#what a kid who doesn't exist yet is gonna like or need or be open to

[maple-the-awesome]

The Chain Meets His Baby || 2/2

Part 1 ||

Pairing: Twilight, Warrior, Legend, Sky x Reader

Requested by @kieradumpzz081927: I hope your request are open(or if ur free for requests), so i saw ur LU oneshots about the one that is called ' He becames a dad ' or smth. So, why not that he would introduce his kid(s) to the chain? That ones going to be interesting Warning: Some mature jokes here and there. Nothing major, but gotta give the new dad a little hell, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Zelda Masterlist 🤍Fandom Masterlist

Six minutes and twenty seconds. That's how long you were able to relax before a series of knocks ruined your peace. Predictably, the sound is enough to echo throughout your small home followed by shrilling cries from the once silent cradle mere feet from your bedside. 

You could almost cry yourself, although you're able to hold in your frustrations thanks to the smoothing pat your husband gives your head before sighing heavily himself and sitting up from bed. All the two of you wanted was one second of sleep - one second to collapse in bed next to each other and rest your eyes which feel as if they haven't shut in weeks, but apparently, that's too much to ask of this universe.

After giving a quick kiss to your cheek (and smirking at your annoyed grumbling), Twilight slides off the bed and makes his way to the cradle. There, he skillfully sweeps the wiggling newborn into his arms, cooing the distressed baby loving as they make their way to the front door. Seeing as this precious child has only existed for a mere week, it can't really be too much of a surprise that your home has become a hotspot for visitors. Between the village children excitedly wanting to see their newest member and their parents stopping by to offer meals, advice, and all-around support, it seems your door is almost always open these days (not you truly mind one bit), although as it would turn out, your current company doesn't fall into the excepted categories. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Twilight suddenly doesn't feel so tired anymore once setting eyes upon the familiar group. They're all here - all eight of the heroes of courage; his treasured friends. This is, what, the third time his world has somehow crossed with theirs? This is really becoming a common pattern, isn't it, and for a split moment, Twilight feels a strike of fear at the thought of this being the start of yet another long, tiresome journey. Now!? He couldn't possibly leave now! What kind of partner and father would that make him? You need him here. He promised he'd be home for you, and for -

"- There's no danger, so don't fret. We've already investigated everything before coming here," Time, who must've read Twilight's worried expression, promptly explains things while failing to fall victim to the same jaw-dropped silence that strikes every other hero in the group as they all stare in astonishment at Twilight - or more accurately, the bothered baby huffing in his arms.

Instead of mocking surprise, Time’s eye casually drops to acknowledge the little one, his lips lifting into a pleasant smile, “...And this must be the famous pup I’ve heard so much about?”

“Wait, you knew?!” Sky gasps, everyone’s shocked attention snapping to the Old Man. He pays them no mind, too focused on his main priority of being the first to hold his great-great-something grandson who Twilight eagerly passes over.

“Ah!” The Rancher’s once worried expression changes like a switch, flashing away into an all-too excited grin. As has been common lately, having new company around immediately sparkles a rambling spiel fueled by his flooding avidity (which has impressively failed to die down even with the exhaustion of early fatherhood), “I was gonna send letters to y’all - it just slipped my mind. These past few days have been a bit chaotic while getting all adjusted. Yep, this one’s mine - lil’ Lupin. He’s officially four days old, born at 10:14 in the morning at a healthy 7.6 pounds -”

“- You’re gonna have to write all that down for any of us to remember it,” Wild rolls his eyes, although it’s in good spirit as he peeks at the tiny baby with a small smile. It doesn’t take the other boys long to notice that, like Time, their Champion doesn’t seem too surprised by this situation either, looking at the newborn with only a little bit more interest than he would a cute puppy.

“I take it you knew, too, then?” Four quizzes.

“He kept hinting towards it at first until I finally gave in and asked. I didn’t know when to expect them to be here, though.”

“It’s been nine months since then,” Twilight points out teasingly, causing Wild to huff and throw his hands up in the air defensively. 

“How should I know how long they take to bake! Besides, judging by the way you practically sent me a whole novel about how excited you were, I figured it was only going to be a matter of weeks, maybe a few months by that point. How in Hylia’s name did you stand to be like that for nine?”

“I barely did! It was hell having to be that patience, anyone here could tell you…but Lupin’s here now and definitely worth the wait, I’d say,” Twilight sighs dramatically, looking lovingly at his son who by now has settled peacefully in the comfort of Time’s arms, no longer squirming and fussing. To be fair, his ancestor does have quite a bit of practice juggling twins at this point. One is nothing.

“He’s a beautiful baby, that’s for sure,” Time chuckles, at last taking his eyes away from his newest family member, “You did good, cub.” 

Twilight preens at his mentor’s compliment, “Isn’t he? I’ve been around other babies before, but having one of my very own…It just hits different, ya’ know? …I actually wouldn’t mind a couple more -”

“- Don’t push your luck, mister,” On cue, you appear from around the corner, tiredly rubbing your eyes yet managing a smile to greet the rest of the Chain, "You weren't the one who had to go through nine months of heartburn followed by hours of torture.”

“- Eventually. I wouldn't mind a couple more ‘eventually’,” Twilight clarifies, quick to hook his arm around your waist and pull you against himself the second you’re close enough, “Besides, you handled it like a queen.”

You roll your eyes while resting your head against his shoulder, “Flattery won’t get you anywhere different.”

“That’s not what you said nine months ago~” Twilight smirks, pressing a kiss to your forehead only to earn himself a swat against the head.

Warrior originally elected to ignore the heavy knocking at his front door which threatened his peaceful morning's silence. Whatever this kingdom demands of him, they can simply add it to his tab. He's comfortable in bed where it's warm and you're snuggled in his arms, looking as beautiful as ever with a mess of bedhead and matching dark circles under your eyes. Best of all? Your son has achieved a new record of sleeping for three straight hours - THREE! 

Now, Warrior is relatively used to less-than-ideal sleep schedules as a hero and captain, so having a newborn around hasn't quite hit him with the same force as it might a typical man, but that doesn't mean either of you are going to be ungrateful towards this new parenting milestone. No, you were planning on taking full advantage of it actually, wanting nothing more than to spend a lazy morning in bed until your little monster inevitably awakes...however, it seems the universe always has other plans.

The knocking only grows more frequent and loud, drawing a groan from your fiancé who finally relents. Pushing himself out of bed, he reluctantly answers the door without much effort put into hiding his annoyed expression - that is until it naturally snaps into one of mild shock and excitement at the sight of his visitors. Instead of it being someone from the Castle or military, he's pleasantly surprised to find his old traveling companions, the other heroes of courage.

"What are you all doing here?" He suddenly doesn't feel so tired anymore, in fact he’s stricken with more life and a bright smile while gazing over the group to count each familiar face. Yep, they're all here - all eight of them. It's been so long! Well, maybe not that long. It hasn't even been a full year yet since visiting Twilight's family together, but that's still plenty of time to miss old friends.

"Well, some of us have been talking lately and we thought, why not put some time aside from our busy lives to have a little get together - just us heroes, for old times’ sake!” Wild announces enthusiastically, practically inviting himself inside, not that Warrior stops him or any of the others for that matter.

“It could be a little tradition of ours. Once a year, type of thing,” Sky explains more professionally, although he isn’t any less excited than the Champion. 

"A nice boy's trip to save you from the misses," Legend rephrases, elbowing the Captain’s side with a wink while passing by.

Warrior will admit: it is an intriguing proposal - getting away from the stresses of a hero to spend quality time with brothers who understand your woes. If only the Chain had visited a few months earlier, he’d be willing to entertain such a trip, but alas, he must give them a sympathetic smile instead, “As much fun as that sounds, I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you. At least not this time around.”

Immediately, the group’s uplifted smiles drop into disappointed frowns emphasized by a chorus of dejected groans. 

"You knights and all your fancy work kissing the royal family’s ass," Legend huffs, and Warrior was just about to bite back on that comment with a jab of his own, however their conversation is suddenly interrupted. 

A piercing cry catches the entire Chain off guard, many of the boys looking around wildly for the possible threat while others - namely Time and Twilight - are jolted by that familiar protective instinct they know all too well of from their own home lives.

“Actually, there’s another reason,” Warrior doesn’t hide his amusement towards everyone’s reactions nor does he hide his tired sigh once realizing his free trial of peace-and-quiet has ended. 

He doesn’t even make it to the doorway before you appear, already rocking the baby gently in your arms. It takes some fussing from both of you to smooth his tears, calming him down just long enough for Warrior to turn back to his friends while proudly gesturing to the newborn in your arms, “Well, allow us to introduce our son, Einar.”

From there, it takes mere seconds for the Chain to snap out of it and instantly crowd you both, each fighting to get a good look at this ‘son’ in question.

“Since when did you guys have a kid?!” Hyrule awes.

“He’s so little…He can’t be that old, right?” Sky gasps.

“Only a few weeks, I reckon,” Time observes calmly from the back, tall enough to simply gaze over the sea of shoulders and heads. 

“Hey, move out of the way! I can’t see! I wanna see, too!” Wind whines, shrugging to push his way through the barrier of bodies.

Twilight, steps back from the chaos to throw a playful smirk Warrior’s way, “Here I thought you were waiting for kids.”

“Us too,” You roll your eyes.

“Life happens,” Your partner merely shrugs, not even attempting to act ashamed of himself as he accepts responsibility of holding Einar while you excuse yourself to prepare a bottle once he starts whimpering again, “But we wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

“Geeze, you’re all getting old on us,” Legend mocks, eyeing Warrior, Time, and Twilight, “Not even three years ago, the Old Man was the only one of us in a committed relationship, now all three of you are suddenly tied down with children!”

“Don’t go sounding too jealous, Vet. I’m sure you’ll have your turn someday,” Warrior smirks, resulting in the other hero sticking out his tongue in disgust.

“As if. Me? A dad? You sure the world should be subjected to that?”

“Right. You might actually be doing everyone a favor by not reproducing.”

“Oh fuck off -”

“- Shh! Not in front of the baby!”

“I, for one, wouldn’t mind being a dad one day. It seems like a lot of fun,” Sky, coos, letting little Einar play with his finger, “If you ever need a babysitter, just let me know.”

"Careful. We might end up taking you up on that offer with how little we've been sleeping lately."

"Get accustomed to it, my friend, because it doesn't go away anytime soon," Time advises with a pat to the back, failing to hide the mirth filtering his voice as the new father sighs exasperatedly.

Legend isn’t usually the type to delight himself with hosting guests, nor is he much of an initiator when it comes to any sort of social interaction, so suffice to say, the Chain was rather thrown to have received unprompted invites to visit his world and home. Why the sudden open door? He gave no explanation, leaving all of the boys guessing, although Time has a few notable theories swirling in mind.

It all goes back to months ago when Legend had unexpectedly appeared at Lon Lon Ranch, claiming to have simply ‘been in the area’, yet Time knew better than to believe that. An experienced man like himself immediately took notice of his friend’s frazzled and irritable mood, such a state of dishevelment hinting towards one thing: problems at home - problems likely relating to you, to be exact, seeing as your boyfriend was swift to avoid any mention of your name when prompted.

Realizing that prying would be ineffective against someone so notorious for his emotional barriers, Time had allowed Legend to stay with him and his family without question. He, of course, kept a close eye on the young man, trying to deduce the situation the best he could from all those frustrated grumbles while working chores and pitiful sighs as the two sat together on the back porch after dinner. 

It was then that Legend had taken the moment to ask Time a rather odd question that had admittedly hung in the Old Man’s head for days afterwards along with a curious conclusion as to the true reason behind his sudden visit, however nothing more was said that night beyond some wisely woven words soaked in hidden meaning.

By morning, the veteran hero was visibly relaxed when quietly expressing his plans to return home to you. Clearly, whatever troubles that once plagued his mind had been resolved following a day of reflection and a goodnight’s sleep, so Time felt confident sending Legend back on his way with a wish of luck and an offer to return whenever needed.

Perhaps that incident and this friendly invite are unrelated, after all, it’s been months between the two, although Time can’t help but wonder, the memory of Legend’s question being of particular interest as the Chain approaches their destination. 

Some of the boys share their concerns along the way, a bit unsettled by the thought of Legend wanting to see them. Warrior even suggests the possibility of their friend having gone through a bad break-up, insisting there’s logic behind his guess since losing you would be the Vet’s lowest point, the extreme heartache being enough for him to abandon all stubbornness and reach out to the Chain for moral support. Arguments deemed his theory outlandish, however when Legend opens his front door to greet them, the boys begin to worry Warrior might indeed be a good prophet…

“It took you all long enough,” He huffs, his voice worn and scratchy which really sends home his obvious lack of sleep when paired with his unkempt appearance; heavy bags under his eyes and shaggy hair that stands up on all ends, “Come in, come in…”

‘Oh Hylia!’ The Chain thinks, sorrow for their friend already sinking into their bones as they illy prepare themselves for a story of true despair. Yes, Legend can be difficult and stubborn at times, and maybe you had your reasons, but surely he couldn’t have messed up bad enough to warrant you leaving him! Hasn’t the poor guy already been through enough?

“...Hey man, you doing alright?” Warrior was just about to rip the bandage off, his hand placed supportively upon his friend’s shoulder which earned him a sleepy look that falls sort of its intended glare, however before he can get any reply -

“- BABY!” Wind’s gasp pierces ears and makes several of the others leap in their skin. Indeed, if following the youngest hero’s excited point, it'll lead to where you stand in the doorway with an amused (that be it tired) chuckle…So, you didn’t leave after all? You’re still here, looking as rough as your partner which is probably excusable since in your arms is, in fact, a new baby.

“Hello everyone. I’m glad you could all make it.”

“...Oh thank Hylia you didn’t leave him!”

“What -?” Legend raises an eyebrow at Warrior’s dramatic sigh, yet he doesn’t get much of a chance to be offended. No one would notice anyway, their attention having swiftly abandoned their dear old friend in exchange for you and the baby you introduce.

“His name is Liron,” You note, earning a chorus of awes as the sweet little bundle scrunches his tiny face in displeasure towards the disruption to his peaceful sleep; already, he looks so much like his dad.

“So this is why you invited us over, huh?” Hyrule glances back over the sea of shoulders to send Legend an amused smile, “We thought something bad might’ve happened!”

“We wanted it to be a surprise…” The Vet sighs, unable to stay mad at the group’s energy, after all they have every right to be amazed. His son is pretty damn beautiful. 

“Well, I’ll be darn. You gotta kid now,” Twilight smirks, even going as far as to elbow Legend’s side which, as always, packs more strength than probably intended, “And after all that hell you gave us!”

“Yeah, yeah, karma's a bitch. Laugh it up - HEY! Wash your hands first!” Legend’s focus is immediately diverted from rubbing his sore ribs to pointing an accusing finger at Wild who’s stopped mid-reach from taking the baby you pass towards him.

"I did!" The Champion gasps in offense.

“Not here you didn’t. Do it again! Sinks in the kitchen!”

Wild grumbles, forced to forfeit his turn in holding the baby. A glare is all it takes for Hyrule to follow him shamefully as well, allowing Time to be the first to actually hold the little one since his hands successfully pass cleanliness approval. Nevertheless, despite his spotless palms and seasoned experience as a father himself, the older hero must put up with Legend's paranoid hovering which isn't too unlike a hawk's, ready to snatch back his baby at a second's notice if deeming the situation to be too ‘unsafe’. Fortunately, Time's nice enough not to mention this behavior beyond a silent smirk.

“...What went through your head when you realized you were going to be a dad?”

Now Legend’s question - as random as it had seemed those many months ago - makes complete sense. The timid whisper that spoke it, the nervous avoidance of any eye contact, and that deep, thoughtful frown while listening to Time’s honest answer - all signs that pointed towards a worried father-to-be desperate for direction as he fought to keep his own insecurities and fears at bay.

At least Time can finally rest easy knowing their past conversation did some good for his friend. The young man may be fidgeting while impatiently watching his new child be passed around the group for each to see, your gently hand upon his shoulder only doing so much to relax his anxieties. You’re also both beyond tired, fitting to Time’s warning that parenthood is by far the most difficult journey one can ever take, yet there’s a switch of softness that overtakes Legend’s expression the second your son begins to mumble his disapproval, apparently fed up with all this attention that he’s receiving. 

In an instant, Legend’s there, stealing back the small infant and clumsily doing his best to smooth such sharp cries. Yes, it’s difficult and nerve wracking to become a parent, especially for the first time, but to see all of your efforts throughout the years take form into such a beautiful and amazing being of pure innocence…that’s the most rewarding adventure yet, something Legend’s clearly already beginning to realize himself. 

Sky's been practically bursting at the seams all day - well, all week, to be more accurate - but today is especially special since you’re both expecting a visit from some of his closest friends, the other heroes of courage who haven’t been by Skyloft in far too long.

Seeing as their reunion has been so long overdue, it should be no surprise that your dear husband has been bubbling with eager anticipation all morning (long before the sun had even risen thanks to your shared lack of a proper sleep schedule). While he does genuinely miss his old traveling companions, a majority of his restlessness comes from wanting to share some exciting news about a recent ‘development’ in your lives, one he’s had to hold himself back from spoiling in their routine letters (which are shared far more often than in-person visits).

Before you can even process the knock at your front door, Sky is already darting across the room to answer it, matching the delighted smile worn by all the other boys. He eagerly ushers them inside, his impatience finally spilling over by this point, something he can’t help. As already mentioned, he’s been waiting for this moment for quite a while - and has dreamed about for far longer than a simple ‘while’. 

You can only chuckle at how quickly you’re swarmed by curious eyes, the other heroes not hesitating to stand and kneel around your chair just to catch a glimpse of the tiny bundle you cradle. To say it took them off guard would be the understatement of a century. It completely knocked them off their feet to realize what you're holding and what Sky’s excitement has been all about!

It’s a baby - a tiny newborn with puffy cheeks and itty-bitty hands balled into fists! She doesn’t even look real, or perhaps this whole situation itself just doesn’t feel real. In the Chain’s defense, it’s been years since Sky and you announced your intentions of starting a family of your own. Unfortunately, your struggles in achieving this goal became no secret, and your friends had begun to slowly lose hope with you. They truly worried the day might never come which explains their complete awe now. 

“Her name’s Azure,” You tell them, wiping away the tears that bubble in the corners of your eyes. Curse these hormones! Your daughter is already a few days old yet you still cry each time you see another’s reaction to her. Can you be blamed? It only solidifies the reality that this is, in fact, your baby. Sky and you are officially parents!

“Congratulations, man!” Warrior throws an arm over your husband’s shoulder and pulls him close into a side hug, “You’ve earned it!”

Sky shares his laughter with a shake of his head, his eyes immediately drifting to yours, “My wife deserves most of the credit. She’s the one who endured all those long and tiresome months to get little Azure here.”

“And you took amazing care of us both throughout every second,” You point out just as quickly with a gentle smile, “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to go through this with.”

“Now we’ll have to start planning some playdates with all our kids. Let ‘em tire each other out,” Twilight points out, giving Sky’s other side a nudge with his elbow.

“Maybe being around Azure will get Hope to stop asking for a sibling for a while,” Hyrule sighs exhaustively. 

“Yeah, no, that has the exact opposite effect. Trust me,” Legend huffs with crossed arms.

Wind’s hand pops out from somewhere in the back of the crowd, only seen as he eagerly tries to jump up and down to gain attention, “Oh-Oh, Tetra and I can babysit if you ever need it!”

“I didn’t think she even liked kids?”

“She ‘likes’ kids, she just doesn’t like being ‘around’ them,” Wind rolls his eyes at Legend’s comment as if the reason isn’t obvious, “But she said she’s been wanting to get better with them to practice the whole ‘being a nice princess’ thing -”

“- All of that can come later,” Time swiftly interrupts the wandering conversation, “I’m sure as new parents, these two would appreciate rest above all else for now. There’ll be plenty of time for playdates later down the line.”

“We’ll definitely set some up once Azure is old enough,” Sky chuckles in agreement before kneeling by your side to help fix the blanket around your sleeping daughter. Although there’s quite a bit of time until then, the idea of finally being able to participate in such arrangements is exciting to you both. No more standing on the sidelines feeling out of place with your hearts’ yearning. You’ll finally be able to share the joy all of your friends feel.

“You both look like happy parents. Congratulations,” You preen at Time’s compliment, looking to each other through tears in your eyes which then drop to Azure who snuggles closer to you, blissfully unaware of the effect she already has on your hearts as she merely enjoys the comfort of your loving embrace. Your most special treasure, indeed…

[hippolotamus]

Sentence Sunday ✨

I can show you lies 'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart

Beloved mutuals and pocket pals... I honestly don't know what to say for myself. This is a case of 'I listened to a song too much, I had an idea I knew I was never gonna write' turned 'I'll just throw it out as a prompt' --> 'I'll just make a moodboard' --> 'Oh god, I've written over 1k words in place of a summary'. SO. Have... whatever this is, T Swift influenced Buddie actor au. Under the cut to save your dash.

Honestly, if the world still exists in the morning, Eddie Diaz doesn't really give a fuck. His girlfriend left, claiming he's still not over his late wife, and his teenage son, the last thread connecting him to said wife, went to go live with his grandparents. After, of course, blaming Eddie for pushing 'yet another one' away. Christopher wouldn't even look at him before he went.

Then there's Anita Mills, his agent, who is probably a few blood pressure points away from a stroke at this point. Assuming she doesn't fire him first.

Let her, he thinks, grabbing a bottle of Maker's Mark from the cabinet. He has a string of blockbuster films to his name, not to mention a commendable collection of Oscar's and Emmy's. Not that they made his parents proud or kept his wife from leaving him before she died. But they exist as proof that he's had a successful career. Between investments and liquid assets he has more money than he would know what to do with in a hundred lifetimes. So, fuck it.

Eddie breaks the wax seal and twists off the red cap. He doesn't even bother with a glass, not really seeing a need. He's never been a big drinker, but lately his tolerance has grown considerably. Indulging until he passes out seems like an ideal use of his time right now anyway. If he wakes up after? Well, he'll consider that a success.

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

"Hey! What the hell?!" Eddie manages, coughing and trying not to choke on the ice cold water hitting his body. He opens his eyes to see Mills towering over him, glowering and holding an empty vase. He swipes a hand across his face. "Seriously, Anita, what the fuck was that?"

"I don't know, Eddie, you tell me." She disappears for less than a minute, returning with a hand towel she unceremoniously drops on his chest. "Help me out here. What's today?"

He wriggles himself to something resembling sitting and leans back against the coffee table. "What's today?" He parrots back dumbly.

Anita crosses her arms and quirks an eyebrow. "I asked you first."

Today, today, today. Where was he supposed to be- "Shit! The interview with, uh, fuck." He snaps his fingers and racks his brain trying to remember a name or a face. All he knows is they're important.

"Claudette Collins. Very good, Eddie, you got it part way."

"Give me ten minutes, I'll put myself together and we can go," he says, fighting the violent wave of nausea that hits as he scrambles to stand up.

"Save your poor carpet from getting puked on and sit the hell down."

"What? No, I can-"

"Eddie," Anita interjects, "the interview was five hours ago. The interview with the Claudette Collins. The one that took me months of phone calls, groveling and cashing in favors to get for you."

