#bc maybe they are useful if i do change my path

[the-acid-pear]

Mental illness is insane I'm just having dinner w my father eating this a little too spicy pasta enjoying the Yeowch on my throat and the silence and suddenly I'm like yeah I'd kill myself.

[slugandthorn]

pain and agony of having so much to learn to make more things but I need a job/further schooling to learn but I have to have made the things first

[harunovella]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ safety net; t.f.

synopsis: when toji decided to be a good man and rescue two puppies for his son... content: canon divergence (I want a happy story for the fushiguro's!), fem!reader, reader is mamaguro, in this world your last name is fushiguro and toji took it bc f*ck the zenin, megumi is ur son (he's just a baby!), domestic bliss, not beta read (sorry for any errors!) note: seeing how successful my gojo anthology series is going (only two parts but going strong), I wanted to do one for toji bc I've always wanted to write his story with mamaguro (aka you!) and do a bunch of one shots that can be read as stand alones or together! pls lmk if you want more and if u wanna be tagged in the future <3 p.s. the divine dogs are actual dogs that inspired megumi's later manifestation of his shikigami in this au

It was one of those late nights for Toji. A summer evening with a heavy downpour to blur his path before him. The windshields were moving as fast as they could, swiftly clearing his vision with every wipe across the glass. He was quite used to this, running around town in the wee hours of the night, nothing new to him. It just annoyed him how difficult it could be driving in the rain when his windows fogged up and the headlights could only do so much. 

He wasn't too far from home, running a quick errand before returning to his abode, wanting nothing more than the warmth of his bed. 

A bed... A home...

Toji couldn't help but sigh and lean his head back against the car's headrest. Had this all been a dream? Was it real? Him, Zenin Toji, living a normal life? It had been quite some time now where he left it all behind to be domesticated—as if he were a wild animal. He didn't mind, though, a part of him was begging for a simple kind of life. 

Sat at a red light as his pointer finger tapped away against the leather steering wheel, his eyes wandered the environment around him—well, as much as he could see during an evening shower. From building to building, the empty sidewalks and dim storefronts, his eyes suddenly bounced back to a bus stop. Squinting, he leaned in before turning on his blinkers. 

This was very unlike him, his curiosity getting the best of him... Maybe it was because he was a changed man. Maybe it was because he had someone to go home to. Someone who made his deflated heart triple in size; someond who made him care about little things that he never did before.

Pulling over and parking his car next to the bus stop, Toji pulled up his hoodie and reached for the small umbrella that sat on the floor of the passenger seat. Rushing out and popping open the coverage, he stood before a small, cardboard box. 

It was falling apart, the rain tearing at the flimsy material as the little towel beneath was completely drenched. Hearing the faint whimpers and cries of the tiny creatures that stared up at him, Toji took in a sharp breath and shook his head. He was a good man now. Better than he ever was before. He had a heart. He had a home. He had someone who loved him. These little bodies did not. 

Lifting the box, he quickly maneuvered it underneath the umbrella before carefully placing it in the backseat of his car. "I hope she won't mind..." he said before making his way to the front, closing the umbrella and shutting the door after, resuming his route. 

The drive home was quicker this time around, zooming to gather the bags and box he had within the car, shutting the doors and locking them behind him before he made his way towards the front door. Taking the steps and fumbling with his keys, he unlocked the door and slipped inside before kicking off his shoes and making his way towards the living room. 

Settling the box down before moving towards the kitchen with the bag, he washed his hands and emptied the contents within it. Pulling out the small device, Toji made his way upstairs, ruffling his dark hair as he pressed a few buttons on the gadget. "Babe, this one should be fine," he spoke as he approached one of the two bedrooms. 

"Oh, good," the voice responded as he entered the room. You were sitting on your son's rocking chair, holding him close to your chest as you caressed his little back. He was about six months old and the constant change in weather was getting to him, causing a slight cold to disrupt his immunity. It pained both of you to see your boy anything but happy and healthy... but, he was such a little trooper. Both of you weren't sure where he got his calmness from, seeing as you nor Toji were such a way, but you thanked the heavens for blessing you with a child like him. 

"How's Megs doin'?" Toji asked as he handed you the new thermometer, squatting and gently caressing his son's head. His hand practically engulfed it, always entertaining him how tiny his boy was. It brought a small smile to his face. "Doesn't seem so fussy."

"A bit better, I got him to fall asleep. You weren't gone for too long, thankfully," you sweetly smiled, settling the small device down before caressing Toji's face. "Raining hard, huh?"

"Yeah," he nodded, only to widen his eyes. 

"What is it?" You furrowed your eyebrows. 

Scratching the back of his head, Toji stood up. "Got a surprise along the way... hope you don't mind."

"What do you mean?" You tilted your head. 

"Let's go downstairs," he nudged his own, waving you to follow him. 

Standing up carefully as to not wake your baby boy, you followed your man down the hall and staircase, towards your living room. You were confused at first, unsure as to what surprise he could've gotten you. But then you heard it. The faint cries and rustling coming from a box. The box in front of you. "Toji..."

"You've changed me, y'know?" He said. "I wouldn't have cared back then, would've left them suffer... but, guess it's because I'm a father now and I have you... I couldn't let them die out there..." rubbing the back of his neck as he stood by the box, you curiously peeked over before gasping. "Thought it would be nice to keep 'em... give Megs something to grow with."

"Toji... there's two," you nearly whispered, eyeing the puppies. One in pure white and one in all black, both equally precious. Tiny, scared, cold... you couldn't deny them either, even if you were currently raising your own baby. 

"Yeah..." Toji sighed. "I was thinkin' about giving them a quick bath now and take them to the vet early tomorrow. Don't have much to feed them but we can make it work, right?" He said, keeping his eyes on them, a bit afraid of your reaction. 

As upset as you should've been, seeing as it was two more mouths to feed, instead, you felt... elated? You weren't sure why, maybe it was because you were seeing more and more sides of Toji you didn't think would exist. Or maybe you loved the idea of giving your son two furry best friends to grow with. It could've also been that you were just happy that your son was okay and getting through his cold that you couldn't be as bothered. 

It also didn't help that you may or may not have mentioned a few times (while taking your strolls during your pregnancy) that your little blessing should have some furry friends around. You just didn't think it would happen... this way. 

"So?" Toji asked, looking at you with timid eyes. "Can we keep 'em?"

"Toji," you chuckled. "I'm not going to abandon these poor babies. You brought them here, you're gonna have to do a lot of raising. You're now a father of three," you teased as he nodded. 

"I'm well aware."

"I'm surprised you're okay with this, let alone, brought them," you pointed out. 

Shrugging, he looked back down. "Like I said, it's cause you changed me and I'm a father now. As scary as that is... I dunno... guess I want that normal life and normal people have dogs, right?" Seeing you nod with a small smile, Toji couldn't help but reflect your facial expression. "I wanna give him everything I've never had," he nudged his head in Megumi's direction. 

"Such a good dad," you softly spoke, caressing your sons back before stepping closer and kissing Toji's arm. "Then I guess we have two puppies now. What should we name them?"

Eyeing the two, Toji hummed. "Kuro and Shiro."

[oflorelei]

My Problem is:

That it's a let down. Listen I am not mad or horrible dissapointed over that Radahn is there (although sigh i wished we would have gotten that Age of Abundance/Compassion man). I am not mad that he is apparently a puppets and that miquella is apparently the villain from the shadows. I'm mad that they hyped this DLC up so hard, using Miquella's character, which they know to be shrouded in mystery and HYPE, made it appear that we may have the chance to join him/get betrayed by him, made people belief he SPECIFALLY seeks out the tarnished or multiple tarnished at once (to help him?)- that he is the central figure of this DLC when he is not. And thats not an underestimation.

Miquella, most fearsome of the Empyreans, the 'father' of the Halligtree, beloved by near all, who "[...]wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. (There is nothing more terrifying.)" - does not even have his own bossfight.

No, he is basically just a cape for a boss we already fought to a DLC that costs 40€. He is in the promotion arc, he is said to be a central figure, he is said to be the fearsome empyrean of all. One thing he isnt? Apparently worth the time of day.

I am ok with Miquella being turned into a villain, I am not ok with Miquella being turned into a joke.

There were so so many roads they could have taken with him, he was PROMISING in every regard.

Want to make him a Villain? Fine the reason can be:

=> Manipulation/Enchanting for people to love him (to ensure someone will always look out for him)

-not absolutely evil per say- and it makes sense that someone who is stuck in the body of a child might want to count on many people rather then one person to protect them = it is his weapon to wield affection

- still takes away free will, even consent to some degree

=> Formless mothers influence

- do i even need to explain this one lmao

- already thousands of theories before this DLC thought that miquella might have been negatively influenced by her- especially when so many things in this Game revolve around blood and the power of it

=> "for the greater good" ahh ending

- 'the means justify the end' mentality (maybe even allign with the manipulation and enchanting)

-would be a similar situation to ranni and could mirror it- not the best but also not horrible

=> St. Trina is Miquella's Radagon

- Miquella splitting slowly with the golden order & turning his back to the easier path & planning behind the shadows to change how Things have been? Yeah maybe St. Trina could have been to Miquella what Radagon was to Marika (a guard dog, keeping her checked (sry but i genuinely believe Radagon returned bc Marika started to stray)).

-could also have explored how marika had to deal with it & her relationship to her other self => player could maybe decide who they wished to serve

=> the curse drives mad

- being stuck in the body of a child when you are a grown adult mentally is pure eldritch horror imo, it is not only physically but chances are high it could cause deeper psychological issues

- when grief drove marika mad it can drive miquella mad to that despite everything he does, being so prodigal, does not help and helplessness of it all too

- bc no one can help and no one can understand him

- he is stuck in a body that is his, and yet its the body of a past him, something he should have outgrown, something that belongs to the past- and (IMO) he can not fight truly in his body, not even to defend himself- having to constantly rely on people for your protection when you are an incredible independent creature? Horrible

- while not the most climatic- would it be truly unthinkable that miquella maybe just..gave up? That it drove him mad with grief to realize he spends his life searching for a cure that might not even exist?

- again thats more then a 'what if' then realistic like the rest of the list but i just love the horror adult mind child body

Want to make him a good guy? Fine the reason can be:

=> He is described so. He knew that he would be the next god & took responsibility.

- Miquella created the Haligtree, feed by his OWN blood (which takes far longer and more energy then just using bodies) or all that are rejected by the golden order, he is compassionate & kind. He is protective and by gods above he does want to help, he does break away from the golden order when he realizes they are not what they seem

-With ranni not wanting to become the successor and Malenia cursed with the rot it only leaves Miquella open, he would have been aware of it

- He is already a 'big' brother, caring for malenia, caring for all who were considered Misfits such as the Albinauric & Misbegotten, providing a sanctuary and hope

- Miquella is described as kind, as compassionate someone who basically does wish to bring a change and is ready to self sacrifice for the better

There are many more but guys im so so tired and need to nap. In short: its incredible to me how you can make a Character that had potential for all possible sides (good, evil, inbetween) so bland, his arc and journey feel like white toastbread, his relationship to his beloved sister malenia seems fake, he doesnt appear to be an adult trapped in a body of a child but as simply put an idiot who is all about "me me me me" & then doesnt even get a bossfight.

Im not mad it was written, i am made there was zero thought or reasoning put behind it, when there were so so many options to make it good. Its sorta fascinating that somehow no one likes this ending, not the Radahn Fans, Nor the Miquella or Malenia Fans..idk man. Having feelings about this.

Also im really bummed we didnt get a cutscene were the tarnished touches Miquella's arm to travel like- man.

Also sorry for the grammar/spelling or maybe even logic errors i just needed to vent ngl

[afsosville]

You know what would've been nice? Shen Jiu ending up on a different peak that's actually good for him. Maybe Qian Cao, or the beast taming peak could've been hella therapeutic. Or the alcohol/brewery peak to drown away all his sorrows. But what if he stayed fucked up, in a way that's actually good and productive for society? Yeah, I wanna toss him over to Yin Hui and let him run wild! I've seen many iterations of Yin Hui, the fanon peak for espionage and poisons in fanfics. By extension, Yin Hui is also covertly the assassination peak, and I wish this peak got more attention around here tbh. Why do I think this peak is the most well suited for Shen Jiu? BECAUSE ASSASSINS. Duh.

So here comes a baby demonic cultivator Shen Jiu and the Yin Hui peak lord immediately wants him. Shen Jiu would be more readily accepted by his peak martial siblings, and no one would bat an eye at Shen Jiu, his standoffish personality or shady past. A lot of Yin Hui disciples are from questionable backgrounds since the Yin Hui peak lord naturally has to be very particular about selecting their disciples. Yin Hui was established to protect the sect and its people by any means necessary. Sure, the rest of the sect may fight against the supernatural, demons, and the undead, but Yin Hui fights an even greater monster: people.

The Yin Hui peak lord manipulated things so that the first impression the rest of the sect has about Shen Jiu is 'that new badass Yin Hui disciple that killed the criminal Wu Yanzi and saved the future sect leader!' (Seeing as Wu Yanzi would be the very sort of ppl they assassinate, he's already getting goated on Yin Hui too.) So Shen Jiu is known as that new prodigious disciple from Yin Hui and is getting some goddamn respect! And just because of his association with his peak, fewer people are inclined to question his background and whatnot since there's an understanding that the identity of the YH disciples needs to be heavily guarded. The Yin Hui peak lord finds out about the Qiu's soon enough, and they erase any and all traces leading back to Shen Jiu. Even framing it in a way that makes it look like WY did the massacre. Any credibility Qiu Haitang could've had for Shen Jiu's murder accusations is thrown out the window. (Ain’t no way in hell the Yin Hui peak lord is going to name SJ that stupid trauma inducing name like a certain Qing Jing peak lord, that's for sure.)

I'm pulling in elements from MDZS over here. In my version of Yin Hui, they have disciples who practice demonic cultivation, but they make sure it's in a safer way that won't hurt them. There's a surprising number of disciples who have damaged cultivation and chose to cultivate the ghost path. The previous generations of Yin Hui peak lords have created Wei Wuxian's inventions in this AU, and is used by the rest of the peak, like the compass of ill winds, paper metamorphosis, the spirit attraction flag, and empathy. I lowkey want a Wei Wuxian that's native to SV to be the Yin Hui peak lord, now that I think about it. He's good with his kiddos and would be an awesome shizun. And ofc, Shen Jiu is a reflection of his environment, so he's certainly making an example out of Wei Wuxian, one of the only positive influences in his life.

