can, to make this a birthday to remember.”

@asexxxualerotica

"It's alright. It sometimes happens but knowing father, he'll send something back from wherever they are back here to show their love and wish me a wonderful day. But all the better given how much time we have. We can throw a party of some kind. Can even invite your brothers as well. Let them enjoy a celebration at the castle. We don't have to get a lot of people involved either. That way we can have an even better time not worrying about images and reputations." Vorona explains with a grin as she had some things already in place but can make a few adjustments with her bodyguard/lover of a knight. She definitely loved how he was concerned about her birthday and she would definitely let him be involved in the planning process for the party should he wish to. Or even better let him take the reigns for it and surprise her with whatever his mind can concoct.

[woogiez]

nobody asked but here are my personal headcanons about Vorona

– Vorona eventually starts vaping, Shizuo is not happy about this (he knows better than anyone that smoking is bad) but who's he to judge? plus he likes the smell – eventually Vorona starts working in film industry as a stunt woman, this was Kasuka's idea

– this led to her and Shizuo barely seeing each other, until one day he offers her moving in together with him which makes it better, they still don't see each other every day, but it's much more often – Vorona is a very good stunt woman due to her physical abilities and combatant skills, but is a horrendous actor (got small role offering once) – Vorona isn't bothered by Shizuo's smoking, almost all men surrounding her from childhood were heavy smokers, including her dad, and it wasn't even good stuff – Vorona made Shizuo have a sparring with her, he barely attacked her directly at the beginning, but started to do so when she successfully dodged all his moves and managed to get him on the ground (using his lack of technique against him), both had fun – She doesn't like dresses or skirts due to them being too revealing during fighting. When she's wearing them, she's challenging herself to fight with her hands and torso only (not fighting is not an option obviously) – Celty eventually warms up to Vorona when she realizes she means no harm, just like Shizuo she's kinda flattered with admiration of her power and also she finds Vorona's way of talking similar to the one she once had – they're bonding over bikes – Tom tried to lure Vorona into manga, but got overwhelmed by her amount of questions about weird stuff from there (like the amount of fanservice and sus stuff). He's still recommending her some stuff from time to time, but now the quality bar is in the skies – Vorona has plenty of knowledge about cooking and even knowing some receipts by heart from books, but isn't this good on practice (mostly she gets frustrated every time recepy says like "50 mins in oven on 180" but it ends up being not enough or way too much) – Erica once dragged Vorona into cosplay and even got her wearing sexy outfit but got disappointed by her inability to smile for a camera – Vorona cuts all ties to her family and it's name, Shizuo was thinking about getting a blessing from her old man, but it never happened – Vorona never had an official name, she wasn't officially registered anywhere in her country, all her documents are fake. After she moved to Japan she decided to stick with her fake passport name for all legal actions – Shizuo never calls Vorona by fake name, even on their wedding, dude pretends he doesn't see it every time some docs need to be filled in

[fantastic-rambles]

Fandom: Durarara!!

Characters: Izaya Orihara, Shizuo Heiwajima, Others (mentioned)

Warnings: Attempted Suicide, Physical Disability, Threats of Violence

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: [Post-Canon, light Izaya novel spoilers] When it seems like the end of the world is nigh, Izaya finds himself drawn back to Ikebukuro. Even so, the last thing he expects is for Shizuo to actively seek him out and for the both of them to have a relatively civil and honest conversation. [Written for Shizaya Week 2023 | Day 4: end of the world AU @shizayasweek]

- - - - - - - - - -

Heavy steps sounded on the fire escape, but Izaya didn't even glance toward them as he perched on the railing on the roof of the building. He didn't need to: he used to hear them at least once a week, accompanied by the roar of a monster as it chased after him with a single-minded determination. Even when they stopped right behind him and the back of his neck prickled, he didn't turn around, simply continuing to gaze out over the city filled with the humans he loved.

"Thought I told you to stay out of 'bukuro."

The usual rage was conspicuously absent from the rumbling voice, and Izaya heard some rustling followed by the click of a lighter. Then, Shizuo exhaled heavily, and the faint smell of acrid smoke drifted past Izaya before the railing creaked as the other man leaned against it.

"Those things will kill you, you know."

A low chuckle.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?"

It didn't. Nothing did. All of Izaya's plots, his failed attempts at permanence, his determination to stay away from this place… all blown away by the vicissitudes of fate. He hadn't thought that he had any lingering attachment to this place, but once the news had been announced, he'd found himself drawn back.

Idly, he wondered where the others had gone. Sozoro was easy enough to figure out: home to his family, bringing Haruto and Himari with him. The boy didn't know what was going on, other than a new adventure, which was probably for the best, but Himari was a bit more clever than him. Nec… perhaps she would retreat to the world inside her computer, along with Tsukumoya. He'd released all of them from their obligations to him and made his way here alone. And that was how he'd expected things to end.

He hadn't counted on Shizuo showing up. But then again, he had never been able to predict what went on in the protozoan's head.

"Shouldn't you be with someone else? Your owner? Or your lady friend?"

Another slow inhale, and Izaya chanced a glance at the other man, finding his brows furrowed as he lowered his cigarette from his lips. He looked confused, the expression so familiar and amusing that Izaya had to hold back a laugh as he shifted his gaze back toward the humans rushing around beneath them.

"You mean Tom-san? And Vorona?" Shizuo finally asked, still sounding uncertain, and Izaya did laugh then. But it lacked its usual sarcastic bite, sounding not quite natural or genuine.

"Sure. Or even Shinra and Celty. There are plenty of people who care about you, so why would you want to spend your last moments with me? Or have you not heard that there's a meteorite on a direct path to wipe out all life on earth? Or at least, a significant chunk of it?"

"I heard. But I also got a feeling you were back. Figured I'd try to snap your neck one last time, for old time's sake."

A heavy hand landed on Izaya's neck as if to make good on the threat, the fingers that wrapped around his throat nearly encircling it. Izaya remained relaxed, though, his eyes following a bright red car that wove through the traffic.

"And it seems like you'd let me."

Izaya shrugged.

"If I had to choose between you and a meteorite, you don't sound too bad. Of course, I'd rather be killed by a human, but a monster's better than a glorified rock, at least."

"Then why aren't you down there? With your humans?"

Izaya did sigh then, shaking his head in disappointment. Shizuo had always been a bit dumb, but this much? He hadn't thought that it was possible for him to overestimate the man, but yet again, Shizuo was managing to defy his expectations.

"Do you really think that I can go around asking people to kill me, pretty, pretty please? Humans are selfish, Shizu-chan: I thought that you, of all people, would know that. Now that we're facing the end of the world, there's nothing that I could offer anyone to convince them to put some time and effort toward satisfying my ego. Besides, I've already been stabbed once, and if I'm going to die, I'd rather it be quick and painless."

"You probably deserved it."

"I did, but that's beside the point. So now that we've cleared that up, can you just put us both out of our misery and go back to whoever's waiting for you?"

But the hand released him, falling back down to the railing as Shizuo continued to stand beside him, looking out over the temples to human conceit that would soon be erased. The vast reservoirs of human knowledge, the technology that held everything together, the richness of their emotions… it was a waste. Even if halfway intelligent life re-evolved on this planet, it would take at least another couple hundred thousand years, and all of this would be little more than dust.

“Thought you’d be in a shelter or something. Shinra was saying that there was a chance of survival if people did something like that. There’s a bunch of old ones from the war, right?”

“Me? A shelter? Please, Shizu-chan. I love humans, but that doesn’t mean I want to be crammed together with them, surrounded by the heat of all those bodies and the wailing of children and babies. Besides, if they did survive, they’d end up in a deserted world, scratching for a living, suffering, living quick, cruel lives… that’s not for me. I suppose a monster like you wouldn’t understand, though. You probably don’t even need a shelter to survive.”

“Maybe,” Shizuo agreed with a slow nod. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“You mean you’ll find out.”

Izaya slid off the railing, stumbling slightly when his feet hit the concrete, but his grip on the metal kept him from collapsing. His wheelchair sat on the other side of the barrier, and he leaned over the edge of the building, his arms stretched to their full length as he continued to watch the humans scuttle around beneath him. There was something wonderfully ironic about this situation: he’d brought Kamichika to a similar place before, just to see what she would do when she was entirely disillusioned, her sophomoric self laid bare.