Fuck. "Anita, I'm so sorry. How-"

"Save it." Anita holds her hand up, effectively silencing him. It takes him back to being seven years old and having to explain why his dad's truck had an enormous dent in it. She rests her hands on her hips, pacing back and forth as she purses her lips. Eventually she sits in the leather armchair situated in the corner. "Eddie, you and I have known each other a long time. A long time. I've been your agent since you walked into my shitty office back in Dallas. Given your impressive display of awards, I'd say we've done pretty well together."

She inhales sharply, rubbing at her temple. Anita doesn't mince words, it's part of why he's always liked her. He never has to question where he stands. She says 'jump' and he knows exactly how high. It's not difficult to guess what's coming next.

"Eddie, I know you're going through a rough patch. What you're dealing with is hard enough without seeing it splashed on every tabloid and trashy website. Not to mention none of those places knows the real story, so it's all a bunch of 'she said he might have said' bullshit. But you've made it through tougher things." Anita doesn't need to clarify that she's talking about Shannon's death and how his parents tried to take Christopher. "I don't know what's happening this time, but I need to take a step back. My wife has made it very clear that all of my attempts at stress management are not working and that if I can't get it under control I shouldn't be surprised when I come home to an empty house. So."

Eddie swallows, waiting for the inevitable and cursing himself for pretending he wouldn't care.

"I've talked to a few friends in the business and found someone willing to take you on."

What?

"What? You're not firing me?"

Anita's features soften. "Technically, yes. I am very much dropping you like a scorpion I found in my boots. However, like I said, I found someone willing to work with you. The name is Bobby Nash. He runs a smallish agency but don't let that throw you. He's cobbled together some pretty impressive talent. I assume you've heard of Evan Buckley?"

Eddie scoffs. "Of course I have. Who hasn't? Christ, he's everywhere you look. I can't pass a damn bus stop without seeing his face." A few details begin to click into place within Eddie's muddled brain. "Bobby Nash is his agent?"

"Sure is. And we all know the stories about Evan's past aren't the type you trot out at parties. My advice is that you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, go with Nash and do whatever he tells you to do. He even has a role in mind for you, costarring with Buckley. What do you say?"

What else was there to say? If Eddie didn't want to get blacklisted or wind up as some washed up tragic Hollywood story, being gossiped about where everyone - including his son - could see what a failure he was...

"I guess I say- when can I meet him?"

"Good answer." Anita clasps her hands together and gives him her signature smirk that tells him she approves. "Just leave everything to me."

Up to this point, Eddie has trusted Anita implicitly with all the messy business that comes with having him for a client. Why stop now?

tagged by @loveyouanyway @spotsandsocks @wikiangela @tizniz

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@thewolvesof1998 @watchyourbuck @welcometololaland @wildlife4life and anyone else who wants to ��

[onbearfeet]

Kat watches Moon Knight

Okay, so with the encouragement of several people on here and the emotional support of my roommate, I have finally (in February 2024) started watching Moon Knight, a show whose basic concept scares the shit out of me.

Context: I had an adopted older brother with DID. Note that I said "had". That's past tense because life treated him so appallingly poorly that he died (horribly, in prison) when I was 19. Part of that abuse was enabled by pop-culture depictions of DID in the 1980s and 90s that convinced everyone who knew about his condition (including the court system) that he was a walking time bomb.

One of my earliest memories is of my brother as a young adult, playing Super Mario Bros with my toddler self. Another is of him patiently teaching me how to make friends with a large dog. I never met any of his alters, afaik; I was small and cute and safe for him to be himself with, so he probably didn't need them around me. He was a profoundly gentle man when he was allowed, and it hurt like hell to see him turned into a monster in movies and on TV. I've turned off a lot of "psychological thrillers" in sorrow and disgust.

Ironically, I loved Moon Knight comics as a kid in the 90s, BEFORE he was retconned to have DID circa the mid-2000s. Because those comics came out right after my brother died in 2002 and leaned HARD into making people with DID seem like violently unstable monsters (for reference, see the cover of Moon Knight: God and Country), I stopped reading them around 2008, when I couldn't take being poked in the trauma by a comfort character anymore.

But I do love Werewolf By Night, and there's been a lot of good fic mashing Jack up with Moon Knight without dehumanizing anyone, and several people have encouraged me to try the show. So this post will be a place for my thoughts as I try to work my way through with my Essential Editions in one hand and my memories of my brother in the other. I'll add to it as I watch.

If this entertains the Moon Knight fandom or provides useful fic reference, so be it. Just don't be jerks on my post.

Also, anyone who chooses to be shitty about my brother will be eaten by bears. I don't make the rules.

Episode 1

Okay, we open with Steven as our POV character, and he's...convinced he's a sleepwalker. All right, not terrible. Steven is now a bumbling nerd, which is probably an improvement; good luck making a billionaire playboy sympathetic in the 2020s. Jake would be the logical everyman POV from the comics, but I understand from fic that he's got a different role now. I'm confused about the accent, but it's only episode 1, and Steven clearly doesn't yet know who Khonshu is, or that Marc exists, so obviously there's a ways to go here. (Is Marc ... undercover inside Steven? Ugh, this is a trope I have seen and do not like.)

Did Marc kill Steven's fish? Did Khonshu kill Steven's fish? I'm baffled by the fish. Which is a nice break from the larger anxiety. I'm gonna try to worry more about the fish.

The bits with Steven losing time and finding himself in odd situations were distressingly close to the old tropes, but both of those happened to my brother, so I'm not going to bitch about them quite yet. I want to be as fair as I can.

Oh, hey, I recognize Harrow from the comics. What up, dude. How's the cult biz treating you?

The end of the episode, with the jackal thing chasing Steven into the bathroom, came RIGHT up to the line for me. I realized that what I was most afraid of was that the story would assign "good" and "bad" labels to the alters--make Steven the sweet, innocent one and Marc (or maybe Jake, I guess) the monstrous killer. The early flashes of Steven covered in blood didn't really help allay that anxiety. And now Marc is demanding that Steven let him have control in a pretty threatening manner. But so far, it seems like the contrast between Marc and Steven is one of competence--Marc is better at fighting and Steven is better at ... panicking? Unclear. At least Oscar Isaac is playing the protagonist, so his character(s) might remain sympathetic. Nobody has been monsterized quite yet.

I finished the episode with every muscle in my body locked up, waiting for the emotional punch in the face. But I did finish it, and I think I'm gonna try episode two.

[skaruresonic]

idk why so many antis took the whole "like long lost sibling would " on that alt text for the promo of dark beginnings as canon and 'solid evidence' that shadria have a sibling relationship when the text can also be read as sarcastic or mocking? I might be reaching but sarcasm doesn't really translate well in text but putting any indication like ' or () when it doesn't flow in the original text always feels like somebody making snarky comment to me, idk to me personally I could argue w antis that it mocking them by being like 'isn't this obvious ship bait totally platonic' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Idk it just so annoying to see so many antis go 'haha shadria fans must be weeping' when it a fucking alt text on a promo that I doubt any writers or higher up would quality check in comparison to the fact in canon that shadria has yet to be label unlike other characters in the series as well as ignoring how many opportunities the series had to outright have shadow call Maria his sister no media be it games, shows or comics has him calling her sister or vice versa. So unless the new game outright has him referring to her as sister in all languages, shadria will still be a valid ship and even if that does happen it still won't erase all the moments the two had either shippers r still gonna ship.

I don't understand why antis think one little text line that not even in any media is gonna make Sharia shipper suddenly stop. Apology for ranting but omg it so annoying seeing anti act so high n mighty over something so trivial 💀

Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Beev on this one. It seems like they threw in "as long-lost siblings would" in order to placate the antis. Which would, ironically enough, imply an awareness that the piece could be read as romantic.

There was really no need for a parenthetical note to dictate the tone of the piece. If they left it at "Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss," the reader could interpret it any way they want.

(Random tangent, but describing space as an "infinite abyss" also strikes me as a bit strange. You can see stars in the piece.)

I think SoA knows the flavor of the food they've been serving us recently, but they did this as a sort of PR move to cover their asses. They might be worried about losing face with Shadria antis, who form a not-unsizable portion of fandom now compared to Shadria shippers.

...but I mean. Come on. There's no way they're not aware.

And the thing is, it's not like the manga or anything else is explicitly confirming the dynamic is definitely romantic, either. It's not like we shippers aren't aware we have our ship goggles on; we just wanna vibe in our space.

Ever since playing SA2 as a kid and wondering if Shadow was in love with Maria, I've always had the feeling that their dynamic was supposed to be left open to interpretation. Antis want to impose their reading upon pain of accusing you of being a freak, while the shippers are more like "haha... unless?"

Also, it's really funny to think this is the ship they consider worth calling people "demented dogs" over. Have you literally played any other video game ever? Read any book? Watched any movie? Oh no, a ship the game probably wanted us to ship a little! OOGA-BOOGA.

This is probably one of the least problematic ships in existence tbh. Methinks the antis doth protest too much.

Besides, you're (general you) being disingenuous to claim there are no undertones whatsoever. Why include them if the dynamic is only supposed to be interpreted a certain way?

Using Sonic X as an example of what I'm talking about might be cheating, but since it's about as non-canon as the manga appears to be, it seems fair to mention it.

In Sonic X, Shadow also tends to recall Maria through a romanticized filter; he remembers her as being extra beautiful and ethereal compared to other characters who recall her as simply an ordinary girl.

Compare Shadow's flashbacks to the flashbacks of the soldier who shot her:

In the soldier's flashback, Maria is just a frightened child who pulls the lever. We're not shown her body, but rather his reaction:

In Shadow's flashbacks, Maria slumps tragically to the ground and/or lies on the ground, calmly speaking her last words while bathed in soft blue light.

There's a heightened sentimentality to Shadow's memories of Maria which serves to emphasize, I guess, the "beauty" that the ARK tragedy took from him. Considering Shadow is stated to like "nothing," maybe he finds nothing or no one else as beautiful.

Not that her death wasn't tragic in and of itself, but there's a marked difference in tone. One feels like a child's senseless death viewed from the POV of the man who killed her, and the other feels like... to be frank... something romance anime-coded.

It's worth noting that Shadow maintains this romanticized filter even when fantasizing about an alternate timeline where she survived (or perhaps the future they had been looking forward to after she was cured), so you can't always chalk it up to a product of Gerald's brainwashing:

...let's unpack this on the therapist's couch, hmm?

---

I don't understand why antis think one little text line that not even in any media is gonna make Sharia shipper suddenly stop.

Very true, and it's a fool's errand to try. I was going to reblog that piece without tags, as per usual, but I decided to tag it as "Shadria" just to flip antis off. Fuck you, you can't tell me what to ship on my own blog. xP

(also tagged it "Shadria" because "Shadria" was the original ship name and it's still a perfectly good ship name. it's a pet peeve of mine, how antis chased shippers off the Shadria tag and forced them to come up with less elegant portmanteaus. "Shadaria" and "Mariadow" sound so much clunkier than "Shadria")

---

Apology for ranting but omg it so annoying seeing anti act so high n mighty over something so trivial 💀

No worries, antis are annoying at best. Wish they would just go away. >.>

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x45 - Clash of the Ultimate Levels! WarGreymon vs. MetalGarurumon / The Ultimate Clash

Previously on Digimon Adventure: In a fit of insecurity, Yamato stormed off to go talk to manosphere bros who filled his brain with the most toxic rhetoric you could imagine. Meanwhile, Pinocchimon stamped his foot and started a shit-slinging contest because Takeru wouldn't play with him and ended up getting shit on his face.

Now, the Ultimate Clash of Ultimate Levels begins... Ultimately!

Hoping the kids at home forgot where we left off, we open in a very different position for MetalGarurumon. When last we saw them, Yamato was with the kids while MetalGarurumon was quite a ways away, challenging Agumon to fight.

Apparently what he meant by "I won't miss the next shot" was that there wasn't gonna be a next shot, 'cause he was gonna turn and walk over to Yamato's side as soon as the camera was off him.

Takeru: Onii-chan.... Jou: Q-Quit joking around, Yamato! We're nakama, aren't we!? Yamato: Nakama? Jou: That's right, nakama! The nakama of Chosen Children! Yamato: Hmph. Then here's a question. Who was it that chose us? Jou: It was.... Yamato: If you can't answer that, then how can you call us nakama? Jou: (sheepish) Okay, sure, but....

Jou tries so hard to Senpai this away but Yamato, armed with new Debate Bro artillery, DESTROYS SENPAI in the arena of logic.

In seriousness, Yamato does raise a good point here. The nakama in question are a bunch of children forced together, drafted to fight a war by a mysterious someone that to date has not revealed themselves.

Nakama, the tight-knit bond of a group of people pursuing a mutual activity or goal, is their principle bond with one another. They weren't friends before this. Some individual relationships existed between them; mainly the two sets of siblings and the soccer club kids. But their principle relationship is that of being survivors and siblings-in-arms in this conflict that none of them volunteered for.

You can see the subtitles struggling with the hard-to-translate nature of nakama here. "We're Chosen Children so that makes us friends" doesn't really compute as a line of logic; What he's saying is that being Chosen Children is the mutual activity that our nakama is formed around.

Probably should have gone with "team" for nakama's translation here rather than "friends". This dialogue would have been way easier to translate that way. "Team" doesn't apply to all forms of nakama; The martial arts nakama of Dragon Ball are only occasionally a team. But for shonen protag crews, it's often a good choice.

So Yamato here makes a painfully solid argument: If the foundation of their nakama is shaky than what really are they to one another? "We have to get along because we're Chosen Children" explain to me what that means. Jou can't, because their superiors have been withholding information every step along the way. They've been handled like grunts, given intel purely on a need-to-know basis.

The dub can't resist giving Tai the first word in this conversation he's not yet a part of.

Tai: Calm down, Matt! Don't get so bent out of shape! The last thing we need right now is a hothead with attitude! You've got more important things to think about! T.K.: Everyone's upset. Joe: Look, all I know is that this stupid bickering is giving me a gigantic headache! Matt: Chill out. Joe: Matt, have you forgotten that we have been chosen to be the DigiDestined? Matt: Hmph! And would you mind telling me who exactly chose us for this dumb job anyway!? Joe: I... Uh.... Matt: Come on! I want some answers and you can't seem to give 'em to me! Joe: You have a point there....

As with the end of the previous episode, the vibe is totally changed. In the original, the other kids are shocked and stunned that Yamato is turning on them, and were struggling to even form sentences, but in the dub they fully comprehended what was happening and were outraged by it.

We see that here too. Tai's extra line to kick us off is a full-scale browbeating of Matt for his audacity, with Takeru's stunned "Onii-chan...." changed to back up Tai.

The problem of nakama rears its head here too; They don't even try to make "We're the nakama of Chosen Children" work. They leave any possible interpretation of nakama out completely.

But the dub's version also struggles with the original decision to change Chosen Children to DigiDestined. Destiny doesn't necessarily imply an active individual making choices on their behalf; It can, but it can just as easily be something mystical and unknowable.

Matt would sound goofy trying to say "Yeah, and WHO DESTINED US HUH!?!?"

So Joe's forced to say "We were chosen to be DigiDestined" to allow Matt to pivot to Yamato's armor-piercing "Who chose us?" question. But with the change in vibe, he just sounds whiny. It lacks the power of the original, especially when he follows up and yells at Joe about wanting answers to something that... Like. Didn't have anything to do with his beef until this exact moment.

With Jou soundly defeated, it's Taichi's turn to step in.

Taichi: Jou. There's no point trying to resolve this. Yamato is this kind of guy. Yamato: "This kind of guy"...? You don't know anything about me! Taichi: I do know you! You're just throwing a tantrum because things aren't going the way you want them to. Yamato: (sarcastic) Well, aren't you incredible? Even I don't really understand the kind of person I am, but you know me perfectly!

Of course, Taichi's involvement only serves to escalate matters because Taichi isn't really the "talking things down" kind of guy. His brand of bold recklessness isn't well-suited to de-escalating a tense situation.

Sora steps in to try and be the peacemaker as usual.

Sora: That's enough of that, you two. Taichi: You don't have to tell me that! Yamato's the one picking a fight with me!

Taichi reacts defensively to Sora's scolding, childishly throwing down the "He started it!" line. (In his defense, he is a child. They all are.) He's not wrong but he was escalating it, which is why Sora angled that remark at the both of them.

In the dub:

Tai: Don't waste your time, Joe. Matt's just being a big, spoiled brat! Matt: You're the brat! Why don't you go mind your own business!? Tai: The problem with you is pretty easy to figure out! You're upset because you want to be the boss! Matt: Yeah, like I want to be the boss of THIS sorry group. If any of you brainiacs want to take charge, be my guest. I say we should just take care of ourselves! Sora: Stop fighting, you two! We've got to stick together! Tai: Don't look at me! Matt's the one who started it! He's got a bug up his nose!

The bug goes up his butt but I guess they couldn't get that past the censors.

Matt's still off-script, now advocating directly for dissolving the team entirely and having everyone go their separate ways. This is rooted in the individualist rhetoric that Jureimon fed Yamato; It's what the "Okay but are we even really a nakama?" bit was about.

It's not so far off from the opinions he claimed to have when he was talking to Takeru back at the breaking of the fellowship in the PicoDevimon arc, though his actions towards Jou betrayed his professed opinions then. As Yamato said, he doesn't even understand himself.

"Why don't you go mind your own business?" Matt. My dude. I know new episode who dis but this argument is about you wanting to fight Tai. This is, without question, Tai's business. What is this line?

The argument also (sigh) makes this about who gets to be Team Leader again. A topic that has nothing to do with anything Taichi and Yamato have ever locked horns about.

In any case, something about Yamato attacking him is making Taichi feel attacked so he tries to storm off.

Taichi: I don't have to listen to this! (storms off) Agumon: You've grown up, Taichi!

I'm not 100% sure what Agumon means by that but I think he's complimenting Taichi for "being the bigger person" so to speak and walking away from this. Unfortunately, MetalGarurumon isn't going to let Taichi opt out.

MetalGarurumon: That's not happening!

MetalGarurumon leaps over Taichi and Agumon's heads, landing on the opposite side to block their exit.

Taichi: This is going too far, Yamato! Yamato: Fight me! Taichi: I told you no! Don't you understand that!? MetalGarurumon: (angry) YOU'RE THE ONES WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! Taichi: (startled) A-Are you serious!? Agumon: (steps in front of Taichi) Taichi, stay back!

When MetalGarurumon snaps, he doesn't just yell at Taichi; He directs that at omae-tachi, using the plural suffix -tachi to direct that statement at everyone.

In the dub, Agumon doesn't give Tai credit for his maturity because he's stuck on Tai's misused phrase.

Tai: Hmph! I don't have to listen to this! Agumon: Bug up the nose? That's a bad thing? (Tai and Agumon exit) MetalGarurumon: One moment! (MetalGarurumon jumps in front of them) Tai: WAUGH!!! Don't push me too far! Matt: Oh, I'm scaaaaaared. Tai: You had better be scared! I'm getting really mad! MetalGarurumon: Excuuuuuse me, but what are you gonna do about it?

Taichi here reiterates his refusal to fight Yamato, while Tai starts pushing back and threatening to throw down as an intimidation tactic. But you can't intimidate someone who's already made up his mind to fight you. Tai's threatening Matt with a good time.

The dub here inserts the cut shot of Pinocchimon back up on his tree perch that they carved out of the ending of last episode.

Puppetmon: So! Those little twerps are about to self-destruct! I'll just sit back and enjoy the show!

This is their segue for breaking up the conversation and cutting to commercial. When we come back to commercial, we rejoin MetalGarurumon in the shot from the last line he delivered.

MetalGarurumon: STAY RIGHT THERE!!! Tai: Get real, dude! Agumon: (steps in front of Tai) Watch it! Stand back!

From here, MetalGarurumon lunges at Taichi and Agumon. This is enough to finally push Agumon into Warp-Evolving to WarGreymon. Show Me Your Brave Heart does not play over this evolution sequence; There is nothing to get amped up about in this.

WarGreymon deflects MetalGarurumon's pounce.

WarGreymon: Stop it! There's no reason to fight! MetalGarurumon: You may not have one, but I do!

MetalGarurumon tackles WarGreymon, shoving him back. WarGreymon takes to the sky above, with MetalGarurumon following him up. There, in the sky, the fight begins.

WarGreymon opens with a sweeping kick, though the metallic sound his attack makes on impact leaves it ambiguous as to whether he did any damage. MetalGarurumon retaliates by biting him in the elbow, sinking his fangs into WarGreymon's exposed flesh and prompting him to roar in pain.

In the dub:

WarGreymon: There is no need for us to fight. MetalGarurumon: I must.

This time it's the dub's turn to have MetalGarurumon resigned and matter-of-fact while the original is aggressive and pushy. A funny reversal from the start of their conflict last episode.

Yamato watches the fighting above them. Suddenly, Taichi marches up to him.

Yamato: Finally ready to fight me?

Taichi answers Yamato's question with a punch to the face.

Taichi: Do you understand why I hit you? Yamato: Yeah! It's because you want to fight me too. Taichi: YOU STUPID BASTARD!!!

Today in Japanese vulgarities: bakayarou. As I've mentioned before, Japanese language tends to attack people's actions or words rather than the person themselves. Even using a second-person pronoun can be considered rude in a variety of contexts.

Which brings us to bakayarou. Baka, of course, is the classic "stupid" insult seen all over anime. Adding the yarou modifier to a word is a vulgar way of saying, in a language that looks down on directly targeting words at individuals, "YOU are the thing I am describing." Often times, it gets translated as "bastard".

Like all language, there's a lot of flexibility in how it's used. But there is little ambiguity in screaming bakayarou at someone in the middle of a fistfight.

Taichi punctuates his outburst with a right hook. Yamato recoils from the hit.

Yamato: Sorry for being such an idiot, then!

Yamato punches Taichi, sending him stumbling back towards a tree. He follows up with a left punch, hitting Taichi dead in the face. Taichi recovers quickly, darting to the side to avoid Yamato's third punch and then nailing Yamato with one of his own.

(I'm sorry, Yamato, but I don't actually think you're going to outfight Reckless Bold Action Guy.)

Up in the air, MetalGarurumon swoops around WarGreymon, tackling him from the back and pushing him back down towards the forest.

In the dub:

Matt: What's the matter, you chicken!?

In a hilarious fit of censorship, they cut the impact from Tai's punch and the entire "Do you know why I hit you" to "BAKAYAROU!!!" exchange. They replace it with a shot from later in the episode of Takeru calling out to them.

T.K.: MAAAAAAATT!!! I'm gonna tell Mom that you were fighting! Matt: Sorry, T.K., but I have to do this!

Matt uses his lip flaps from "Sorry for being such an idiot!", then comes back in and swings at Tai for what is, in this version, the second punch. And the last for this part of the scene; We see Tai stumbling back from it, and then Yamato's follow-up swings are also cut. We go straight from there to MetalGarurumon bringing down WarGreymon.

Taichi and Yamato fight offscreen, with the sounds of punching in the background as the others yell at them.

Jou: Both of you, stop it now! Koushiro: Please stop this! Sora: Taichi! Calm down! Taichi: You don't understand what this is about! This punch isn't coming from me. This is FROM PICCOLOMON!!! (Taichi punches Yamato) Taichi: THIS ONE IS CHUUMON'S!!! (Taichi scores a second punch) Taichi: AND THIS IS WHAMON'S!!!

With a third and final punch (Wizarmon doesn't get one, I guess) Taichi knocks Yamato flat on his back. While Yamato tries to get b ack to his feet, Taichi kneels down and grabs him by his shirt.