Shen Jiu still has his violent tendencies, so nothing has changed about that, but he learns to take that pent-up energy out on missions instead. And he does them well. It even gives him an edge. Everyone else thinks he's just reallyyy good at his job, as expected of the talented head disciple of Yin Hui!!

He really does try his best to not be an ass (bc he gets the love he deserves on Yin Hui) and ends up venting in a different way (coz he knows better than to take it out on people who don’t deserve it.) His shizun really gave him the free reign to kill sl@ve trad3rs, human tr@ffick3rs, r-ists, and other scum whenever he wanted, in the name of stress relief lol. If killing a particular person becomes politically complicated, like the Old Palace Bastard, then you best believe he's going to scheme like the little schemer he is. He's going to Nie Huaisang the OPM.

Since Shen Jiu is not salty about his fucked up cultivation, and his martial siblings respect him, they get along just fine. His cultivation is some parts similar to Wei Wuxian's: Shen Jiu is a ghost cultivator influenced by music. Sure, he may not be that great of a spiritual cultivator, so what? He's pulling up like the Yiling Patriarch with his demonic cultivation and a haunted guqin of his own.

And guess what? Shen Jiu enjoys teaching. He's training miniature assassins, spies, and the art of demonic cultivation, so forgive him if he's more than a little enthusiastic about it. I imagine that he's exactly like Shifu from kung fu panda when it comes to teaching. Still extremely harsh and strict when training, but outside of actually teaching, he's an attentive and caring shizun. And yes, he completely does act like a father figure who is proud of his murder babies, and ends up being called A-Ba so much that all of Cang Qiong thinks he's officially adopted every single one of his disciples. (After being saved by SJ on a mission, NYY persistently begs SJ to take her in even though he desperately thinks Yin Hui isn't a good fit for her. And then, after being under him for a while, she's completed her first mission successfully, has smn else's blood on her face, and is smiling brightly. 

Ning Yingying: "I completed my mission shizun! Are you proud of me?"

Shen Jiu: "..."

Some other peaklord: "Haha like father like daughter! She's definitely your girl alright!"

Shen Jiu: "...!?!" )

Yue Qingyuan is conerneth about his Xiao Jiu, but as long as he's happy, who cares. Shen Jiu has a better relationship with the other peak lords, so when asked about why he visits brothels, he straight up tells them that it's the best place to gather information in the dark. He doesn't have that mentality of "why explain myself when no ones finna believe me anyway" He actually trusts them and is more honest with time. Shen Jiu does come clean about killing the Qiu's at some point, and the peak lords are all like-

"I didn't hear shit"

"See, I'm blind in my left eye, and 75% blind in my right-"

"Completely understandable, Shen shidi!"

They don't even ask why he did it and just assume he had a valid reason, and he absolutely fucking did.

Oh, Shen Jiu gets accused of playing dirty? Liu Qingge, he literally kills ppl and makes poison as a daytime fucking job ofc he's gonna play dirty! Shen Jiu tried killing you that one time on the well mission? Bro you good? The fact that you think he tried to kill you and failed?? You just insulted an entire peak of disciples and their ancestors. You would've been dead before you could even think of sensing their killing intent if it were true. And there was a witness too, doofus. Be fucking for real. Nahh coz there definitely would be more people who are taking Shen Jiu's side whenever the two of them fight.

Shen Jiu uses a shit ton of versatile weapons because most of his fighting and cultivation prowess comes from his wits and adapting to fighting with different styles/methods. He is kinda similar to Xie Lian bc both of them lack spiritual energy/qi (damaged spirit roots in Shen Jiu's case), but that does not mean they are weaker. It just means they learned to train their body and minds instead of relying on cultivation/qi. He has a massive arsenal of weapons along with the demonic cultivation. (Airport security would hate him)

Yin Hui has got to be my favorite fanon peak, and Yin Hui! Shen Jiu plauges so many of my waking thoughts, I can't stop-

I can add elements from my other hyperfixation into this AU, the Avatar Chronicles. Which are the written books from ATLA. The criminal organization Kyoshi joined, the Daofei, for example, could be a good plot point. Or the Platinum Affair from the Yangchen books. If you don’t know what the Avatar Chronicles are, just ignore this last part lol.

[crystalflygeo]

The dragon and the sacrificial lamb ft. eroded!Morax + gn!reader

cw/tags: angst, no joke I cried writing this, bittersweet ending, rough sex, feral/eroded zhongli, restraints (courtesy of improper use of geo as usual ehe) fingering, dubcon at first maybe??

notes: Alright this is a special one get ready. There's two "version" of this story bc I couldn't decide which path I liked more. This one is the bittersweet ending. Both stories are exactly the same at the start, changing a few word here and there but then reach a point where they divert completely in reactions/emotions and the underlying feeling of the stories are very different. They can be read independently ofc so by all means feel free to choose which tags you vibe with more or enjoy picking up the differences between both!

Dark/Bad ending version here!!

Once upon a time…

A long, long time ago…

The people of Liyue revered their beloved Archon Rex Lapis. Just and kind, he led his nation for millennia, upholding order and contracts, defeating countless enemies,a nd defending their safe harbor.

It is said the Lord of Geo took a human as partner, and fell in love deep and pure.

And his partner loved him just as much.

Willing to do anything for his sake.

It is said the God understood that even he himself was not immune to erosion, and it would one day be his downfall. So, he made sure his people were ready to live on without him. That his adepti were strong enough to subdue him if the day ever came.

As for his lover… well…

-----

Your bare feet crunch along the soft grass as you run and run, panting, gasping for air, almost tripping and letting out a yelp but quickly regaining balance and scurrying faster, past the falling golden ginkgo leaves, past the soft sound of rushing waters.

The golden sunset is gorgeous, dying the sky pink and orange with pastel hues but you simply ignore it, having grown tired of it, sick even. It is fake, an illusion. Just as everything else in this adeptal abode.

Everything except, of course, you and the beast you are currently fleeing from.

It is useless to try to escape, this you know, and your heart clenches painfully as tears prickle at your eyes. You’ve done this before, played this game many many times. But at least for one moment… just one moment…

A roar turns your blood to ice and against all common sense you look over your shoulder to see a massive long dragon twisting in the air and diving straight towards you.

Your legs tremble and fail you as you fall down, the grass is soft but your body aches, tired, burning. You scramble around frantically to stare at the beast again and your eyes widen in panic as it lands right on top of you, majestic and terrifying, caging you with its serpentine body. The golden claws alone are as long as your forearms, digging on the ground at either side of you.

You whimper.

The dragon lowers his head, growling at you, fangs mere inches apart and you squeeze your eyes shut, tears running down your face.

“Why do you run away from me?”

“Please… I just want some time to myself.”

“Are you not happy with me? My mate?”

At the words you only sob harder.

Mate.

Oh, how much joy did that word bring you once. And now you can only feel your heart shatter.

You feel a shift in the wind, in the energy, in the light around you, and when you open your eyes, the massive dragon has faded to a more human appearance. He changes back to the form you’re most used to.

Long strands of dark hair tipped amber, striking golden eyes with stunning red lines that highlight their sharpness, a handsome face and a muscular body with arms died black, and lines of gold… lines that run along his cheek and down his neck. Cracks, like a broken glass, like scars, under his eyes and around his chest, ruining the pristine skin and unable to disappear despite his ability to change forms.

The undeniable marks of erosion.

You snap back to attention when he dips down and starts nosing at your neck, his hands pulling at the robe you’re wearing, the only article of clothing you picked up before scurrying away from the mansion. It parts open easily, revealing your naked body to his eyes, littered in past bruises, hickeys and bite marks. Claims from the dragon.

"W-wait. Stop-!" You try to push him back, desperately pressing your palms against his broad shoulders, but of course he's unmovable as stone.

You kick and trash until he gets irritated and suddenly your arms are immobilized, held above your head and pressed onto the very ground by heavy geo cuffs.

“Submit.” He growls.

You squirm a little more until your body sags into the ground, exhausted, panting. There is no use. Instead, you shudder as his hands explore your body, rough and callous but still gentle despite his displays of power.

He spreads your legs and slots between them as your breath catches. His thumb softly brushes at a spot on your navel lovingly, a glittering geo symbol engraved on your skin there, glowing subtly like his horns. You let out a moan.

Then his touch goes lower and teases at your entrance, circling the hole and dipping in just barely.

“Z-Zhongli-!”

Another growl comes out of his throat, deep and guttural. “You dare speak another man’s name in my presence? In my realm? When you belong to me?”

You gulp, knot in your throat, mind dizzy, heart and body aching.

And then you smile. Softly. Pained.

“Morax, my love… n-not so rough, please…” You whisper.

The eroded God leans down to kiss you, swallowing your moans when his fingers tease, rub and pull at your hole, spreading you a little, preparing you. His long serpentine tongue invades your mouth as his free hand teases a nipple before sliding to settle at your hip. Your body relaxes and melts down onto the grass, pliant for him.

When you break apart, you see pure love and adoration in his golden eyes, but they no longer carry that wisdom, that solemn and dignified depth. Only a primal desire to keep you, claim you, breed you.

It’s alright…

This was your choice.

Blinking back tears, you moan and struggle a little against the restraints on your wrists, two of Morax’s fingers already pressing deep and curling inside you. You see stars when he quickly finds that spot that shoots pleasure up your spine, having already memorized it. Your sex leaking fluids and spurring him on.

Then, Morax pulls out and you feel the tip of his cock press against you, you gasp, back arching as he slowly presses forward inside your warm heat with a pleased groan.

“S-so big… ah!” You whimper, bucking your hips on reflex.

“My mate. So pretty. I will fill you up.” He mumbles, eyes half-lidded as he rolls his hips, inch after inch sinking into you languidly until he sheathes to the hilt, your legs spread around him. Morax slides his large hands around your hips, lifting them to pull closer and deeper, the new angle making his cockhead press deep against your sweet spot. He wastes no time thrusting in and out, gradually picking up the pace.

It's almost tender.

Soft keening sounds escape your lips as you lock your legs around his lower back, your feet resting atop the base of his tail which whips around wildly as he starts fucking faster. You feel the world blur around you, all that exists is you two and the mounting pleasure, the wet sounds and the slapping of skin against skin.

“Morax… Morax… ah! I’m… I’m c-close…”

He grunts and redoubles his efforts, hands pressing bruising spots at your hips, your insides clenching around him. “Mine.” He growls possessively, and you nod and chant his name over and over. Everything feels hot, dizzy, so much- too much-

You come with a filthy cry tumbling out of your lips, slick juices rolling down your skin. He continues through your overstimulated state, chasing his own pleasure as his thrust become erratic until finally, he stills deep inside and moans long and low, painting your insides white.

The two of you ride out your orgasms in tandem, then he drapes over you, kissing your skin softly and making you sigh.

“My love, please, release me?” You try, struggling against the cuffs once again. “I want to touch you.”

“No.” He snarls. “You’ll only try to escape again.”

“I-I won’t… hng… I promise. I’m yours.” You reply breathless, full of emotion.

Morax eyes you with a stern expression, contemplating for a moment before letting out a soft huff. You feel the geo cuffs dissipate into golden dust, your aching limbs free, though sore, but you ignore it as your hand weakly cups his cheek, thumb rubbing at the golden scars there. Morax leans into the soft touch, nuzzling your palm.

“Love you.” The eroded dragon mutters, and you imagine it’s your lover telling you, despite his decaying fractured mind.

“I… I love you too.” You reply softly, bittersweet tears rolling down your face.

Forever and always.

-----

…It is said that his lover made the ultimate sacrifice.

Willingly locked with the eroded god in a sealed realm, to keep him ensnared, enchanted and bound to them.

Until they both turn to dust.

[hellspawnmotel]

i LOVE ur analyses (ur noelle + ralsei ones completely changed the way i view those characters) and if u ever started a yt channel for video essays i would BE THERE. ur art has a comforting quality that can be twisted into something disturbing/raw that i rlly like and admire. i wanna know more of ur thoughts on chara. i think they killed themselves bc of their dread of humanity + they thought what they were feeling (anger/vengence) was inherent to being a human and not a monster. thoughts?

thank you, that's very kind of you!! I don't think what I have to say would be very well suited for video essays though haha, it's just my personal readings of the text and I really don't want people to look at it and assume that I'm completely right, or even that I think I'm completely right. there are tropes and themes that I get particularly caught up in and I have my very obvious biases, plus when it comes to deltarune the story isn't even done yet..... I would hate for somebody to get totally invested in my interpretation and then get mad or disappointed if something that happens further in negates it. (that and my video making/editing skills begin and end with cutting together amvs)

as for chara..... (warning this is about to get heavy, maybe don't read if you're dealing with suicidal thoughts of your own)

.....always a complex question, especially when it comes to their death. I never really want to say anything definitive about them, because well, we don't actually know, do we? but this in particular...... with suicidal thoughts and ideation, you're always looking for a way to justify it. I don't think there was one specific reason chara went down that path, because there never really is. it starts with one thought, and then all the reasons you could possibly come up with start to clump together and form an unbearable weight. I think it's significant that chara came up with "the plan" after (accidentally or not) poisoning asgore. maybe it started with the guilt of hurting somebody they loved, which grew into the guilt of 'I'm such a burden to these wonderful people, they would be better off without me' which grew into the guilt of being human at all. but they still wanted to be useful to their family, leave them with a gift.... if their death can both free monsterkind AND destroy humanity, then really it would be worse of them to NOT die. that idea would stick in their brain and become a comfort to them- it's okay, because before too long, everyone I love with be safe and happy and I'll be dead, and I won't have to feel so awful every day. this is the only way to make up for all the time they wasted on caring for me. but then, of course, everything goes so extremely wrong..... I can't imagine the anguish chara would've felt in death, for not only failing but dooming asriel alongside them. they weren't thinking about the pain it would inflict on their family even if the plan had worked, or ever stop to consider that one day they might be able to feel better, and now they'll never get a chance to see it.