Ah, perhaps he should have reached out to Mamiya. She might have been willing to kill him, but then again, wouldn’t it be far more amusing for her to have her revenge denied? Ahhhh, if there was an afterlife, then he’d love to meet her again there and see her reaction. To him, to everything, to the afterlife she only half-believed in, the death she failed to respect.

And then he let go, his fingers falling open before he began to fall forward, a half-smile on his lips. There was a screeching sound behind him before his descent came to an abrupt stop, his right arm feeling as though it had been nearly jerked out of the socket.

“The fuck you doing, flea???”

Bemused, Izaya glanced over his shoulder. The railing was bent where Shizuo must have lunged against it to grab his wrist, his monstrous strength easily holding Izaya up with one hand.

“Dying, right?” he asked as if it wasn’t patently obvious. “I can’t get someone else to kill me, and I can’t get you to kill me. It’s rather anticlimactic, but despite what you may believe, I am a human, unlike you, so I’d still rather do it myself than wait for the strike and the tsunami and the heat wave or whatever to take me out.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Izaya blinked.

“Well, I have a host of issues, but none related to the current situation. But what’s wrong with you? Ever since I met you, it was ‘die, die, die,’ and now that I’m doing just that, you’re stopping me?”

“Like I can just stand by and watch someone die in front of me!”

“Oh? What about all the people down there? They’re all going to die soon, too. Or have you developed some sort of supernatural powers while I’ve been away, enough to pulverize the meteorite or divert it from its course? Can you save all of them? What’s the difference if I die now, or in a couple hours?”

“That’s… that’s not the point!”

Shizuo’s chest heaved as he backed up, pulling Izaya back onto the ledge, though he didn’t let go of him.

“Why are you so determined to die?” he demanded, and Izaya sighed.

“Actually, I would prefer not to,” he explained, speaking slowly as if he were addressing a particularly stupid child. “But at this point, it’s impossible to avoid. So if I’m going to die, I’d rather do it in a way that I like.”

“But why won’t you at least try to live?”

“As I said, it’s impossible. I’m not a monster like you.”

Ahhhhh, this was why he hated Shizuo. Most stupid people were easy to deal with, because they didn’t try to pretend to be human. They were fine with being wrapped up in themselves and only caring about others when it benefited them. But Shizuo was so determined to prove that he was something that he wasn’t, which led him to do even more stupid things that proved he wasn’t human.

And then he was tugged closer, pulled against Shizuo’s chest, and his flickblade was in his hand, slashing at the other man, just like old times. Except Shizuo didn’t let go, only catching Izaya’s wrist and squeezing it until he dropped the weapon as blood trickled down from the cut on his cheek.

“You said it, right? I might be able to survive even out here. So if you’re with me, maybe you can live, too.”

“I don’t want to. What’s the point of living in a ruined world with a monster?” Izaya snapped acidly, struggling in the other man’s grip. But he’d never dreamed of being able to fight against Shizuo head-on, and with his legs as they were now, that was even more unlikely. All he could do was pound a fist weakly against a chest that felt as hard and immovable as concrete. "If you’re looking for someone to go to hell with you, I’m sure that there are plenty of people who would be delighted to oblige.”

“I don’t want to live with you, either. But if I can save one person, then it’ll be worth it, even if it’s you. And maybe that would be what both of us deserve, after everything we’ve done. If we’re the only ones left, we can’t hurt anyone else. Or maybe we’ll both die, and that will just be the end of it. But I’m not going to leave you alone. Who knows what the fuck you’d get up to?”

Izaya’s scowl deepened. Pointless sentiment, the monster looking to assuage its misplaced guilt… fine, but why did he have to be dragged into it? He’d never felt any remorse for the things he’d done, standing above the humans and watching them scramble frantically beneath him. He didn’t need forgiveness or repentance. He'd always lived simply as he wanted to, even knowing that it meant taking on his beloved humans' feelings, both positive and—more often—negative.

"Let me go."

"No."

"Let me go!"

"No. Come on, I-za-yaaa, let's face the end together."

Braced against Shizuo's chest, Izaya didn't have any choice in the matter, and they eventually ended up on the ground, waiting with Izaya half in Shizuo's lap. Then, as they watched, a false sunrise lit up the horizon, setting the sky aflame.

[pretend-erin]

Stray thoughts on Kururi & Mairu

So I am probably one of the very few Kururi & Mairu fans and I want to talk about them. They are, unfortunately, victims of being anime girls from the 2000s - there are a lot of problematic things in drrr that we, as a fandom, should acknowledge and discuss. Simon, Namie, the treatment of characters like Vorona and Anri, I could go on. But right now, I want to talk about the twins.

We don’t get a lot of information on the Orihara family as a whole. All we know is that Izaya was very isolated as a child, and seemed to resent his sisters for being carbon copies of each other. So the girls decided that they would be opposites. They picked their personality traits, splitting them evenly. That’s why they act opposite in the chat room - they do it all on purpose.

I can only speculate here, but it seems like the Orihara parents may not have been around a lot. Actually nobody seems to have parents in drrr. Why was Masaomi able to do all that while he was in middle school???? And the only parents we see are awful - like Shingen?????? He’s our parental figure in this show????Anyway. It’s a pretty common headcanon that Izaya’s parents were not very present, so we can only assume the same for the girls. Izaya, due to his own issues, resented them. All they had was each other. And that is not good!

If you think about it, their codependence is really sad. They’ve had to rely on each other for everything. Even though they purposefully act different from one another, they need the other one in order to feel whole. Izaya said they were basically the same person, and they changed that. But in the process, they cut themselves in half. They’re still operating as one.

When we meet the twins, they seem pretty comfortable around the people Izaya frequently interacts with - mainly Shizuo. He clearly knows them, and knows them well enough to evade them gently. He’s a lot kinder to the girls, even if they get on his nerves.

They quickly befriend the van gang, Mikado and Anri, Shinra and Celty, and Akane. They are present at the contentious Hot Pot Party. And Izaya knows that. He knows his sisters are hanging out with all the people on his chessboard.

Suddenly, they’re part of the chatroom. They’re directly interacting with Aoba (which, are they not kinda parallels to Anri and Masaomi to Aoba’s Mikado??). They have their dojo. Akane Awakusu looks up to them. And even though they get bullied, they have a community to fall back on. They’re not alone anymore.

It kinda seems like everyone who knows Izaya stepped in as big siblings to the twins. They continuously reject him, and he rejects them back. But they have something he doesn’t. Something he’s clearly jealous of.

They’ve never really been alone, they’ve always had each other.

And yeah, the canon portrays that in a super weird way. Sometimes they take the “twisted love” concept too far. But these characters are a lot more interesting than the jokes made at their expense. Sometimes I just pretend the canon isn’t true. I don’t like it! I wish they didn’t do it!!! That’s why I never used to talk about how much I like the twins - people will always fall back on the same joke like it’s 2009. Sometimes you just have to snatch them out of the canon. Take them out of their shitty narrative, they’re mine now >:3

Unfortunately, a lot of the female characters in drrr get ignored or misrepresented by the fandom. Even Celty! Hell, the anime goes out of its way to not make Celty the main character. We get stuck with Mikado for most of the show’s run.

I guess I just find it odd that the fandom doesn’t give the same grace and understanding to the girls as they do the guys. Izaya is everyone’s poor little meow meow (and I’m including myself in that statement) but what about the TWINS???

Idk I think their parallels to Izaya are really interesting, they have everything he doesn’t have. They’re still strange, and may not fit in with their peers, but they’re treated with respect by the very people Izaya focuses most of his time and energy on.

I also think it is so funny that Izaya had two little freak sisters the entire time and we find out about them in an OVA lmao

Like the funniest thing you can do to Izaya is give him annoying little sisters and then not mention them until it’s funny to do so

It’s like when Roger Rabbit can’t take his hand out of the handcuff until it’s funny, it is so funny to introduce these two after you’ve built Izaya up so much. Like he’s just a weird guy with weird sisters. He gets mad when they join his chatroom where he pretends to be a teenage girl. They’re a cringefail family and we simply must respect that.