Taichi: Yamato! Do you really think the Digimon who died for us... (voice breaks) ...would want us having this pointless fight!?

This is a strong moment for Taichi because it connects back to what he was trying (and failing) to say to Mimi and the others back at the graves. Taichi's words were thoughtless, he's bad at empathizing with other people's feelings, but they weren't malicious.

Taichi is grieving. He is as traumatized by all this as the others. But his trauma response is different. Grief has made him vengeful. All that stuff about "We need to take the fight to them and avenge our fallen!" is his way of processing the pain in his heart.

Taichi doesn't want to mourn; He wants violent, decisive closure.

Closeups on Taichi and Yamato's faces show that they're both crying. Taichi's eyes are misting, preparing to water, while Yamato has tears fully streaming down his face. Like Mimi, they're trying to process their own uncertainty, trauma, and grief, in their own ways.

Taichi: Do you understand now? Yamato: NO, I DON'T!!!

Yamato sucker punches Taichi suddenly, forcing him off.

Yamato: I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT AT ALL!!!

Losing himself to his feelings, Yamato starts pummeling Taichi, screaming "Kuso!", the Japanese curse word for "Shit!", over and over with each hit.

In the dub:

Joe: Both of you stop it right now! Izzy: It's ridiculous! Sora: You two are just making things worse! Tai: He's gotta be taught a lesson, and fast! Here, take this!

They pick Chuumon's punch to be the one and only punch he throws, then cut to the shot of Yamato falling on the grass; Skipping over the entire emotional breakdown of their dead friends - Though Tai still brings them up.

Tai: (grabbing Matt's shirt) I'm only doing this to honor the memory of all the great Digimon that have helped us. T_T They trusted us and believed in our commitment! Matt: T_T Tai: We can't let them down!

Matt punching himself free of Tai is then cut, and Matt simply stands up without much fuss.

Matt: (voice breaking) What if we made a mistake!? Ragh!

Too full of emotion to put much force behind that grunt, Matt swings his next punch and we skip the part where he punches his feelings out against Tai's flesh.

While Yamato is indulging in unhealthy coping mechanisms, the Digimon continue fighting above.

Palmon: What do we do? Piyomon: We have to stop them....

MetalGarurumon fires a volley of missiles from both shoulder launchers. WarGreymon is able to dodge one set, but his evasion path takes him directly into the others. MetalGarurumon scores a direct hit on his armored chest.

Tentomon: We aren't strong enough to do anything against their Ultimate forms. Tailmon: Let them tire themselves out. Gomamon: HEY!!! Don't you care about what happens to our nakama? Tailmon: Would we be able to stop them if I did? Gomamon: Well.... Tailmon: Then we have no choice but to sit back and watch. Gomamon: Damn it! You're just a newcomer so-- Tentomon: Stop that! We don't need you to start fighting too!

Hit her with your Marching Fishes, Gomamon. She's probably hungry.

In the dub:

Palmon: This is awful! Biyomon: We have to stop them! (WarGreymon hit by missiles) Tentomon: Unfortunately, they're Mega Digimon and there's nothing any of us can do about it! Gatomon: Best thing is for them to duke it out. Gomamon: I just hate fighting, and we can't let our friends destroy themselves. Gatomon: It's a dog eat dog world, isn't it? Gomamon: (confused) They're not dogs.... Gatomon: The deal is this. You just sit and watch them take care of business. Gomamon: Oh, yeah!? I don't have to like it! Tentomon: Gomamon, get a grip! The last thing we need is any more fighting around here!

Tailmon accepts the futility of intervention because they're too powerful; There's nothing the rest of us can do to stop this. Gatomon cynically tries to normalize their behavior, waxing poetic about life being cruel. That's the kind of sentiment I'd expect from her before meeting Kari.

No longer on the tree top we saw him at last episode, Pinocchimon watches the action from a lower branch.

Pinocchimon: Ehehehehe! Hahahahaha! What children, fighting over nothing!

WarGreymon lands a Brave Tornado into MetalGarurumon's face. Pinocchimon hops up and down on the branch with excitement.

Pinocchimon: Again! Again! Do it again! Keep it up until you both die!

Yamato tackles Taichi to the ground. Taichi's able to roll Yamato over, seizing control of the fight and scoring two solid face punches. Yamato grabs Taichi by his shirt suddenly and rolls backwards, flipping and throwing Taichi to escape the pin.

Takeru: STOP IT, ONII-CHAN!!! Fighting like this is bad!

Yamato answers Takeru by replaying footage of his tree punch from earlier. Finally, Mimi breaks.

Takeru: Onii-chan.... Mimi: (crying) NO MORE!!! Sora: Mimi-chan....

Mimi turns and runs away from Taichi and Yamato, making it a short distance before she crouches down beside a tree.

Mimi: (crying) Fighting and fighting... What do we get out of it!? I can't take it anymore! Sora: (approaching slowly) Mimi-chan...

This time it's Yamato's turn to be thrown off a cliff for making my kid cry.

Technically, it's Yamato and Taichi fighting that's doing this, but let's be real; Yamato is unambiguously the aggressor here, and Taichi tried repeatedly to refuse this fight. Taichi could have stood to be more tactful, but there was no talking Yamato down from this.

In the dub, Puppetmon takes credit for Cherrymon's work. What a dick!

Puppetmon: Hahahahahaha! Hehehe... Aww, I'm a genius! They're all gonna hate each other! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

WarGreymon calls Brave Tornado as Terra Force again despite that being a different attack.

Puppetmon: EEEEE!!! Go get him! Oh boy, I love a good fight!

They keep Yamato tackling Taichi to the ground and Taichi reversing the pin on him, then cut away to Mimi's departure. Even T.K.'s line gets cut; I guess because they already moved to to earlier in the episode?

But they cut it sloppily so you can catch T.K.'s mouth closing from delivering the line he no longer has before Mimi turns and runs away. Mimi, meanwhile, starts talking before turning despite not having lip flaps, so the result makes it look briefly like her voice is coming out of T.K.'s mouth.

Mimi: Ugh! I've had it! Sora: Mimi! (Mimi runs and crouches by the tree) Mimi: (crying) I'm gonna sit here and stare at the flowers until everybody starts getting along! Sora: (approaching slowly, sarcastic) Oh, like that's going to help.

They (heavy sigh) make this moment into a laugh line about how ridiculous and overdramatic Mimi is, then have Sora go ridicule her for it. Thanks, I hate it.

While Pinocchimon watches the spectacle up in the sky, Hikari sneaks off to go talk to strangers.

Hikari: Are you guys our enemies? Or allies?

Koushiro - who, I guess, is just bored with the two separate horrible fights taking place - walks over to see what's up with Hikari. He chats with Tailmon.

Koushiro: Who is Hikari-san talking to? Tailmon: I don't know. Hikari: Okay, so you're not an enemy.

Suddenly, a bright rainbow light shines down - The light is faint, filtering through the trees, but it's not unlike the aurora that delivered the children's Digivices on that fateful day in camp. Hikari's body glows brightly, and she momentarily curls into herself as if in pain.

Tailmon: HIKARI!!!

Tailmon and Koushiro hurry to her side, but Hikari continues. She takes off her Crest of Light and holds it up to the rainbow glow.

In the dub, Kari confronts the light a little more aggressively.

Kari: I'm not afraid! Well, maybe a little. (gazes at it in awe) Ahhh... My name's Kari! Please tell me who you are. Do you want to be friends with us? Gatomon: What in the Digi-World is she doing? Izzy: She appears to be conversing with herself. Gatomon: (dismissive singsong) She's losing it~! Kari: You seem to be nice enough! (Kari begins glowing and curls into herself) Gatomon: KARI!!!

Izzy and Gatomon trade roles here, and Gatomon dismissively badmouths Kari which is certainly a choice. >.> Whoever wrote the dub script for this episode decided to make Gatomon surprisingly catty. Uh. You know, in the bad way.

Once Hikari presents her Crest, the glowing gets brighter. It expands, consuming Koushiro and Tailmon before continuing outward.

Tentomon: KOUSHIRO-HAN!!! Taichi: W-What the--

The light takes Tentomon. It takes Taichi and Yamato. It takes Sora, Mimi, Jou, and Takeru. It gives Pinocchimon a tumble because he is not invited. It revokes WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's evolutions, reverting them to Koromon and Tsunomon before taking them too.

Everyone finds themselves in a great white void, while something begins to speak through Hikari's mouth. It uses Hikari's voice and if you're paying attention to the group shot you can see her lips move but it's super subtle.

Taichi: This is...? Yamato: What sort of place even is this? Not Hikari: Wherever there is light, there will also be darkness. Darkness and light are like the two sides of the same coin. However, if the power of darkness grows larger....

A great blackness suddenly grows and takes over their void. Not Hikari is, of course, talking about your typical "balance of yin and yang" sort of deal. The problem is not that darkness exists but that it has grown to overshadow the light.

In the dub:

Tentomon: IZZY!!! Tai: What's happening!? (Everyone gets taken by the light into the void except Puppetmon) Tai: Where are we!? Matt: No idea.... Not Hikari: In this world, there is a balance of darkness and light. The light represents all that's good in the world and the darkness is the evil. When the darkness becomes larger than the light, it upsets the balance.

Not Hikari here specifies that light means good and dark means evil. A specification that wasn't stated outright in the original... but looking at the behaviors of most Vaccine and Virus type Digimon we've met, it's pretty implied. The powers of darkness have been unambiguously super-evil child-murderers, and not in the morally complex Undertale way.

There is certainly a space for NOT ALL DEVIMONS as a narrative point, but that is not an argument that this show has presented.

The black void overtakes the white, and the kids are left in darkness.

Mimi: It's turned to night! Jou: What is this place!? Did we get pulled into another dimension!?

Valid concern. That has happened to them before.

Sora: Wait! I see something! Taichi: This is... Hikarigaoka!

Floating in the sky above the city, they see Greymon and Parrotmon drifting up into a portal back to the Digital World and making me eat crow from when I said Hikari's Greymon died. I have been remembering this wrong.

You win this round, dub team who hadn't even seen the OVA when they had to adapt the episodes describing it.

Koushiro: That's the bird from four years ago!

He types away at his laptop, pulling up the Digimon Analyzer to finally get a read on that creature that started this all.

Parrotmon is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Giant Bird Digimon. Part of the reason that their identity was such a mystery is because they were created for the OVA; Not appearing in the V-Pet, video games, or even TCG until 2000.

At the time of this episode's airing, Parrotmon had never been seen again in any other Digimon media, and wouldn't be until the release of the D-Terminal to tie in with Adventure 02.

Narrator: Parrotmon. A mysterious Digimon who appeared in front of Taichi's group long ago in Hikarigaoka. Their special attack is Sonic Destroyer. Koushiro: They were Perfect-stage....

In the dub, Tai swipes Mimi's line and he and Joe quip about the darkness overtaking the light.

Tai: Whoa! The balance seems to be really out of whack! Joe: So? Somebody find a switch and put the lights back on. Sora: There's something over there! (Hikarigaoka comes into view) Tai: I know this sounds incredible, but could we be home again? (Closeup on Greymon and Parrotmon disappearing into the sky portal) Izzy: I've seen that Digimon before! (type) Izzy: (rundown) Why, of course. That's Parrotmon. He was the mysterious Digimon that appeared in Highton View Terrace approximately four years ago. Now he's completely Digivolved.

Izzy remains terrible at exposition. "Now he's completely Digivolved," he says, as if the Parrotmon up there has achieved a higher form than when they fought Greymon.

Also, "completely Digivolved" raises an eyebrow. Uh. What? Either Izzy is using "completely Digivolved" to refer to Ultimate level even though he knows better now, or he's saying that Parrotmon has become a Mega Digimon.

There are two ways to take this line and they're both wrong, on top of Izzy being wrong for asserting that Parrotmon "being fully Digivolved" is a recent occurrence.

Not Hikari steps forward to offer further explanation.

Not Hikari: Four years ago in your world, a Digitama passed through a tear in reality by mistake. Taichi: What are you talking about, Hikari? Tailmon: That's not Hikari talking to us. Koushiro: Someone is using Hikari's body to speak to us. Not Hikari: My wish is to restore balance to the Digimon World. Sora: Are you the God of the Digimon World? Not Hikari: No, I am not. Just like the Digimon, I am made up of internet data. Unlike the Digimon, we are unable to take a physical form. In other words, I don't have a physical body. That is why I'm borrowing this person's body to speak with you. Taichi: Why Hikari? Not Hikari: She was the only one who could hear me.

There's an interesting switch that happens in Not Hikari's language here. Well, for one, it's interesting that Not Hikari uses the standard gender-neutral first-person pronoun watashi instead of the more girly atashi that Hikari uses.

But, more interesting than that, is the way Not Hikari switches between the singular watashi and the plural watashi-tachi. For most of this explanation, they use watashi. However, when they say "We are unable to take physical form", that's a watashi-tachi.

Implying that whatever the sparkle sparkle entity possessing Hikari is, they are of a kind; There are others like them.

In the dub:

Not Kari: He passed through the dimensional divide. Some time ago, a Digiegg fell through a hole from our world to yours. Tai: Kari, what are you talking about? Gatomon: I think Kari's had too much catnip! Izzy: My theory is that someone else is using Kari's body to speak for them. Not Kari: My wish is that there be peace and happiness for everyone. Sora: I don't understand. Are you some kind of super being or something? Not Kari: No, nothing like that. I am similar to the Digimon. I was produced by data bytes taken from the internet. But there's a difference: Unlike the Digimon, we're unable to take a shape in the form of a physical body. In order for me to communicate with you, I had to temporarily borrow Kari. Tai: Couldn't you have taken Joe instead!? Joe: Hey! Not Kari: I had to take Kari. She's the only one that I'm able to communicate with.

The word Kami crossed the dub team's desk and the best they could come up with to avoid saying God was "some kind of super being". XD

Gatomon is still being shitty and dismissive towards Kari and I hate it.

Tai abruptly slaps Joe in the face for lulz because he's one of the two designated punching bags.

On the plus side, they nailed that interesting pluralization implying that there are more of whatever this being is.

(Officially, this is Homeostasis, but the lore around Homeostasis is vague and confusing, and Homeostasis is never named within the show itself. At least not this series; other entries in the Adventure franchise do identify Homeostasis by name.)

Not Hikari continues to explain things.

Not Hikari: Truthfully, I've been wanting to talk to you ever since you arrived on File Island.

Too fucking bad we accidentally left behind the only kid who could hear them.

That makes two separate attempts to prevent the Lord of the Flies experience from happening to them and give them a more traditional Isekai experience, ruined by present circumstances of their arrival.

Imagine spending like a thousand years preparing for the arrival of the chosen one and then going to take a shit and when you come back the Chosen One is not only here but has gone Feral BOTW Link for lack of guidance.

The children suddenly levitate into the air. Not Hikari levitates slowly over Hikarigaoka with the other kids in tow, as bright spotlights shine down on each of their younger counterparts frozen in time.

Taichi: Ah! That's Hikari and me from four years ago! Jou: Ah! The one on the phone is me! Mimi: That's me! Sora: And there's me! Takeru: There's me with Onii-chan! Koushiro: I'm there too. But these lights.... Not Hikari: They're scanning everyone's data. Yamato: But what for? Not Hikari: Allow me to explain everything from the beginning.

Greymon and Parrotmon disappear into the sky portal. Not Hikari follows them in, with the children levitating up after.

In the dub:

Not Kari: To be honest, I wanted to contact you when you arrived at File Island, but it was completely impossible under the circumstances. (Not Kari levitates everyone over Highton View Terrace) Tai: Wow, it's a blast from the past! That's us four years ago! Joe: Hey, that's me! How typical; I'm on the telephone. Mimi: I was so cute! Sora: Hard to believe we were that little! T.K.: There's my brother and me! Izzy: That's definitely me, but what's with the light? Not Kari: Its purpose is to process all of your vital information. Matt: That's kind of freaky; Why's it doing that? Not Kari: Just follow me; I'll explain it to you.

Solid dub writing. They do a good job spicing up the bit where everyone says "That's me!" over and over. I also appreciate Matt pointing out that Not Kari quietly stealing their metadata while they're watching the fight is fucking skeevy.

Digimon Adventure was ahead of its time. If this was made today, Homeostasis would definitely be selling that shit to advertisers.

Speaking of which, both versions put a commercial break here. Talk about your commercial break cliffhangers! "Yes, I will finally, after 44 episodes, explain crucial details of the plot to you... RIGHT AFTER THESE MESSAGES!!!" Well played, Homeostasis. Well played.

Once Homeostasis has finished pocketing that lucrative McDonalds ad revenue, we find ourselves in a strange yet familiar locale.

Sora: Where... are we? Koushiro: Does this place look familiar to you?

The kids start to look around, but then Takeru spots something.

Takeru: What's that over there?

Shortly followed by the others, Takeru runs over to a glass case containing eight Digitama.

Takeru: They're Digitama! Group: (awestruck) Ahhhh! Koromon: The Digivices and Crests are here too!

Sure enough, each Digitama has a Digivice and a Crest mysteriously plugged into it.

In the dub:

Sora: Where are we now, whoever you are? Izzy: Rather bizarre place, indeed. (The kids look around) T.K.: Check this out! (Everyone goes to the Digiegg case) T.K.: They look like Digieggs! Group: (awestruck) Ahhhh! Koromon: Look! Crests and Digivices! Matt: (annoyed) Okay, this is getting weird! Joe: Oh, and floating in the sky is normal?

Koushiro immediately cottons on to the fact that they've been here before (which they have!). Izzy misses that entirely and just thinks the place is weird.

Matt and Joe get extra lines where, in a rare upset, Joe gets to dunk on someone else for a change.

Suddenly, phantoms of humanoids in cloaks pass by. Jou is the first to see them. He panics, raising his arms with alarm and accidentally shoving Mimi into the glass, eliciting a surprised shriek.

Jou: WAAAAAAUGH!!! Mimi: AGGGGH!!! Jou: W-WE'RE SORRY FOR INTRUDING!!!

The cloaked figures pass by, ignoring them entirely

Gomamon: Hey, what the hell!? You could at least address us! Not Hikari: These people are a video recording. These are images of the past that are being projected into your minds.

Gomamon gets offended that we're not being yelled at for trespassing. XD

In the dub, Mimi doesn't react. She silently accepts being scooted aside by Joe's panic.

Joe: WAAAAAAUGH!!! Okay, it's official; This is definitely giving me the creeps. (The cloaked figures ignore them) Gomamon: What's the matter, fellas? Can't you say hello? Not Kari: These men are just computer images. They are figments from the past who have been digitally transmitted to your present.

Once Not Kari's set the stage for what we're seeing, Koushiro suddenly notices a significant clue as to where we are.

Koushiro: Ah! This is the stone slate that was beneath Vamdemon's castle. Piyomon: The Gate is here too! It's the same room!

The kids hurry over to gaze up at the Gate; Sure enough, it's the very same one they passed through to return to the human world.

Which, of course, explains why Gennai was not only familiar with the Gate but had the keycards to open it in his possession, rather than in Vamdemon's. At some point, like an otaku running away to live in Japan, Vamdemon decided to go straight to the source of his fandom and moved in.

Jou: But what are those people doing? Not Hikari: They're preparing for the time when our world will be overrun by darkness. First, we created the Crests and Digivices out of the data we scanned from you. Sora: "Created"? Taichi: Then that means... You guys are the ones who chose us? Not Hikari: That's right.

Finally getting some real answers, and none of Gennai's runarounds.

In the dub:

Izzy: I don't believe it! This is from Myotismon's castle! Biyomon: Here's Myotismon's secret passage! Joe: Let me guess, those are the elves that make the shoes at night? Not Kari: They're monitoring the positive and negative forces to preserve harmony in the world. We took the information that we scanned from all of you, then we created your Digivices and Crests. Sora: You did that? Tai: That must mean that you're the ones who chose us. Is that true? Not Kari: Yes, it is.

The dub's explanation for what the hooded figures are doing doesn't quite capture the urgency of their work.

In the original, Not Hikari indicates that they knew the balance was destabilizing, and they were doing all of this for the purpose of countering it. They saw things getting bad, and bringing in the humans' data and going through this whole rigamarole was their best idea for how to fix it.

The dub has the cloaked figures simply monitoring harmony as a day-to-day, and also they're making the Crests and Digivices too. Just in case things do get bad, I guess.

Taichi has some follow-up questions regarding their selection.

Taichi: But why were we chosen? Not Hikari: You and Hikari-san made the Digitama that passed into the real world evolve into Greymon. Taichi: That was katteni shinka. Not Hikari: There is no such thing as katteni shinka.

Okay, this is a hard one to translate to English.

If you caught my post about Dragon Ball's Ultra Instinct I mentioned the word migatte as part of the technique's Japanese name. Katte is a root word of migatte, and katteni is similar in meaning. Katteni is autonomous; doing something of one's own accord, without permission or influence from others.

Taichi is saying that Koromon evolving to Agumon and then to Greymon happened arbitrarily; The Digimon evolved all by himself, while Taichi and Hikari were merely passive bystanders. Nothing that happened between them influenced Koromon's evolution in any way.

Homeostasis retorts that. No. That's stupid. Katteni shinka is not a thing. What Taichi is saying is not how evolution works. At all. Either for Digimon or otherwise.

Not Hikari: That evolution did not happen by chance. It was because of your presence that he evolved into Greymon. (Flashback to Greymon v. Parrotmon) Taichi: But... We didn't do anything! We didn't even have a Digivice! Not Hikari: If you think the Digivice is merely a tool for evolution, you are mistaken. (Back to present) Not Hikari: The Digivice matches your personal qualities to your Digimon and enables them to evolve properly.

The dub is going to have a hard time with this section, since katteni shinka is difficult to translate and they have limited space to explain it in.

Tai: Then tell me this: What makes us so special? Not Kari: You made it possible for Greymon to survive and Digivolve, and it couldn't have been accomplished without help from you and Kari. Tai: But he Digivolved without me.... Not Kari: A Digimon can't Digivolve without you. It doesn't work that way.

That is a hard miss. Digimon absolutely can evolve without a person. If they couldn't, the Digital World would be nothing but Babies for miles around.

What they can't do is evolve arbitrarily, without influence from environmental factors. The point of this line isn't that humans are necessary to make evolution possible. It's that Homeostasis witnessed the effect that Taichi and Hikari's influence had on the wayward Digitama and had a Holy Shit Light Bulb moment.

They caused Botamon to evolve into Koromon, Agumon, and then Greymon. But not because evolution wouldn't be possible without them.

Not Kari: The very fact that you were both there made him Digivolve to protect you. Tai: But how? We were just goofy little kids and we didn't even have a Digivice. Not Kari: A Digivice is just a tool that was designed to help in the Digivolving process. It assists you by making you aware of your powers, but it's the special qualities in each of you that really makes it work.

This part is rock-solid. No notes. It's just the other part that had a high bar to clear that they messed up on.

Next, Homeostasis goes on to talk about the Crests.

Not Hikari: The same is true of your Crests. Is everyone aware of what their Crests represent? Taichi: Mine's Courage. Sora: Mine is Love. Mimi: Purity! Koushiro: Knowledge. Jou: Sincerity. Takeru: Mine is the Crest of Hope. Yamato: (quiet, distant) Mine is.... Jou: Friendship, wasn't it?