I think that also nicely leads in the main routes in undertale's storyline. in one, chara is a passenger on frisk and the player's journey, and they watch frisk inconvenience everyone they meet over and over but ultimately make their lives better just by being a friend and believing in love, which mirrors chara's own life and what they failed to see in it. in the other, chara is guided into dealing with their pain in a different way, by destroying it. the world is cruel, and unfair, and it hurts the good people while the bad flourish- better to do away with it entirely. if there's no life, then there's no suffering. if chara is all that exists, they become the nexus of pain. if they have to become a demon anyway, they can learn to love it. it's all humans are good for anyway. maybe this is easier than trying to fight it ever was.

but like, it's not, obviously. being a good person is hard sometimes, and it's even harder to be good to yourself. in the end though, if you give into hate and destruction, you'll be left with nothing but emptiness. whether through harming others or harming yourself..... either way you've closed yourself off from the world and your ability to experience the beauty of life, in all its faults.

okay I think I should stop there before I get too preachy or existential LMAO I hope that answered your question though! talking about chara is a dang rabbit hole. like, you're a creepypasta-ass character from a video game, why you making me think this deep. maybe if you werent so tragic and interesting I'd get less distracted, jerk.

🌻

[chattemagique]

yandere! AllMight headcannons + chapter 1 (?)

tw: self-harm, kidnapping, use of curse word (fuck), stalking, obsessive behavior, mentions of daddy issues, indirect mentons of suicide, reader has mental issues fem!bodied reader, mentions of sex

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

PROCEED WITH CARE

- Basically his associations with his first crush and you influenced his main delusions. Also that you wanted to become a superhero, which is so altruistic, just as she was and he was. You were totally made for him. And even in this difficult situation he was there as your savior to guide you towards the right path.

-yan! All might doesn't see you as a villain

-rather as lost young woman or rather babygirl (im sorry for the old ass joke, this actually stayed in my drafts for almost a year)

-delusional yes -his roles in reader's life borders between someone similar to a father figure and a lover, leaning more towards the lover side -would play a therapist with you -could give you the whole world if only you stayed with him and listened to him, stop committing crime and maybe found yourself some hobby or activity that you like

-he would try to be your therapist, would do a little research on mental health and self-harm as he's busy with work/or ask the therapists that worked in the same company as him

Just imagine sitting in his lap while crying in his chest. His hand slowly caressing your back while whispering sweet, comforting words in your ear that it's going to be alright, that he's going to help you get through this.

-ngl I feel like (y/n) would be the first one to initiate sex despite All might being delusional he wouldn't force himself onto you he's just not built this way (kidnapping doesn't count tho ) besides he did that to save you from prison

-It'd be after some time, when he's tried talking to you, feed you with your favorite food and many other interesting, cute desserts that he'd usually bring Midoriya, walking with you in the garden (in the house that he'd brought you in) out of desperation you just kinda started to open up to him, bc there was nowhere else to go.

-he's actually completely fine with you disappearing and not appearing in public anymore, if you don't wanna be a hero

-if you do, then he will "wipe out" any information about this robbing case which has your name, using his connections or/and suggest you to change your name 

***

There used to be a time, when you wanted to become a hero. Not anymore tho. You're even started to doubt whether this wish was yours and not somebody else's.. Were you yourself or just wearing a mask, pretending to be a good person, when in reality just a hypocrite.

The bank's visitors and employees all had their faces planted on the floor while your partner in crime used his quirk to emit temporarily paralyzing smoke to watch them.  You took money from safe deposit boxes.  Someone's money lol.

You didn't expect that he would be here. You were hoping that some average hero would arrive here, when you had already stolen some amount and slipped away together with your partner in crime.

"I AM HERE"

-Shit

Having barely fastened your bag, you headed to the back exit, which led into narrow alleys.  Hearing how your partner was arrested, deciding that all the attention would be on him, you ran as far as possible, weaving through the streets.  Finally seeing the descent into the subway. Since it was night, there was no one in particular and you headed as far as possible.

"Damn, I thought, that I might have to use you, " you caressed the gun through your jacket. It had two bullets, in case if this ain't going to end well and you wouldn't want to suffer in prison. It was that bad and hopeless.

The thing is he still remembers you from the first time he met you 2 years ago, when you were leaving your job at night. He saved you from the robber with a gun.

You reminded him of his first crush, your face, your body, your hair, smell, voice, your beauty, everything. And your potential that he saw in you, when you still wanted to become a superhero.

From that time he watches you all the time.. At first he thought that it wasn't normal, but he just couldn't help himself to keep watching you. Especially when he saw the scars on your wrist.

So the days went on and on and you totally forgot about this accident and couldn't even imagine that someone like nr.1 hero was stalking you.

Obviously, he was very disappointed when he found out about your robbing plans. And he never really liked your villain friend. How could somebody like you even be friends with him?! But that was also a part of your charm, since you tried not to judge people by their cover. So why were you then so judgemental about yourself?

A sudden looming figure was approaching you from the other side of the tunnel. You tried to change the directions, but it was following you. You're at a dead end now. Either you're going to the police, either to them now. Well, you decided to test your chances and meet them.

"okay" you thought, "imma just act as if I'm lost and looking for a way out towards the forest."

You saw some tall middle aged man and decided to just walk past him, as if you're looking for another exit.

"y/n"

You stopped.

"You're on a wrong path."

"Sorry?" you were confused. Who the fuck was he?

You turned your head. Your eyes met.

No. There's no way it's him.

He transformed into his full form and the tunnel room seemed so small in a second.

You didn't realize how you released the bag from your hand and were going to try to run through walls. Your quirk wasn't that advanced, but you could walk through walls. Only it was already too late as you approached the closest wall and felt your heavy eyelids closing.

You woke up in bedroom. Similar to the one you had at your home. You even thought that It was the one and that this whole non-sense from yesterday was just a dream. But it wasn't. Soon you noticed the difference from your usual room.

Your left leg felt heavier than usual. There was a black anklet that you couldn't remove. The room lacked some decor and also the drawers and wardrobe had other clothes you've never had. After inspecting the room, you decided to see what else could be hidden here. There was a big, dark brown woody closet with mirror. You opened it. Suddenly you noticed that the back of the closet was covered with pictures of you. Pictures of you being outside and inside of your room through window.. Scary shit. What the actual fuck.

You just remembered that it was All Might who you've met yesterday in the tunnel. The shocking memory made you fall back and hit the side of the bed.

"Ouch!"

Suddenly the door knob started moving and he walked in.

"(y/n), are you okay?"

You were probably delusional. You were surely delusional. This situation wasn't even serious. It couldn't. You were sleeping. Sleeping for sure.

If only.

"W-what do y-you want from m-me?" your voice was trembling.

"I want you to feel and become better.. with me." Nr.1 said surely.

[peachhcs]

will bringing sam to something to bc for like a hockey thing and she’s his date and he’s proudly walking around with her on his arm

hockey formal

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

samy's in boston for will's hockey formal which means she finally meets all of his teammates that hear so much about her!

2.8k words

i kind of strayed off the path of what you requested, but i hope you like it!! this was so cutie to write, so pls send more in if y'all have any more requests :) (btw i finally used the actual names of the other hockey players on the team LMAO. everyone but connor is a guy on the bc hockey team) (so, the pics are gonna look big if ur on a computer but on mobile it’s fine LOL) (p.s.s my plan is to hopefully post every like 2 days! :) depending on my schoolwork load)

au masterlist

will's hands were around his phone as soon as he was done in the shower. the blonde didn't even take the time to change into clothes as he tapped away and stalked where samy's plane currently was. a grin curled onto his lips seeing her exactly thirty minutes away from the airport.

"what's got you so smiley?" eamon whacked his own towel against will's shoulder as he passed by the stall.

"girlfriend's coming to town," gabe answered with a smirk on his lips before will could even say a word. 

"ooh, the girlfriend, huh? has she been to boston yet?" eamon wondered with his own smile.

"is that the same girl who gave you those wicked hickeys a few weeks back?" mike poked his head into the conversation. his words had will blushing to the tips of his ears.

"yup, that's the one," ryan filled in as he leaned back into his stall.

"you mean to tell me hughes is coming here?" now connor joined the group and half the team in the locker room listened in while gaining knowledge of the star freshman's plans this weekend.

"she'll be at the formal tomorrow," will informed, finally throwing a t-shirt over his head. some of the guys let out oohs and ahhs at that information.

"we finally get to meet little hughesy??" colby exclaimed making the other boys chuckle.

"just don't be too weird, okay? do not bring up anything we talk about in here to her, promise?" will eyed his teammates seriously knowing how they got around the girlfriends. they were always sharing unwanted and lousy information that definitely did not need to get shared aloud.

"what? don't want her knowing we know how many times you guys have done it?" aidan teased earning hoots and hollers from the other juniors and seniors.

will's poor blush got even worse under the commotion. he saw ryan and gabe snickering to one another while sending the boy knowing looks. some teammates they were. 

"alright, shut up. just be normal if that's even possible for some of you," the freshman rolled his eyes, quickly disappearing from everyone to finish dressing himself.

"can't promise anything, smitty! get a few drinks in us and we're saying anything," jack called.

all will did was roll his eyes. he knew samy was used to hockey players and their antics, but he still didn't want his entire team making a fool of themselves in front of her. he wanted her to like them and them to like her. will was very big on gaining people's approval—especially samy. 

—

gabe and ryan happily tagged along to the airport with will. if the blonde didn't know any better, they were probably just as excited—maybe more—to see samy. something in will's heart warmed though knowing his linemates were so close with one of the people he cared the most about. he knew how much the two missed being in michigan and all of ellen's delicious homemade meals when they visited on the weekends. all of them were counting down the days they were all together again at the lake house.

the three were bouncing on their heels waiting by the gate while watching everyone unload from the plane. with them being so tall, they were able to see over most people's heads as they searched for samy's familiar mop of brown curls.

"i see her!" ryan exclaimed and the other spotted her also searching for them through the sea of people.

will began pushing his way forward to meet her in the middle. he felt like a little kid on christmas with how big his smile was and how tightly he embraced the girl when they finally met in the middle. his hug was so tight samy's feet lifted off the ground a little in a small spin.

"hey willie," samy beamed into his shoulder.

"hi pretty girl, missed you," the boy mumbled back, reluctantly letting her go for a moment. the girl's eyes spotted gabe and ryan hanging back, so she quickly jumped towards them.

"aw, my two favorites came to get me too," samy giggled as they both wrapped their arms around her shorter frame.

"good to see you too, hughesy. been a while," ryan chuckled.

"two favorites?" will cleared his throat, raising his eyebrow.

"obviously you're the first," the girl chuckled, tugging her arm back around her boyfriend after hugging ryan and gabe. the boy grinned as he basically smushed samy into his side. 

"someone's jealous,," gabe teased which only earned him a harsh glare from his friend. 

"you hungry at all? thinking about grabbing lunch with aram and drew back on campus," ryan wondered as the four made their way back down to baggage claim. 

"is that even a question? of course i'm hungry," samy beamed making the guys laugh. 

ryan and gabe helped grab samy's suitcase while catching up about soccer and school. will hung back, gladly letting his linemates talk since he's heard it all already from their nightly facetime calls. the smiles on ryan and gabe's faces were enough to tell will how much they enjoyed being around samy. it was something the blonde worried about when he first introduced them two years ago, but he should've known there was nothing to worry about. 

obviously samy got shotgun in will's car, so the guys stuffed themselves into the backseats. samy excitedly told them about her spring season while they chimed in with small tidbits from hockey. 

"did smitty tell you all the guys on the team are excited to meet you tomorrow?" ryan wondered. 

"they are?" samy giggled to herself while both boys nodded.

"you should've heard them in the locker room earlier," gabe grinned while will eyed him through the rearview mirror. 

"you're kind of a big deal to them i guess," will mumbled a bit shyly. his ears turned a slight pink thinking back to their teasing remarks. 

"so i've heard. i can't wait to meet them," the brunette chuckled. 

lunch with the six of them felt like old times back in michigan. somethimg about being all together and laughing like they hadn't been apart the last few months brought a sense of comfort and nostalgia knowing that in a few years they really weren't going to be together like that. 

samy and will retreated back to his dorm afterwards to spend some much needed alone time together before tomorrow. the girl grinned when her eyes caught sight of will's new wall decorations as soon as she stepped into the room. 

"aw, you two took my suggestions," she beamed and glanced over at gabe's side too. 

samy's heart warmed seeing so many pictures of her on will's side. he had three framed photos and probably 10-15 mixed into the photo collage on his wall. a smile crept onto the blonde's lips watching his girlfriend inspect every aspect of his side since she last visited. 

"this one's my favorite," he pointed to one of the many photos in the collage. 

samy ws laughing at something whoever took the photo said, but will's eyes had never left her. the gaze in his eyes said a lot more than words could. 

"wait, i didn't even know this picture existed. when was that?" the girl wondered, jumping onto will's bed to get a better look.

"like last summer?" the boy shrugged some. 

"i didn't even realize you were looking at me," samy giggled. 

"i know. that's why i like it," her eyes flicked to will's and that same stare from the photo was in his eyes. a small blush painted her cheeks as she quickly looked away before he noticed. 

"it was nice seeing the guys. i missed them," samy changed the subject as she sunk further into will's bed. 

"they were really excited to see you. they really miss michigan. i do too," the boy kicked his shoes off to join her. his words softened out samy's expression. 

"best two years ever having you guys so close by. i can't wait for summer," her voice dropped a little knowing how far off summer was still. 

will's arm curled around her waist to bringing her into him. "me neither. this long distance sucks, but i'm glad you're here. tomorrow's gonna be fun," his fingers carefully brushed some of her hair away from her face. 

a teasing smile grew on samy's lips, "how bad are they gonna chirp at you?" she knew all too well about his teammates constant teasing. 

"hopefully not too bad. i told them to cool it," will mumbled with an embarrassing blush that samy adored nonetheless. 

the two spent the rest of the afternoon in each other's arms after two long months apart. gabe came back later that night to the sight of them sound asleep and some random movie playing off of will's computer. the dark-haired boy quickly snapped a photo before shutting will's laptop and placing it somewhere safe. he quickly sent the photo to the freshman group chat, a smirk on his lips as he got himself ready for bed. 

—

will stood in front of the full length mirror getting his tie ready while samy got herself ready in the bathroom. he'd be lying if he said he wasn't just a little nervous for tonight. the hockey player knew his teammates would like her—they literally fangirl over her—he was just afraid they'd become too much or something. 

gabe threw his suit jacket over his shoulders while trying to look over will in the mirror. "dude, you're hogging the mirror," the dark-haired boy complained. 

"i'm almost done," will mumbled, fidgeting with his collar now. 