[characterreaderwriter]

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello there! I'm a predominantly Character!Reader writer who will do scenarios, one-shots, fics, and headcannons!

Be Warned; I Write Night Raven College as an actual college so the students are young adults (Ortho is still baby). For MHA, I'm writing AFTER the War where the characters are all Pro Heroes and 18+ so be careful if you don't want spoilers for that.

Fandoms and Characters I Write For

Obey Me! Shall We Date?

The Brothers

Diavolo

Barbatos

Simeon (+ platonic!Luke)

Solomon

Disney's Twisted Wonderland

Heartslabyul

Savanaclaw [My Dorm]

Octavinelle

Scarabia

Pomefiore

Ignihyde (Ortho is Platonic)

Diasomnia

Yuuya Kuroki {Novel Yuu}

Genshin Impact (Children/Teens Are Strictly Platonic)

Aether

Dainsleif

Mondstadt

Liyue

Inazuma

Sumeru [I Don't Write For Dori]

Fontaine

My Hero Academia

Class 1-A [I Don't Write For Mineta]

Hitoshi Shinsou

Shouta Aizawa

Dabi

Tomura Shigaraki

Geten

Eri (Platonic)

Bungou Stray Dogs

The Armed Detective Agency [I Don't Write For The Tanizaki Twins] (Platonic Fukuzawa & Kyōka)

Chuuya Nakahara

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Nikolai Gogol

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Sigma

Saigiku Jōno

Tetchō Suehiro

Black Butler (Ciel, Finny, Soma & Alois Are Platonic)

Phantomhive Manor

Trancy Manor

Snake

Pluto

Agni

Drossel Keinz

Undertaker

Ash Landers

Honkai Star Rail

Dan Heng

Blade

Caelus

Gepard

Veritas Ratio

Boothill

Aventurine

Sunday

Argenti

Luka

Luocha

Jing Yuan

The Remarried Empress

Navier

Sovieshu (Reactions Only)

Platonic Rashta

Heinley/Heinrey

Kosair

Duke Kaufman

McKenna

Duke Ergi

Beauty and The Beasts (Reader Is Depicted As Beastperson Capable Of Shifting Regardless Of Gender)

Winston

Shuu

Muir

Curtis

Parker

Harvey

Bluepool

Qin

Molly/Jane

Romance In The Beastworld (Same As Beauty and The Beasts)

White King/Bai Di

Frost Cloud/Shuang Yun

Sang Ye

Lin Huanhuan

Inuyasha

Inuyasha

Kagome

Sesshōmaru

Koga

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Zuko

Mai

Platonic Gaang

Platonic Azula

Stardew Valley

The Bachelors (Platonic Shane)

The Bachelorettes

Durarara!!

Shizuo Heiwajima

Kasuka Heiwajima

Izaya Orihara

Celty Sturluson

Shinra Kishitani

Vorona (Platonic)

Kyōhei Kadota

Walker Yumasaki

Erika Karisawa

Saburo Togusa

Chikage Rokujō

Servamp

Kuro | Sleepy Ash

Mahiru Shirota (Platonic)

Hyde | Lawless

Licht Jekylland Todoroki

Jeje | Doubt-Doubt

Mikuni Alicein

Freya | The Mother

Ildio | World End

Misono Alicein (Platonic)

Snow Lily | All of Love

Tsubaki

Berkia

Sakuya Watanuki (Platonic)

Characters I Write Reader As

Pretty much everyone I write for I'll write the reader as; however, be specific with how you want your request. If you ask for X Character!Reader, it's usually romantic. If you ask for & Character!Reader, it's usually platonic.

I will not write Character!Reader if the character reader is to be based off is a child, i.e. Klee!Reader. If you want Character!Reader to be that specific character, I write them as being an older sibling of that character and having similar characteristics. [This is the only exception I will make as I am a primarily Character!Reader blog]

I will, however, write Character!Reader based off a teenage character, i.e. Crona!Reader; this is strictly platonic.

I write gender-neutral pronouns unless requested otherwise.

I'll also write Character!Reader when the character is from a fandom not listed here, like Chat Noir!Reader (in the context of Reader having the Cat Miraculous). If you're not sure, you can ask; I'm not terribly mean. [If you're interested in Human Sans/Papyrus!Reader, I'm up for writing them as well]

What I Write

Family Bonding

Angst

Fluff

Comfort

SFW

Slightly Suggestive

Same-Sex Relationships

Found Family

Family Feels

Pregnancy

What I DON'T Write

Pedophilia

Yandere

Homophobia

Transphobia

Most Fetishes

Paraphilia

Abuse

Self-Harm

Suicide

NSFW [Originally in DO write but the more I thought about it, the more awkward I felt thinking about it so I'm taking it off the table]

[fereality-indy]

My Personal GI Joe Universe

My personal Joe-verse loosely follows the Hamaverse for the most part, but not completely. Also pretty much if I can buy a figure of a character, that character is still alive.

- I add some ideas/characters from Sunbow (Mainframe/Zarana romance, Honda Lou, Teiko, Green shirts, etc), DiC (in my version, Armadhila is the Alley-Viper that was friends with Scoop in Operation: Dragonfire, Evy the Range-Viper, etc), DDP (Firewall, Mayday, Mariner, Alexander McCullen, Mistress Armada, [American] Red Shadows II, Phoenix Guard, etc), IDW (Hashtag, Ronin, Lighthorse, etc), etc.

- A lot of Legacy characters get renamed: Resolute/RoC/IDW Dial Tone is Landline, IDW Hard Drive is Network, Sean Collins is Kamakura and Throwdown is one of his brother, Sunbow's Daina is Krasa (Russian for Beautiful), etc

- Final Faction is a branch of Star Brigade that deals with alien encurscions to Earth.

- MASK is based more on the original season of the cartoon, but has ties to GI Joe.

- Street Fighters are a loose collection of street fighters that include members of Interpol, British intelligence, US military, etc that regularly deal with various low level threats that would not require action by any of the larger teams. There is a healthy working relationship between the the Joe's and the Street Fighters.

- Oktober Guard is made up of Brekhov, Daina, Horrorshow, Schrage Stormavik, Krasa, Volga, Vorona, Gorky, Misha, Dragonsky, Red Star, Big Bear, Wong, and a couple of Original Characters.

- Action Force is made up of non GI Joe characters (ie Skip, Scout, Doc, Wheels, Jammer, Quarrel, Stalker, Steeler, Moondancer, etc) and the Joe's that were of European nationality (Big Ben, Action Man, Natalie Poole, etc). They are Europe's GI Joe equivalent.

- Argen7 is the Argentinan Joe equivalent. Made up of Shimik, Glenda, Sokerk, Redmack, Manleh, Topson, & TNT.

- Commandos En Açāo is the Brazilian version of the Joe's. Made up of Athena, Sparta, Estopim, Tigor, etc. They actually work a lot with the Argen7 team to fight Cobra in South America.

- India has the Commandos Force made up of the original characters from Funskool (Rednok, Canary Ann, Streethawk, [red Caucasian] Stalker, Wireless Tracker, Super Cop, Skydiver, etc)

- Bronze Bombers (original & 97 characters) are a private contractor group that operate out of the African continent. They operate along the lines of the A-Team in the fashion that they usually work for the oppressed and underdogs. And don't let them find you poaching if they are in the area.

- The Corps are the UN equivalent of the Joe's. They are made up of the original & modern characters.

- Cobra is based around the Hamaverse version. There are also South American & Indian branches of the group based around the figures released in the area (Armadhila, Mortal, En Aco, Kangor, O Invasors, etc for Cobra SA and Snake Shadow, Scorpion, etc for India).

- Iron Grenadiers are Destro's personal army. Other named characters are Darklon, Roddy Piper, Mayhem, Voltar, Metal Head, Copperback, Alexander McCullen, Mistress Armada, etc.

- Athena is the private contractor company owned by the Baroness' family. They were really only seen once in the DDP comics, but I have a couple of Fortnite figures I used to represent them. (Calamity is an officer and the Elite & Rogue Agents are the troops).