Jou gives Yamato a friendly pat on the shoulder, but that only makes Yamato withdraw into himself.

Not Hikari: Those are the strongest qualities that each of you had four years ago. But what happens if you lose those qualities? You may end up misusing your Digimon. And if you use those special qualities of yours for the wrong reasons.... Taichi: (gasp) Could it be.... (Flashback to SkullGreymon's evolution) Taichi: Back then, I jumped in front of the enemy so that I could force Greymon to Super-Evolve. But he became SkullGreymon instead. (Flashback ends) Taichi: (with certainty) That was the wrong kind of Courage. Not Hikari: That's right. You've finally realized.

Wait, he only figured out what he did wrong just now?

Well, no, that makes sense, actually. He knew he'd fucked up back then, but they didn't learn the meanings of their Crests until much later. He hasn't had a reason to stop and think about how the virtue of Courage applies to the SkullGreymon incident.

Sometimes you have all the information you need to put the pieces together but it's already behind you and there's more important stuff to think about.

In the dub:

Not Kari: The same thing with the Crests. Can you tell me what your personal Crests really represent? Tai: Well, mine's Courage. Sora: And this one means Love. Mimi: Sincerity! Izzy: Mine's Knowledge! Joe: Reliability. T.K.: I know what this Crest means; It's Hope! Matt: (quiet, distant) Well, mine is.... Joe: Wasn't it called Friendship? (pat) Not Kari: All of that's true, but there's more to it than that. Every one of you has strengths and weaknesses. We took each of your strongest qualities that you possessed four years ago, then we made a Crest for that. Tentomon: Oh! I get it! Not Kari: If that trait is lost, then Digimon might become corrupted. Tai: Ah! That happened! (Flashback to SkullGreymon's evolution) Tai: When I tried to make Agumon Digivolve by throwing myself in front of his enemy! But then something weird happened; He Digivolved into SkullGreymon! (Flashback ends) Tai: (with certainty) And now I realize that was pretty foolish. Not Kari: But the important thing is that you learned from it.

Yep, that's another miss.

Dub Homeostasis claims that SkullGreymon happened because Tai lost his Courage. That's. Not. What happened there. Tai losing his Courage is what happened at Datamon's pyramid. Completely different event, and one that did not result in SkullGreymon.

SkullGreymon was the result of Taichi's Courage becoming corrupt.

Meanwhile, Tai's big revelation here is that jumping in front of the enemy was a stupid thing to do. That's. No. That's not his revelation; He already realized it was stupid way back when. It's the connection between that event and the virtue of Courage being corrupted that Taichi suddenly made here.

Jou steps forward to assess what they've learned.

Jou: So all of this work was to amplify the qualities we already had in the first place.

Yamato, still haunted by his inability to connect with his Crest virtue, wanders away to look at his Digitama, Crest, and Digivice in the case.

Tsunomon: Yamato...?

Not Hikari joins him, followed soon by the others.

Koushiro: I understand why Taichi-san and Hikari-san were chosen, but the rest of us didn't make a Digimon evolve. Not Hikari: After examining everyone's data, we determined that you shared commonalities with Taichi-san and Hikari-san. The meaning behind it is still a mystery to us.

I take it back; Even Homeostasis seems to struggle with comprehending the plot. This answer is basically a shrug. "What made us choose the rest of you? There was something about your data. I don't know what."

In the dub:

Joe: All this time, we've been wracking our brains trying to figure out stuff about ourselves that we already knew! Ha! That's a fine how-do-ya-do. (Matt walks away) Joe: Huh? (Matt stares at the glass case.) Tsunomon: Who knew? (Everyone joins him.) Izzy: Prodigious! I see why you chose Tai and Kari, but the rest of us never made contact with the Digiegg so why us? Not Kari: When we examined all of your data, we came to the conclusion that you had something in common with Tai and Kari. But we're not quite sure what it means. All we know is that you've proven yourselves to be very capable.

Joe managed to mangle his line so hard that I have no idea what he's even saying.

But the exposition is pretty much 1:1.

Takeru steps forward to examine the Digitama in the case.

Takeru: What are these Digitama? Not Hikari: You can't tell? Patamon: Is it us? Not Hikari: Yes. Palmon: Which one is me? Tsunomon: We can tell by looking at the marks on the Crests! (Piyomon and Gomamon find theirs) Piyomon: That one? Gomamon: This one's mine!

Piyomon's Digitama is covered in hearts because of course it is.

In the dub:

T.K.: Who do these belong to? Not Kari: Isn't it obvious? Patamon: I have a feeling it's us! Not Kari: Yes. Palmon: Wow, which one's me? Tsunomon: I think the answer's in the Crests! (Biyomon and Gomamon find theirs) Biyomon: Look! This is me! Gomamon: And that's mine!

Very faithful translation; Near word for word.

Unfortunately, things did not go well for the Chosen Children project.

Not Hikari: However, the Dark Masters learned about our plan and they came here to find us.

The doors open and Metal Empire forces spill into the room. Despite having been told that these are phantoms of past events and are not really happening, the kids still panic and scatter. Takeru trips and falls, prompting Patamon to let off an Air Shot at the Metal Empire soldiers to try and cover him.

Not Hikari: These are also video recordings.

The way Homeostasis has to say that again in their completely neutral matter-of-fact voice 'cause children be slow is sending me. XD Maybe you should have drafted some adults for your war.

The Metal Empire forces open fire on the hooded figures, blowing them up with rockets.

Taichi: Shit! So because they're video recordings, we can't do anything but stand here and watch!?

Taichi's blood is expectedly boiling at all this carnage. Koushiro, on the other hand, already has his laptop out because NEW DIGIMON JUST DROPPED. He starts with the brown one.

Guardromon is an Adult-stage Virus-type Machine Digimon, though the Analyzer makes an error and lists them as Data. This may have to do with the fact that they debuted in the Digimon World video game, where they were in fact Data Vaccine actually what the fuck.

I guess the anime just. Split the difference between Digimon World Vaccine and Metal Empire V-Pet Virus. XD

In any case, Guardromon is one of the two Metal Empire Adult Viruses.

Izzy: That one is Guardromon. Narrator: Guardromon. A Machine type Digimon with iron-clad defenses. Their special attack is Destruction Grenade.

Also it's super easy to miss when they're in motion but can I just say that the Destruction Grenades are hilarious? XD Someone was like "This is my Vaccine Digimon, he shoots little cops that explode," and another person went, "Nah bro that goes into the Virus bin."

The silver Digimon, meanwhile, is Mekanorimon. Like Bakemon and bakemono, this is a play on an existing word: norimono, which means "vehicle". Mecha Norimono.

Mekanorimon is the other Adult-stage Virus-type Digimon from Metal Empire, and this one the Analyzer gets right. If your poorly cared for Hagurumon is well-trained, you get Guardromon; If not, Mekanorimon.

Yamato: Here comes another one! Narrator: Mekanorimon. A powered suit Digimon that can be piloted like a vehicle. It uses its Linear Lens to fire its special attack Twinkle Beam.

Under the assault of explosion cops and Twinkle Beams, the cloaked figures are quickly overwhelmed.

In the dub:

Not Kari: Yes, but I'm afraid I have bad news. The Dark Masters got wind of our plan and have worked very hard to defeat us. (Metal Empire forces enter; Kids scatter and flee) Not Kari: Save your breath; They're computer images! (Metal Empire starts killing everyone) Tai: What!? Just because those guys are computer images, we have to sit back and do nothing!? Izzy: (on the brown one) His name is Guardromon. Izzy: (rundown) He's a Machine Digimon and his armor is constructed of solid iron. Absolutely nothing can penetrate that can of beans! Matt: HERE COMES SOME MORE OF THEM!!! Tentomon: (rundown) This is no space-age vacuum cleaner! Meet Mekanorimon. His Twin Beam will annihilate anything! Which makes housework a breeze.

Homeostasis's second line here is delivered as a scolding, rather than a comically matter-of-fact reassertion of information already provided. So it lacks the funny.

Guardromon's diegetic rundown claims that he's invulnerable... because he's made of iron. I mean, iron's great, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of basic? Especially this soon after the fantasy metal "INVULNERABLE CHROME DIGIZOID" was such a big thing.

The reason this happened is because the word in question, 鉄壁 teppeki, has multiple meanings. It literally translates to "iron wall", as in a literal iron wall used in a military fortification, and it means an impenetrable defense.

So they had word which could be saying Guardromon is made of iron or could be saying Guardromon's defenses are impenetrable, and they hedged their bets and went with both.

Meanwhile, Tentomon is too busy quipping to mention that Mekanorimon is a pilotable vehicle. Which. Is. Kind of. Important. Information. For events that will follow.

Also Mekanorimon's attack is "Twin Beam" despite there only being a single beam because I guess the dub team didn't like the twinkle.

While all this devastation is unfolding, Jou suddenly lets out a shriek.

Jou: AHH!!! IT'S PIEMON!!! Stay back! Stay back! Ahhhh go away! Gomamon: We're okay. Sora: It's just a video recording.

Piemon approaches the case with the Digitama. Letting out a wicked laugh, he shatters the case and collects all of the Crests.

Taichi: He's stealing the Crests! Mimi: Can't we do something!?

Suddenly, one of the cloaked figures charges at him with a sword.

Cloaked Man: PIEMON!!! THOSE AREN'T YOURS TO TAKE!!! Piemon: Gennai.... Takeru: THAT'S GENNAI-SAN!?!?

Gennai slashes at Piemon, but he's too slow. Piemon easily darts around Gennai's swing, then presses a strange black orb into Gennai's back. Gennai grits his teeth and grunts in agony as the ball enters his body.

He takes another swing at Piemon, who backs off. A Mekanorimon comes up behind him; Gennai dodges its Twinkle Beam and leaps up on top. Prying open Mekanorimon's cockpit, he yanks a Bakemon out of it and tosses the useless ghost aside.

Gennai: Out of the way!

Gennai slips inside the Mekanorimon himself, then scoops up all of the Digitama and Digivices.

Piemon: DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THE CRESTS!!!

...apparently he also has the Crests. To be honest, I'm not sure how he would have grabbed those. They were last seen in Piemon's hand, and Piemon thoroughly outfought Gennai.

In the dub:

Joe: AHHHH!!! PIEDMON IS HERE!!! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!!! SHOO!!! GO AWAY!!! Gomamon: Relax, he's just an image. Sora: (snarky) Yeah, save your screaming for the real thing. (Piedmon goes for the Crests) Tai: He's going to steal the Crests! Mimi: Oh no! (Piedmon takes the Crests) Cloaked Man: Piedmon! Hands off those Crests! Piedmon: Gennai! T.K.: That man's Gennai!? (Gennai attacks, gets black balled, then hijacks Mekanorimon and escapes with the loot) Piedmon: Follow him! Don't let Gennai out of your sight!

Sora dunks on Joe but to be fair, they've been told twice now. This was legitimately an embarrassing moment for him, even if Original Sora was too kind to say anything.

Gennai takes to the skies with the Digitama, Digivices, and I guess the Crests somehow. The other Mekanorimon and Guardromon pursue him, trying to shoot him down.

Not Hikari: Let's follow them.

A near-miss causes him to lose a single Digitama and Digivice, which plummet to the continent below.

Tailmon: Ah! That's me! (Tailmon's Digitama falls, and is not recovered) Tailmon: So that's why I grew up alone.

Piyomon flies up behind Tailmon and gives her unexpected headpats.

Piyomon: But we're together now! Tailmon: (smile) You're right.

Awww.... ^_^

In the dub:

Not Kari: Let's follow and see what happened in the past. (Enemy rockets cause Gennai to drop the Digiegg) Gatomon: That's my Digiegg! (Gatomon's Digiegg falls, and is not recovered) Gatomon: So that's why I was brought up all alone... That explains it.... (Surprise headpats) Biyomon: Cheer up! We're together now! Gatomon: (smiles, giggles)

Pretty much 1:1 faithful translation.

From there, Gennai escapes to File Island.

Taichi: it's File Island! Not Hikari: After that, many, many years passed until....

Which... is a 100% barren, frozen hellscape. Must be winter, I guess, 'cause it's sunny and grassy by the time the Partner Digitama hatch.

We see Botamon's egg hatch first.

Koromon: I hatched!

From there, the Babies go outside with their Digivices and bounce them playfully.

Koromon: I remember! We were waiting all that time. For Taichi! Tsunomon: Yamato! Piyomon: Sora! Gomamon: Jou! Palmon: Mimi! Patamon: Takeru! Tentomon: Koushiro-han! Koromon: Day after day, we'd wait patiently for their arrival! Until one day....

The babies bounce the Digivices high into the air, but instead it's the children who come plummeting down.

This is probably not literal, but a metaphorical representation of what they were doing. We cut from that to literal flashbacks of the Partners meeting the children in the woods, way back in episode 1.

In the dub:

Tai: It's File Island! Not Kari: After Gennai rescued the Digieggs and Crests, many years passed by until finally.... (Botamon hatches) Koromon: I was born! (The Babies go outside and bounce their Digivices) Koromon: Oh wow, I remember that! It seemed like I waited forever for Tai! Tsunomon: For Matt! Biyomon: For Sora! Gomamon: For Joe! Palmon: For Mimi! Patamon: For T.K.! Tentomon: For Izzy! Koromon: We didn't think they would ever come! Then suddenly, out of the blue, they arrived with a bang!

Again, 1:1 faithful. Though most of this is just yelling character names.

With that, we're caught up to where the children began their involuntary excursion into the Digital World.

Taichi: So that's what happened. Not Hikari: What is the Dark Masters' ultimate goal? How do we save the world? All we can do now is look after the peace of the Digimon World and try to build a system that can repair the damage before it takes place. Taichi: What do you think we should do from here? Not Hikari: I don't know. But I believe that, by relying on yourselves, you will find the answer.

Helpful. Thanks for the history lesson; Wish you had more practical advice for us.

In several years' human time when we're arguing over how to handle Meicoomon, try to remember how you were like "Uhhhh I have no idea how to solve things YOU GOT THIS RIGHT?"

Homeostasis gives off mad "It's my first day but also everyone else quit so please be patient while I figure out how to job" energy. They know the backstory better because they were there for it but they are as helplessly drowning in uncertain waters as the kids themselves.

The Forces of Darkness are rising. They don't know why the Forces of Darkness are rising. They don't know how to make the Forces of Darkness stop rising. And one day they saw two toddlers get along well with a Digimon and went "UM UM UM UM MAYBE CHILD SOLDIERS!?!?!?"

The reactor is melting down and the only person we have on-site is an intern. Well, that and exactly one survivor from the massacre who unfortunately has an unidentified Milk Dud of Doom turning him into a decrepit pervert or whatever it did to thim.

In the dub:

Not Kari: The question is, what exactly are the Dark Masters planning? We are working day and night trying to find out. For now, all we can do is guess and try to outwit them before something terrible happens. Tai: Whoa! Well, if that's true, what should we do now? Not Kari: It's hard to say, but I believe you'll all find an answer on your own.

The dub omits mention of Homeostasis's long-term goal to "build a system that can repair the damage before it takes place". Though they don't go into detail, they apparently have ideas in place to prevent something like the Dark Masters from happening again... if we can figure out how to make the Dark Masters stop happening in the the meanwhile.

Homeostasis is trying to create a vaccine against future instability, while using the Chosen Children as panic-button antidote against current instability.

(This, of course, ends up being Huckmon in Adventure Tri.)

But this doesn't make it across into the dub, which simply says that Homeostasis doesn't know what the Dark Masters are up to but is trying their best.

Returning to the woods where they started, Hikari wakes up in Taichi's arms.

Taichi: Hikari...? Tailmon: Are you okay, Hikari? HIkari: Onii-chan... Tailmon.... Taichi: You're okay! Tailmon: Thank goodness.... Sora: Are you hurting anywhere? Hikari: No... Is something wrong, all of you? Taichi: I-It's nothing. Hikari, about what just happened... Hikari: What just happened? Taichi: Oh! If you don't remember, then never mind.

Smooth, Taichi. Rolling that 12 Charisma score for all it's worth. XD

The dub places its final commercial break here, at the end of Homeostasis's trip into the past. Solid choice.

Tai: Hey.... Gatomon: Are you gonna be alright? Kari: ...oh, hi there. What's wrong? Tai: You've come back! Gatomon: We missed you! Sora: Did it hurt? Kari: No... What do you mean? Tai: Don't you remember? Well, that's alright. Kari: Remember what, Tai? Tai: Never mind. Don't you worry about it.

I like how casual Kari is here. Like, so far as she understands, she just fell asleep suddenly and then woke up to everyone crowding around her for some reason.

Now, on to unfinished business. Taichi stands up and turns to face Yamato.

Taichi: Yamato. Now we know why we became the Chosen Children. Yamato: Yeah. Taichi: Like I thought, we're the only ones who can straighten out this world's distortions.

Taichi approaches Yamato, holding out his hand for Yamato's.

Taichi: Yamato. Let's join back up together. Yamato: I can't. Takeru: Onii-chan? Taichi: I... I made a mistake. Yamato: No. This was all my fault.

Yamato turns and walks away, but Taichi calls after him.

Taichi: That's not what I meant! I mean the way I've been behaving up to this point.... (Yamato stops walking) Yamato: It's not my place to say this after how I've behaved recently, but I don't think there's ever a right or wrong way to do things. It's simply that you have your path and I have mine. I have no idea what sort of path is waiting for me. I thought that if I fought you, I'd understand what it is. An apology may not be enough for you to forgive me, but... I'm sorry.

Taichi and Yamato both recognize their faults and how they've contributed to their recent drama, and offer verbal concessions.

In the dub:

Tai: Well, Matt? There's no doubt about how we became the DigiDestined. We saw it happen! Matt: We sure did. Tai: So now the entire world is depending on us! And we all have to save it together! (Tai steps forward to shake Matt's hand) Tai: How 'bout it, Matt? Are we still a team? Matt: ... T.K.: What's wrong? Tai: Hey, let's put the past behind us. Matt: I know, but you wouldn't understand. Tai: Sure, I would! I say that you and I should let bygones be bygones! Matt: That's not the problem, Tai. This thing is bigger than either of us. It's not about right or wrong; I have my path and you have yours! And I'm not even sure where this path is going to lead me but I know I have to find it for myself. But I still believe in all of us; I mean, without any of you, where would I be? This is all just so confusing, and I let it get to me. That's why we fought.

Tai offers no concession for his own involvement in this whole mess.

Matt's supporting arguments are on much shakier ground than Yamato's. "This is bigger than us" and "I still believes in all of us" are arguments for staying with the group when he's supposed to be explaining why he has to leave.

Yamato says that they fought because he was convinced he would better understand himself and find his way to self-improvement through the act of fighting Taichi. Which is precisely what his conversation with Jureimon claimed.

Matt says they fought because he was confused about how much he wants to both leave and stay at the same time. It's a confusing response.

Now, with conviction, Yamato turns to face the others once more.

Yamato: But I want to find my own path. No, I have to! That's why I've decided to leave you all and go alone from here. Just me and Tsunomon. Koushiro: Please reconsider. After all, Yamato-san, your Crest... I mean, your best quality is.... Yamato: Friendship. I know. But friendship is such a meaningless word, don't you think? No, maybe I just don't know what true friendship is. Sora: H-Hey, how about this? We can break into two groups and go from there. Yamato: Sorry, but I need to do this alone. Sora: Oh... Well, I'm sure you'll be okay, Yamato. I believe in you. Takeru: Onii-chan, what will I do without you? Yamato: You're able to take care of yourself now. Takeru: But.... Sora: You're with us, Takeru-kun. Yamato has something he needs to figure out by himself. We should let him go. Takeru: (nod) Mm. Yamato: Thank you. Bye.

With that surprisingly curt farewell, Yamato turns and walks away into the woods. Metaphorically still lost in the mayoi no mori but better equipped to some day find his way out.

I love the reversal here from "I don't need you to look after me Onii-chan" to "But who will look after me Onii-chan?" Where Yamato has been haunted since episode 3 by the threat of Takeru growing up, the perspective of his decision allows him to finally appreciate how strong his brother is becoming.

Sora, ever the peacemaker, tries to smooth this over as best she can.

In the dub:

Matt: It's important that you guys can count on me, but I'm going to do this because I have to! Tsunomon will be with me so I'll be alright. Don't worry, it will be a lot better this way. Izzy: Matt, if you approach this logically, I'm sure you'll reconsider your decision. Your Crest, it's theme is to promote.... Matt: Friendship, I know. But I haven't been too much of a friend, in case you haven't noticed! Maybe it's because I don't know the true meaning of the word, or maybe I've just forgotten. Sora: Here's a good idea. Let's break up into two groups instead of one big one. Matt: I'm sorry, but I really need to do this alone! Sora: Oh... Well, I believe in you and I'm not going to stand in your way! T.K.: What am I supposed to do without you, Matt? Matt: You're a big kid now. You can take care of yourself, T.K. Sora: Yeah, don't worry! We'll be here for you. Besides, you know how big brothers are; They need their own space! Everything will be fine. T.K.: (nod) Mm. Matt: We'll see ya. Goodbye, everyone.

Matt comes off a lot more reluctant to do this. Between "I still believe in all of us", "Where would I be without you?" and now "It's important that you can count on me", he is not doing a good job of selling the reason for why he needs to leave. Which is that he, Matt, is convinced that he needs to, and no other reason.

Dub Sora patronizingly downplays this whole thing to T.K. "Big brothers need their space", she says as if we're discussing Tai no longer sleeping in the bunk bed with Kari.

Original Sora plays this straight with Takeru; Yamato has something he needs to go do, and we should support him.

Once Yamato's gone, it's time to get moving again. Except Yamato's departure is giving someone else ideas.

Taichi: Well, we should get moving. Ganbatte! Let's fix those distortions in the Digital World!

To get the nakama marching, Taichi gives everyone the good ol' ganbaru, the Japanese social construct of perseverance through great hardships via hard work and dedication.

But one person isn't interested in ganbaru anymore. Mimi hangs back, following slowly before she stops walking entirely. Realizing she isn't with them, Sora turns back, prompting the rest of the group to halt.

Sora: Mimi-chan? Mimi: I'm sorry, Sora-san. I can't. Sora: You can't? You want to stay here? Mimi: Mhm. Others may get hurt and die. I don't want to see that again.

Mimi's voice is quiet and vulnerable. She knows she's letting the others down with this decision, but she can't do this anymore.

Without missing a beat, Senpai steps up to do his job.

Jou: Then I'll stay too. Koushiro: Jou-san! Jou: It's dangerous for Mimi-chan to be here by herself. I'll do what I can to convince her to return, then we'll meet up with the rest of you. Is that okay? Taichi: Yeah. We're counting on you, Jou. Jou: YES!!!

Jou is so excited that Taichi signed off on his plan, he shouts and runs for where Mimi is.

Gomamon: JOU WAIT FOR ME!!! (chases)

Eager to get the fuck out of this party, are we, Jou? XD

The dub, as usual, can't lean on ganbaru. But they've got something just as good for American cultural values: military lingo, which this arc's been leaning in heavily on.