"go look at yourself next to your girlfriend in the bathroom," gabe shoved will out of the way. the blonde stumbled sideways, catching himself on the door. 

"dude," the blonde glared at him. 

"what? there's a bathroom for a reason," gabe shrugged, seemingly unbothered by pushing his friend out of the way. 

will rolled his eyes before gently knocking on the bathroom door. "yeah?" samy asked. 

"can i come in? gabe's kicking me away from our mirror," will wondered. he heard samy laugh and then a yes, so he carefully pushed the door open. 

the sight in front of him made the boy stop in his tracks. samy leaned over the counter trying to apply mascara and her dress was one will hadn't seen before. the material was satin or something because it shined in the light and hugged all of the right places. blue was most definitely samy's color. 

"like what you see?" the brunette smirked. she caught will's wandering eyes through the mirror, finally turning to him once she had her mascara on. 

pink colored will's skin from his neck to his ears. "you look beautiful," he mumbled, slowly stepping further into the bathroom and letting the door close a bit. 

"you don't look bad yourself," samy smiled at his all black suit and tie look. 

will stepped forward even more so his one arm could snake around samy's waist. he pulled her into his chest while his eyes shamelessly dropped down to her chest area and back up. "i can't believe you're mine," he nearly whispered making the girl chuckle. 

"you're sweet. i think i'm almost ready," samy's hands brushed back some of will's unruly curls. he flushed under her touch and brought her to his lips before he let her go. 

their kiss was filled with a lot of love. will's grasp on her waist kept her in place, kissing her deeper which allowed him to push his tongue into her mouth. samy's hands toyed with the hair on the nape of his neck, indulging in her boyfriend's slight neediness before she needed to finish getting ready. his boyish instincts started taking over as his other hand began sliding down past her waist. 

before he could reach her butt, samy pulled herself away. "i gotta finish getting ready. don't wanna be late," she giggled. 

will let out a small groan in protest, "you're annoying." 

"maybe." 

samy turned back to the sink, eyeing her makeup scattered across the counter. will's eyes did one last once-over of his girlfriend before tearing his eyes away and doing his finishing touches. another five minutes went by and the couple was finally ready. gabe looked up from his bed, smiling at the two.

"finally. scared i'd have to walk in there myself," he joked. 

will rolled his eyes while samy just chuckled. the three headed out of the dorm where they met ryan, drew, aram, and will vote downstairs to drive over together. the seven exchanged their hello's before dividing everyone up between will, drew, and ryan's cars. gabe stuck himself with will and samy, so the three continued out to the parking lot. 

samy smiled when will opened her door for her. 

"so charming," gabe mumbled as he climbed into the back. 

"wish he did that for me," ryan laughed as he walked by. 

poor will knew he wasn't going to escape the chirping all weekend, especially tonight. the drive into downtown stayed uneventful with minimal comments from gabe. they pulled into what looked like a very fancy bar in the heart of the city. samy hooked her arm around will's as the three walked in. a lot of the upperclassmen were already there mingling and their attention was caught when samy and will walked in. 

"yo, smitty!" aidan exclaimed, running around the bar to the couple. 

"what's up, hreschuck," will grinned. 

"you must be samy. we've heard a lot about you," aidan turned to the girl beside his teammate. 

"it's good to meet you," the two exchanged a friendly hug before the older player went to greet gabe. 

"it's her! it's little hughesy!" connor jumped up, running to hug samy. 

"connor miller! it's been forever since i saw you," the brunette laughed. she remembered connor playing with luke in the ntdp before they headed off to separate schools. 

"i know! when i heard you were smitty's girl i just couldn't believe it. how's your brothers?" the older boy wondered. 

"they're good. quinn's in van. jack and luke are in jersey. i'm the only one left in michigan," samy chuckled a little. 

"god, i can't believe moosey's in jersey. i can't believe you're old enough to be in college. you play soccer right?" 

will lingered beside samy while the smile on his lips grew. he never put two and two together that samy would know some of these guys through her brothers. he loved seeing her eyes so bright talking to connor about her brothers and soccer knowing she'd talk nonstop about them at any chance she got. maybe he wouldn't get chirped at as much as he thought. 

just as will thought that, colby and mike bounced over to where the couple was. "aw, she really does exist," colby cut into the conversation causing will's face to flush. 

"i'm colby. that's mike. we've heard a lot about you being smitty's girl," colby continued as he held his hand out. 

"it's nice to finally meet you guys," samy laughed, shaking their hands. 

"don't pay much mind to them. colby's going a little crazy tonight since he's graduating in a few months," connor laughed. 

"can do whatever i want and they won't kick me off the team," the older guy shrugged. 

"sometimes we thought smitty was lying about dating you," mike chimed in. 

"yeah, sometimes i don't believe it either," samy joined into their teasing. her gaze slid towards her boyfriend still beside her who blushed hard. 

"i mean he definitely picked a good one," colby nodded. 

"why don't you guys get some drinks and food before the other guys eat it all," connor laughed, pushing samy and will further into the bar and pretty much saving them from more of mike and colby's annoying remarks. 

"jesus, sorry about them," will mumbled when they were out of ear shot. 

"don't apologize. i thought it was funny," samy shook her head with a smile. 

"they don't know how to shut up ever," the blonde rolled his eyes. 

"you forget i'm used to it after growing up with three brothers who have hockey friends of their own," the girl giggled making will flush. 

"i know. i know. thanks for coming again," will placed a chaste kiss to her lips. 

samt stuck to will's side for most of the night, but she enjoyed seeing him in his comfort zone. all of the guys on the team were so close with one another. the upperclassmen treated the underclassmen like brothers despite the slight chirping. she could tell how much will loved it and how much he fit in with them. 

even though her boyfriend did most of the talking, she was glad to be at his side in a pretty dress for the night supporting him in what he loved the most. 

[iz-star]

Okay but listen, what if we really get to celebrate Zayne's birthday with both, Dr Zayne and Dawnbreaker?

We know that Dawnbreaker doesn't celebrate his birthdays bc of what happened to him when he was 12. His background and overall life is really sad and miserable (I need to hug him so badly) so it might not look like a situable theme for Zayne's birthday event, however, listen... What if...

We know that MC and Zayne are childhood friends that reunited several years later when they were already adults. What if Dawnbreaker in the anecdotes is still 26 so in his 27 birthday he gets to meet the MC of his world? Just like Dr Zayne reunited with the MC of our timeline? From the info we are given about Dawnbreaker's world, almost all ppl stay inside their houses and use VR to pass the time while the ones outside doing all what used to be human labor are almost all robots. Considering this reality, it would make sense if Dawnbreaker didn't have a chance to meet the MC of his world before 🤔

Especially cause, both Dr Zayne and Dawnbreaker had something that changed them when they both were 12. When Dawnbreaker Zayne was 12, he had to kill his adoptive father using his evol, which was what marked his beginning as Grim Reaper, while Dr Zayne almost killed someone important to him (It's kinda hinted that it was MC?) because he lost control of his evol and that's what ultimately made him to become obssesed about saving ppl, thus, he became a doctor.

When they were both 12, they both had big events in their life that chose their path in life. It's interesting that Dawnbreaker could skillfully use his evol as a kid to kill someone while Dr Zayne lost control of his evol and accidentally hurt someone? As long as I remember, it was never mentioned in his anecdotes that Dawnbreaker had the same problem about his evol as Dr Zayne or Foreseer.

Dawnbreaker knew that Dr Zayne would reunite with MC at the age of 27, maybe It's also his turn to reunite with his MC and here's the plot twist: he can freely love her. Unlike Dr Zayne that loses control of his evol whenever he kinda gets close to her, Dawnbreaker doesn't. His payment for a life with her is to be a k1ller and that's because k1lling Abominations (humans that are about to turn into Wanderers) is his penitence for giving MC the Creatio Protocore in his Foreseer life.

Also, let's not forget that they will add more main story branches from September to December, yes, September! They're going to start with Zayne's birthday month! And also, Zayne was the first LI that disappeared from the main story, so they probably are going to start with him! I truly feel like they're going to give us Dawnbreaker Zayne content in September. Save my words!

Okay those are only theories, I could go on a go on about this brainrot but I better stop xD sorry but to think about Dr Zayne and Dawnbreaker similarities and differences makes me come up with the wildest theories, sorry ahaha.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

"But Prin if you hate the Sonic movies so much why don't you just write a better version of them-" ok I will.

Here are the rules. I have 3 movies and a Knuckles TV show, same characters with no major additions or subtractions, no massive character change in backstory or personality, no lore changes or massive lore additions, may as well throw the Prequill Comic and drone home in there too for good measure, no throwing in major headcanons I have just to make things flow better, working within the limitations the movies have (aka I can't just shove them into mobius for a bit bc that would be hell on the budget), and no making movie 3 just a carbon copy of sa2.

My main goal with this is going to be sticking to the rough structure and themes of the movies (movie 1 being about Sonic not isolating himself and finding a friend in Tom + him ending up in the Wachowski's residence; Prequill Comic being a series of short stories setting up movie 2 without being crucial to understanding movie 2; movie 2 being about Team Sonic coming together, the Master Emerald stuff, Super Sonic, Sonic accepting Tom as a father figure; Drone Home being primarily comedic and showing Team Sonic being somewhat dysfunctional; Knuckles Show being about Knuckles finding a purpose on the earth and developing Wade's character; movie 3 is a lot more up in the air but I imagine it's going to be contrasting sonic and shadow as well as showing their similarities, everything to do with GUN and Shadow's backstory, the general sa2 conclusion of humanity being worth saving, and maybe Team Sonic learning to work together/Sonic learning to be a leader and them all being brothers) and to improve the overall characters, arcs, and world while still sticking to those structures and themes.

Movie 1.

Main characters are Sonic Tom and Eggman.

Roughly the same setup with Sonic accidentally leading the echidna tribe to Longclaw, Sonic being teleported to another planet (which the Knuckles show confirmed wasn't earth btw) and Longclaw and the echidna tribe wiping each other out. Only noticeable change in this section will be Longclaw saying Sonic needs to protect something and that he's the only one who can use it, getting cut off either by the arrow that hurts her or from the echidnas interrupting their conversation when the arrow knocks Longclaw out of the sky. This is here to establish the presence of the Master Emerald as something that Sonic knows vaguely about and his ability to use it to go Super instead of it being something that comes out of nowhere in Movie 2. Eagle-eyed viewers may at this point say this violates my rule about not changing any lore, because in flashbacks in the original version of movie 2 we see an echidna warrior using the Master Emerald, but just hold on a second, I'm gonna get to that in Movie 2 (and the Knuckles Show and Movie 3).

From there we will see Sonic going to the planets we see Xed out on the map he has in movie 2 and discovering the reasons for why they weren't habitable for whatever reason (toxic air, hostile native life, he just couldn't find enough food, etc.) until he winds up on Earth and decides to stay, not risking his luck any more, electing to just stay in a cave in the most peaceful (and boring) town he can find, this of course being Green Hills. Then we get him spying on the town, idolizing Tom (and to a lesser extent Maddie), messing with Carl. We also see Carl's growing paranoia and desperation to catch "The Blue Devil", but also the residents of Green Hills aren't blind in this version and notice weird stuff as well- massive, unexpected windstorms, paths through the forest like someone has been running through it, someone stealing from (insert big grocery and entertainment store here) without ever being caught or leaving a trace behind, stuff like that. Tom jokes that this is the most entertaining part of this town, but he still yearns for being a #bigboycop in the big city (San Francisco if I'm remembering correctly) where Rachel lives. There is also a sequence of Sonic appreciating nature on Earth, but gradually getting bored because of his self-imposed restriction to stay in Green Hills.

And so, things continue, until Sonic has his scheduled breakdown about how empty his life is, the military takes an interest in the town, and through a series of conveniences Tom finds Sonic in his shed and shoots him in the leg with the tranquilizer dart, and Sonic loses the teleporting rings. Things are much the same during Sonic initially persuading Tom, but we include the line "Why did you have bear tranquilizers in the first place?" and Tom looking guilty/doubtful of his actions before trying to defend himself, which a still slightly woozy Sonic just decides to roll with bc a) this is his first real interaction with his hero and b) he's painfully aware that he needs Tom's help right now and doesn't want to jeopardize that. They get out of the house the same way (I am absolutely including the joke about breastfeeding because that's the funniest moment in this entire fucking franchise and the best part of the movies so far imo) but when we get to when Tom kicks Sonic out of the car and tells him to find his own way to San Francisco is the first major change of the movie. Tom hands Sonic a map to San Francisco, and we see Sonic actually go there (because in all his time learning human culture and finding his way around the universe he absolutely learned how to read a map)... and then he goes back to Tom and says he doesn't know how to find San Francisco, and Tom takes pity on him and the road trip from H-E-double-hockey-sticks begins. There is a reason for this change, which I will get into later when I cover the characters arcs in this film.

Things on the road trip don't vary up until we get to the bar fight, and during this scene (which will not include a crappy Quicksilver sequence homage) Sonic is having fun right up until he sees that Tom is actually starting to get hurt, so he then zips around and disables everyone so Tom doesn't get any more hurt. Back in the car, Tom says something about wishing he had his gun, and Sonic excitedly asks if he would have shot "one of the bad guys", at which point Tom says that people don't deserve to get shot just for being in a fight and that he would have just told everyone to leave them alone before fleeing the bar with Sonic. Sonic pouts and says that's not as exciting, at which point Tom retorts "being a police officer isn't supposed to be-" before he cuts himself off, a bit of a contemplative expression on his face. He then deflects the conversation back onto Sonic, and they get onto Sonic's bucket list, full of childish stuff (maybe for emotional impact we could have seen Tom doing some of the items himself while just living his life in Green Hills earlier in the film) and obviously the "make a friend" item. Tom looks sad but doesn't say anything about it, and they go to bed.