- Dreadnoks are a multinational biker gang lead by Zartan. Pretty much a combo of the Hamaverse & DDP versions of the group.

- SKAR is a terrorist group led by Iron Klaw. They occasionally encounter either the Joes, Action Force, or Oktober Guard.

- IRON Army is a group of cyborgs created by the former ally of Sgt Savage, Garrison Kreiger aka General Blitz.

- Red Shadows are the main enemy of the Action Force. They have a small branch in the Americas based around the DDP version. Baron Ironblood, Black Major, Red Laser, Red Jackal, Red Wolf, Red Vulture, Red Scream, etc are the command force of the European branch with Wilder Vaughn, Arthur Kulik, & Dela Eden lead the American branch.

- Marauders are a former private contractor army that went rogue. They are one of the two enemies of the Corps. Ravage, Plague I, Vulture, Road Rash, Remora, Hak Luger, & (formerly) Dusk are the named members.

- Curse created by the former Corps member Shadow, the Curse are almost all infected with nanobots that augment them in some fashion. Plague II, as Shadow now goes by, has recruited several allies; Puma, Impact, Reaper, Occulus, etc.

- Pyro's Band Of Thugs are essentially a group of mercs made up of the enemies of Bronze Bombers. Cool Breeze, the Baron, Chilly Pop, Backdraft, Crazeblaze, Firebomb, & Scorch.

- Shadaloo is a small nation that offers sanctuary to many evil people.

[night-stalker-joe]

Joe, Have you ever had awkward moments where some friends or family walked in on you and Vorona going at it? What was the worst moment if so? (Vorona would make it more awkward given she has no issues being seen in that state. XD)

“There isn’t too many times to count but, I was at a resort with Vorona, met some friends of mine and planned to see a show later in the evening. But before we left, my friends came to my door and it was slightly opened and might have seen me pounding into Vorona, when I felt hairs on the back of my neck stand, that’s when I knew someone was watching and proceeded to blow my load deep inside Vorona, never said anything to them about it.” @itashiro-hitsuchiha

[cavenewstimes]

I Might’ve Caught My Nanny In a Very Compromising Video. I’m So Conflicted.

Care and Feeding I’ve watched it dozens of times. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Liubomyr Vorona/iStock/Getty Images Plus. Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here. Dear Care and Feeding,  After months of searching, our family recently hired a nanny for our son. The nanny is fantastic with him and we feel lucky to have…

[vernedip]

Tagging Thing!

Rules: Tag 9 people (or less, because I don't really have many mutuals) you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the questions below!

-- Tagged by @sakvnosuke

Last Song: Wanderer's Lullaby by Adriana Figueroa, because of... reasons? I've got a daydreamer's curse, honestly.

Three Ships: Okay okay, I'll be honest, I'm a multishipper and generally prefer to keep my own ships separate from this account, but probably... Ekuserirei (MP100), Gochiccolo (DBZ), and... Hyuroicia/ai (FMA)..? I know, I know, they're weird, but I'm more of a found family person than a romance one, so I'm more a sucker for poly, borderline queerplatonic ships that also just center around a few people taking care of a child or three, I guess. Some honourable mentions would probably still be more domestic ships like KyuTae (Gintama) and Entourageshipping (Pokéspe), or crack ships like Handa x Kawafuji (Barakamon), whatever the heck Tom, Shizuo, and Vorona had (Durarara), or basically any appropriate ship in Gintama... Wait, are these even romantic ships for me anymore--

Currently Reading: Well, with normal books, I've been reading light novel after light novel these days. But not even consistent ones. One minute, it's Durarara, then Bungou Stray Dogs, then Kirby. I dunno either. In terms of fanfiction this very moment, however, I've been bouncing between fandoms a lot lately, so even though I was reading page after page of Yu-Gi-Oh and TMNT fanfics a few months ago, I'm suddenly back on a weird DBZ, Moomins, and Gintama thing. Last one I read was probably this one where Gintoki and the kids get kidnapped by this one dude who wants to enter the Shiroyasha in a galactic tournament or something, with a title that's on the tip of my tongue, if I can just find where I left the tab...

Last Movie: THE NEW PUSS IN BOOTS MOVIE WAS SOOOO GOOD!! I almost wanted to cry from the sheer amount of good it was, man! The visuals, the sound design, the story, the characters, it was all just so--! Gods, I've been loving what these sort of movies have been doing lately, where they're starting to get a bit bolder with storytelling. I love it a lot. I also know I'll be seeing that new TMNT movie coming out this August with some friends later, too! Hope it will live up to this trend.

Craving: I've read so many good fanfics... my standards for stories are only rising higher..! Pretty soon, I'll run out of stories I really want and I'll probably just spontaneously combust and die on the spot when that happens. Somebody..! Please..!! I need regular book recommendations of found family..! Preferably some random jaded adult gaining some kid that isn't blood related to them, maybe a few kids, actually. Or maybe a poly parental unit that focuses more on them raising their adopted kid than on the oddity of the relationship itself please! I dunno, but anything along those lines! I'm practically starving over here.

Ack, sorry, this was probably supposed to be a quick thing, but I've never been tagged before and I got carried away in my excitement to share my super weird story preferences on here.

Tagging: @en-decouvrant-le-monde @vimroy @magnacidebb @doozythebird

[thebeautifulsentence]

But it smells like my mother, like the memory of white flowers, and my mother smells like home.

Rachel Vorona Cote, Catapult 

[thedeadthree]

— OC NAME MEANINGS

i was tagged by the loveliest @chuckhansen, @leviiackrman, @honeysides, @loriane-elmuerto , @scungilliwoman, @johnnycranes and @preachercuster to share the meanings of my ocs names! thank you dears ur all the sweetest!

TAGGING: @griffin-wood, @themysteriouslou, @starsummoners, @jmiacolt, @kenabres, @florbelles, @lustyargonianmaid, @jackiesarch, @taliaferros, @maeflower, @shellibisshe, @yennas, @amistrio, @roberthouses, @lacunafiction and anyone that would like to do this or would like to do a round two! 🖤🥀

(x.x)

POLINA is a russian, ukrainian, bulgarian and greek form of paulina/apollinarya. paulina, has origins meaning "small" or "humble" in latin. apollinarya originates from apollo meaning strength, father lion or light, and “to destroy” and the name of greek god of sun and light.

VELICHKOVA is the feminine form of velichkov meaning “son of velichko” derived from the slavic word veliku meaning “great” polina changes her surname from her mother's maiden name VODENICHAROVA (meaning “miller" in bulgarian) after being accepted as her father’s daughter and heir.

THALASSIA is of greek origin from the word thalassa, meaning “the sea.” and represents the personification of the sea, namely, the mediterranean. and is sometimes considered the mother of aphrodite. ISET means “(she) of the throne” and is associated with the goddess of sky and nature in egyptian mythology.

MEDE is most likely derived from the anglo-saxon word meaning “meadow.” this was the name chosen by the once known royal family of the shuriman empire. a near millennia ago, it was adopted after their departure from their ancestral home, following the betrayal and assassination of their ancestor azir, the god emperor of shurima. and consequentially, the fall of their empire as a result.

BELLONA is of roman mythological origin meaning “to fight” this was the name of the roman goddess of war, a companion of mars. GIOVANA is the portuguese brazilian variant of the italian name giovanna, which originates from the name john that means, “god is gracious”

BANCROFT is derived from old English bean meaning “bean” and croft meaning “small enclosed field"

ZELDA is the short form of the english name griselda that adopts the germainic elements gris “grey” and hild “battle.” this was the name of a patient wife in medieval folklore. zelda would be more associated with the battle portion than being a patient wife if anyone who knows her can attest to that... maybe someday. that day will not be anytime soon if she can help it.

EXPÓSITO is the spanish cognate of esposito that means "exposed" in italian.

MORGAINE is the french form of morgan which means “born of the sea.” and is associated with the arthurian sorceress morgan le fay. morg's mom was a computer hacker based out of new reno, and found the name from a login of the last user of a computer she hacked while on a job. it fits her though, she’s widely known for her beautifully enchanting voice in the mojave that can charm the hardest of hearts.