Tai: We'd better move it, troops. We've got the world to save! So we're down one DigiDestined; That's no problem. We can do it, right? (Mimi hangs back) Sora: Hmm? Mimi? Mimi: I'm sorry, Sora. I'm not going. Sora: Huh? Why not? Come on, what? Mimi: Well, I just don't want to see anybody else fight or hurt themselves. I hope you understand. Joe: Then I'm staying too. Izzy: But why? Joe: It's not safe for Mimi to be here all alone. I'll make sure she's okay and then, hopefully later, we can rejoin you guys. Okay? Tai: Okay. Good luck, Joe. Joe: Thanks. (runs off) Gomamon: Wait for me! (chases)

Despite having far more reasons to be excited about leaving these fuckers behind, Dub Joe does not scream exuberance at the top of his lungs as he quits the party.

To avoid the 'D' word, Mimi's "I don't want to see anyone get hurt or killed again" becomes "I don't want to see anyone fight or hurt themselves". She can't even say she's afraid of them being hurt by others?

As the group further fractures, Patamon shares his concerns.

Patamon: Everyone is separating again. Piyomon: And just when all eight of us were finally together. Tailmon: You guys don't get it, do you? Piyomon: Huh? Tailmon: The roads we take are different, but our destination will be the same. We'll all get there, no matter how thorny our paths may be.

Tailmon's final words lead us out. With one last glance at Jou and Mimi staying behind, the remaining five soldiers in our nakama stride onward.

Man, escaping from her abuser and reuniting with the crew she was meant to be with has done wonders for Tailmon's outlook. Amazing how that works.

This line has so much pathos coming from her. In the woods that Vamdemon found her in, no less.

In the dub:

Patamon: Gee, now we're all gonna be split up again! Biyomon: Just when we were finally all together! Gatomon: You may think we're separated but we're really not. Biyomon: Huh!? Gatomon: The roads might be different but the place we end up in is the same. I mean, think about it. If they truly are the DigiDestined, they're destined to be together once again. At least, that's the way I hope it works out. Narrator: Is Gatomon right? Or is this the end of the DigiDestined!? Tune in to the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Fucking-ass killjoy narrator! XD I like how he asks that question then just says "Tune in" without promising any answers, because the Breaking of the Fellowship is not something that will be resolved any time soon.

Also love how Tailmon drops some hopeful philosophy while Gatomon's just like, "Look, it says 'destiny' right there in the name... that we made up for the dub." But then admits that she, like Tailmon, is just running on hope at this point.

There is no sound reason in either version to believe that Yamato, Mimi, and Jou will come back, but a kitty-cat can hope.

Assessment: Man, I hope you did not come into WarGreymon vs MetalGarurumon hoping for a Versus bout because that is the least important thing that happens in this episode.

The titular fight provides a backdrop for the much more interesting fistfight between Taichi and Yamato, giving them both plentiful opportunities to project what's going on with each of them.

This was a great episode for Taichi. Not just for the characterization he got to express verbally, but also for the choices he made in the end. Remember that when this started, he was yelling in Mimi's face and freaking out about Yamato wandering off because "The eight of us must be together to defeat the Dark Masters!"

By the end of this episode, after having it out with Yamato and talking with Homeostasis, Taichi owns up to his own problem behavior just as Yamato does. Then he stands back and lets three people leave. In fact, when Mimi says she wants out because she can't stand to see anyone else die, he doesn't say a word to her. He accepts her decision without question.

I think it was the SkullGreymon thing that did it, personally. Learning that there's a wrong kind of Courage made Taichi reflect on his behavior and gain a sense of perspective towards how he treats his crew and what he expects from them. That's my interpretation.

Whatever the case, Taichi demonstrates remarkable growth not just for what he said to Yamato but for what he didn't say to any of them.

Yamato, of course, still has a long ways to go. Which he knows, and is the reason that he left.

And this officially kicks off the Jou and Mimi side-quest. Which was the last part of the show that I've been super anticipating.

The dub, expectedly, struggled with this one. They have a hard time with lore-heavy episodes and half of this episode was just Homeostasis explaining the plot. There's a lot of good information there that builds out the backstory of how they got here (and one irritating shrug), but it is a lot of narrative exposition, which is the dub's biggest weak point.

Still, they did better than expected. They had their missteps here and there but there were also multiple expository scenes that came through solid. Like Taichi, the dub showed improvement.

[rie-092]

Hello is the request open if it is then can i request a yandere felix from i have became hero's rival headcanons pls.^_^

FINALLY

❲ platonic yandere! felix chamberlain x child! reader ❳

「 demon au! 」

summary : felix chamberlain loathes the leaders of that village for sacrificing an innocent child like yourself to him. but oh well, if they didn't sacrifice you to him— maybe he wouldn't be able to meet you.

tw : yandere behaviour, unhealthy obsession, possessive behaviour, mentions of killing, violence, abandonment, manipulation, creepy behaviour.

there was a tale that was famous in your village. a tale about a demon who goes on a rampage after the people in this village killed his sister and his wife. at first, when you heard that tale from a certain friend of yours. you thought that it was just fake, that the demon in that tale wasn't existing. but, yeah, you are wrong.

well, you see. unlike the other kids on your village, you were different. because they call you as a child who killed her own mother. that was the reason why your family especially your father hates you so much. and that's also the reason why your father, who's one of the leaders on your village, decided to offer you to the demon on that said tales.

on the meantime, felix, the said demon. was currently sitting inside his house. just like usual, he was waiting for those humans to attack and kill him. no offense, but this guy wants to die so bad yet, he cannot. since he was different from his little sister and his human wife.

and that was when he noticed that some humans entered his forest. he was ecstatic to the point that he immediately teleported to the place where those humans are. but when he arrived at that place, the only human that he saw there was you. an unconscious little child with full of scratches and bruises all over your body.

this guy was surprised by the fact that you're still alive after getting those bruises. but at the same time, he felt enraged after seeing your condition... wait, felix became confused. why would he feel angry when he doesn't even know you? anyways, after watching you for almost an hour. felix carefully lifted you into his arms, scared that you might get hurt because of him.

and before he left. he looked back at the place where he found you. and notice some presence hiding behind the trees. felix face darkened as he smirked. it looks like humans are more selfish and greedy than he thought.

after arriving at his house. felix lay you down on claudia, his sister's bed. now, are you wondering if felix knows how to nurse a human kid? of course not! and are you also wondering how he'll gonna heal you? of course he'll gonna use magic!

and after using healing magic on you. this guy spent a whole week, staying by your side. watching you sleep and thinking how a little kid like yourself was able to sleep for so long? what are you dreaming about? he smiled, he suddenly remembered how his claudia adores human children. and if he and his wife, irene had a child.. will their child look like you?

after having that thought. felix sighed as he finally realized that he doesn't have any food on his house to offer to you. after seeing that you're still sleeping peacefully. felix finally left your side to find some food. now, if he thinks about it— he does have a plenty of money. so why not go to the near village to buy your needs while disguising himself as a human? hmm, that's not a bad idea!

and... unexpectedly, felix had fun while exploring the human village near his house (of course it's not your village). some people helped him find some clothes that he assume suited to you. he couldn't help but to chuckle, this was the first time, after he lost his sister and wife, that he had fun like this.

and felix will make sure that this will last forever. i mean, those humans offered you as a sacrifice to him. so it will be alright if you become his child, no?

and after he teleported back to his house. he was confused when he saw that you were not on the bed. and this guy started overthinking that you escaped from him. after he healed you, stay on your side for a week, and bought all of these things for you. you will just escape from him?

felix's bright aura earlier will be placed with bloodlust. should he destroy your village just like what he did in the past? ah, it will be good if he kills everyone there and spares no one.

but his dark thoughts were interrupted when he heard a giggle coming from one of the rooms. he immediately goes there and opens the door. and his eyes widened after seeing you playing by yourself. he sighed in relief, while you looked at him in surprise after noticing the horn on his head.

you almost choke as you pointed your finger at him. meanwhile, felix finds it cute when you pointed your small fingers at him while asking if he was a demon. he nodded his head as he patted your head before sitting down next to you.

surprisingly, despite of being a demon, felix was gentle with you. this guy will teach you everything he knows. he even spoils you whenever he brings you with him to the village where he bought your things. you started seeing him as your father figure. and when you accidentally called him father once, this guy almost fainted.

and one day, while walking around the forest. a guy from your village approached you, saying that your father was in critical condition. you were worried of course, and you wanted to go with him. yet, you're not able to move your body.

the guy from your village froze on his spot as he saw the figure of a woman hugging your neck. His eyes and the woman's blue eyes met as the woman smiled lightly. he then flinched when he looked at your eyes which have a red hue on them. he saw how the woman whispered something in your ear as you spoke in a low yet lifeless voice.

“ what are you talking about...? felix chamberlain is my only father. ”

when you came back to your senses, you were confused when the guy earlier wasn't there anymore. you suddenly felt as if you had forgotten something important but you shrugged it off.

holding a flower crown in your hand. you came back to felix's house and you were welcomed by him. but unlike usual, felix doesn't have a gentle smile on his face. instead, he looked at you with emotionless eyes as he asked you if you met a human earlier.

but you shook your head which made felix confuse. he could easily tell that you were saying the truth. but, he felt earlier that a human entered his forest. so they didn't approach you huh? well, it's fine! since you said him the truth, this guy will give you a price! and that price was the fold that you wanted to try before!

after eating dinner, you go to claudia's room as usual and sleep there. after noticing that you're already asleep. felix will go inside the room as he saw you peacefully laying down on the bed with a smile on your face. the innocent façade that he always showing to you disappeared as he planted a small kiss on your forehead.

he smelled an unfamiliar human scent on you earlier. oh well, it doesn't matter since he heard how you called him father earlier. but he still wondering how did you forget what that guy said to you earlier. was it because of claudia?

if it's because of her, then he should be thankful for it. besides, he looked at you as he notice a small horn forming on your forehead. his lips lifted after seeing that. it looks like adding some of his blood to your foods every day finally become effective.

seeing how you slowly becoming a demon like him was good news. felix won't make the same mistake twice you know?

now, the only thing left was killing that father of yours so he will be your only father and resurrecting his dear wife and little sister. and finally, after doing those things he will be able to get the happy family that he always wanted.

“ you don't have to worry, i'll protect you from everything— (first name)...”

[kamyru]

How Nathaniel's HS arc helped me understand that there are parents who don't beat their kids

TW: Violent parents, child abuse

As MCL: New Gen began, I decided to replay the entire MCL. And I know it's a running gag in the fandom to hate on Beemoov and criticize it and I also do it. However, this post won't be about it. It is gonna be quite the opposite.

I didn't reach Nathaniel's arc in HS yet, so I'll talk from memories. But replaying HS made me think about it a lot.

Random fact about me: I was beaten as a kid. When I was younger more, as I became a teenager, less. I don't remember how often it happened, but I know that I was afraid of doing things sometimes because of this. My mom mostly used a belt to strike my legs/butt, once she used a phone charger cable or something similar. When I grew up it kinda stopped, but she continued to grab me by the hair and shake me till I was around 17-18. My dad wasn't as involved in this. But it's a running joke in my family that I am the strange ideas generator and the black sheep because he once hit me with a hard slipper on the head.

The school teachers knew that parents use violence on their kids. It's probably impossible not to know it when every now and then a kid was coming to school crying the next day after a test. And while talking with my classmates, we always came to the same conclusion: the parents are doing it for our own good, and of course they don't have enough patience to take out bullshit. Moreover, everyone will probably hit their kid when we will have them. I even came to the conclusion that every kid makes a promise to themselves that they are not gonna hit their kid, because they know how it is, but most of the kids are so awful that it's impossible not to do it. So, every time our teachers were asking us if we are beaten at home and were making parents-teachers meeting in which they were telling the parents not to beat their kids, we were looking at it with skepticism. Everyone was hit at least once in my class. It was normal.

And when I was 12-13, I saw the playthrough for Nathaniel's arc. And all the things in there seemed for me to be exaggerations. Like what kid in their right mind was going to call the cops on their parents and do something with the violence, right? But all the hatred I felt at that time towards Nath's father and the reaction of the cast made me finally understand what my elementary teacher was trying to get to me: beating your kid is not okay and there actually are kids that had never been beaten in their entire life.

Nath's arc was the first fictional representation of a beaten kid who made it through and punished his parents. A thing I didn't have as a kid before, because everyone around me was hit at least once.

I don't know if Beemoov actually wanted to spread awareness or just have some more drama, but it worked. They did put the first brick in normalizing my view against child violence. It may seem something strange for people who didn't go through this, because now I know that they do exist, but it was an eye-opener for me at that time. It didn't give me power to go against my parents violence, especially because it wasn't as often at that time. But it gave me something more important: it gave me the reassurance and hope, and all that I needed to know that I will break the circle when it is the right time.

It doesn't matter if it happened once, or multiple times, or in what state of mind was the parent. It is wrong in any case. So, please, to all the kids that went through this, know that you will make it through. You can change, you can be different. It's not an axiom that all the parents are beating their kids. You can be different and I believe in you.

And also

Thank you, Beemoov for teaching me this.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Help! I don't exist in this universe!

Summary: Luna and Ámbar were just trying out a new drink and suddenly, Felicity arrives. And it's not Nina in disguise, no, this is legitimately Felicity as her own person! Felicity takes with them on a journey through different universes, where in every new one, something is different. New partners, new life situations, even completely other children that they have, or don't have. It gets extremely odd and life-questioning... send help.

This is KIND OF a sequel to a Violetta oneshot I did a while ago, where essentially the same thing happened. I'm not saying you need to read it before this, especially if you have only seen SL and not Violetta, but if you HAVE seen Violetta too, it would be fun if you checked it out too after you finished this one. I'm gonna link it in the end notes. Again, not a requirement as this can stand on its own, but I do make some references to it in this.

Ámbar sat on the couch, watching her daughter run around laughing, as Luna chased her.

"I'm gonna get you!" Luna exclaimed. "Oh? Where are you? There you are!" She lifted the 1 year old up, blowing raspberries on her.

"Mama!" another toddler shouted. It was Luna's own daughter, that ran from behind the curtain where she had... just been behind for a little while. 

"Hi!" Luna said. She then sniffed on Ámbar's daughter. "Oof, you don't smell good! Here you go, Ámbar, go change your kid."

"No, thanks, the couch is so cozy."

Luna rolled her eyes, as she looked down on her own daughter. "You need a change too, young lady."

"Do not!" her daughter exclaimed.

"What were you doing behind the curtain, then? Come on, I'll change you and Lilith at the same time."

"Don't want mama!" 

Luna raised her eyebrows. "Mama can't change you?"

"No!"

"Then who can change you?"

"Ámbar can!"

Luna chuckled. "You heard her, Ámbar. Let's make a deal, I change your kid and you change mine."

Ámbar stood up. "Alright. It's time for their... n-a-p, anyway."

"Right."

As Luna and Ámbar both inherited the mansion, it was only natural that they'd eventually raise their separate children there. There was plenty of room for it. Luna adopted a little girl named Lucia just a year back. Soon after, Ámbar and Simón welcomed their first child to the world, and named her Lilith. The five of them now lived kind of like a big happy family, helping out with each other's kids.

After changing their daughters, they put them down for naps. Sometimes, this could be a struggle, but this time, the toddlers just fell asleep immediately.

Ámbar and Luna made a silent high five and walked out.

"So, what do you wanna do now when we get an hour of quiet time?" Luna asked.

"Hm... I kinda want a drink," Ámbar admitted.

Both snickered.

"I just remembered!" Luna exclaimed. "Ada sent me a recipe for some 'witch brew' that her sister had made."

"Why are you still in contact with Ada?"

"She dated Nico, Nico is part of the Roller Band, I am an honorary member of the Roller Band!"

"But... she broke up with Nico like 4 months after they moved to New York."

"So?"

"So... you know what, nevermind! She sent you a 'witch brew' that Eva made?"

"No, not Eva. Her other sister!"

"Oh my god, are they triplets?"

"No, no... there's five sisters in total, and this is their older sister who is a witch, or at least aspires to be one."

Ámbar stared at her with confusion. ”Why… do you know this information?”

”I remember people’s family details when they tell them to me.”

"Fair enough... so, have you made this 'witch brew'?"

"Yes. Simón helped me because he didn't trust that I'd make it correctly." She opened the fridge and brought out a bottle.

"Have you tried it yet?" Ámbar asked.

"No, it was supposed to be in the fridge for 22 hours at least. We can try it now!"

They poured up two glasses. 

"Cheers!" they exclaimed, as they took sips. 

"Hm..." Ámbar said, "It doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't taste much."

"I agree..."

"And yet, I feel... dizzy?"

"Same here! And we only took a sip."

Suddenly, there was a flashing light, and there was this weird humming sound like something from another world.

Suddenly, a new person was in the room. It was a person they knew, but they were surprised of her attire. She also sat on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs, which was not like her.

"Nina?" Luna asked. "What are you doing here, and why are you dressed like Felicity?"

"And why do you still look like you're 17...?" Ámbar chimed in. 

"Oh, because I'm not Nina, I am Felicity!" Felicity explained, and got down from the kitchen counter. 

"... what..." Ámbar mumbled.

Felicity pulled her own hair. "See! No wig. Try it."

Ámbar aggressively pulled her hair, although Felicity did not seem to be so hurt from it. "No... the wig does not come off. What the heck?!"

"Told you!" Felicity said.

"So you like... exist... as a real person..." Luna said confused, "... and you're not Nina's alter ego?"

"I may be her alter ego in this universe, but where I'm from, I exist!"

"Existing as you were born, grew up and have an entire life-"

"No, no. I live in a universe only for alter egos and imaginary friends. We don't get born, the second that someone makes us up we just pop into existence in that universe. Then we just float around in a void there, not aging and not doing anything really, until someone from another universe summons us. Now, it's the first time I do this, my friend Roxy was supposed to do it, but she said that I'd be more fitting for you two. But she left me some instructions..."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ámbar asked.

Felicity closed her eyes. "Take my hands."

They did. Felicity inhaled deeply, and as she exhaled, they suddenly traveled away from the kitchen.

They ended up in some white void.

"Where are we?" Ámbar asked.

"We are in the space between universes," Felicity explained. She had a device with her all of a sudden. "Now, you two live in universe 1, it seems. I'm checking universe 2 right now, and it seems like everything is the same for you in that universe."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, the only difference in universe 2 is who your kids end up with when they grow up. But it doesn't really affect you."

"Is there any universe that does affect us?" Luna asked. 

"There is... there's universes in which neither of you were ever born. There's a universe where your aunt married your biological dad instead, Luna, and so she had children with him that isn't you."

"I can't imagine Sharon would ever want kids..." Luna admitted.

"... she adopted me willingly..." Ámbar said. "I know she's not a good parental figure at all and is the most cold and bitter person alive, but she wanted to have kids. I do think she wanted one more to raise them to be exactly like her and to have as a mini doll of herself rather than letting me be my own person, but still. Also, I think she wished you were her daughter and not her niece."

"There's a universe where she never adopted you," Felicity said. "But in that universe, Luna got to grow up with her rather than ending up in Mexico. In that universe, the two of you get close and have a Romeo and Juliet story where Sharon does not approve her niece Sol to date a poor woman's daughter."

Ámbar and Luna stared at her uncomfortably. 

"There is also a universe called the 'Sunshine and Moonshine' universe for some reason, in which you two both grow up with Sharon!"

"And what universe is that in numbers?" Ámbar asked.

"Oh. It's not numbered."

"Why are some universes called stuff like 'universe 2' and others have... titles?"

"Don't question it."

"Are we just gonna get informed about universes, or are we gonna visit one?" Luna asked.

"We're gonna visit several ones! I'm just trying to scroll by which ones I'm allowed to show you. It says I'm not allowed to show you the universes where you don't exist, as that can cause horrifying side effects. And I can, but am not encouraged, to show you the ones where you grew up in other circumstances, as it can cause you to miss what you didn't get to grow up with. So I'm trying to find the ones where your upbringing was mostly the same, but your current life is different."

She scrolled some more, and eventually exclaimed. "Aah! I got one! This one... hm, wait, I need to call Roxy about this."

She pressed her finger in her ear and turned it sideways. It seems like she was calling someone on a phone... but in her ear.

"Hi, Roxy? Uh... this universe is said to be called 'the canon endgames universe', but it also says it's an inaccurate title... uh-huh... aah... okay, so... I see! You're gonna change the title? Ok! Thanks! Yeah, I'm doing fine! A little nervous to be doing this the first time... haha! Yeah! Ok, they're waiting... thanks! Bye!"

She got her finger out of her ear. "So, this universe was called 'the canon endgames universe' by Roxy, but apparently it was only accurate for the people she knows. For you, it's more of a 'canon ships universe', because apparently there were some people that ended up single in canon that now have relationships that were with the ones they had been dating before."

"What are you even talking about, I don't understand!" Ámbar admitted. "What do you mean 'canon'?"

"Let's just say there is a universe in which you are all fictional characters in a tv show. Many of you ended up with someone else in that tv show, while others ended up single by the end. Those ones that ended up single now have partners that they didn't end up with in the show." Suddenly, Felicity's hair buzzed, like she got a text message in her hair. She giggled. "Also, Roxy wants to add that this is the most 'heterosexual happy ending' universe."

"What?" Luna asked.

"Let's go see it!"

They ended up in front of a pretty big house. Ámbar immediately saw herself and Simón. 

"We're still together," she concluded. "But why are we here?"

"You live here!" Felicity explained. "With your two kids."

"We only have one kid." 

Felicity smirked. "I forgot to mention, this universe is 10 years into the future. And in every universe in which you two are together, you have the same amount of kids. So..." She patted Ámbar's belly.

"I didn't consent for you to touch me," Ámbar said.

"You can't do anything about it, I don't exist in any of the universes you do."

Ámbar took a step back.

"I'm sorry," Felicity said, "Living in a void universe makes me forget social boundaries. Anyway... you and Simón live here, after you decided to get your own place after having two kids."

They then teleported to another house none of them have seen before. Outside was two children, walking towards the car.

"Those kids look familiar, but I have never seen them before..." Luna said curiously.

"Again, this takes place 10 years into the future... they are the children of two people you know very well."

"Be patient, I need to find the car keys!" a familiar voice called. 

Out of the door came Gastón, holding a little toddler on his arm. Soon after came Nina, holding another toddler, seeming to be the same age as the first, but with red hair instead of brown.

"Woah! Are these all their children?" Luna asked.

"It is. They moved here just a year ago to make room when they expected twins," Felicity explained.

"They have no kids in our universe..." Ámbar said. "But... I guess they will... eventually."

"Yep! Their kids are slightly younger than yours."

”I love that for them,” Luna said and smiled. ”But am I living alone with Lucia in the mansion, then?”

Felicity gave her a sympathetic smile. ”Not exactly…” 

They teleported to the mansion living room. Luna saw herself sitting on the couch. She was quiet for a moment, until she heard someone’s footsteps. 

In came Matteo. 

”What’s he doing here?” Luna asked curiously.

Suddenly, Matteo leaned in and kissed her. ”I just dropped off the kids… we have the house to ourselves.”

The Luna from this universe smirked and stood up. ”Well, what are we waiting for?” 

The two of them giggled and sprinted off, tickling each other on the way. 

”Okay…” Ámbar said, ”I’m disturbed.”

”I’m confused,” Luna admitted. ”He… he talked about kids. We have kids? Plural?”

”Yes, but we arrived here when they weren’t home,” Felicity shrugged. ”The device also says you and Matteo are the only pairing you have in which you have kids biologically rather than adopting.”

”How come?”

”Mostly because Matteo thinks it’s unnecessary to waste time adopting when you could make your own kids faster, and for free.”