The next day while on the road, Tom is visibly tired and still injured from the bar fight, and Sonic is feeling exceptionally guilty. Tom says he shouldn't feel bad because he ended the fight as soon as he could, and Sonic seems to be on the verge of confessing that he could have gone to San Francisco by himself, but Tom accidentally distracts him from that by telling him that he's moving to San Francisco which Sonic gets angry about. Just as they're really getting into it Eggman attacks the car. During the fight Tom yells something about "not signing up for multiple near-death experiences", and also Sonic has to take control of the car for a lot of it, during which time he navigates using a map, which Tom sees. The fight ends the same, but just as Tom is about to question Sonic on how he can read the map, they notice the bomb stuck to Tom which both of them freak out about, but Sonic freaks out considerably harder than Tom expected him to and starts emitting blue sparks similar to his initial breakdown in the baseball field (this is because of his Longclaw trauma, which the audience is made aware of when Sonic says something like "not again, I can't be responsible for something like this again" or something along those lines), and then Sonic gets the bomb on his glove, says something about how it's better he dies than someone else he cares about, and then gets blown up. There is one other change here: the bomb gets stuck to Sonic's shoe, and his leg is injured.

Tom is understandably fucking worried about Sonic's minor breakdown and how hurt he is, but quickly realizes Sonic is alive and gets him to Rachel's house. All the human interactions go basically the same, with added Tom and Maddie interaction where he says he's furious that Sonic obviously lied to him about not being able to read the map and has potentially ruined his life, and Maddie gently reminding him that Sonic's a kid who just almost sacrificed his life to make sure Tom wouldn't get hurt. When Sonic wakes up he and Tom have a fight about the Everything™, with Tom being understandably angry that Sonic lied to him and put him in danger and Sonic yelling about how Tom wants to have a more exciting life without valuing the peace he already has. It's at this point that he yells at Tom about his traumatic backstory and why he was in Green Hills for years in the first place, at which point Tom softens and says that he's sorry, but he isn't going to help Sonic anymore. However, there's a genuine problem at this point. Sonic's leg is injured so he really can't run fast enough to just go up the side of the building the rings are on, and after some needling from Maddie (+ Rachel begging them all to get the fuck out of her house for some comedic levity) Tom agrees to smuggle Sonic up the building.

At the top of the building, Sonic says goodbye to Tom and Maddie and genuinely apologizes to Tom, saying that he would try to make up for it but he's gonna have to go live on a mushroom planet now (btw there would be a scene earlier in the film where Sonic complains about how boring + dangerous the mushroom planet is) which leads to Tom experiencing a moment of doubt as to whether or not Sonic really has to leave. Of course, at that moment Eggman shows up, and Sonic, once again freaking out over the possibility of getting Tom and Maddie killed, gets them out of the fight in the same way he does in the original movie, and starts using his powers to run again, despite the fact that he's making his leg injury worse while doing so. Like the original film, Sonic ends up in Green Hill, and Tom gets in-between him and Eggman even when both Sonic and Eggman tell him to get out of the way. It's at this point that Eggman taunts Tom over his general inability to fight like the two of them can, and says that Tom will never amount to anything more than a busybody in a small town where no one will ever need him to save them, and Tom retorts that he's fine with just saving Sonic, who he then calls a friend. Queue the third-act friendship power up and Eggman's defeat.

After all that, Sonic collapses due to the strain on his leg and Tom and Maddie say he can stay with them "until he finds a new home", which Sonic agrees to. When the GUN Commander swings by, he offers Tom whatever he wants, and Tom says he's happy with just staying in Green Hills "with my family", at which point the GUN Commander says that he meant Tom could get whatever he wants at Olive Garden (yes I find those jokes funny, sue me). The film ends with Tom and Maddie showing Sonic to his new home in their house, but when Tom says something like "now you can stay safe in an actual house now" Sonic will mumble "stay..." and glance out the window, looking a mix of genuinely happy and unsure.

That's the entire plot of this movie, bar the Tails post-credits sequence (I would personally change that to having it just be Tails noticing the massive energy surge from Sonic's breakdown earlier in the film/his powerup later, but whatevs).

Now for the character arc explanation that I promised, the idea is that Tom's and Sonic's goals in this film are relatively morally pure but get twisted because of their conflicting desires. Tom wants to be a cop who does more "important" things but fails to consider how he's already helping people in Green Hills and how he probably should not want to have a more exciting lifestyle when police officers, should, ideally, prevent bad things from happening to people and not just hunt down bad people (with heavy air quotes around the idea of crime making someone a bad person obviously). Sonic has two conflicting desires, that being wanting to keep himself/others safe by isolating himself vs. his natural desire to explore and find fun things to do. Tom wants to fulfill his wishes just by going to San Francisco where there is more crime for him to solve, and Sonic tries to satisfy his wishes by lying to Tom just to have a few days of genuine fun before isolating himself further. Both of them realize that their goals and methods of achieving those goals are flawed, and Tom completes his arc by realizing he can protect Sonic as best he can. Sonic's arc is not complete yet, but he's finished the first stage of it by making a genuine friend and no longer isolating himself.

Some other notes: during the road trip Sonic is going to spend a lot of time looking out the window and marveling at the changing scenery. Despite it all, America is quite beautiful, and I think this should be used to establish that Sonic likes exploring and experiencing nature and seeing people interact.

I don't think my version of the film is perfect. Obviously Tom is still a cop at the end of the movie and that is broadly portrayed as a morally neutral thing, but I couldn't figure out a way to put in a dissection of the politics of being a police officer in America without massively derailing the plot, so the compromise was to show that cops definitely shouldn't aim to be the """"""heroes"""""" and should just be there to actually serve and protect. Additionally, Maddie still isn't much of a character in this, she's kind of just there to be Tom's nice wife who pokes him and Sonic in the right direction. There's also some confusion with Sonic's idolization of Tom and him wanting to have "exciting" adventures vs. his trauma over the first real act of violence he was a victim of in his life, Longclaw's death, but I digress. If there are many other major issues anyone noticed feel free to put them in the notes.

Prequill Comic.

5 stories, focusing on Sonic, Stone, Knuckles, Tails, and Eggman, in that order.

I will keep Sonic's story mostly unchanged, with the caveat that it's going to be obvious that he's going stir-crazy not just because he wants adventure, but also because he's getting bored just being in Green Hills, especially with only Tom, Maddie, and Ozzy for company. This will contribute to his arc in movie 2 of getting friends/brothers while still not having the problem of Sonic's love for exploration be solved fully in the second movie.

Stone's story is unchanged I genuinely love it so much. Maybe make it a bit clearer how genuinely gay he is for Eggman.

Knuckles story I will change up a bit. I'll establish just how long he's been looking for Sonic and make it so that he also doesn't know why Sonic was important to Longclaw.

For Tails, I'm gonna take the opportunity to world build a bit. Make it canon that every "Zone" in the games translates to a planet in this universe, and have it be that Sonic's energy signature is both unique and extremely powerful, even more so than whatever is trailing Tails in the comic (which is Knuckles, who canonically has similar powers to Sonic in that his quills can serve as energy sources for other things). Also, include a mention of Chaos Emeralds in the world that Tails' ring-teleports to that he says has leftover Chaos Energy in it. Nothing big, just a few casual mentions.

For Eggman, he's also gonna be basically just the same. Maybe a bit more about how Sonic's quill is unique as an energy source in that it has potentially infinite energy if harnessed right, which Eggman does not yet know how to do.

Movie 2.

Main characters are Sonic, Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles. I think Movie 2 is vastly better than Movie 1 so there won't be as many changes but there will still be some.

The opening sequence with Eggman accidentally summoning scavengers + Knuckles will be kept the same. Sonic's escapades in San Francisco and Tom confronting him about it are also mostly the same, but Sonic expresses a desire to get out of Green Hills, at which point Tom reminds him that GUN are probably looking for an excuse to hunt him down and that it's too dangerous. When Tom and Maddie leave for Hawaii, Sonic still throws a massive party, but he still looks incredibly bored (maybe he says something about throwing the same party for himself every time Maddie and Tom are away from the house for a significant period of time). When he turns the tv on instead of showing a funny lil Ben Schwartz meta joke reference thing, it's instead going to be a newscaster following a crime being actively committed in (insert big American city here) and Sonic appears visibly frustrated but decides to stay in Green Hill.

When Eggman arrives, he's going to make a jab about the Wachowskis having a pet hedgehog as well as a pet dog. The first confrontation will play out basically the exact same, but I'm adding a line where Knuckles says, "Don't lie to me, I know she must have had a reason for keeping you safe when she killed so many others!" I don't believe this counts as a massive lore change because Knuckles in movie 2 already has a line about his tribe dying at the hands of Longclaw, so it's not a stretch to imagine that they had fatal encounters before she took Sonic in. When Tails rescues Sonic, he doesn't introduce himself during the car chase and instead focuses on how cool it is to meet Sonic. This will be our first hint towards Tails' self-esteem issues. I will also be changing things slightly to have Sonic be the one to give Tails' nickname to him. When Tails drives the car off the cliff and lifts Sonic into the air to get away from Knuckles, that's going to be the first time Sonic calls him Tails, in a clearly approving way.

Btw the scenes with Tom and Maddie in Hawaii will be mostly unchanged aside from one bit. When Tom says he wishes Sonic had friends, Maddie will say, "He already has you," and Tom will respond with, "He has only me. It wouldn't be enough for a normal kid, and Sonic is.... he wants to get out there and see this world, but I don't know how to let him do that if he's going to put himself and others in danger. And then there's the government as well," at which point Maddie says he's worrying too much and that they haven't seen the government since the end of the first movie, which Tom reluctantly agrees to (this will lead into a conflict in movie 3). Also the Eggman, Stone, and Knuckles scenes will be mostly unchanged, but again I will be adding a bit where Eggman asks Knuckles about why he hates Sonic, at which point Knuckles will tell him about the beef between the echidna tribe and the owls, but portraying the owls as the villains and the echidna tribe as just trying to protect themselves and the Master Emerald, which Knuckles will describe as being part of his heritage or something to that affect. This will later contrast with the story of the war that Sonic will tell Tails, where echidna tribe were invading conquerors, and the owls were just trying to stop them (because I never understood in the movie why Tails is the one to explain the lore of the echidna tribe and the owls, when Sonic is the one who actually experienced at least some of it). This is because I think the original movie tragically misses out on the idea that neither Sonic nor Knuckles know what really happened with the echidnas and the owls (even if the lore of the series that we see in Tails' Prequill Comic section as well as what we see of the echidna tribe in the movie 1 intro and movie 2 when Knuckles is reminiscing about his dad do imply that the echidnas were the aggressors).

During the section in Siberia, I'm going to change it to be that Sonic and Tails need to get information about the exact location of the owl temple out of the locals (because I just do not buy that humans would be a threat to Tails let alone Sonic), which is where the misunderstanding via Tails' faulty translation device comes in. Somehow the natives become hostile to them, at which point they start calling Tails a freak, and he begins to freak out. Sonic notices and gets in front of him, defending him, at which point Tails gets enough confidence to try translating again, and the machine gets enough words right this time for the locals to point them in the direction of the mountain. When they're heading up the mountain, Sonic asks Tails about him freaking out back in the bar, at which point Tails tells Sonic his backstory of being bullied for his twin tails, making him an outcast even among Mobians. Sonic would be confused and say that his twin tails make him able to fly, which is cool, and generally reassure Tails that Sonic thinks he's awesome because of his differences. Tails would be happy that Sonic thinks he's cool, but still look somewhat unsure. At this point, Tom will also text Sonic asking if he's fine and not getting up to any trouble, and Sonic will lie and say he's still at their house (paralleling when Sonic lied in movie 1).

When they get to the owl temple, Sonic gives his side of the echidna-owl conflict, but Tails appears somewhat confused and says, "But that's not what.... never mind," but when Sonic presses him on it he says that's not what he was told in school, and what Tails was taught was that the echidna-owl tribe got into a war over who should have access to the Master Emerald and wiped each other out over it, with Longclaw being one of their most powerful warriors who just withdrew from the war suddenly, leading to the rest of the owl tribe being wiped out without her. I might be stretching my rule of "no massive lore changes" here but the movies themselves do not give us a lot to go off of when it comes to what actually happened because every single active player in that story is long dead by the time we get to actually talking about it. What Tails contributes to this conversation is telling Sonic about how the Master Emerald can give the "ultimate power" to whoever can use it, and the Chaos Emeralds that forged it. Sonic then connects this to Longclaw telling him in the first movie that he has to protect something and that he's the only one who can use it, but is still confused as to what she means because Tails told him that echidna warriors in the past have used it, so Sonic doesn't know wtf she meant when she said that only he can use it properly. When they use the map to get the compass, Knuckles and Eggman show up, and they have the same fight, with Tails ending up knocked out, Eggman getting the compass, and Sonic and Knuckles get into their confrontation on the snowy cliff, with Knuckles yelling, "Longclaw killed my people and my father" and Sonic yelling, "your tribe killed my mom" showing their differing perspectives on the echidna-owl conflict. When Tails gets knocked out and Sonic decides to protect him instead of going after the compass, Knuckles looks doubtful about leaving them both behind.

Queue awkward wedding scene (I personally cannot watch this scene but only because I get intense second-hand embarrassment from media, so I will be keeping it in at my own expense). Also queue the GUN reveal, and Tom, Sonic, and Tails getting captured. The main difference in this section is that Sonic and Tom will talk while captured, and Sonic will apologize for lying to Tom again, and Tom will say, "I'm sorry you felt like you had to lie to me." He'll also say he's proud of Sonic for prioritizing protecting Tails over anything else. Tails will also wake up, and he'll apologize to Sonic for messing up, saying he's useless, etc. Sonic will reassure him that Tails was helpful and that without him Sonic would have probably gotten himself killed, and Sonic will say that he still needs Tails to prevent Eggman and Knuckles from getting the Master Emerald. When Maddie frees them, Sonic and Tails go off by themselves (after filling Tom and Maddie in on everything that has happened to them) after stealing the wedding plane, and Tom and Maddie try to get GUN on their side. Btw Rachel and Randall's plot is gonna go the same, because apparently, they're both going to be in the third movie so I can't just have Rachel kick him in the balls and be done with him.

The temple will go the same, with Knuckles + Eggman and Sonic + Tails all trying to get to the center of the temple at the same time and arriving at the same time. At this point Sonic and Tails fight Knuckles, while Eggman spectates and starts slowly making his way to the Master Emerald. With Tails' help, Sonic gets close to actually beating Knuckles, before he notices Eggman grabbing the Master Emerald and yells at Knuckles to turn around. Eggman gets the Master Emerald, Knuckles realizes he's been betrayed, and after Eggman teleports away the temple falls apart, with Sonic and Knuckles getting trapped under the water. Sonic helps Knuckles get out of the water, and Tails persuades Knuckles to go back in to get Sonic to safety, after which Tails flies all three of them to the nearby island. From there Sonic and Knuckles have their talk on the beach, come to the mutual agreement that they don't have to continue the conflict of their ancestors (biological in Knuckles' case and foster in Sonic's case) and they all agree to work together to stop Eggman.