MOONE is a given name and a variant of word and name moon. it has origins in the old english mōna. and was also the last name of the last user on that computer.

YELENA is the russian form of the name helen, originating from hellene meaning “torch,” “corposant,” or the related name selene meaning, “moon.” james’ grandmother was named helen and catherine’s family had come by submarine to the capital wasteland from russia on a research mission into the mutations of the flora and fauna as a result from the nuclear warheads.

VORONIN is derived from russian vorona meaning "crow".

LÍADÁIN is of irish origin, the meaning possibly originates from líath meaning “grey” in an old tale it was the name of a poet turned nun, but missed her lover cuirithir to the point she died of grief.

EDELGARD is a german name derived from the germainic elements adal “noble” and gard “enclosure.” the majority of her mother sibylla’s family resides in berlin and she was named after her great aunt, a pianist and student of the great composer and pianist himself johannes brahms. musical talent truly runs through her veins. HEDY is a german and dutch name that means “battle” and “combat” her parents decided on the name as a nod to eddie's german and dutch heritage.

VANDERWEYDEN is of dutch origin and is a variation of van der weijden meaning “from the meadows.” her father lourens and the entirety of his handsomely wealthy family live in amsterdam and rotterdam, primarily the former.

[itashiro-hitsuchiha]

Guardian of the Crown

Closed RP with @ofdarkestdesires

Vorona was wandering about through the castle going nowhere in particular. She often did stuff like this as she wasn't necessarily the next in line for the throne but she was still a member of the royal family. In fact, it is because of her recent antics that her father had decided to find someone capable to keep an eye on her. She was skilled in her own right but given her lineage she would be a prime target for various nerfarious types and as such the Lord of the castle wished to have a bit of extra protection for her.

As she wandered about one of the chambermaids noticed her and informed her that she is needed in the main hall. She was pretty bored and had nothing else to do so she went there and that's when she noticed a stranger waiting for her. She assumed from his uniform and equipment that he was a guard of some kind. "Hello there. I don't think I've seen you around here before. You have business with my father?" She asks him.

[sachigram]

“With Teeth” Chapter 5

((click here to read on ao3!!))

Izaya is frowning down at his computer, his hands hovering above the keys of his keyboard, not moving. Next to him, Namie is typing away, a bemused little smirk on her face. She's enjoying this, clearly, and she's itching to say something biting.

“You're handling this better than I thought you would,” she says, her tone forcibly bored. Izaya blinks at her, lifting his hand to motion for her to continue. “Your little monster friend has a girlfriend now. He'll have less time for you, right? I assumed you'd be setting fires across the city by now.”

“You know what they say about assuming,” Izaya says breezily. “If anything, she's distracting him enough to leave me be.”

The chatroom is full of people chattering away about Shizuo and Vorona, who are spending a lot of time together, holding hands, exchanging glances, sharing beverages. It's sickening. Izaya feels vaguely nauseous just reading about it, but he thinks that's probably due to his insane schedule at the moment, and his lack of sleep. He keeps meaning to take a healing potion, but he forgets every time.

“Distracting. Right.” Namie types another response, fanning the flames of all the rumors circulating about Ikebukuro's hottest couple. Her smirk drops, and Izaya can't resist the temptation to dip into her mind, just a little, to see why she isn't enjoying this as much as she thought she would.

She's thinking of Seiji, of course, but also of Mika, and of Celty's head, and all the times she's been overlooked in favor of someone else. She thinks Shizuo dating Vorona is distasteful, because she's set on the idea that Shizuo must be fucking Izaya, and that's why he comes by so often. Izaya withholds a snort at that, and he graciously doesn't comment on the fact that Namie could probably have anyone she wanted, if she wasn't so obsessed with her own brother.

“Who cares, anyway?” Namie asks, closing her laptop. “The two of them together probably have conversations as interesting as watching paint dry. It's not worth even talking about anymore.”

“I couldn't agree more,” Izaya says, pushing away from his desk. He tilts his head at her. “Let's order out for dinner. My treat.”

“In that case, I'm craving something expensive.”

“Of course you are.”

***

Izaya is watching the sunset from a small window when he realizes he must have fallen asleep. He isn't at home anymore, and this is beginning to feel like the kind of dream he's been dreading to have lately, one where he knows Shizuo will show up at some point.

“Who are you?” A child's voice asks from behind him. Izaya turns, looking down at Shizuo, who is in a hospital bed, his arms wrapped, a brace around his neck. He's frowning up at Izaya, who sighs loudly before plopping into the vacant chair next to the bed.

“Oh, why does it even matter? You won't call me by my name anyway.” Izaya pulls his knees up to his chest and studies Shizuo closely. “You're here alone?”

“My family just left.” Shizuo looks up at the ceiling, seeming to decide that Izaya isn't a threat to him. “They used to stay with me a lot, but this happens all the time now, so they can't stick around as much.”

“I see.”

“I'll only be here one night anyway.”

“So who was it this time? Was it another fight?” Izaya asks.

“It's not like I wanted to fight.” Shizuo's eyebrow twitches. “I threw a swingset.”

“A swingset?”

“Yeah, but apparently it was bolted into the ground or something. Really fucked me up.”

Izaya can't help it. He laughs hard, curling into himself as he does so.

“Hey, fuck you, it isn't funny!” Shizuo snaps, but he seems to be trying not to laugh himself. “Well, maybe it was a little. The look on their faces was pretty funny.”

“Did you at least manage to hit them?” Izaya asks, still giggling at the mental image.

“No. Turns out all the time I spent lifting it gave them some time to escape.”

Izaya laughs harder. When was the last time he found something this genuinely funny? Lately all he does is work until he passes out, and he deserves it, he knows. Still, as he feels tears stinging the corner of his eyes, he thinks he feels good now, here with this kid version of Ikebukuro's monster. There doesn't seem to be anything else to do but talk to him, and their dreams keep connecting them no matter what Izaya does. He's tired of fighting it.

Shizuo is gazing at him with poorly concealed awe and wonder.

Pretty.

Izaya snorts at Shizuo's thought. What's so pretty about this scene right now? The sunset outside? The various machines hooked to Shizuo, beeping idly in the background? Shizuo keeps looking at him, and Izaya realizes, feels his face grow hot.

“Who are you?” Shizuo asks again.

“Your worst enemy.”

“Really? You don't seem all that bad.” Shizuo shifts a bit, winces. “You're not scared of me, are you?”

“Not now, not ever.”

Shizuo nods, and his lip wobbles. “People tell me all the time they aren't scared of me, but I know they are, deep down. How could they not be? They'd have to be crazy. But...” Shizuo chokes up, laughs a little. “I can tell you mean it. And if that makes you crazy, I think that's okay, because it feels good to not be feared, for once.”

Izaya lowers his legs, leaning closer to the bed. He idly touches the flimsy fabric of the blanket draped over Shizuo, who is watching him curiously. Izaya looks away.

“Sometimes you're so pathetically simple it makes me want to vomit. Sometimes it feels like a chore, hating you. Did you know that?” Izaya asks softly, and there's a long pause after his words, no sounds aside from their breathing. Even the machines have somehow gone quiet.

“So then why do you?” Shizuo asks at last.

“Isn't it funny that it's been so long of us hating each other that I forgot what caused it in the first place? I think you did, too.” Izaya crosses his arms over the bed, puts his head down. “People like us will always be at each other's throats. It's just the way it is.”

“You sound like a grownup,” Shizuo says, glaring now. “They always say that, when they don't know the answer to something. 'It's just the way it is.' If you don't know, then why does it matter in the first place?”

“Believe it or not, I am a grownup. I'm only a kid right now because you're one, too. We're always the same age in these dreams, even if only one of us remembers the future at a time.” Izaya lifts his head enough to grin at Shizuo, who blushes and immediately turns away. He seems to be trying to gather the courage to say something, but there's suddenly a knock at the door, and Izaya turns towards it. “Expecting someone else?”

“Huh?”

“There's knocking.”

“I don't hear anything.”

Izaya stands. “Oh. This may be in real life. I think I'm waking up.”