”… I see.”

”Anyway! Let’s check on Jim!”

”… and Yam?” Luna asked.

”Nope!” Felicity shook her head. ”Only Jim! And her husband!”

”Husband?” Ámbar and Luna asked. 

They teleported to an apartment. Jim and Nico sat at the kitchen table. With them was a little baby sitting in a high chair. They were quiet. 

”Aww, I’m glad Jim has a child!” Luna said, ”She said she had names for them already planned out in middle school. Although, it’s a different child to the ones she has in our universe…”

”Yeah, this is sort Jim’s happy heterosexual ending if she never came out,” Felicity explained.

”So she’s… straight in this universe?” Ámbar asked. 

Felicity shook her head. ”Your life situation and partner may be different in different universes, but your personality always stays. So does your sexuality and your diagnoses.” She glanced at Luna as she said the last part. ”Jim is always a lesbian in every universe. Only here… she never came out. She and Nico are happy… mostly… they have been trying for a child for years, and have been having trouble as it seems like Jim isn’t really into it for some reason…?” 

Ámbar and Luna stared at each other pitifully.

”But, they finally managed to get knocked up, and I think their child brings a new light into their relationship. Had they not managed to get a baby, I think it would have ended in a divorce. But now when they have one, Jim especially is happier, and Nico sees that. He has his theories that she might be… you know…” Felicity did a certain gesture with her hand. ”But he also has not as good of a gaydar to fully realize it.”

”If Jim is with Nico… who is Yam with?” Luna asked. 

”Great question!” 

They teleported to a new house. A bunch of kids ran around, and in the middle was Yam and Ramiro. They looked a bit tired.

”Yam and Ramiro?” Ámbar asked. ”Woah. Like I knew Ramiro tried to hit on her constantly, but I always had the feeling she wasn’t interested. Not that I cared much, none of them were threats to me so I never got invested.”

”They seem to have their hands full!” Luna commented. ”How many kids do they have?”

”Four,” Felicity said. ”Yam is also still very much a lesbian, and both she and Ramiro are pretty much aware of it, but they decide to not do anything about it. They’re still so good friends, so they try to think of their marriage as they kinda are friends… that bang sometimes and get knocked up.”

”Yeah, I’m… interested how they got so many kids,” Ámbar said. ”Is it to give their marriage a purpose or what?”

”Well… Yam especially did want kids, and Ramiro is sort of indifferent. And so they tried for one… and decided to get another one… and so on. But they only sleep together for reproductive purposes. Nothing else.”

”Interesting…” Luna said.

”Maybe we should have given them some larger age gaps,” they heard Yam say as she tiredly watched the kids run around. 

”Eh, smaller age gaps makes them closer to each other!” Ramiro said.

”I know, but I mean, for us! So that we’d not have several small kids at once…”

”Hey… we got this! Don’t we?” Ramiro took her hands. 

”Yeah… we do.”

”I mean, as long as their marriage is happy…” Luna said. ”But I think Jim and Yam were like… written to be soulmates.”

”And as far as I know, Jim and Yam are together in every other universe!” Felicity said. ”Except for the universe where Jim is with you, Luna, and Yam dates Jazmin.”

”What?” 

”Also, I think Yam is with Ámbar in some universe too, and I think Jim is with Luna in that one as well.”

”I have no idea how that would even end up happening, but it also sounds interesting,” Ámbar admitted. 

”Yeah… we can’t visit those universes right now, because apparently they haven’t ’finished rendering’…” Felicity said. ”But, there is a universe in which Ramiro has another partner that you know very well!” 

They teleported back to the mansion, now apparently in a brand new universe. Ámbar saw herself and Simón sit with their daughter Lilith on the couch.

”Back to normal…?” she said.

”Oh yeah, the previous universe was the only one 10 years into the future. Every other one is in the present.”

”We’re home!” That was the voice of Luna, from this universe. She came in, holding hands with…

Ramiro.

”I’m… with Ramiro in this universe?” Luna asked. 

”So you are,” Felicity nodded.

”Is… Lucia here? Do I have her?”

Felicity checked her device. ”Hm… no, in this universe you and Ramiro don’t have kids. It’s possible you have some later, I mean, this universe takes place in the same present as yours.”

”Aw. So I only have her when I’m alone?”

”Maybe. Maybe not. There’s a lot of universes. Maybe you adopt her together with another partner you have. Maybe you and Ramiro adopt her later, just that she was adopted later in life. But right now, the only kid in your house is Simón and Ámbar’s.”

”There’s my little champ!” Ramiro exclaimed, picking Lilith up from the couch. ”How are ya?”

”Ramiro should babysit her again sometime, in our universe,” Ámbar said with a smile. ”He’s good with kids.”

”Are Jim and Yam back together?” Luna asked.

”Yes,” Felicity assured her. ”If I don’t mention them, then just assume they are together, with their kids. But… hmm… there’s another pairing that is different here.”

”Which one?” 

They teleported to someone's backyard, with a pool.

"Ooh, fancy!" Luna exclaimed.

"Someone's lying on the sun chair," Ámbar said, pointing at someone lying on a sun chair. 

Suddenly, Gastón came in with two glasses of either fanta or a yellow alcoholic drink. Or he pissed in a glass, but that was very unlikely (we hope).

"Are you just gonna sit here and lounge all day?" Gastón asked the person in the sun chair.

"I've worked hard!" It was Matteo's voice. In the next second, Matteo sat up and took one of the drinks. 

"You vacuumed the house, Matteo."

"Yes, exactly! Worked hard."

Gastón chuckled and then leaned down, proceeding to give him a kiss on the lips.

"Oh my god, they are pool gays!" Ámbar exclaimed. 

"Schh, they're gonna hear you!" Luna replied.

"No? We're invisible?"

"Wait, we are?"

"Yes? That's what I've concluded after we've been in the middle of several people's houses and they have not batted an eye at us."

"Aah... anyway, what's a pool gay? A gay that hangs out at the pool?"

"Yes."

"I need to remind you that everyone always has the same sexuality in every universe, and both of them are bisexual," Felicity corrected her. "A bit surprised you assumed they were gay just because they're with each other. You're bi yourself!"

"I am saying 'gay' as a general term," Ámbar explained. "Pool bi's doesn’t sound as good."

"Wait, where's Nina then?" Luna asked.

"The device doesn't say..." Felicity said. "I don't think the universe has decided yet."

"What does that mean? That she doesn't exist?"

"No, no! She does exist! It's just that the universe doesn't let us see her. So we don't know if she's... maybe thriving as a single woman, or is with someone else, or what."

"Well, I wanna see her!"

"Alright... you wanna go to another universe, then? I know one where Nina is a lot more in your life than what she already is."

"Ooh! What's that universe called?"

"It's called the 'nothing-is-the-same-as-any-other-universe-universe'! It's a bit of a misnomer, as some things are the same in other universes too, but what I think it refers to is that it's the only universe where two or more pairings or situations are not identical as any other."

"... I'm dizzy by your talking, I don't understand anything," Ámbar admitted.

Once again, they ended up in the mansion, although this time in the kitchen.

Luna from this universe was setting the table, when a little girl ran inside.

"Mami!"

"Oh my gosh, I have my daughter back!" Luna from universe 1 exclaimed. She recognized it was her adoptive daughter Lucia right away.

"You're in for a surprise, Luna, because in this universe, you share your custody of her with someone else," Felicity informed her. 

Luna from this universe twirled around her daughter. "You wanna help me set the table?"

Right then, Nina came inside. "Hello! Is dinner ready?"

"Oh, does Nina live here or something?" Luna from universe 1 asked. 

"You could say that..." Felicity replied.

Nina from this universe took Lucia in her arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then she kissed Luna on the mouth.

"Oh!" Luna from universe 1 exclaimed, as she witnessed herself kiss her best friend. 

"I have stopped questioning stuff now," Ámbar said. 

"You know, my mom for a long time had a theory that we were dating."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah. She was convinced that I was dating someone, but she couldn't figure out if it was Simón or Nina."

"Where's Ámbar?" Lucia from this universe asked. 

"Oh, she's up in her room," Luna from this universe explained.

"Go get her?"

"No, we better let her rest." Luna and Nina shared a knowing look.

"Let's go check on you, Ámbar," Felicity said.

"Oh, I don't wanna disturb myself..."

"You're gonna get quite the surprise as well!"

They popped into Ámbar's room, where Ámbar from this universe was lying on the bed. Next to her was another woman. Emilia. 

A quick glance at their pupils, you could see right away that they were stoned as heck.

"Okay, I'm getting high with Emilia," Ámbar from universe 1 said. "Big deal. As long as it's not in front of my kid."

"Your kid doesn't exist in this universe," Felicity said in an eerie tone. "Because you didn't get with Simón."

"What? Who did I get with then?"

Felicity pointed at Emilia.

"Hey Emi," Ámbar from this universe mumbled, "Would you ever wanna get married or whatever?"

"Nah," Emilia from this universe replied. "I'm not into that. I just like the way it is, you know... you, me, getting stoned and having awesome intercourse like my old teacher would say."

Both of them laughed. 

"You and Emilia live here with Luna and Nina," Felicity explained. "You work and roller skate and do everything you do in your own universe, but in evenings you like to just go up in your room and get blazed. You don't have kids, Luna and Nina's adoptive daughter is enough. Their daughter thinks you're her funny aunties who speak odd."

"Ok, I do love that..." Ámbar said. "And I guess... we have a pretty decent life."

Suddenly, Emilia from this universe sat up. "Ha! Ámbi, look! I can see you standing in front of us!"

Ámbar from this universe also sat up, and squinted at the multiverse travelers. "Woah... sick... hi, me!"

"Right, getting high makes you almost see through time and space..." Felicity sighed.

"Ámbi, I don't know if it is that I'm already turned on, but wouldn't it be so cool if we like... banged while that blurry version of you watches?"

"Yes! Take my shirt off!"

"Ookaay..." Ámbar from universe 1 said, "We... probably are gonna go now."

"Where's Simón?" Luna asked.

"Good question!" Felicity said and snapped her fingers. 

They were back at the pool again. This time, they arrived right in the middle of Matteo chasing Simón around the pool.

"Come here, you!" Matteo yelled.

"Never!" Simón laughed. He then, in panic, jumped into the pool. 

Matteo shook his head. "I don't know how you do it, but you're making me just love you more." After he said that, he jumped into the pool and dragged Simón under water.

The two had a wrestling match for a moment, before suddenly leaning against the pool wall and starting to make out.

Luna and Ámbar stared at them pretty unfazed.

"Well, since none of you girls were interested in them, the boys I guess found each other!" Felicity chuckled. "I know, it must be weird seeing Matteo with so many other people that isn't Ramiro. But Matteo and Ramiro are together in a majority of universes, there's just like... four exceptions."

"Wait, what?" Ámbar asked. "What do you mean they're together?"

"You know... Matteo and Ramiro in your universe?"

"They're not together in our universe..." Luna said slowly. 

Felicity cracked up. "Oh! My apologies! Well, I guess I spoiled it! You have not experienced the summer-lovin'-had-me-a-blast-of-2030 yet! That's when their romance starts!"

"You need to work on your titles," Ámbar said.

"Can you see into the future?" Luna asked.

Felicity nodded. "As a magical girl I am allowed to know everything that happens in your life span, and all the information ever about you, even the information you don't know yourselves!"

"Anyway, can we go, the makeout session is starting to get too intense now..." Ámbar said.

"Yes. We need to stop by Jim and Yam."

They teleported to Jim and Yam's house. It all seemed to be the same. They noticed Jim and Yam standing in the hallway, watching their daughters, who they also had in universe 1, get dressed to go outside.

"Now, it all might look the same at first glance," Felicity said, "But just you wait."

"I'm coming!" a high pitched voice exclaimed. "I need to powder my nose like all the time!"

"I've been there," Yam said. "Just a few short months more!"

Suddenly, Jazmin came into the room. Just a quick glance at her could determine she was pregnant. 

"Aww, good for her!" Luna said.

What then happened caught them off guard. Yam grabbed Jazmin and kissed her. Luna and Ámbar remembered they apparently did date in some universe, but judging from the kids, Jim and Yam were also together? Why was Jim so ok with her wife kissing another woman?

"So... remember how I told you Yam was dating Jazmin in a universe?" Felicity asked. "In this universe, she sort of ended up in a love triangle with the two, and... well, now all three are dating each other. Jim and Yam have legal custody of the kids, and Jazmin is now pregnant with a child she's gonna have legal custody of on her own. But all three will be and are parents of all the kids."

Luna and Ámbar stared in silence for a few moments. 

"You know what?" Luna said. "As long as they're happy."

"And as long as we are happy," Ámbar chimed in. "We all seem pretty happy with our lives in this universe, even if it's not what I'd picture..."

"I'm guessing we are only like this in this specific universe," Luna said.

"Oh, no!" Felicity replied. "You and Nina for example are together in at least two other universes. But in those ones, Simón and Ámbar are together instead, although there's some other pairings I think is different. I know there's several universes in which you and Emilia are together too, Ámbar, but it's universes in which your whole life is different after some earlier circumstances, so I won't go into it. In one of them I think you and Emilia kidnapped a child or something, and I think you're also dating in the universe where Sharon married a woman named Priscila."

"Wait, what?" Ámbar and Luna asked in unison.

"Oh. Yeah. So, there's a universe where Sharon married a woman named Priscila. Priscila had a daughter on her own and you two befriended her. Priscila also pushed you down some stairs, Luna, it was a whole mess. We won't go into it. Now! Which universe do you wanna go to next?"

"I don't know, just pick one," Ámbar said. She was getting too tired to really comprehend much more. 

"Can we go to the universe where we are tv characters?" Luna asked.

"No," Felicity said. "Trust me, it's too odd, your brains might explode. Plus, people write fanfiction about you, too. The only plus side is that the people who live in that universe where you are fictional characters, are fictional characters in your universe! Which means, you can write fanfiction about them!" 

Felicity then proceeded to stare at you, the reader, before pressing her device to travel to a new place.

They teleported into a park that Luna and Ámbar were familiar with. They used to roller skate here.

Suddenly, they noticed Luna and Simón from this universe play with three identical girls.

"Let me guess," Ámbar said, "Luna and Simón are together in this universe."

She got her answer a second later, when Luna and Simón kissed. 

"Knew it!"

"Okay!" Luna from universe 1 exclaimed. "It seems like I'm... together with someone in a lot of these scenarios! And I never thought I'd really be with anyone like that!"

"Remember that you always got the same sexuality in every universe," Felicity reminded her, "So you are always panromantic asexual. There are some other universes where you are single, yes, but there's also these where you do end up with someone! You're thrilled, you married your best friend and you adopted triplets, who you hope to get into roller skating when they're old enough! But right now they're only toddlers, so you mostly just take them outside, let them explore the world and play with them. You're wonderful parents that love to play."

Luna smiled as she saw herself from this universe. "I do look really pleased with life."

"You also have the same diagnoses in every universe."

"You mentioned that. Although I don't know why, because I don't have any?"

Felicity looked at her. She was about to say something, but didn't have the words.

She then took a deep breath and decided to just cut to the chase. She pointed directly at Luna.

"You have ADHD."

"What?"

"Come, let's go see what Ámbar in this universe is up to!"

They teleported to the mansion living room, where they immediately were greeted by music playing, and Ámbar and Matteo dancing.

"Aaah..." Ámbar sighed. "I'm with Matteo. Of course, of course..."

"You're still the 'it' couple," Felicity said. "No one can compare to you two."

"Oh gosh, and we still live in that delusion that we're the best... also, do we share the house with Luna and Simón and their triplets?"

"You do! The house is large enough, isn't it?"

"It is, but... wow. And we don't have any of our own kids?"

"No, because for some reason none of you can... finish whenever you're in intimate situations."

"Of course we can't... our love is fake and we're so delusional to think it's real... but it shows when we're behind closed doors."

"Now, now, Ámbar! Don't be harsh! You in this universe genuinely thinks he's your one true love. You're happy together."

Ámbar crossed her arms, observing herself slow dancing with Matteo. "Maybe... but I'm glad I have a different life in my own universe.”

"You might wonder what happened to Emilia!" Felicity exclaimed, deciding to change the subject. And with a snap, she poofed them away to Emilia's location in this universe.

They ended up in a pretty humble apartment. There were tables with makeup and hair products on it, some random gothic skirt lying on a pink couch, and it smelled like burned toast from the kitchen. Someone also played rock music.

This felt like Emilia's own single apartment. Well, until they heard that high pitched voice.

"Ay, que error!"

In came Jazmin, frantically searching for something. ”Emi! Turn down the music and help me!”

”I’m busy burning toast!” Emilia yelled from the kitchen. 

”Why does everyone call her ’Emi’?” Ámbar asked. ”I never did in our universe.”

”Well, it’s a nickname exclusive to those who date her,” Felicity explained.

”So… Emilia and Jazmin…?” Luna suddenly facepalmed. ”Why did I automatically assume they were roommates? I’m stupid!” 

”Well, they started out as roommates… and then this happened.”

Emilia turned off the music and walked into the room. ”What is it, babe?”

”I can’t find my hair pin! Have you see it? You know, the pink one?”

Emilia smirked. ”Hmm… check my pocket.”

”What?”

”Check my pocket!” 

Jazmin put down a hand in Emilia’s pocket, and dug up the hair pin she was looking for.

”Oh my gosh! How did it end up in your pocket?”

”Magic.” 

Jazmin giggled and the two leaned in to kiss.

”Well, opposites attract…” Ámbar shrugged. 

”Is there anything else different about this universe?” Luna asked.

”Hmm…” Felicity checked her device. ”No, Nina and Gastón are still together, so is Jim and Yam. I guess a difference here is that Ramiro is gonna be single forever… unless the universe decides to pair him up with someone else.”

”So the universes are like… matchmakers…”

”Think of every universe as someone playing the Sims and you’re the premade characters that they decide the destiny of. Sometimes they just let you roam free and focus on their own created Sims, but other times they decide to play with you and pair you up with each other.”

”Okay…”

They traveled back to the white void.

”I don’t know if we have time to travel to much other universes right now,” Felicity admitted, ”So while we go back to your universe, is there any questions you have?”

”Yes,” Luna said, ”Why did me and Simón adopt triplets?”

”You know, it’s not clear, but every time you end up together you adopt triplets. I don’t know why!”

”Is there a universe where I end up with Benicio?” Ámbar asked.

”No! He is hated across the multiverse and never gets a happy ending.” 

"Do I ever end up with Michel in a universe?" Luna asked, suddenly remembering Michel's existence.

"Hm... no, but there is a universe in which he's a girl named Michelle. So you got kissed by a girl in one universe!"

”Does Nina ever end up with Eric in a universe?” Luna asked.

Felicity thought for a moment. ”No… unless we count the one where you’re in a tv show, they were kind of endgame there… but no universe believes in their love. There has been several universes we’ve visited today where Eric and Nico are a thing, though. I just forgot to show you that.”

”Okay…” Ámbar said. ”Is there one pairing that remains the same in every single universe?”

”There is, actually! There’s a couple that is even the same in the nothing-is-the-same-as-any-other-universe-universe!”

”Wow… which one?”

”I’ll let you guess! It’s people you know very well.”

”Ana and Mora?” Luna asked.

”No! Although, fun fact, there’s a universe where Ricardo is only a donor and they raised Nina as two moms on their own.”

”Woah. That’s cool.”

”Is it Rey and Maggie?” Ámbar asked.

”No!” Felicity exclaimed. ”I forgot those two even existed, haha. No, it’s people around your ages!”

”Let me guess,” Luna said, ”It’s Daniela and jailtime.”

”Noo! Come on! You know them really well!”

”We do?” Ámbar asked.

”Yes! Come on… two close friends that you have? That we haven’t seen anything of today?”

”I can’t come up with any,” Luna admitted.

Felicity took a deep breath. ”PEDRO AND DELFI! Your friends? You know them?”

Ámbar and Luna were silent for a few short moments, before letting out an ”Oooooh…”

”Wait, so they’re together in every universe?” Luna asked. 

”Yes. As I said, they’re an exception even when all you others have different partners, or no partners.”

”So why didn’t we visit them anywhere?”

”Because it would always be the same every universe we went to! Also, you didn’t ask.”

”And they just… always end up together…” Ámbar said, as if she couldn’t believe it.

”Yes. I mean, in the universe where you’re fictional, there’s some people shipping Delfi with Emma, but I have yet to have found a universe where they are together. So for now, it’s always Pedro and Delfi everywhere.”

”Well, that’s cool. I guess.” 

”Is there any universe where none of us have partners?” Luna asked.

”Well… there is one where you, Ámbar and Simón live together as friends and decide to make the mansion a foster home,” Felicity explained.

”Aww! I love that!”

”Yeah, well, it still ends with Simón and Ámbar banging and getting knocked up. They can’t resist each other apparently!”

Ámbar snorted. 

”Oh! Will you look at that, we’re back in universe 1 again!”

They ended up in the kitchen again. 

”And you’re sure this is the correct universe?” Ámbar asked.

Felicity held up her device. ”It says ’universe 1’ on it. Also, you can’t be left in a universe that isn’t your own. If you do, then you’ll pop back to your own immediately.”

”Ok. Just checking.”

”Our daughters might have woken up from their naps…” Luna said. 

”Oh, no! No time in your universe has passed! Don’t you worry.”

”It was… interesting to multiverse travel…” Ámbar said. ”A little weird, but… fun.”

”Yeah! I hope we get to do it again sometime!” Luna admitted.

”Well, all you need to do is just to summon me,” Felicity said. ”If you remember how to.”

”What do you mean?”

”When I leave, that drink will just be a normal drink. To travel through multiverses again, you’re gonna have to find another way. Maybe by a spell or by something else that’s either drinkable or eatable. Now, I must leave.”

”Where are you going?” Ámbar asked. 

”Well, in the universe where you are fictional characters, someone is reading a fanfiction about you during this very moment. The fanfiction in question has a summoning spell on it, and I’m on my way as soon as they read what I just said.” 

”Okay.. goodbye?” Ámbar said.

”Bye!” Luna said.

”Goodbye, girls!” Felicity exclaimed and disappeared in a flash. 

”Ámbar,” Luna said, ”Which universe besides ours did you like the most?” 

”I don’t know! How about you?”

”Well, I liked… the… uh… wait, I can’t… remember…”

”We were…” 

”We traveled to…”

”Wait,” Ámbar said, ”What were we talking about?”

”I… I don’t know,” Luna admitted.

What Felicity didn’t tell them was that, as soon as your multiverse trip is over, you forget all about it. All left is the feeling that something has happened, but you can’t know for certain what. 

So, Luna and Ámbar from universe 1 forgot all about the other partners they’ve had in other universes. They thought their friends had only been with the partners they had and didn’t have in universe 1. They only remembered their kids they had in this universe, and no other kids they might’ve had in other universes.

They lived with a vague memory of something happening to them, but they both decided it could have been some repressed memory from their childhood. They had a lot of those, especially before they were adopted. 

Maybe it was for the best. Knowing what you’re doing in other universes might make you question reality too much. 

As you read, dear reader, this fic is under a spell and Felicity is coming for you soon. You might have questions. You might not have spanish as your first language and wonder if she knows your first language. You might be scared to know your life in other universes.

All your questions will be left unanswered anyway because you won’t remember the multiverse trip once it’s over. But with that being said… have fun!