Final fight time! Eggman goes to Green Hills to pick up Stone and also destroy the home Sonic has made for himself with the Wachowskis, and Team Sonic (gonna use that from now on to refer to Sonic + Knuckles + Tails without typing out all of their names individually) teleport there using one of Tails' rings. The fight goes broadly the same, but at one point Eggman mentions that the power of the Master Emerald is getting harder to control, and Knuckles says that even the best echidna warriors couldn't use it for very long. Things during the fight go basically the same, with Knuckles and Tails knocking the Master Emerald out of Eggman and Sonic grabbing it on the ground and running away with it. Tom and Maddie save Sonic before their car gets blown off the road, and Eggman has them trapped and is about to kill them. Sonic gets his Super Sonic power up and defeats Eggman pretty easily, but afterwards Knuckles freaks out over Sonic using the Master Emerald as well and is surprised when Sonic gives up that power easily. Knuckles explains at that point that even the best echidna warriors could only use the power for a brief amount of time, and that anyone who used it for too long will eventually get overloaded by the power and die, or get corrupted somehow and start using it for evil (for clarification: it's not inherently evil just an extremely powerful source of energy and considering that it can literally grant wishes, even the slightest amount of bad intentions in its users can result in catastrophe, which is why the owls hid it instead of using it themselves). He asks Sonic how he was able to use it so well and give it up easily, and Sonic says he doesn't really know, but he didn't feel like it was hard to handle at all.

From there we get Sonic accepting Tom as his father figure, Team Sonic officially forming to protect the Master Emerald, and all that. When Knuckles reforms the Master Emerald, he says that it's lost a lot of its power so it shouldn't be capable of letting anyone go Super anymore, but that they should still keep it safe. At the end of the movie, Sonic will be happy about having new friends/brothers, but still feel somewhat dissatisfied with his life in Green Hills, even if GUN's interference at the wedding has made both Tom and Maddie want to keep the three Mobians in Green Hills for their own safety, which Sonic reluctantly accepts once again. Post-credits scene with Shadow will be unchanged.

A lot of the lore stuff I put in there is just gonna be used to explain why the Master Emerald is not a magical "solve everything" button that Team Sonic can use for any and all physical threats, as well as trying to make the echidna-owl conflict less one-sided by introducing questions like, "Why did Longclaw leave the war and take Sonic? Even if the echidnas were the initial aggressors in the conflict, was it right for them to be wiped out?" and just generally making it clear that it was a terrible thing that unfortunately got passed down to Knuckles and Sonic, which they eventually move on from after realizing they shouldn't be tied down by the mistakes their predecessors made.

I also changed things to give Tails more screentime, and developed his and Sonic's relationship a bit more, because I felt like in the original movie Tails was tragically overshadowed by Knuckles (who later got a TV show where he was overshadowed by his own human sidekick probably due to a lack of budget), and made it so that Tom and Maddie have an actual reason to want to keep Team Sonic exclusively in Green Hills for their safety, and also continuing the instances of Sonic lying to Tom. Those last two things are going to have a payoff in the third movie >:)

Drone Home.

Main characters are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Unit.

Drone Home is mostly the same, but with extra emphasis on Knuckles going ahead regardless of what Sonic wants them to do as a Team, and Sonic's reliance on Tails' plans to get out of trouble after getting himself into it.

Knuckles TV Show.

Main characters are Knuckles and Wade.

Honestly, I think the Knuckles show could be vastly improved just by having more focus be on the titular character. I will be changing the overall theme of the show, just because I feel like the topic of finding a home and purpose in other people is already decently well covered in movie 1 and 2. Instead, I will be changing it into a bit of an exploration of Knuckles' character and how to find a purpose in life after already achieving what you thought would be the culmination of your life's work.

Basic setup will still be the same, Knuckles being extremely overprotective of the Master Emerald and hostile towards the people just trying to work on the house and getting grounded by Maddie as a result. That will all happen in episode 1, but when Pachamac shows up he tells Knuckles that he has to "continue the legacy of the tribe" and train another warrior. Pachamac will also say that legacy can only be protected with violence. Through comedic circumstances that are actually well-written this time, Knuckles comes to the conclusion that he must train Wade in becoming a warrior at bowling. The episode ends with him getting captured.

Episode 2 is broadly the same, but with the plot point that the two ex-GUN agents are using Knuckles' own quills to power the machine that is keeping him contained (because otherwise he could just break out easily using his power), but at the end of the episode when Wade is about to lose to the female ex-GUN agent (I cannot be bothered to remember their fucking names I'm sorry) the power of the quill fails, so Knuckles breaks out and saves Wade before fleeing the mansion. The ex-GUN agents were able to get a decent number of quills from Knuckles before his escape, so that's going to power their weapons for the rest of the series.

In episode 3, I'm removing the stuff about Wade's mom learning Krav Maga in the IOF and just keeping it strictly about Jewish religious practices. I'm also removing the joke where Wade's mom learns about Knuckles' tribe being wiped out and goes "oh so he's basically Jewish" because that just puts a bad taste in my mouth. This may not be my place as a gentile person, but equating Judaism with being genocided isn't a joke I'm comfortable with. This episode will still cover the Shabbat Dinner, because I think including Jewish representation is still important regardless of real-world events currently happening. I'll also be changing Wade's sister to make her less... actually abusive towards Wade, and while she'll still be just as obnoxious in my ideal version of this show the writing will be actually funny, so it won't be a problem. At the end of the episode, we get the fight where Knuckles and Wade's mom protect the candle, and at the end of it Wade's mom thanks Knuckles for protecting the candle and their Jewish heritage. Knuckles says that he should have finished off their attackers, and she says that protecting the candle is more important than anything else (is the symbolism and theme obvious enough yet). Also, at the end of the episode I'm just going to insert a scene of Sonic and Tails covering for Knuckles to Tom and Maddie.

Episode 4. I'm gonna have Wade's bounty hunter ex-friend capture both Wade and Knuckles, planning on handing both of them over to GUN/the government, and Knuckles tells Wade about all his adventures. I guess I should include the low-budget rock opera musical, we can have it be that Wade is hallucinating from getting electrocuted by the cage, so he imagines it as being the musical. Also, they can't just magically escape because Knuckles got electrocuted repeatedly so he just doesn't have the strength after that and also the massive amount of fighting he's done in the past few days. Wade asks why that is when Sonic never seems to run out of energy no matter how much he uses, and Knuckles says that Sonic is uniquely powerful among Mobians, even though they don't know why yet, or if there even is a proper reason why he has so much energy. Eventually Wade figures out a way to trick his ex-friend into getting close to the cage, at which point Wade grabs him and Knuckles knocks him out, and they escape the cage before heading to Reno.

Episodes 5 and 6 blur together in my head, but I'm gonna say that they're broadly the same except Knuckles helps Wade in the tournament (because in the beginning of the show they made a big deal out of it being a doubles tournament which is why Wade's ex-friend wanted to find someone better than Wade to partner up with but when they get there it's just a singles tournament and oh my god this show is so poorly written but I digress) and when they expect to go up against their second-to-last opponents (before facing Wade's dad) they instead find the ex-GUN agents. During their fight Knuckles throws a few bowling balls which end up scoring Wade and Knuckles enough points to move them on to the next round. When they defeat the ex-GUN agents Wade questions how they knew they were here, and then Knuckles and Wade realize that Wade's father sold them out to GUN. They move onto the bowling tournament final, where Wade's dad's bowling tournament partner turns out to be the guy giving the ex-GUN agents weapons. He and Knuckles fight while Wade and his dad do the bowling tournament stuff. After both of them win their respective fights, Wade comments that he should have maybe treasured the family he already had instead of disregarding them to look for his dad, and Knuckles realizes he doesn't have to be a warrior anymore, he just have to protect his family and his inheritance. They have the sitcom high-five, and Knuckles goes back home.... only to be greeted by a furious Maddie and Sonic and Tails sheepishly saying they failed to cover for him.

I don't think I did a very good job with this one aside from just making the plot more logical and trying to make the theme about protecting your inheritance being more important than attacking those who you think will hurt you. The stuff with Pachamac was kept deliberately vague because the movies might at some point make a loose adaptation of sa1, but I wanted Pachamac's characterization to be closer to his game counterpart and have it be more that Knuckles was misinterpreting his advice instead of just having this chieftan warlord tell Knuckles he has to help a random guy in a bowling tournament. Also, I removed the instance of Wade getting superpowers

Movie 3.

This one I'm just gonna have to guess that the main characters are Team Sonic, Eggman, Shadow, prooooobably Tom, and Gerald, with GUN initially being friendly to our heroes then turning out to be the main antagonistic force.

We start with Shadow waking up on Prison Island (why now of all times will be explained later) and breaking out. For a few weeks (during which the events of the Knuckles series take place) GUN tries to keep everything hush-hush but when it becomes clear to them that they just can't take Shadow out without help. It's at this point that they go to the Wachowski household, blackmailing them using the property damage Knuckles caused in his TV show and Sonic's crime-stopping adventures in the very beginning of movie 2 to get them to stop Shadow for him. This is secretly a plan from GUN to get Team Sonic and Shadow to wipe each other out (they have a backup plan to deal with Shadow if it comes to it), so they don't tell Team Sonic about Shadow's combat prowess and his ability to teleport.

Team Sonic gets wiped by Shadow in Tokyo, after which they ask GUN why Shadow is seemingly attacking random places, at which point the GUN Commander tells them that he's attacking GUN facilities all over the world which contain the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic furiously asks why they weren't told about this initially, and GUN says that they didn't know that Shadow could use them in combat (for his chaos powers like teleportation and such). Team Sonic is extremely skeptical of this claim but ultimately accepts it. They then go to England (ew) where GUN says they have another facility with a Chaos Emerald. Tails looks into GUN's files and sees that they've erased a lot of their own files recently, but then Shadow attacks, and while it is less one-sided Shadow still wins, but during the fight he says something about being imprisoned by GUN, which confuses Sonic. Team Sonic question a random GUN agent (Krysten Ritter's character) about Shadow, and she accidentally lets slip that Shadow was imprisoned on Prison Island for 50 years.

It's at this point that Team Sonic fully don't trust GUN, and they go to Eggman because they figure that if Eggman was previously employed by the military/government, he may have more knowledge of what is going on than they do. They trade Sonic's quill for his help with taking down GUN/Shadow, and Eggman manages to guide them all to another GUN facility, this one not on any of the maps GUN gave them to show where all the Chaos Emeralds were being kept. It's at this point that they find some evidence of what happened on the ARK, and Eggman, exploring the facility by himself, finds Gerald. Gerald explains GUN's intentions of wiping out

Because Team Sonic has gone sort of AWOL, GUN takes Tom as a sort-of hostage and keeps him at another facility in (insert big city here. Personally, I'm hoping we get some South American representation if this really is a globe-trotting adventure). This is the next facility Shadow attacks, and because Team Sonic is busy getting exposition-dumped by Gerald/whatever physical files they find in the abandoned facility, Tom ends up getting injured in the fight and almost dying. Sonic is furious at this, and goes along with GUN when Shadow attacks the next facility (for anyone keeping track Shadow has now attacked four facilities and has five Chaos Emeralds, the fifth one being from Prison Island which he nabbed on his way out), which results in Tails and Knuckles almost getting killed... from a GUN soldier firing on all four Mobians while they were in the same area.

This results in Team Sonic directly confronting the GUN Commander (they've separated from Eggman and Gerald at this point, there was a betrayal which they all expected) with all they've learned, at which point they learn everything about the ARK, Shadow, Gerald, and Maria. Sonic is furious and says that he won't fight Shadow anymore, but he is told by the GUN Commander that Shadow aims to destroy the entire world (no one knows about Maria's wish yet, and that whole thing with Gerald which I will be changing from its sa2 version so just hold on until then).

Meanwhile, Gerald is slowly drip feeding Eggman information, saying that they can rule the world together after Shadow brings them all the Emeralds. He skirts around the topic of Maria, which Eggman notices. Eggman than inquires about the ARK, but everyone (Eggman and Team Sonic and GUN) get distracted by Shadow attacking yet another facility, aiming to get another Chaos Emerald (let's have this one be in Africa). Team Sonic does go to try and stop Shadow again, but this time Sonic attempts to reason with Shadow, drawing parallels between Shadow's loss of Maria and his own loss of Longclaw. Shadow is furious at this and says they're nothing alike because Maria died in his arms, and Sonic retorts that he was directly responsible for leading the echidna tribe to Longclaw, whereas Maria's death was definitely not Shadow's fault (so they both lost loved ones but are carrying around two different types of survivor's guilt). Shadow once again says that he doesn't know what he's talking about, but seems a little more hesitant this time. The GUN Commander sees Sonic trying to talk it out with Shadow, and at this point fully betrays Team Sonic, trying to kill all of them. Shadow gets the sixth Chaos Emerald and dips, but confuses Sonic by saying "we have them all now" and "when we're done, there won't be anything left". Team Sonic gtfo of there, and they quickly figure out that Shadow has an ally who already has the last Chaos Emerald, who they then realize is Gerald.

It's at this point that Gerald reveals his true intentions to Eggman. After both he and Shadow witnessed Maria's death (and her final words were "Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me..." but she crucially DOES NOT FINISH SAYING HER WISH BEFORE DYING. I know this will be a massively controversial change but I'll get back to it later), Gerald assumed she wanted humanity dead and persuaded Shadow that that was what she wanted before they were both captured by GUN, Shadow put into his cryosleep coma and Gerald forced to help GUN become an overwhelmingly powerful military force with branches all over the world. During this time Gerald secretly worked on his ARK Project, building a weapon into it that would require a massive power source, which he designed from his research on the owl temple on Siberia. While Gerald never found the Master Emerald temple he resigned himself to just waiting until someone else found the Master Emerald, which happened 50 years later. When someone did find the Master Emerald Gerald immediately woke Shadow up (how he accomplished all of this.... ig it's just because he's a genius who can manipulate GUN into letting him do whatever he wants and he had 50 years to put all this into place) and told him to go find the Chaos Emeralds.