“Waking up? Does that mean leaving?” Shizuo's eyes look panicked. “When will you be back?”

“I never know. Why do you keep wanting to see me so badly? You're the one pulling me back here, you have to be.” The room starts to grow fuzzy as the dreamscape begins to fall apart around them.

“You're not scared of me. You laughed at me instead of running— Fuck!” Shizuo seems to be trying to get up to grab Izaya, but he can't with his arms bandaged. “Tell me your name so I can find you again!”

“You'll just call me a flea anyway, won't you? So it doesn't matter.”

***

Izaya opens his eyes to discover he passed out at his desk at some point. He sits up and frowns at the container of pasta next to him. He remembers ordering dinner for himself and Namie, and then...

“Ugh. Of course she just left,” Izaya mutters to himself. Namie is an opportunist if nothing else. She isn't the type to stick around and see what happens next, unlike Izaya. Another knock sounds at the door. “Who is it?” Izaya calls, feeling sluggish. He checks his phone to find he's been asleep for about two hours.

“Me!” Shinra's voice replies, muffled from the door. “Let me in, would you? I've been knocking forever!”

Grumbling, Izaya makes his way across the room, opening it for Shinra, who waltzes inside like he owns the place.

“Hi! I'm working late tonight, and I didn't have time to eat dinner before I left, so I figured while I was in Shinjuku I could come see what you had—“ Shinra stops talking and tilts his head to the side, observing Izaya. “You look awful. What have you been up to?”

“Also working,” Izaya says. He reaches up to wipe crusted drool from the corner of his mouth. “So you came to raid my fridge?”

“Ah, yes!” Shinra turns and continues his march to the kitchen. “I just got done with an emergency call, and next I'll be going to visit another patient. I didn't want fast food, so here I am! Did Yagiri-san make anything?”

“Should be leftovers somewhere around here.” Izaya looks back at his own pasta, feels his stomach rumble. He can't remember the last time he really ate or slept fully.

“Why don't we eat something together?” Shinra asks. “You look ready to fall over.”

Izaya ends up tossing the pasta. It was congealed together, and not very good in the first place. Namie picked the place to order from, but he'll definitely complain enough about it later to where they don't order from there again. Shinra actually goes through the trouble of throwing together some fried rice, because Izaya doesn't have the ingredients for much else. He'll have to send Namie for groceries.

“So what are you working on so religiously, anyway?” Shinra asks as they sit down. “I haven't seen you this absorbed in work for a while.”

“It's not just one assignment, but multiple. All of them are due around the same time.” Izaya eats a bite of rice and shrugs. “It's just poor timing.”

“More than that though, right? I heard Shiki-san was pissed at you for multiple reasons. Sounds like he's keeping you overloaded on purpose.” Shinra smirks at him. “You can never leave well-enough alone, Izaya-kun.”

“'Well-enough',” Izaya scoffs. “If he had his way, I'd be locked in a cage, of use only to him and his little cronies.”

“That's what you signed up for. You'll get yourself killed if you keep meddling. I mean, come on, Akane-chan? What did you think would happen by sending her off on her own like that?”

“Who says I was behind any of that? Akane-chan has a smartphone. Kids like her are always going to be involved in things, because they want better than they're given.”

“I don't believe you, and I know Shiki-san doesn't, either. It's clear he's punishing you, but...” Shinra leans closer, lowers his voice like he thinks Shiki is in the next room. “To be honest, I thought you'd have it way worse than this. You ordered Shizuo-kun's attack too, didn't you? I thought Shiki-san would hang you upside-down.”

“Again, Shinra, you're reaching way too far. I never said I was responsible for Shizu-chan either.”

Shinra pouts, and then sits back in his chair, shoveling down more rice. “Fine. Don't tell me. Just take better care of yourself, at any rate. It's not like you can't cure the effects of fatigue with your power. You're choosing to suffer, right? But then again, you've always been like that.”

“Don't you have another appointment soon?” Izaya asks, annoyed by Shinra and his big mouth. He's often wondered if friendship is supposed to be this exhausting, but it isn't like he has anything else to compare it to. Shinra was always the only one crazy enough to stick around.

“I'm only saying. You should accept your punishments and actually learn something from them every now and then. It seems like you just bounce back, more determined to make a nuisance of yourself than before.”

“If I don't make a nuisance of myself, I'll die from boredom,” Izaya lilts. “It's really that simple.”

“More like you're worried about being forgotten.”

Izaya resists the urge to throw something at Shinra, who is wearing a strange expression, something akin to actual concern.

“You've improved on your acting ability,” Izaya says, pushing away from the table. “Don't act friendly towards me now. It doesn't suit you.”

“I am your friend,” Shinra insists. “I'm the only one you've got, so maybe you should listen to me once in a while.”

“It always goes back to Celty anyway. What, are you worried I'm going to use her for something too dangerous?”

“Celty agrees with me that it's unusual for you to allow Shizuo-kun to be in your space as you have. Are you actually feeling guilty?”

“Are you?” Izaya stands and grabs a bottle of red wine from his counter before he pads over to his desk. “I don't have the time for this, Shinra. See yourself out when you're ready to go.”

Shinra sighs loudly, finishes his dinner, and picks up his briefcase. He walks towards the door.

“Take care of yourself, Izaya-kun. If you even know how to.”

Izaya uses his magic to slam the door shut behind Shinra, and then he drinks until he passes out.

***

He wakes hours later, in bed somehow.

Groaning, he sits up, trying to remember the night before. His mouth feels like cotton, and his head feels like it's trying to split itself open. He thinks he may throw up at some point in the very near future.

“Feeling better?” Tsukumoya asks from beside him. The shades are drawn closed, and the room is still dark despite the sun being out. Izaya glares at the vampire in his space.

“Why are you here?” he croaks.

“You don't remember? You invited me. We fucked.” Tsukumoya has his laptop, and is typing ridiculously fast even as he speaks. “It was quite the evening.”

“I'm serious. You just keep popping up. It's annoying.”

“Mm. I had a feeling you were being your usual destructive self. There's water for you on your nightstand.”

Izaya reaches next to him, grabs the glass before chugging it. His stomach immediately churns dangerously in protest.

“Why not take a healing potion? I know you have plenty of them,” Tsukumoya says, still not looking at him.

“Don't need it.”

“Right, you don't. The great Orihara Izaya doesn't need anything or anyone, how could I forget?” Tsukumoya finally glances over at him. “You might need to reconsider. Tonight's the night of the full moon. You'll need to be alert when your puppy visits.”

“Fuck, is it? I forgot all about it.” Izaya groans and flops back into the bed, rolling away from the annoying vampire in his space. “You weren't supposed to come until tomorrow.”

“Stop complaining so much. Do you need more water?”

Grumbling, Izaya tries to piece together the night before. He drank too much, he remembers that. Shinra was being annoying. He definitely fell asleep at his desk, meaning Tsukumoya carried him to bed.

“We didn't really fuck, did we?” Izaya asks.

“No. Did you want to?” Tsukumoya's voice is annoyingly smug. “I wouldn't be opposed.”

Izaya snorts and closes his eyes, wills the room to stop spinning. “Don't flatter yourself. You're not my type.”

“I'm not? Here I thought you had a thing for monsters.”

Izaya considers throwing Tsukumoya across the room, but that would be rising to the stupid teasing, and it would require more effort than he currently wants to exert. He stays where he is, listening to the sound of Tsukumoya's fingers on the keys.

“You're being especially pitiful lately, Izaya,” Tsukumoya says after a while. “So you've lost control of your little game, so what? Maybe you should think of what to do next instead of working to the point of exhaustion. You know I hate it when you're predictable.”

“Why does it matter what I do? I'm trapped.”

Tsukumoya sighs. “Yes, you are. And what are you going to do about it?”

“Right now, I'm going to be miserably hungover. Next, who knows? It'll surprise us both.”

“If only I found you sooner.” Tsukumoya goes back to typing. “The things you could've done. Humans are always finding ways to control what they don't understand or fear. But now, you can only help yourself. If you believe you're going to be trapped forever, they've already won.”

“I know that.” Izaya thinks of the work assignments that aren't ever going to stop, and he thinks of Akane, of Shizuo. He knows he went too far, but he has to go even further still.