Read the Violetta version if you have also seen Violetta, as it is fun: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54882559 Also, you can make a drinking game every time I wrote the word "universe" lol.

[slushi-chan]

YOU GET IT

I get so pissed and annoyed with this fandom drawing art of Bo hating Vincent and being cruel as adults! Could I see Bo resentful or cruel at a young age towards his twin? Yeah, of course! But for near 20 years all they have is each other in a damn near toxic co dependent unhealthy way because of their shitty parents

BO WAS BLEEDING EVERYWHERE AND VOMITING IN THE SINK WITH AN ARROW IN HIM AND TWO VICTIMS ESCAPED ON THE RUN AND COULD ESCAPE FOR GOOD FOR ALL THEY KNEW AND VINCENT AS HEAD STRONG AS HIS TWIN WENT LOOKING FOR VICTIMS ALONE WHEN BO NEEDED HIM AS A TEAM

I'd be fucking pissed too!!!

And Bo STILL in that moment felt guilty for calling his brother a freak just to hurt him and tried complimenting and reassuring him.

Trust me, I am not good with forgiving ppl that can't apologize bc I personally suck up my pride and do it if I care but then again Bo goes out of his way to talk to Vince right away when my sister would've called me every name in the book, we would've argued and left without a word

And this man that suffered so much trauma and so much hate at such a young age STILL has a soft spot for his twin and STILL tries in his own fucked up way right away to make amends for snapping at him

I'm sorry, yes, Bo is shitty. He's a rapist, sadist, murderer, toxic, manipulative, controlling.

But I physically cannot see fanart of Bo abusing Vincent cruelly bc idc he would never. Istg ppl just saw Bo be mean to his brother in a shitty situation and since he didn't apologize (He tried in his way) then he must be abusive to Vince too! If anything they both resent each other yet if one dies the other might as well die too

No hate to the author who will be unnamed (I don't remember their name anyways 😅) but there was one fanfic of Bo beating his 'wife' reader because another man said hi to her and he does this regularly then ties her up when they got KIDS and I cannot see it. Not for a guy saying hi that was gonna get killed anyways. Could I see Bo 'taking what's his' to mark reader sexually? Sadly yeah his boundaries with women are non existent but a WIFE? He would have to be insane with jealousy and idc I can't see someone finally loving him and putting him first over his twin for the first time ever being his punching bag. A captive reader that develops stockholm syndrome and disobeys? Yeah probably bc he doesn't 'love' them. But a wife with kids???? Uh uh. That man would seperate his domestic life and violence as much as he could just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own renditions and dark material but I feel the fandom makes Bo way more hateful than he is

Carly was a woman he instantly looked at as prey and was a victim he knew was dying so if he had to have fun cutting off a finger or SA her in the basement then in his warped mind why not? That imo is ttly different than his brothers or fictional kids or S/o IM JUST SAYING!!

(Sorry for the rambling I have a hard time finding others that see Bo is more than the unreliable narrorator Carly is in the film that is done so subtly and Bo IS a pos that's its easy to overlook)

Also Vincent is shown to be strong and he kills more than Bo does in the movie, he could stand up for himself but he doesn’t, because Bo isn’t abusing him, not to mention him holding Bo’s dead beaten body and cry yelling to the best of his ability, they clearly care about each other.

I feel like people see that one scene and the opening and assume Bo is angry and abusive all the time (also people can write him however they want but I feel like I see a lot of people boiling his character down to just being angry and violent and mean) and he had behavior problems as a kid but just because he did and is mean in one scene doesn’t mean that’s just how he is, people change as they get older, I had anger issues as a kid (I now realize it was probably related to my ADHD I didn’t know I had back then) I acted out when I got mad, I was violent sometimes, now as an adult I don’t act out anymore, I don’t even get as angry, there’s no reason Bo couldn’t have changed or learned to cope as he got older, even with all the shitty toxic shit as a kid, once he was older he could have worked on it himself, we don’t know but like people just assume oh he was an angry kid with behavioral issues and he yelled at Vince as an adult and don’t take in any other context from the scene and decide he’s angry and has anger issues and that’s his entire character.

Also I agree he wouldn’t treat a wife like that, man was not given love as a kid he wouldn’t risk the person who actually loves him, plus we see he clearly cares about Vince, when he tells him ‘Ma would be proud’ he’d be the same way if he fell in love with someone I think, he’d try his best to make up when he did fuck up, he’d show he cares

Is Bo a bad person, yes he very much is, he does horrible things including heavily implied SA, and he has no problem murdering people, but he’s not rotten to the core with no redeeming anything who’s only bad with no good

No one take this as you’re wrong or bad for your interpretation of Bo, if someone wants to write him like that go ahead, you do you, it’s your writing and you should do what you want, I just wish more people looked deeper into Bo’s character and thought more critically instead of just accepting Carly, a victim who only sees a small window of the Sinclair’s life and behavior, as the truth

Actually I think it was one of your posts I saw that made me see Bo this way, you were the one who converted me lol

[lmelodie]

Alright this has gotten VERILY out of hand so i am gonna have an absolute YAP SESH under the cut about my latest girl. Her name is Millicent, goes by Misery.

Inspired by the latest Diteline Kids lore dump (have some small doodles of those kiddos on paper somewhere), this is gonna be my VERY unofficial BlackIce kid. Very hypothetical and literally just made for funsies but she's really grown on me so let me tell you about her.

So she, is a spooky little angsty teen. Her voice has zero tone indicators, she has one (1) deadpan facial expression, and she is very crow themed.

(Her little shawl is probably enchanted to transform into real wings)

And the most hypothetical thing about her is her creation because I don't know anything about that lol. All I know is that she forms somehow completely alone and as a whole teenager.

NOBODY knows how she came into existence, not even herself as she's never met her bio fathers.

So, she goes around wandering for a bit before being found by Griffin who serves as "prime" parent for a time and helps her decide on a name! Befana also helps him out in this endeavor, also being attributed to only mother figure she has.

They teach her the basics of livin' life and getting a hold on her powers, being 95% shadowmancer. But after a while she decides to leave "home" and go in search of more expert magic training, really wanting to hone in on her craft.

This is when she meets one forest dwelling warlock, Fino Frost who is open to the idea of an apprentice. This however is very short lived as she quickly gets bored with the basics and starts jumping into curses and hexes, whipping about dark magic with little caution.

And when Fino tries to warn her about it and lead her in a different direction, she straight up tells him "You can't tell me what to do" and leaves him like:

So, she bums around Crystal Springs for a while causing a boat load of trouble for just about anyone she comes in contact with (because apparently that seems to be genetically dictated).

A couple major things about her is that her personality and magic are 100% Killian, but her LOOKS are 1000% Frost. She is a DEAD RINGER for a Frost kid.

So Fino, in their short apprenticeship (and while keeping an eye out for her chaos making on the continent) is already raising an eyebrow (smart guy) but doesn't have nearly enough to go off of yet.

It's only when she encounters the Diteline kids that things kinda take a turn.

She has been going around the springs and (like the angsty teen that she is) has been going by Misery and causing such in saturated amounts. Which will sometime put a damper on Joy's joy.

Misery is a real Wednesday Addams/Lydia Deetz kinda vibe, so she's been snuffing out whatever joy she comes across.

This eventually turns into a cartoon villain/protag set up where there's a strange almost one-sided rivalry between them as Misery kinda acts as the "villain of the week". Sometimes her siblings will join in whenever Joy goes on a mission to undo whatever Misery has caused.

And its only during one of these that Misery accidently finds out she has a little bit of ice magic! Not any more than Joy herself probably, but all four of them see it and confront it because there's only ONE family on the entire continent that has any winter magic, so this is WEIRD.

So the ditleine kids combine their one braincell each and come to the correct conclusion, which means absolutely nothing to Misery considering that she only knows who these potential birth parents are by word of mouth, so she doesn't really care lol.

But the kiddos go and try to look into this more, running into Uncle Fins who then corroborates on their story and gets fully filled in and now has A LOT of questions that need answering.

But I'd like for this secret to go nowhere further than that. Nobody else but the Diteline kids and Fino ever find out about Misery's parents.

The conclusion that they come to is that Jack and Kills are perfectly happy right now without kids, they've never wanted their own kids, and Misery doesn't seem like she's in any emotional distress and is taking decent care of herself, so they decide not to tell anyone else.

He offers her a place to stay again but she ultimately declines.

She goes around causing more trouble and eventually gets the attention of the aging Grand Witch of the Dark Arts, sensing the influx of reckless dark magic usage that's causing all kinds of problems.

So, SHE ends up taking a liking to this kid and takes her under her wing, herself in need of someone to take over for her, and trains her in the effective use of dark magic, which Misery actually enjoys so it does mellow her out a bit.

She is filled in on the parental situation and thinks her conception/existence is extremely funny but promises to keep the secret.

I think she keeps some contact with the Diteline kids (who DO call her cousin in private) as they grow up and I think she ends up being the closest with Robyn out of all of them. Being that they eventually become the Govenor and she the Grand Witch (where she starts using her given name Millicent again), id imagine they work closer in the beurocracy of sorts.

She will briefly come around in tiny family gatherings as a "friend" but nobody else will ever really know.

[madoheart]

I wanna try and make a sweetheart angst fic,, i need suggestions

I may never post it thoug

me myself personally I'm not too knowledgeable on fanfic stuffs, I've read like 1 or 2 in my time on the internet, but if you want any problems that Sweetheart may have I can most likely provide

To clear things up that WOULDN'T be a problem, I'd say body positivity. Sweetheart is 100% in love with her looks I'd say that's painfully obvious from her merch alone.

Mentally though she's absolutely fucked, Considering that the only parental figures she has is her Donut grandma, and even then her grandma comments about how she doesn't visit much, Sweetheart probably has a very loose connection with her. Her castle and shows and everything she does to garner attention to herself I think is a result of her suffering from neglect as a kid so she's trying to make up for that. It'd also make sense with her lack of social skills and 0 actual friends as well as the fact that she holes herself up in her castle, literally NO ONE taught her how to interact with people and how to live in the real world. I don't think she's entirely oblivious to these problems, just shutting them out with her golden ego and blinding herself with her "perfect" life. Lot's of issues with how she refuses to see how fucked she is, but I think she still absolutely knows it. In my big fucking post about Sweetheart I brought up how I thought her battle is torment for her cuz she's slowly coming to the term with the fact that her world really isn't perfect, and I don't think it's a new feeling just one that's been amplified during her battle, she knows deep down her current situation is terrible but it's not like she can do anything about it. Accepting it will make her feel worse and it's not like she has any friends she can go to, who the fuck is she gonna get help from? a sprout mole?

Post Humphrey Sweetheart is absolutely 100% way fucking worse. Any redeeming qualities her castle had is now gone and she's at probably the worst spot she's been yet. Any denial about how terrible her life was has been thrown out because she is at the undeniably worst spot of her life. She now has to deal with the fact that she took her castle life for granted, unaware of how worse things could get, but going back to it would mean going back to the lonely fantasy she had before, so while it's a saving grace compared to her maid job it definitely won't fix her problems. To make things worse Perfectheart is also thrown into the mix. Perfectheart is quite literally a perfect Sweetheart, a mockery of Sweetheart, everything Sweetheart wants to be is right in front of her watching over as she toils away at her maid duties, stuck in the spot her selfishness and greed brought her to. I think I've brought up before what I think of Perfectheart and Sweethearts dynamic for any potential Sweetheart character arc. Perfectheart can see Sweethearts troubled, she acts as her overseer to keep her in line so she pays off her debt, but also tries to nudge Sweetheart in the right path so she doesn't stay as the lonely brat she is. I like to think Perfectheart is TRYING to be SWHs friend, doing things and giving her things to make her feel more comfortable in her current situation. And on the other end, Sweetheart absolutely HATES Perfectheart, not for anything she did, just their existence mocks her. While Perfectheart just thinks Sweetheart being so dismissive of her is because Perfectheart didn't end up as her perfect suitor, Sweetheart wants nothing to do with what is basically everything she couldn't be. I'm sure at some point they'll get along and Sweetheart will open up, but when Sweetheart DOES open up it is going to be EXTREMELY messy.

tl;dr, Pre Humphrey Sweetheart suffers from neglect and denying her imperfections. Post Humphrey Sweetheart has accepted her imperfections, hates herself more than she ever could, and the one person trying to be her friend hurts to look at.

Anyways that's all I have to say about Sweethearts problems, I hope at least some of this is good fuel for your angst

[despair-to-future-arcs]

why are the warriors of hope treated like shit while the Remnants of Despair get to be instantly forgiven and handed everything to them when they did just as bad if not worse than them?

//Okay, so I got this message up early in the morning and just got up, I'm just tired of getting these messages and don't want to respond to it but I'll answer to why the WoH are getting treated badly while the RoD are treated better here, I hope this answers your question.

(this might get venty/ranty for a moment so gonna cut off here.)

Okay so if your curious why is it that these 2 groups are getting treated differently, I'll answer the reasons;

RoD's treatment:

In SDR2 in the 6th trial, there were a bunch of emails that were being sent that was about Future Foundation wanting to kill all Ultimate Despairs but it got discover 15 students (Class 77-B and Hajime) had survive and even place under the care of Class 78 survivors to take care of them aka Future Foundation had no idea Class 77-B and Hajime were Ultimate Despair until much later.

Future Foundation somehow found out who they are, Makoto didn't want them killed, went to Jabberwock Island where the NWP was and put them which has been tested yet.

Due to the killing game being broadcasted, Future Foundation just learn about the Izuru Kamukura Project which remember, none of them even knew this thing existed and seems some members (Tengan and Kyoji) knew about it meaning this project exist and now there is an investigation going.

Now during the investigation, it was discover Junko told Class 77-B to hide a bunch of briefcases that contain Hope's Peak Academy information that the public didn't know about and then kill themselves - which only Class 77-B and Hajime can open, meaning that Future Foundation can't kill them as they need that information for the investigation.

So far 2 of them have been discover and more things are coming out; Hope's Peak accepting bribes to let people become Ultimates (meaning that which was why the Reserve Course was made and even how they were micro-managing the research.) and remember there are 11 more of these things, so pretty much Future Foundation does need them for the investigation like it or not.

In fact, the reason they are changing their identities right now is for the investigation too as more people are getting involved now.

Also remember that Future Foundation was planning to re-open Hope's Peak Academy without knowing the skeletons in the closet aka the place that cause the tragedy and history would repeat itself.

Also I remember you say they 'live in luxury' like... are you aware that they are living on an island that's comparable to a prison colony, Class 77-B and Hajime are being monitor at all times, can't leave the island without someone there, got cameras in their rooms and bathrooms which is an invasion of privacy and food shipments are weekly and the only reason they haven't re-located yet is because of the NWP and Nagi is going to plan to re-locate them to a different facility.

Also I wouldn't even say they are 'instantly forgiven' at most Future Foundation is seeing change is possible and wanting to investigate the briefcases, that is the only reason they are being kept alive now, it's most a; 'Look, I'm only working with you to investigate, that doesn't mean I forgive you.' type of thing.

Now that I answer those questions, I'll speak about the WoH here;

WOH's treatment:

So let's see, if you all remember that the WoH had broadcasted themselves in Towa City meaning that those on the hit list and citizens that survive know who they are and Monaca even broadcasted the entire thing world wide as well meaning people know what they look like aka what Junko did.

Those that were victims of the Demon-Hunting Game were getting hunted down by the WoH and let's remember that Komaru nearly got SA (and successfully in Kanon's case) by Kotoko.

Also remember those kids wore those helmets and were brainwash that the fanbase seems to forget? Yeah me too, they exist and they are hurt.

Also remember how Masaru say that he (and likely the other WoH) killed their parents of the kids that wore the helmets and 'set them free' which they just got the helmets remove and remember that these kids did not have the time to process that their parents were killed and some of them are extremely malnutrition or dead because of them; so yeah, some extremely understandable anger there.

Also you may wonder why the WoH are place in a different location? Well, what do you think would happen if you place the 4 WoH in an orphanage that is filled with people that were put into a demon-hunting game and the kids that wore the helmets? It uh, it wouldn't end well and in could end in blood which Sunako, Komaru, Otoha and Toko are trying to keep the peace there and are waiting until the NWP is finish so they can be re-located. ^^;

I even say the WoH are treated better then the RoD in terms of living conditions because they at least get food brought to them, they live in a building that has electricty, water, bedding along with showers are good along with a TV and video games and they don't have cameras everywhere except the living room - I say compare to the RoD they sure do live better then them and aren't totally monitor all the time.

And well... I'm not sure if your aware of this but those that are leading this investigation (Komaru, Sunako and Otoha) are either victims of them or kids themselves, unlike Nagi, Makoto, Kyoko and Byakuya; their empathy towards them isn't that good and yes, they shouldn't be treating them like that but it's an intentional character flaw that is gonna be call out.

//So yeah, those are the reasons why this is happening; you have to remember that people were hurt and traumatized because this is the tragedy and yes the RoD are gonna get found out just not now, so I hope you understand - thank you.

[sharky857]

"uve got questions and ive got answers" for all the questions of ur farmer u havent answered yet.

Well... *awkwardly glances at the utterly empty ask box* This is gonna take a while. :°D

Better add a break too.

Not really, but Melly low-key wishes she could have time to learn some sewing, so that she wouldn't need to constantly rely on Emily.

Living on a farm, Melly prefers a simple deodorant.

She's never really cooked (nor baked) before moving to Pelican Town, but after that Melly's been gradually getting the hang of it. And also digging it.

See above. :3c

No tattoos.

Considering that the only way to get this badly injured in Stardew Valley is by being nearly rekt by monsters in the wild, if Harvey were not an option, she could probably turn to Linus, Marlon + Gil, and/or possibly Gunther.

Not unusual, but Melly's afraid of storms.

Books. She feckin' loves reading.

Follow medical advices very diligently and take all the due rest until feeling well again.

Probably not moving to the valley sooner.

Can "books" be considered as "addiction"? 😆

She might have an accidental sense of style, and regardless of the former answer, the latter is gonna be a "no"; Melly feels like the "wear whatever you dig our of the dresser" kind of stylen't.

Not as much as novels, but it's a close second place.

Do they have a hard time opening up to people? Oh, totally. :°D

Regular sense of humour, probably. 🤔

She doesn't have nor want kids. At least for now.

Depends on what the "something" could be, exactly.

Not so easy, unless the other part tried and started to drill in her head "1001 reasons why aroace-ness don't exist and you're just a broken thing who hasn't experienced the things enough to have an actual opinion over them". In which case, that's a sure ticket to "GTFO-land", one-way only. 💀

Might not feel that easy due to Melly's extreme shyness and introversion, although things can get better once she warms up to the other.

Guess she does, although you'd barely catch her at the Yoba Church Sunday Mass™.

Melly considers both equally important.

"OH FUCK NO!" (Twas Melly)

As later as possible, preferably in her sleep. :°D

Not really, although she has a mild, underground beef with Pierre.

She's in charge of a whole farm, so her routine is usually on the line of: wake up -> breakfast -> tend to animals -> check on crops -> lunch time -> see some friends if got time -> do some shopping for the farm if needed -> tend to animals again -> dinner time -> book/fic time maybe? -> sleepsie

I don't think she even has any "hero". 😅

Being hopelessly shy means that all of Melly's (first) encounters happened by chance. The most memorable one with some writer by the sea. And one may say that that one in the end has had an unexpected effect. *vague gesture at some pendant*

Not as much as she is a bookworm, but wouldn't mind to play from time to time (videogames).

If Melly were real, she would be like a doppelganger or something :°D

Melly would rather leave being famous to Elliott alone, thank you very much. :°°°D

I would give her the power of teleporting, so she could do her things faster. Melly would give herself the power of invisibility, so she could go around Pelican Town without worrying about stumbling across someone she wouldn't want to meet.

Melly would probably wish she wasn't this shy, while at times very low-key wishing she wasn't so repulsed by sex to the point of feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of it.

She never really considered TTRPGs until Melly herself and Sebastian started to opened up to each other. Now that she has some familiarity with Solarion Chronicles, she would pick a healer.

She would cry a waterfall for days.

Melly believes in planning things out to try and avoid as manys etbacks as possible, but she also knows that sometimes fate can be a pain in the @$$.

The hell will freeze over before Melly would ever try to kill anyone.

Uh... *glances all the way back to question #20* There you ahve it, I guess. 😅

Sometimes she would have a recurring nightmare, but it's too unsettling/triggering to write. 😓

Nah.

She would try, then probably hand it over to the "Adventurer's Guild". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Melly absolutely treasures her mistakes.

Oh, y'know... The usual. English, italian, Dwarvish...

Depends on what the source of the stress is.

In no particular order: Elliott, Leah, Abigail, Sebastian, Maru, Evelyn, Linus, Harvey.

She strongly believe in planning out, sooo...

Maybe, but awkwardness caused by interacting would make it hard for Melly to lie efficiently.

Never really pondered this. 🤔

*whispers* Whuddafaq would you even do to set her on a rampage of those proportions? :°°°D

No real troubles with her friends, while would rather avoid any "enemy".

She's out there living her best life in her widdle farm, with no worries about the rest of the world.🥺 #wish-that-were-me

[dramatisperscnae]

He just shifts his weight, arms folding as the kid goes off on him. Okay, maybe goes off is the wrong term, but it sure as hell feels like an attempted lecture, which Dick has very little patience with. The last person who tried that - or, at least, who tried that with Nightwing - got very swiftly told to shut the fuck up, which seemed to shock the hell out of the man calling himself the Green Lantern.

The dropping of Wayne's real name gets no reaction at all. It has no weight here, not for Dick. He's never actually used it before, though naturally he knows it; all of Gotham does. And most of them hate it. Whatever point Robin's trying to make, or thinks he is, it's not really working. Mostly because he's missed Dick's point.

Time to make it more obvious, then. "So here's the thing, kid," Dick tells him, bluntly, "you might know me - or some other version of me - but I don't know you. Which means that, as far as my mind is concerned, you're a perfect stranger. Who somehow knows who I am. And who apparently doesn't see anything wrong with infodumping some crazy shit about other universes to someone who until three minutes ago had no idea they existed. You don't maybe see how that's more than a little suspicious?" Had it been the Knight Robin met and not Nightwing, the kid might well be dead by now.

He shakes his head, one hand raking his hair back out of his face. "But if you stay out here in that getup, you're going to attract the wrong kind of attention." If this kid is a vigilante, from a less broken version of Gotham…well, regardless of if he is or isn't, he's still in danger out on these streets. Especially in this neighborhood, where even some of the civilians are liable to open fire at an unknown vigilante. "So unless you've got civvies on under that get-up, you're gonna want to get under cover. Come on."

Dick motions for Robin to follow him again, turning to head for his nearest safehouse. It's a shitty little rundown apartment, one single room with a tiny bathroom, a moth-eaten sofa, and a mattress on the floor, but it does what Dick needs it to. He hasn't really been able to outfit it the way Wayne's safehouse in the East End is yet, but he'll get there eventually. And at the very least it's a place out of the rain and off the streets for Robin to lie low in.

"One, I've been a little busy trying not to vomit so I've got nothing left to kick my brain to mouth filter into gear. Trust me, I'm annoying myself at this point. Two-" He was ticking things off on gloved fingers. "-this isn't my first rodeo. I'm gonna get yeeted back home within twenty four hours, I've yet to stay anywhere longer. Sometimes I help, sometimes I stay out of sight and mind my own damn business."