It's at this point that Eggman asks where the weapon is, where the ARK is, and where the last Chaos Emerald is. Gerald says they're all in one place- the very facility both of them are standing in- and when Shadow arrives, the very last part of Gerald's plan activates. The ARK is the facility they're all in, and Gerald has the last Chaos Emerald. With all of the Chaos Emeralds gathered in the same space, the ARK is capable of powering itself again, detaching itself from the planet and lifting into the outer atmosphere, orbiting the Earth. Gerald begins charging the Eclipse Cannon with the Chaos Emeralds.

GUN at this point just plans to raid the facility mere hours before it fires and kill Gerald and Shadow, and has put Team Sonic on house arrest. Sonic goes to see Tom, and says that he's not going to lie to himself or Tom anymore- he plans on stopping GUN and Shadow and Gerald, and that no matter what he does he's still going to be threatened by people like the GUN Commander and Eggman, so he'll just live as true to himself as he possibly can. He thanks Tom for being his dad but says, "every kid has to grow up someday," and Tom reluctantly agrees, asking Sonic to keep himself as safe as possible. Krysten Ritter's character sneaks a ring to Team Sonic and they use it to teleport into the ARK, ready for the final confrontation.

Knuckles and Tails try to deal with the hordes of machines Gerald has on the ARK, while Sonic goes directly to Shadow, asking why he's just going along with what Gerald wants, and asking if this is the fate Maria would want for the world and for him. After a fight in which Sonic and Shadow tie (something something they're equals now something something rivalry), Sonic tells Shadow that he's never going to give up on this world or on his family, and Shadow finally admits himself that Maria probably wouldn't have wanted him to do this, and goes with Sonic to stop Gerald. At this point Eggman is already working with Knuckles and Tails to get to the center of the ARK, and with Sonic and Shadow's help they get there, with Tails and Eggman disabling the Eclipse Cannon (during all this GUN is being generally unhelpful and trying to kill everyone). At this point Gerald gets truly desperate and goes straight for the kill switch, causing the ARK to start hurtling towards the earth. Sonic and Shadow both realize what they've got to do, and they use the Chaos Emeralds to go Super, using Chaos Control to teleport the ARK and stop it from crashing down to Earth. Shadow falls out of the sky, but Sonic, having flashbacks to Longclaw falling out of the sky and Tom getting hurt, refuses to let him go, and it's at this point that they both get rescued by Tails and Knuckles. Gerald, refusing to accept his loss, dies fighting GUN, and Eggman escapes. Tails forces GUN to back down by threatening to reveal the truth about what happened on the ARK, and Krysten Ritter's character forces the GUN Commander to step down and takes control of GUN herself. She promises to leave the Mobians alone from now on (unless they really do need their help dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial threat) and says they'll all be forgiven for all their crimes, including Shadow.

The movie ends with Sonic offering Shadow a place in their family, which Shadow rejects because he wants to find his own path, and to see what Maria loved about the planet. He goes his own way. The Wachowskis slowly recover from everything that's happened over the course of the movie, but when Tom is fully recovered he pulls Sonic aside and says he knows that Sonic wants to leave Green Hills and explore the universe. Tom is very clearly sad about this but willing to let Sonic go (and potentially Tails and Knuckles if they want to go), even if there is still the possibility of Sonic being attacked by rogue GUN agents or Eggman. Sonic hugs him and says he'll visit often and bring back lots of souvenirs. The first place Sonic ends up going to once he leaves Green Hills is his old house where he and Longclaw used to live, and he says goodbye to her as well, promising to keep her and everyone else he's ever met in his heart. Then he sets off to an unknown planet in search of new adventures. In my ideal version of movie 3 the post-credit scene would be setting up a CD adaptation, with either Amy Rose or Metal Sonic being shown (with Eggman creating Metal Sonic using the quill he got from Sonic earlier in this movie).

This movie is intended to be the end of a trilogy in my version, and whatever the next movie is should start fresh with new themes. But the throughline for the trilogy is not letting yourself be ruled by the past, whether that be Gerald directly trying to manipulate Shadow into doing what he wants using Maria's memory or Sonic and Knuckles assuming that they have to fight just because their ancestors fought or even Sonic just going along with what Tom and Maddie want him to do to keep himself safe instead of finding his own path in life. The other main part of the trilogy is Sonic growing up, I imagine there wouldn't be any major character changes for him after the third movie.

Apparently, there's talks of a Shadow TV Show and Movie 4 being in development but I'm not even going to try and write a version of that when we haven't even seen movie 3 yet.

Conclusion

I am way too fucking tired to write out a proper conclusion after all that shit, and yet I feel that I have to write it anyways.

Truth be told, I still don't think my version of this universe would fix a lot of the fundamental problems I think it has. There are a lot of bits that are clunky, heavy-handed, rely on the audience just not thinking too hard about the logistics of everything that is happening (especially in movie 3), and many more problems that I can think of even as the person who created it. I still, in general, don't approve of it being a live-action adaptation, I don't like the celebrity casting, and I don't like movie Sonic's personality in general or how he's voiced (sorry Ben Schwartz, I like you in other stuff just not this), and the lack of female characters would still be a pretty big problem! But I do genuinely think that even with these limitations, the movies could have been so much better than what they are. I hope my version shows that, and fixes at least some of their problems.

[mojomcm-fandom]

Edit: Now that it's not late at night and I have my laptop out, I'm editing this so it sounds less like the ramblings of a madwoman (tho there's a limited amount I can do seeing as it is, in fact, the ramblings of a madwoman lol). Also formatting and clarity and any additional theories/headcanons/whatever I think of while editing this.

Partly crack, partly copium, but I've got some theories/crossover/au thing going on that I wanted to write down so here goes:

Crack/Copium/Theories:

All 3 of the trailblazer kids are actually "dead" aeons.

Stelle/Caelus: Akivili (Herta makes us LARP as Akivili in Hertian Realm and we're known as the Trailblazer while Akivili is known as the Trailblaze so idk I know the player character looks like Nanook but they ain't dead soooo...)

Dan Heng: Long (maybe the High Elder Vidyadhara is actually Long's own reincarnation but they have no idea bc memory wipe. TBH makes no sense for the Permanence to be dead)

March 7th: Idrila (this one's a bit of a stretch so bear with me. The Aeon of Beauty could be HoHe Elysia expy and March is also kinda Elysia expy so ??? And March was froze in ice without memory so it's totally possible that's Idrila's mysterious disappearance)

Also:

Sampo is Aha. He gives strong vibes of being a Masked Fool in canon, but I think it'd be funny if he's actually the Elation.

Pom-pom was created by Akivili to protect the Express after Aha blew it up. Pom-pom is also a proficient marksman. This is bc of some canon evidence alluding to Pom-pom actually being really powerful (Yanqing and Welt both make mention of it iirc) and the engine of the train looking like a revolver. (Also headcanon that the Astral Express itself was made from one of Akivili's twin revolver pistols. Perhaps the other has the ability to summon the train?)

Lan has not and will not kill Yaoshi bc yin-yang/life and death balance and also bc what is a hunter without prey. The Hunt had no issue killing the Propagation, so this seems like the most reasonable reason why the Hunt has been after the Abundance so long without killing them.

On aeons and the relations between paths (I might end up making a relationship chart?):

Death Aeons: Nanook is unnatural death (think murder, natural disaster, etc.), while IX is natural entropic death (like degradation from aging), Lan is controlled, balanced death (think like hunters/predators keeping ecosystem in balance), and Oroboros is the death caused by one's own greed (think pollution, overconsumption). Terminus is the end of time and final death of the universe.

Life Aeons: Tayzzyronth is overabundant life (think how invasive species population boom bc outcompeting native species for resources), Yaoshi is overabundant continuation of life (think unnaturally prolonged life), and Long is eternity (without change or growth, entropy comes for all).

Mythus and Nous are polar opposites in path direction. Akivili is midway between the two (to trailblaze is to turn the unknown into the known).

Some paths are directly at odds with each other (opposite directions), some paths have overlap (too much overlap leads to one path consuming the other like with Ena and Xipe), and some paths are neutral (running perpendicular to the others). Mostly this matters in relation to pathstriders who walk multiple paths, as it is extremely unlikely to find, for example, someone simultaneously walking both the path of the Hunt and the Abundance.

Hooh's is the ultimate neutral path. Akivili's is also a fairly neutral path, though slight odds with Mythus's (to seek to make the unknown known doesn't really work with the idea nothing can be known) and maybe Aha (just bc Aha is a jerk and like Herta said, surely Akivili would've taken offense to Aha blowing up the Express). Idrila, Xipe, Fuli, Aha, and Qlipoth also have relatively neutral paths, though Qlipoth and Fuli are at odds with Nanook and Mythus. Xipe sometimes does not get along with Aha, if Aha is being particularly antagonistic.

Crossover/AU (Genshin):

Traveler and twin are Akivili (one soul two bodies, don't think too hard about it). Akivili is presumed dead by HSR universe bc Sustainer of Heavenly Principles imprisoned Akivili on Teyvat (a world at the fringes of the known universe/Yggdrasil/Irmunsul/Imaginary Tree). Claiming that they are siblings is far easier to explain than that they are two halves of the same god.

Zhongli/Morax is a high elder (do non-high elders have the ability to turn fully into dragons? are there any high elders who are not Dan Heng? idk) vidyadhara who arrived on Teyvat shortly before rebirth. Idk weird Teyvat magic or something made his rebirth cycle this time 10x longer than normal (should only be 600-700 years between rebirth and he's canonically 6000 years old). He is unaware of anything HSR related bc memory wipe from rebirth and nobody around to explain things.

The Imaginary Tree in HI3 and HSR and Irminsul in Genshin are the same tree (Yggdrasil), but some may only be branches of the other

So yeah, stay tuned to see HoYo prove my theories and headcanons wrong in the upcoming years.

[mikeellee]

So in regards the leaks and how the general fandom is acting towards Shig and Izu seeing each other memories.

Like, let's dissect here. One thing is bothering me in lieu how the MHA treats redemption arcs is how the victims have no saying in the redemption of the villain(and BK let's not forget what he really is) the fandom wants to babiefied the villains without facing the real consequences.

Won't talk about PoS here. Let's talk about Shiggy.

Fandom says he is groomed by afo and so...he needs to be saved. I talked to @doodlegirl1998 about this. She proposed the idea of afo suggesting things to Shig which...yeah makes sense.

Brainwash trope: it's a trope where a character acts differently from the norm thanks to external reasons. For the trope to work we need to see how the character is before the brainwash.

What we know about Shig before being Shig.

*He is Tenko.

* He has a fluffy corgi

* His family died .

Shig fandom insists Tenko was this paragon of goodness. We are told that btw never showed. "Tenko helped those two faceless and shapeless kids. He is an angel" and the fandom nods.

What we really see of Tenko is how he was abused bc Hori really couldn't make his backstory a clichê. The SHIMURAS are dead and......no one really care. What they bring to the story?

We don't know how Tenko was, really

Then afo took him in.

He didn't groomed Shig. A groomer (if we go by a non sexual way) would be all the steps of the person's life to mold....afo didn't do that. He see him give a really cruel name to Shig, see the Dr give the hands (I so think they laugh at this) and leave him alone with Kuro.

Not grooming.

But afo could have suggested Shig to use his quirk without care.

Which comes to my point .....Shig chose to continue on this path. Shig chose to attack us, to kill those heroes. It's was on him. Afo doesn't have a hold on him...Shig did himself.

And my point is, Shig can't ever get a redemption action if we don't account the victims.

How the victims and their families would feel about a Shig wanting to redeem himself?

Ok imagine that. Everyone forgive Shig...maybe they all see Baby Tenko and are. Heartbroken by his cuteness ...they forgive him as easily as some Shig simps wanted .....what this means to Shig then?

What he would do with this forgiveness? Would he try to change? Would he care? What the story would be if everyone forgive Baby Tenko?

Also.....

I'm profoundly annoyed how Izu has to see the SHIMURAS being murder, how the fans will see this as "oh no. Poor Shig" (don't get me wrong ...it is horrifying as it is....silly. the entire family is dead. It's lazy) and no one will give a shit about Izu's past, just to not break a pattern. We will see the horrific scene of SHIMURAS being killed...a scene Izu will see as well....and doubt we are going to see Izu's past....and if we do see....

Fandom:😒why we are wasting time on this

Or

Fandom:😁proof Izu will save Shig. Go save Shig.

[zofi-persson-quotes]

Under cut bc it's hella long

“Alright, who ate my ice cream.”

The flurry of hand pointing that follows would be comical were it not for the murderous look in Second’s eyes.

“If you’re all to blame,” Second says, cracking his knuckles, “then perish.”

Dark screams when Second charges him, the older Becker sibling unfortunately being the closest to the enraged teen. The Overlord goes down with a helpless cry for mercy, taking a pillow directly to the face, and the other Sticks in the room take their chance to book it in different directions.

Vic takes Dark’s unwilling distraction as a chance to throw themselves out the nearest open window. Blue, opting for the quickest and more efficient route out of his enraged sibling’s path, climbs on top of a dresser, well out of Sec’s reach, while Green and Purple run down into the cellar before emerging through the outside entrance, only to find an angry Second armed with a pillow for each of them waiting on the other side. Green decides to sacrifice himself for his boyfriend by wrapping his arms around the smaller Stick to take the blows.

“I shall protect you, my love!” He declares.

“GREEN!” Purple wails.

“IT WAS LIQUORICE YOU CRETINS!!”

It’s the last thing Vic hears before they throw themselves into the Wi-Fi portal to make their way to the nearest store for more ice cream. Maybe next time they want to try eating with their android body, it shouldn’t be their little sibling's comfort food. Then again, the others were all smiling while they were pursued, so perhaps it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

By the time Vic returns from their tactical retreat with more ice cream something has gone wrong.

The blinds of the house are shut and the door, which had been left open to let the warm fall air in through the screen door is now shut tight.

“Guys?” they knock on the door, very concerned with the abrupt change in the air, “What’s going on?”

The door flies open, and Sec hauls them inside.

“Quick! Quick, don’t let it in!!” Dark hastens. The couch and tables have been upended to face the front door and the three Sticks taking cover behind them look ready for an incoming enemy attack. Vic seriously wonders what they missed in the hour they were gone.

“Did you see it?!” Green yelps.

“See what?” Vic asks, stepping forward to assess the situation. The others look prepared for war against a home invasion of insects. Purple is wielding roach killer in one hand and a rolled-up newspaper in the other. Dark’s white-knuckled grip on a baseball bat betray their fear at whatever they’re planning on fighting, and Green has two spatulas that he’s holding defensively in front of him.