Tsukumoya seems like he wants to say more, but he pauses, and the typing stops once more.

“You really might want to take that potion now,” he says. “One of your executives is on his way here.”

***

Izaya does not take the potion, and when he answers his door, it's with a slightly green complexion. Akabayashi takes one look at him, and promptly bursts into laughter.

“Oh, wow. And I thought I drank too much. You look awful, brat.” Akabayashi invites himself inside, stepping around Izaya. “I'm doing a wellness check on behalf of the boss. You understand, right?”

“Seems like I have more people in my life than I thought,” Izaya says, closing the door before moving to his couch. “This is my third wellness check.”

“Hard to believe a roach like you has friends, but then again, this city has an infestation. You missed a deadline today.”

“I got a little carried away last night. I've been in bed all day.”

“But you answered the door fully dressed, like you've been up and about,” Akabayashi presses.

“I sensed you coming,” Izaya lies.

Akabayashi hums in thought, and he grins menacingly. “Ya know, I ran into Heiwajima the other day at Sunshine. He seemed really interested in who bit him and why.”

“You should tell him,” Izaya says. “If anything, it would get him off my back for a while.”

“Oh, don't act innocent. We all know who made the phone call that started everything.”

“Clearly what I want doesn't matter. You've made that abundantly clear.”

Akabayashi walks closer to the couch, and he leans closer to Izaya. “Watch yourself, kid. Just because you haven't been caught in the act yet doesn't mean we don't know you're guilty. That magic of yours will only get you so far with us.”

“If your power spans so far, you shouldn't be worried about what I did or didn't do. If you really knew I was guilty, you'd have killed me by now,” Izaya says.

“Assuming monsters like you actually have enough humanity left to die.”

“Why don't we both find out?”

They glare at each other, and Izaya can sense from Akabayashi that the executive would like nothing more than to tear him limb from limb, but he won't. It would be against Shiki's wishes, and as much as Akabayashi hates it, he has to follow orders, or he'll be next on the chopping block. He takes another step towards the couch, but before he can do or say anything, the door slams open with such force that it bangs against the wall and cracks it.

“Hello, Shizu-chan,” Izaya calls without breaking eye-contact with Akabayashi. “Entertain yourself for a moment, will you?”

“What the fuck is this?” Shizuo asks. He growls when he notices Akabayashi. “Oi! I still have questions for you, asshole!”

“I'm sure you do,” Akabayashi says, standing up straight again. He grins at Shizuo. “I can't answer 'em for you, though. Sorry about that.”

“I could always beat it out of you,” Shizuo says, cracking his knuckles. “I'm even stronger than I used to be, since you bastards made me into a monster.”

“You wouldn't get far. I'd relax, if I were you.” Akabayashi turns back to Izaya. “Get to work, brat. Shiki's only so forgiving.” With that, he turns on his heel, and goes towards the door. Shizuo makes to stop him, but Izaya lifts his hand and summons Shizuo backwards, towards the couch.

“What the fuck!” Shizuo shouts, fighting it. “Let me go!”

“Don't make me exert myself, Shizu-chan. I'm having a rough day,” Izaya says. Shizuo turns and glowers at him, but his features soften.

“What's wrong with you? Are you sick?”

“Yes.” The door opens and closes, and Izaya knows he's alone with Shizuo once more. “You didn't knock this time.”

“Didn't think I needed to. It's not like you weren't expecting me.” Shizuo leans down, scrutinizes Izaya. “You're hungover.”

“Don't read my mind,” Izaya huffs, curling into himself.

“I didn't. You reek of alcohol.”

Grumbling, Izaya summons a blanket and throws it over himself. He doesn't know if he prefers Tsukumoya's company to Shizuo's, but at the moment, he thinks he'd rather deal with the vampire. At least for a little bit.

What a messy flea. Shizuo thinks, and then he walks away from the couch. There's the sound of him sifting through the fridge, but there isn't anything for him to find. Namie had the day off, and Shinra cooked what little was available the night before.

“You might have to order out,” Izaya calls. “You have a couple of hours before sunset.”

Shizuo growls loudly, thinks something about Izaya being useless, and then pulls out his phone. Izaya stays where he is and doesn't move, enjoys the silence for a few moments before it's ultimately shattered by Shizuo, who is suddenly sitting on the couch near Izaya, but still far enough to where they're both comfortable.

“I ordered pizza,” Shizuo says, and he leans back against the couch cushions. “You should foot the bill.”

“If you wanted me to pay, you could've ordered something better,” Izaya replies.

“Nah, everywhere else would've taken too long. Pizza is fast and easy.”

Izaya watches sleepily as Shizuo picks up the remote and turns the TV on, flipping through a few channels before settling on a soap opera. It should feel weird, sitting here with Shizuo, watching a woman sob because she caught her husband having an affair, but it really doesn't feel weird at all. Maybe Izaya is too tired to feel one way or another about it, or maybe their strange mental link has done the majority of the work in making them civil towards one another. Either way, Izaya feels comfortable enough to let his guard down a little, and it's an instant relief, like setting down something immensely heavy.

“So, I don't get it. Why are you just sitting here feeling like shit when you can heal yourself easily enough?” Shizuo is still looking at the screen, but he's back to poking around in Izaya's head, whether he knows he's doing it or not.

“Shut up, Shizu-chan,” Izaya says without any real bite.

“Oh. You just want to feel bad. Seems like a stupid thing for someone who's supposed to be some kind of genius, but whatever.”

The woman on screen is confronting her husband's mistress, and it winds up in a fist fight on a balcony. Izaya snorts when the mistress is pushed off to her death. How predictable. Shizuo is scowling at the TV, but he's thinking about his shared dreams with Izaya, and also about some images he's been seeing through Izaya's side of the link. He's also thinking about Shinra, who apparently ran into Shizuo last night after his last appointment. Shinra seemed worried about Izaya.

He's a good actor. Izaya sends. He always has been.

I don't think he was acting. You look worse than you normally do.

I'm hungover, as you so aptly put it. You being in my head isn't helping me feel better.

“I'm not doing it on purpose!” Shizuo snaps, and the sudden loudness has Izaya flinching. “I don't get why it's happening either, okay? I'm only just now starting to believe it's not actually you doing it.”

Because you've seemed like such a mess ever since it started. Shizuo thinks, and Izaya grinds his teeth in frustration.

“I'm not a mess.”

“What did that guy want?” Shizuo asks, changing the subject abruptly.

“Akabayashi-san stops by from time to time to threaten me. It's a pastime for him.” Izaya is starting to feel nauseous again, so he closes his eyes and wills it to go away.

“Don't you work for him, though?”

“I don't work for anybody. I'm a freelance informant for hire, and I give the organization he's part of information when they pay me for it, same as anyone else.”

Shizuo frowns, thinks something biting about Izaya working for the Yakuza. “He seemed like he wanted to hurt you.”

“Oh, he does. They all do,” Izaya says. “They'd kill me if they could.”

Shizuo doesn't like that he has something in common with the Yakuza. He grimaces before he says, “So what? You're just too strong to die or some shit?”

“No,” Izaya replies. “I'm just too important for them do dispose of. I'm part of the reason they're as powerful as they are, and they know it, even if they hate it, even if they hate me. I'm the strongest tool in their arsenal. Killing me would be crippling themselves.”

Silence follows Izaya's words. Shizuo's mind is a whirlwind now, thinking so many things at once, all laced with rage. He doesn't like anything about what Izaya said, the way it was said so flippantly, the way Izaya doesn't seem to mind. Shizuo doesn't like that Izaya thinks of himself as a tool, as something other than human, even if it might be true. Shizuo doesn't want to think of himself as other than human, either.

Shizuo doesn't seem to do well with the truth.

“That isn't true,” Shizuo growls, no doubt in response to Izaya's thoughts. “You're a person. I'm a person. We're other things too, but whatever we are, we're human first. You said so yourself, right? You can die, you can be killed. You're human enough to die.”