Another moment of mental math. Dick looked... somewhere in his mid teens? Which meant this world's Tim had probably only just hit double digits. And Damian would just be leaving his toddler stage. Oh God, Jason! His widened ad he remembered what little he knew of Jason's life before he was adopted. Jason was... probably on the streets by now?

"Three, all I've done since I got here was look at a paper for some context, try not to vomit and talk to you. I took one look at this wreck and decided not to do anything risky. I was gonna stay out of sight and just wait until I got dragged home. No fights, no crime, no potentially dying when my family have no idea where I am right now. Wasn't gonna help unless someone asked. I hate sitting back but I've gotta think about my safety too. We just lost our Bruce, if anything happened to me it would break the others. I can't do that to them."

He only used Bruce's name to make a point. He hadn't given his own name, hadn't used Dick's. Hadn't used any names at all, codenames or otherwise. Yeah he was giving a lot away but not once had he actually divulged any identities. He turned his back on Dick, sitting down on the edge of the rooftop to let his legs swing.

"And I know exactly who you are by the way. It'd be kinda rude to just say it though. I dunno what kind of surveillance this version of Gotham has. No names on comms, right?"

[chucksfavouriteprophet]

The Intrusion - Chapter 3

Back to The Intrusion masterlist

Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Accidents make emotions run high, and its not long before you confront Dean about his attitude towards you. However, all may not be as it seems.

Word count: 1,818

Warnings: language, angst, invasion of privacy, arguing, Dean and his locked up emotions

<>

By the time you got back, it was nearing daylight, but you weren't worried. Given that you didn't keep tabs on the boys, chances were they were away on a hunt or something and you'd have the place to yourself. As you approached the heavy door (which they finally had the courtesy to copy the key for you), you prayed they wouldn't be in so you could wallow in self pity without their judgey eyes.

Of course, you were wrong. You'd hardly shut the door before you heard Dean's voice booming off the high ceilings.

"Where the hell have you been, Y/N? We tried calling you a million times. Your shift ended hours ago!" He stood at the bottom of the stairs, fists clenched, anger seeping through his pores.

"Off galavanting. Like you even care, Dean." You huffed, holding onto the handrail as you carefully guided your numb legs down the steps. The rain had only got heavier as you'd walked, and you were wet through to the bone.

"For fucks sake, you're soaking! Look at you, Y/N, its like you don't even care! You're one irresponsible idiot, you know that!" He huffed, shaking his head and turning away, leaving you trembling in a puddle.

"Dean? Is she back?" You heard Sam's voice echo down the hallway as he ran on in, smiling with relief at the sight of you. "Christ Y/N, you've been hours. Are you alright?" He reached forward to place his hands on your shoulders as you wobbled slightly and he took in your condition.

"Of course she's not alright, Sam. She's reckless and naive, and she's gonna get herself killed at some point, if not us as well!"

Sam frowned at his brother's outburst, but you couldn't quite read his expression. "Dean, hold on-"

"Leave it, Sam. I'm going to bed." He mumbled, batting his hand back as he stormed out, leaving you and Sam staring at him dumbfounded.

"Sam I-I'm sorry. I assumed you'd be out or something," you shivered, dragging his attention back to you.

"No no, of course not. C'mon, lets get you cleaned up. What the hell happened?"

He helped you sit down in a chair before prying off your jacket, apologising when you winced. "Slipped on ice. Stupid, I know."

Sam shook his head and looked at your now bare arms sadly. "No, its not stupid. Ignore Dean, I don't know why he just behaved like that. Lemme grab the first aid kid."

"Because he's Dean?" You chuckled through the pain once he returned and started to clean the superficial wounds. "He probably wanted his laundry doing or something. He's not bothered about me. Hell, sometimes I wonder if he hates me."

Sam froze. "Dean doesn't hate you, Y/N. Far from it. And he didn't expect you to do his laundry, either. It's just...my brother is complicated. He's been through a lot, and sometimes he isn't very good at expressing what he means, thats all."

"Oh, I think he expressed himself very clearly back there!" You snorted, closing your eyes tight as Sam rubbed balm over the now-clean wounds.

"I don't think he did, Y/N. It was Dean who decided not to go on the case we had planned tonight, because you weren't back yet."

You opened one eye against the stinging. "It's alright Sam, you don't have to try to make up for him. You're the one sitting here cleaning out my scrapes, not him. You don't need to make it out like he knows my work schedule."

Sam sighed and lent back in the chair. "Of course he knows your work schedule. We both do. You don't think we always make sure you're back safe every night?"

You blinked back the shock. No way. Sam, maybe, you could believe that. But Dean? Half the time you were convinced Dean didn't even remember you existed. He made such an obvious point to ignore you even when you were standing right there, and on the rare occasion he did talk to you, it was only to voice his insults and profanities.

"Honestly Sam, don't worry about it. I'm fine - down a bike, but other than that, fine. God knows how I'll get to work now, but I'll figure it out." You went to move out the chair, finding the awkwardness too unbearable.

"We have the Impala, we'll drive you." Sam stated matter-of-fact. "We can tie our cases in with your hours, it'll work fine." You looked up at him and rolled your eyes.

"I cannot wait to see how Dean reacts when you tell him that plan," You scoffed, painfully reaching up to give him a pat on the shoulder before heading towards bed. "Night, Sammy. Thanks for the help."

"Goodnight, Y/N. If you need anything, I'm just across the corridor remember. And please, believe me when I say this. Dean does not hate you. I swear."

You turned to give him a half-hearted grin, appreciating his effort to try to back up his brother, but not believing a word of it nonetheless.

<>

Sam, however, was livid at Dean. The whole night the elder Winchester had been pacing around, grumbling about Y/N being late, swearing at she was usually back by 3am, that it was only seven miles between the bar and the bunker. Sam hadn't even realised his brother kept tabs on their housemate that much, but his distress was obvious. He'd hardly expected Dean to react as he did when Y/N finally got back almost four hours late. But then again the misplaced anger, the temper, that was Dean all over.

After packing up the first aid kit, Sam found his brother in the kitchen bent over a beer. "You alright there?" he questioned hesitantly.

"I'm fine, Sam. Go to bed, we're leaving early for that hunt." Dean didn't even look up.

"Seriously man? What the hell is going on with you? You obviously care about Y/N, so why do you act like such a dick around her?"

Dean took a swig of his beer and stood up to face his brother. "I don't care about her, Sam. I care about us, and this sweet little set up we've got going on down here. I care about her getting into shit and exposing us. I care about making sure you and me don't get killed because some stupid kid can't keep their bike on the road." He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "Like I said, we leave early for that hunt. If you're not up, I'm going without you."

Sam watched him as he swaggered out the kitchen, only speaking when Dean reached the door. "Y/N's alright, by the way. A few scratches and bruises, but nothing too bad. Just in case you wanted to know."

He could have sworn he heard a small sigh of relief from his brother as he rounded the corner.

<>

The next few days were painful to say the least. Your shoulders and back were covered in bruises, and your coccyx felt like it was shattering every time you sat down. Sam informed you via a note under your bedroom door that him and Dean had gone on a hunt, but that he'd call into work for you and explain what happened so you could have a few days off. As generous as that was of him, that didn't exactly help you financially. Then again, god knows how long him and Dean would be away for, and as long as they were away, you had no actual way of getting to work than to attempt that hideous walk again.

They returned late afternoon of the following day, bringing with them ice packs and painkillers for you. Dean didn't even glance your way as he walked straight through to the armoury, but Sam tried to reassure you he was just tired.

"Hey Sam, if its alright, do you mind dropping me at the bar tonight? I can't really afford to miss another night, and I'm feeling miles better now." You tried to pled with him when it was clear they had no plans. Sam opened his mouth to reply, but it was Dean's voice that vibrated through the room.

"Thats not gonna happen, Y/N. You're not going back to that place."

You whirled round to face him, livid. "That's not your decision to make, Dean!" You spat at him. "It's my job, you have to respect that. I don't go around telling you to stop cutting the heads off vampires or ripping out werewolves hearts do I!"

"Its the werewolves that rip out the hearts, not us..." mumbled Sam from behind you, scratching his head.

"SHUT UP SAM!" Both you and Dean hollered at the same time, prompting the younger Winchester to throw his hands up in a mock surrender.

"Yeah, because our job doesn't involve sleazy guys hitting on us every night and a creepy boss that isn't afraid to assault us if we cock up!"

You paused for a second, taking in his words. "Did-did you go to my work?" You stormed up to him, not letting the few inches difference in height effect your ferocity.

"Yeah, Y/N, yeah we did. Sam wanted to tell them that you weren't gonna be in for a few days, but one look at that place and its obvious you're never going back. Its scum."

Tears pricked your eyes but you refused to let them fall. How dare they? You spun round to face Sam, livid at them both. "You were in on this too? How could you, Sam?"

He went to stand, to reach out to you, but Dean interrupted. "Sam didn't want to, don't take it out on him. For some godforsaken reason he seems to think you can hold your own, but I'm not convinced. Don't bother trying to argue - you're not going back, and thats that."

You growled, marching forward and shoving Dean back towards the wall. It took a few pushes, but eventually you had him pinned back, his arms out to the side offering no resistance.

"You have no right to mess with my business like that. We swore we would stay out of each other's way, and you've gone and done the exact opposite. You don't get to make decisions about my life, Dean Winchester. You're a narcissistic, toxic, manipulative son of a bitch and ever since you walked into this place you've acted like you're better than me, better than your brother even. He's an actual angel for sticking with you all this time, I honestly do not know how he does it. You're just as bad as those guys at the bar, if not worse because you can't even see it. You're the scum, Dean Winchester, and I fucking hate you with every fibre of my being."

| Chapter 4 |

Tag list

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[sashi-ya]

Byakuya Kuchiki x F! Reader ~ The Monarch Butterfly 🦋

a/n: initially a self insert story, but I thought maybe someone will like to enjoy it too so I wrote it in the x reader format! Though reader has orange hair (like i do) but besides that pretty much no other special traits. This work is the first part of a series that tell the story of my OC! Then again remember you can read it too as it's on a x reader format! 💖

tw: a little bit of angst regarding Byakuya and Hisana. completely sfw.

wc: 2.9k

I drew Byakuya with the butterfly myself for the banner, excuse my lack of artistic skills :P

Special thanks to @the-witch-of-one-piece for giving me the idea of visiting a botanic garden with him! I love you, babe! 💖

Is not that Byakuya doesn't know how the living world looked like, but he never really cared about his surroundings every time he went there.

The Senkaimon doors opened and after running through the Dangai, as the Kōtotsu happened to be cleaning the place, you two are finally in the world of the living. As always, the city of Karakura seems lively and nobody is aware of your existence until you wear your Gigai.

And the reason why you two are visiting the place is in fact because Urahara Kisuke has communicated you your new Gigai are ready to be picked and tried.

“Captain? Do you think it’s gonna look like the old one?” you ask him to at least have a conversation while you walk to Urahara’s shop. “I hope so, though you are the only one able to tell” he murmurs, fixing his sight straight towards the path you are taking. Byakuya doesn’t smile often and doesn’t waste his time to enjoy his surroundings. Yet, he is aware of everything that might represent a danger or a possible fight.

You, the third place in the sixth squad walk always right next to him ready to receive his orders, yet with eyes that scan the beauty of a lively different society. “Yeah… I think so…” you mumble in response to his short words. But how much you wish he would know your body just as you do.

Right around the corner is Kisuke’s store, but you two take your time to meet a little boy who apparently has lost his way towards Soul Society. Byakuya, as serious as possible takes Senbonzakura and without much explanation gets ready to perform the needed Konsō to the poor, scared kid.

“Captain! He is scared!” you stop him, because the blade of his cherry blossom Zanpakuto is about to make his way towards the forehead of the child.  “So? He needs to transmute, (Name)”.

“Can I do it?” you ask him while wiping the tears off the kid’s cheeks. “Ok, I will go ahead and pick up the Gigai in the meantime”

As Byakuya walks his way towards his final destination, you crunch next to the little child. Dark hair and big grey eyes reminds you of a little version of your captain. “Hi, honey. Listen, this won’t hurt. You will be going to a better place, and I promise that we will meet there, ok?” you swear to him. “But before…What’s your name?”

“Hoshi” he mutters in between sniffles. The name Hoshi, meaning star reminds you even more of Byakuya… he is a midnight sun…

“Fine Hoshi, this won’t hurt. Just close your eyes and you will be soon somewhere else”

The kid has now turned into a beautiful black butterfly and his soul is safe traveling towards the Soul Society. You take a time to process the fact that a child so young has passed away and wonder if you will be able to find him once you are back home.

The bustling sounds of the city distract you enough not to see the person right in front of you. Your face buries on a black cloth covered chest. “DAMN!” you shout, scared because you, in your soul body, have bumped into another person.

“Officer?” he asks, grabbing your arms. And soon you realize is no other than your captain. “Oh… Captain! I’m sorry, I…” you stutter, inevitably blushing as your body was still pressed against his.

“I was looking for you, I’m already wearing my Gigai. Come on, people will think I’m crazy for speaking to the nothingness” he commands, and you take the last words as an unsettling speech.

Nothingness… nothingness my ass.

Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin salutes you as you enter the store. Byakuya waits outside as the relationship between he and Yoruichi has never made him comfortable, and you wonder if there was another reason besides the cat woman being a pain in his ass. But, in your case, Yoruichi is a dear friend… in fact, she was the one who gave you the red ribbon you always use to tie your hair.

After laughing and catching up with them you try your faux body on. As always, Kisuke has made a perfect replica and you are ready to become noticeable in the world of the living.

“Thank you, guys!” you bow and get out of the store where Byakuya waits for you leaning over the side of the store. He is watching in silent as Ururu plays with Jinta and his constant frown doesn’t abandon his face for nothing in this world. Byakuya has a deep sadness, and his heart closed, almost like a hollow.

Your captain acknowledges you with a nod and begins to walk. But Yoruichi, knowing him since he was a child wants to have fun -and maybe help you out-. “Byakuya-bo!” she appears in front of him using Shunpo just to piss him off. “ Yoruichi Shihoin… what do you want?” he asks, annoyed with a twitching eyelid.

She laughs and hands him two pieces of paper. “Here, take this poor girl to the Botanical Garden for once. You will have to get used to your gigai for a couple of hours before coming back to the Seireitei” she lies, well aware Byakuya is not an idiot but hoping his boyfriend would speak up for her to continue with the lie.

“Right, Kuchiki-san! I forgot to tell you! It’s really important for you to stay at least a couple of hours in the world of the living so your gigai get used to the use!” Kisuke also lies, but since he is a genius Byakuya trusts in him.

You narrowing your eyes remain silent and comply to their lie. Yoruichi, and probably Kisuke too, know about your crush with your captain and even if you had stated that he will never be with you she would always try to push some buttons to help you.

“Ok… (Name), do you wanna go here?” Byakuya asks showing the two tickets. A huge smile forms on your lips as you read the papers, “Botanical Garden: Sunset, Flowers and Butterflies Event”. You nod, like a child, excited for such fun proposal. And after saying goodbye to your cupids, you walk in silence with Byakuya towards the Botanical Garden of Karakura Chó.  

Byakuya gives you the tickets as he walks and ignores the people’s stare. “Uh… captain, why did you choose a formal suit for your gigai?” you ask, because he looks like as if he was ready to attend the Oscars. His hair, untied flows with the wind and of course he is not wearing his Kenseikan nor his Ginpaku.

He stops and looks at you rather confused. One of his brows lifts, and his head tilts a little to the side. “Isn’t this what humans wear nowadays? I’m actually surprised about your outfit… is that… a dress?” he asks, maybe insinuating something about the length of your clothes.

“Uh… it’s ah- you look good captain” you decide it’s worthless to explain him about the differences between modern formal wear and casual, so you just opt for the compliment. Compliment that kinda make your cheeks turn on fire.

Byakuya nods and continues walking. “You look good, too”.

That’s it, your heart finally stops. Did he just… say I looked good? You shake your head a few times and follow him as he walks so nonchalantly through the streets of that highly spiritual city. His hair flows with the soft breeze of the autumn, and you can’t help but enjoy the beautiful work of art he is.

When you finally get there, there isn’t a huge line but no more than two sweet couples in love waiting to enter. Byakuya looks at them, but his stare soon looks away. You notice, it’s heart rending. It’s not that he is not open to love, it’s that not enough time can heal the pain of losing his lover, Hisana.

“Captain? Would you like to come back? I-“ you whisper, grazing his forearm feeling an oppressing need to cry in your chest.

You cried and smiled when you knew he was getting married, because he was your love, your forever love. You also cried, cried so much when Hisana died. The many days he wouldn’t come to the squad, when you were just the 9th place, and he was just a trainee. The way his eyes turned from brilliant stars in the night to sad, dull ones… he lose his heart, he said. And you kept it close forever…

“Urahara said we should spend some time here, why you wanna go back?” he asks, unaware you were able to read every expression of his countenance. More than a century looking at him from afar… more than a century learning about him. “Oh, uh… let’s stay then”

Byakuya looks at your hand resting over his arm but doesn’t say anything. You, as always, following his eyes realize he is in fact watching you touch him and quickly try to take your hand off him. But he stops you. Without any word, he grabs you tightly, and offers you his forearm. Like a true prince, dressed in formal wear, and like a princess wearing a short pink dress you walk with him to the entrance of the botanical garden.

“Tickets?” an old woman asks before you are allowed to go inside. “Y-yes. Here” you stutter, in heaven and excited because you are actually walking grabbing Byakuya’s arm.

The old lady checks the tickets and opens a little wooden door for you to pass. “Please enjoy! You make a beautiful couple” she says and asks Byakuya to stay there for a second. You keep walking, happy for the compliment but annoyed as you had to let go of him. The lady comes closer to him and as if she was telling him a secret, she whispers; “Sir, if you are planning something you can always tell us, and we will help you out… that suit could only mean one thing”

You can see the way his steel eyes with a hint of pink slowly narrow, he is either thinking or annoyed and you only pray for that lady not to ruin the moment. But he simply nods and thanks her and walks towards you. “Well, let’s see what’s this about” he simply says, offering you again his arm.

You smile like an idiot, and lovingly grab his forearm.

The grass underneath your feet feels cold and wet but it’s not uncomfortable, in fact it shows how perfect the gigai works. It makes you feel alive, really alive. As for your captain, he is for the first time looking at his surroundings. Byakuya is discovering the beautiful variety of plants and trees all around. He is used to cherry blossoms, but not to the rest.

All hues of green, pink, red, lilac, even blue flowers sprouting from beautiful paths of soil. “Oh… this…” he mumbles, pulling you out the awe of such perfect place. The sun is on its deathbed, and it slowly starts falling behind the horizon bathing the whole place in lilac and orangey tones.

Byakuya sometimes, even if he considers his surroundings are beautiful, fix his sight on you. You have let go of his arm and are admiring the tulips. The warming colour palette of the sunset tints you and it reflects on Byakuya’s foggy irises and fair skin.

You can suddenly sense a raise in his reiatsu, but he is not in danger. You turn around to catch him staring at you with a soft expression. The hair locks of his fringe play with the breeze and both of you look directly in the eyes. The people pass around you and for some seconds none of you move. The connection feels surreal, but it’s there and the dying sunrays of the afternoon are the only thing that gets in between your distance.

You blink and a little smile appears in the corner of your lips, the pink dress you are wearing is nothing compared to your cheeks. Byakuya does not smile, but he doesn’t take his eyes of you either. His lips remain semi open, and he looks like he was in trance, absolutely caught by your beauty.

You dare to take a single step forward, maybe he wants you to come closer? But it only helps to break the spell. He suddenly shakes his head and looks to the ground with desperate façade. It’s over… the dream is over… but he was looking at you, wasn’t he? And so, you giggle, his cute, embarrassed face makes you so happy.

You decide to turn around to keep looking at the flowers with the biggest smile ever. “Thank you Yoruichi…” you mouth and from your wrist you untie the red cord you always use to tie your hair up in a ponytail. If Byakuya knew who the real owner of that ribbon is…

With your hair up, and red string hanging from your ponytail, you are ready to keep enjoying the place until Byakuya decides to come closer to you. And in fact, he does a few minutes after when you are approaching the roses section.

“Uh… I thought roses were only red?” he asks, this time sincerely interested… or maybe he was just looking for an excuse to talk to you. You look at him with a smile, and then again to the flowers in front of you. “Here says that there are as many colours as the florist desires, they tint them with water and dye” you inform him, sensing how his reiatsu grows stronger once again. You can feel it on your skin, but it’s not uncomfortable, nor oppressing. It feels warming and as he was hugging you.

“Ah… I see” he mumbles, looking at the same flowers over and over again from over your shoulder. You take a quick glance at his lips, still barely touching. When Byakuya is serious and concentrated he keeps them seal tight, sometimes even squeezing them a little. But not now.

Something in the back catches your attention, a place called “Mariposas house”. Mariposas… oh! Butterflies!

“Captain! Let’s go, you will like this” you suddenly tell him, acting on an impulse and pulling for his hand. As you walk and Byakuya follows you completely confused, you can feel the softness of his skin disrupted by a little scar in the centre of his palm. You quickly remember his last fight against that Fullbringer and the way he grabbed some of Senbonzakura’s blade with his own hand… he is such a fighter.

Once you get to the door of a place that looks like a vivarium, you tell Byakuya to follow you in. Inside, besides many plants beautiful butterflies dance in the air with their colourful wings. You know them, of course you do. Not only the black ones, the Hell butterflies, but also the rest. Because every time you visit this world, they follow you everywhere you go.

Taking a look at Byakuya, you found him mesmerized. His lips are now open, and his eyes absorb the colours of their wings. He is not able to speak, and you would say he looks like a little child discovering something beautiful for the first time.

The prettiest Monarch butterfly, with bright orange wings poses on the tip of his nose. It’s orange like the sunset, orange like the juicy tangerines you like to eat after training with him, orange like your hair. But it’s delicate like his noble manners. Like the petals of his blade, like the way he speaks and like his graze when he lends you a hand to help you stand up after training.

“(Name)… this… this butterfly is… it looks like the brooch…” he chimes, in awe, even crossing his eyes just to take a better look at the insect resting over his nose. “It isn’t black, Captain! It’s a Monarch Butterfly! Like the flowers, their wings are different colours!” you tell him, ignoring the last part of his sentence and coming closer to inspect the funny butterfly, thinking he is completely absorbed by the fact there are another types of butterflies besides the Hell ones you are all used to.

Closer, closer you get to him. On tippy toes as he is taller than you. Your grab his arm, but you notice he is not able to speak now. His eyes get watery. There is no way Byakuya is afraid of a butterfly, it must be another reason…

“I- I can’t believe it… I thought…” he stutters, and you see a little tear falling from the corner of his eye to his cheek. “Captain…?” you whisper, tilting your head to see what’s going on.

The butterfly flies away and posses this time on the crown of your head. Byakuya follows it and finally lands his eyes on you. “Why are you crying, Byakuya-sama?” you ask, calling him for his name instead of captain. But Byakuya never answers, and instead he hugs you tightly.

The butterfly flies away, far, far away into the sky scaping from the little opening the glass ceiling has. “Thank you, Hisana…” he mumbles, and hugs you even harder. The warm embrace of his arms feels so caring and freeing, and soon you remember all butterflies bring messages from your loved ones…

“I promise I will take care of him, Hisana-sama…”