“I'm telling you this once, and once only, beast,” Izaya murmurs, opening his eyes to glare at the TV as he speaks. “It would be the exact same as breaking a screwdriver, or losing your favorite toy. If I died, that would be it. They would just replace me. They want to, and they would if they could, but I'm one of the last of my kind, and I'm definitely the most powerful one left. I don't care about it, because I've always known I was only useful for what I knew and what I could do. If you're going to be hated, you damn well better be useful. That's the way it is.”

“Fuck that!” Shizuo yells, and he stands, his hands clenched into fists. “What the hell are you talking about? You think it's okay to sit here and feel sorry for yourself, like you didn't have a hand in being the hated little rat you are? You think it's just because of your magic? You're the one deciding to do the shitty things you do. People hate you. If they knew you were a witch, whatever, maybe some of them would hate you more, but it's only because they hate you already. Get the fuck over yourself.”

Izaya laughs, delighted at the outburst. Doing so hurts his head, and his vision swims. This is pitiful, isn't it? Feeling useless, being forced to lie back and swallow vomit just so no one else can ask anything more of him. If he's a tool, he's a damaged one, and every time he's human, he dulls himself a little more. If this is a game to be played, and his opponents have the winning hand, Izaya will make sure none of them win. He'll destroy himself if he has to. He'll destroy everything.

“Trust me, Shizu-chan,” he croaks, “I know they would've hated me either way. The difference between us is you're searching so hard for a place to belong, and I've accepted long ago that it doesn't exist. Now would you kindly shut the fuck up? My head hurts.”

Shizuo is seething, his breaths labored as he works to calm himself down. He wants to lift Izaya up and shake him until his head pops off. Then Shizuo wants to tear apart everything in the apartment, maybe go punch Akabayashi for good measure. He hates that he sees the reasoning in Izaya's words. He hates himself, and he hates Izaya more than anything else.

“Get out of my head,” Shizuo grits out.

“I'm trying,” Izaya says, and he leaves it at that.

They lapse back into silence, and when Shizuo flops back onto the couch, his brow is furrowed, his jaw set. It's clear he isn't going to let this go, but he at least doesn't want to be in a terrible mood before his transformation. The bloodlust is worse when he's angry. He has to keep reminding himself that Izaya is a liar, first and foremost. Izaya uses words to protect himself, and Shizuo doesn't have to, and won't, ever do the same.

“Well, isn't this cozy?” Tsukumoya's voice asks as he walks down the stairs. He's wearing a hood, covering himself from the weakening rays of sun that still shine through the windows.

“I thought you left,” Izaya calls as Shizuo whirls to growl at the vampire.

“I was going to, but I figured I'd stick around to make sure you didn't die,” Tsukumoya says. He smirks at the scene of Shizuo and Izaya sitting together almost peacefully, watching trash TV in silence. “I wondered how your nights with the puppy went. I suppose I can see for myself now.”

“Why the fuck are you here?!” Shizuo barks, and then he whirls to face Izaya. “Does he always just pop up like this?”

“Not always,” Izaya says. “He stayed the night.”

“What?”

“Relax, Heiwajima-san. Rest assured, I didn't touch him.” Tsukumoya flounces past the couch while Shizuo's face turns a variety of fun colors. “At least, not much.”

Shizuo stands from the couch, and Izaya sighs loudly.

“Don't you have anything better to do?” he asks Tsukumoya, who is still looking at Shizuo appraisingly.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I trust you won't drink yourself stupid a second night in a row?” Tsukumoya says, looking at Izaya.

“I don't have the luxury tonight,” Izaya answers.

“Right, you're puppy-sitting.”

“Do you mean me, you fucking—“ Shizuo starts, and he barrels towards Tsukumoya, who easily side-steps him.

“Make sure you eat something at some point,” Tsukumoya calls to Izaya. “That pizza will help you feel better.”

“I don't want it,” Izaya grumbles, covering his head with the blanket. He hates both of the people in his space right now, and he just wants to sleep.

You must be making a conscious effort to not heal yourself if you're still this sick over a hangover. Tsukumoya's voice sounds in Izaya's head. Is this really helping anything?

Yes. Izaya can't escape either of them, can he? They're both annoyingly perceptive and persistent. He can feel fondness radiating from Tsukumoya, but it's quickly being overshadowed by the amount of fury pouring from Shizuo, who is clearly listening to their mental conversation.

“Your pizza is here,” Tsukumoya says, and the knock comes a moment later. “Make sure he eats something, please,” he says to Shizuo, and then he vanishes before anything else can be said.

***

Shizuo scarfs down the entire pizza at breakneck speed, once or twice trying to get Izaya to accept a slice before giving up. He doesn't care if Izaya eats or not, and he doesn't care if Izaya feels sick or not. Shizuo's mood increases as he eats, and by the time he's finished, he's as mellow as he ever is while sharing a space with his mortal enemy.

Izaya, for his part, is starting to feel a little better. His stomach rumbles a bit at the scent of the pizza, but his appetite wanes at the grotesquely barbaric way Shizuo eats. It seems worse than usual, more...animalistic.

In fact...something seems off about Shizuo, even for a full moon. Maybe something happened earlier, or maybe Shizuo just went too long without eating until now, but Izaya can sense the bloodlust permeating from Shizuo like a miasma.

“Shizu-chan,” Izaya says, slowly sitting up to level his gaze at his unwanted guest. “Have you taken your potion?”

“Huh? Of course I have,” Shizuo replies. His hair is glowing from the fading rays of the sun as it descends behind the tall buildings outside.

“Have you taken it exactly as you should, the way I instructed?” Izaya asks through clenched teeth, already knowing the answer.

“Well— I drank it all a couple of days ago. I spent all day with Vorona, and I didn't want—“ Shizuo pauses at the look on Izaya's face. “What? What did I do wrong? You said to take it all before the full moon, and I did!”

“I told you to drink it every day, bit by bit, and to finish it before the full moon. The exact way you've done every month until now, because you're so pathetic in the presence of that woman that you can't follow basic fucking instructions!” Izaya snaps, and Shizuo's eyes widen.

He looks scared. Shizuo thinks, and then a beat later, Oh fuck. He's scared of me.

“Izaya, I—“ Shizuo begins, and then his hands grip his knees as his body begins to shake. The sun's rays fade at last, bathing them in twilight. “I feel...wrong.”

Izaya stands from the couch, the room spinning as he does. He's not at his full power. Even if he weren't hungover, he hasn't been eating or sleeping the way he should, buried in work as he is, and reluctant to care for himself as ever. He starts towards the stairs, in search of the healing potion he should have taken earlier, but he knows it's already far too late, as Shizuo's body is already beginning to crack and twist, and his mind is already gone, replaced by that of a true monster.

“Shizu-chan, you're such a fucking idiot,” Izaya hisses, and his sentence is barely finished before Shizuo is lunging at him, aiming for his throat.

[dhaaruni]

Ramona loves the world with ferocity; she does not so much want to disturb it as she yearns to discover, to turn it over, examine every piece and crook and marvel at why each creature, commodity, and substance exists the way it does.

[...]

And yet, Ramona, whose family lives in the working-class Pacific Northwest, does not eschew gender and behavioral norms out of calculated defiance, but rather out of disbelief that metrics of femininity and propriety could matter in the grand scheme of things. It would be vastly oversimplifying to refer to Ramona as a tomboy; she nurtures crushes on classmates and wants a pair of gleaming red galoshes that match the ones worn by other girls in her kindergarten class. But most crucially, Ramona is dissatisfied by the template for any childhood that doesn’t accommodate her brash exuberance, or that would compel her to assimilate into the status quo.

[...]

It’s in the atmosphere, our disdain for too muchness, and Ramona absorbs it, recognizing in her quivering little bones that this quality propels her and that sometimes it leads her astray. But if Ramona senses that her impulses are not always compatible with suburban niceties, she refuses to diminish herself. Her character is not a problem to be solved. She demands that those who comprise her universe bear witness to her tangled, wild yearnings—and, what’s more, that they embrace her for them.

[...]

To this day, a little girl’s too muchness is not a right, but a privileged exception typically reserved for white, able-bodied heroines.

– How Ramona Quimby Taught a Generation of Girls to Embrace Brashness by Rachel Vorona Cote