“I didn’t see it when I…” Second’s voice trails off as Vic passes him.

“Where’s Blue?” Vic asks and Purple points up at the dresser he had seen the alchemist climb up onto earlier. He isn’t armed with anything, oddly enough, and is pressing himself further and further away from the door with a pale, horrified look on his face.

“Oh, there you are. Why are you all so scared?”

Dark makes a choked off noise and backs away from them.

“Dark?”

Purple shrieks when Vic turns around to face their sibling, accompanied by scrambling from the direction of the dresser.

“Okay, no this is fine, Vic-” Second makes a hysterical noise, “don’t - just don’t move.”

Green makes a noise that sounds like a dying mouse.

“I-I-I can get it.” Dark stammers with shaking legs.

“You’re not going to hit him with the bat!” Sec hisses.

“You’d rather Purple try the newspaper?” Dark demands, gaining confidence as he speaks and then losing it again for reasons Vic doesn’t understand. “Or – look it’s too big for the roach killer-”

“Too big? TOO BIG?!” Green cries. “We’d need a hose of the stuff for that thing! What are we going to do? Hit it with what we have and expect that to work?! I HAVE A SPATULA, Dark!”

“Okay, okay. Stay calm, I can try using the whole thing?” Purple meekly tries to sooth the others, as if they don't even want to make the attempt.

“I’m starting to worry about your sanities, will you just tell me what’s going on?” Vic crosses his arms sternly and begins to move towards the kitchen to put the ice cream, that is surely melting at this point, in the freezer. There’s yelling from all sides as they make their way to the kitchen, but they only stop when they hear the buzzing.

Out of the corner of their eye a blob of brown mars their vision and they turn around their head just in time to see that it’s part of the mesothrax of a very, very big cockroach.

It flies off their back (ah, that would explain a lot actually) and approaches the wall nearSecond who looks ready to pass out at the sight of it but manages to swing his broom to drive it in a different direction. Purple reflexively starts spraying the roach killer at it which it doesn’t take kindly to.

The cockroach erratically flies around the room, causing shrieks of terror and panicked scrambling from everyone to get away from it. Vic stares, analyzing it. It’s enormous, three feet long and a wingspan that easily doubles that, making it an extremely unusual sight.

Green dives over the couch to get away from it with a screech and Dark tackles Purple out of the way of its path. “Spray it! Spray it!” Second yells.

Purple dutifully sprays in its direction, the others not wanting to get close with their short-ranged weapons. It flies away and Purple follows (at a distance) with the others trailing behind them. The ground they gain is lost, however, as the roach killer runs out and the behemoth of an insect doesn’t seem too badly affected by their attack. There’s a brief moment where the heroes stare at the empty can in Purp’s hand and then raise their heads to look at the enemy that no longer has a reason to leave them alone.

All the color leaves their faces, and the Sticks dart out the front door without looking back.

“I do not understand people’ fear of roaches.” Vic admits, watching them trip over each other in their haste to escape. They step over to the bug that has since landed on the floor and is now scuttling around the room.

“I’m sorry but you must depart.” Vic rolls up their sleeves and grabs one of its legs. It buzzes angrily and scrapes its legs against the floor to get away from them. In the process, it dislodges its leg from the joint and flees to the ceiling.

Vic wrinkles his nose at the smell and tosses the leg outside. They go back to try again (perhaps if they grab its body instead of another leg, they'll have more success?) but they're met with further resistance from the bug.

their android body is still new to them and they've been careful with it so far, but if they're going to get the bug down from the ceiling, they’ll have to be a bit reckless. With one powerful jump they're eye-level with its body and they latche on. Their heavy metal frame yanks it off the ceiling.

Long brown legs wiggle desperately, throwing them off-balance. They drop it to regain their balance and they're startled to see it turn around to face them, short but sharp mandibles launching towards their face (wait a minute, cockroaches don’t have mandibles, maybe it’s not-)

It falls to the side before they can close around his head, a knife sticking out of the side of its skull.

Blue wheezes from the top of the dresser, wide-eyed and short of breath. A hand is extended with open fingers and another knife is already primed for throwing in his other. He sags back against the wall behind him calming down now that the bug is dead, before starting do descend from it.

Vic leaves him up on the dresser and cleans up the mess on their own, hauling the body out the door and mopping up the acid from its body on the floor. By then the younger is on the ground.

“Do you want to go find the others or shall I?” Vic asks, handing him back the (bug brain free) knife.

Blue shakes his head, putting the knife back in its drawer “They’ll come back eventually.”

“Were you up there that whole time?”

“I came down when I heard screaming, and then the others ran in screaming about a giant cockroach.” Blue admits, “I climbed back up not long after.”

[breyito]

Fear your sins, not your monsters: Part Three: Paths Converging

Continuation of Day 1 and 2 of @painlandweek

Part 1 Part 2 Chapters: 3/5 Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence Relationships: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne & Charles Rowland, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne & Crystal Palace Characters: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Charles Rowland (DCU) Additional Tags: Protective Edwin Paine | Edwin PayneUnhinged Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Violence, Torture, Hurt Charles Rowland (DCU), Sickfic, love language: acts of service, painlandweek, BAMF Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Angst with a Happy Ending

Here on AO3

A/N: Hello! I'm so, so sorry about the delay! My ADHD has been kicking my ass for the last couple of weeks and istg i feel like i can't do anything. Anyways. I had to split this chapter in half, cause it was getting ridiculously long again, and I wasnt going to finish the rest of it today. (I have this new app on my phone that is voice-to-text and it changed my life! All the dialogues i keep forgetting bc of lack of energy to write i can just *dictate* and it feels so good lol. It also lenghtened this quite a bit, tho.) No moodboard for this one either, not yet. I'll try to make one tomorrow (or in a few hours, as it is, once again, 5am). No beta and English is not my native language, so any mistakes please point them out. I hope you enjoy this one! I'm very curious about what you'll think of this one ;P Oh, WARNING:This contains violence, threats of rape towards Charles and other children's souls, etc.

Part Three: Paths Converging

They headed back to the office. On the way, Crystal with her phone in her ear, Edwin had explained the general gist of things to her. Mainly that the other ghost hadn’t known the location of the lair of the witch, but had visited a few times. To allow him to travel there via mirror, she had given him a token attuned to him and his energy. They could use the token, but not to travel with it more than once; and definitely not to escape the place. (Not to mention that Crystal would have never let Edwin go on his own alone, without even the possibility of helping him. She was glad, still, that the ghost boy had not even suggested that.)

“So how can we use it?” she asked, looking right at him, as she plopped down on the couch. They were inside the office now and nosy taxi drivers couldn’t watch her suspiciously anymore. Also, she was exhausted and couldn’t bother with more acting for a couple of hours.

Edwin had gone straight to the massive pile of books on top of every single flat surface, including boxes full of files. He had looked at the books covering the desk for a full thirty seconds and then sent a wave of the black smoke at them, and they actually began moving on their own towards the floor. Crystal was…ignoring that for now, for the sake of her sanity. (How many things was she already ignoring?)

“I think I can combine a couple of rituals to create a sort of…tether, between Charles and myself.” he replied to her, as he removed his outer layers. “This would, basically, allow us to communicate with him and follow his energy to the place where the witch has absconded him.”

“Don’t tethers usually need something more physical to work?” she questioned, curious. At least that’s what the book she had been reading before their last case went wildly off course had said. Maybe the black smoke allowed him to tweak the limits?

“I have something more physical of his.” Edwin said, touching Charles’ necklace still around his neck. ”And for me, well, some blood or the ghost equivalent should work.”  His eyes showed his mind went far, far away for a couple of moments. She said nothing, remembering the sudden rush of cold, dark, wet she had felt the last time she touched it. Edwin eventually shook off the melancholy and straightened his posture.

“I will need to compile the different arrays and rites I need to build this ritual. It will take me at least a few hours, so I suggest you rest up.” 

“Are you sure I can’t help you…?” she asked, despite knowing he probably wouldn’t let her. Building rituals from scratch was a whole new area and she had exactly zero experience with that.

“Crystal.” He sighed, already spreading an alarming amount of books on the now clean desk. “I don’t mean to be rude, but unless you have a working knowledge of any of the Celtic languages, Aramaic, Latin or Fuþorc Runes I’ll ask you to keep out of it.”

“Okay, okay.” she rolled her eyes. Kicking her shoes off, she got comfortable on the couch and covered herself with the blanket.  “But wake me up if you need to leave, alright?” she mumbled, half asleep already. “I don’t wanna panic if you’re not there when I wake up…”

Several hours later, Edwin shook her awake. Still woozy from sleep, she understood he needed a specific kind of knife he didn’t have but knew where to get. And that he had to travel by mirror to the place. She mumbled her understanding to him, and he left. 

It was only when she was about to drop back into a deep sleep that her brain actually zoned in to the important part. She sat up on the couch so suddenly she felt dizzy.

“ Esther Finch’s fucking house!?” she yelled at the flat mirror, frustrated beyond belief. “Are you shitting me , Edwin!?” she cursed at the empty office. She creamed into the pillow a bit more, then got up. At least this should give her time to shower.

—-- —-- —--

—-- —-- —--

Edwin really doesn’t want to go back to Port Townsend. The place was bleak, damp and filled with memories of suffering. Whether it is mental, emotional or physical; he’d experienced more pain in that little town in a single month than in the rest of the world in the last fifteen years. 

But Charles was missing. Taken by another witch with a penchant for sick, twisted games and children’s pain. The ritual he came up with was novel and needed every single element to work. The dagger was fundamental. Edwin could not risk wasting more time looking for another knife with the same qualities when he already knew the location of one.

So he travelled to Port Townsend via mirror. He landed in Crystal’s old room above Jenny’s shop, and walked up to the house in a disguise. It was better than trying to travel directly inside Finch’s house, which surely had enchantments against ghosts using her mirrors that way.

As soon as his feet landed inside a ten metre radius, he could feel the repellent wards telling him to go away. This magic felt different than Finch’s. Probably the Cat King, then. Or maybe Tragic Mick? He ignored the compulsion, and kept walking up the path into the porch. 

He took off his glasses before reaching the stairs, and became his true self again. A loud caw immediately greeted him. He paused and looked back,  and saw Monty in his true form on a tree branch. The pause allowed the crow to land in the handrail of the porch, exuding an air of disapproval. Edwin sighed. 

“I need to get something from inside this house.” he said, focusing on one of the crows’ eyes. “I’m not going to-” he paused before he promised something he couldn’t keep. Because he couldn’t promise not to hurt someone with what he took from inside. “I’m going to get something from inside this house.” He said instead. “And you are not going to stop me.”

Monty lifted into the air, agitated, cowing. His wings produced so much wind that Edwin took a step back, but then straightened up and pulled his notebook and held it open with one hand.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Monty.” he stated. “But I will if you try to stop me.” His other hand opened and a bright orange flame erupted, tinged with wisps of black. An alarmed cry made Edwin feel like garbage, but he held the flame on his palm. In control, but ready to attack.

The crow flew off then, shrill caws on his way. Edwin took a deep breath and extinguished the fire, wiping his hand on his coat. He pocketed his notebook and climbed the stairs. Fortunately, he went in as easily as he had done for Becky.

By the time Edwin had found the dagger, and snatched a book that looked like it had been involved in the creation of the ghastly machine that so much pain it had caused him; it was already too late. He felt a pulse of energy from outside, and cursed under his breath. He could try to undo the spells on the mirrors of the house, but that would take too long. So he sighed and marched outside. 

“Edwin, Edwin, Edwin. You don't write, you don't call…” the Cat King said with a fake moue. Edwin looked up and saw Monty flying in circles above their heads. Little snitch , he thought, resentful.

“Cat King.” he said, nodding in respect, trying to walk around him. “I'm just leaving.” But diplomacy never worked on him. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” The other man clicked his tongue, stepping in Edwin’s path. The ghost boy stopped where he was, not willing to get closer.

“What do you think you are doing, entering the house of the Wicked Witch of the West?” The shapeshifter asked, sauntering around him. He was wearing heeled boots, and it added a little height difference that irked Edwin.  

“I already have what I came here looking for. Now, if you please, I'm in a hurry.” Edwin tried to give another step, but the Cat King walked closer again, forcing him to step back. He was not putting himself in reach again. Monty cowed, flying faster, agitated.

“No. I don't think I please.” he tilted his head. “Knowledge like Esther's is dangerous. And I just can't let you leave with something dangerous.” The trickster’s tone was still playful, and it was grating on Edwin’s nerves.

“Knowledge is just knowledge.” the detective said, exasperated. “And I'm not asking you for permission.” he countered, snappish, head held high. “You're wasting my time .” The Cat King’s eyes shone.

“You should always have time for me, dear.” he said, smile cutting. “I can always just trap you here again, Edwin.” He offered, the smile still on.

“...And I can always start killing your subjects until you let me leave. But we are not doing that, are we, Thomas? ” he smirked back, biting. There was something cold in those green eyes that made the shifter want to shiver. The faint wisps of black coming up from the ground were certainly unnerving. Monty screeched in alarm and abruptly landed on a branch several metres down. 

“You know my name.” the Cat King realised, stepping back. 

“I do. I know a lot of things about you now.” the ghost added, taking a step forward. “You like to play games . But I already knew that, from last time.” Edwin took another step closer. “The difference is, Charles is not with me right now. And I don't have a lot of patience for games when he is in danger.” he snarled. 

“So that is why you're doing this? For him? You came all the way to America, to the house where you were tortured in, just for him ?” Thomas asked, indignant.

“I would do many more things for him.” Edwin stated, staring right into those yellow eyes, daring. The shifter scoffed, leaning closer, looking down at the ghost.

“Like threatening me?” The man asked, incredulous.

“I'm not threatening you. I'm warning you.” Edwin said, looking up, teeth bared. It looked more like a show of aggression from a cornered animal than a smile. “You're either on my side, or standing in my fucking way. And I'll get through anything standing in my way to get to him.” Their faces were only a few centimetres apart now, noses almost touching.

Thomas knew, in that moment, that Edwin was being completely honest. He seemed not to care a single bit what could happen to him as long as he could leave to go help his little friend. Nor what enemies he could leave behind. The Cat King felt a bit peeved about it, quite hot under the collar, and a lot jealous. That kind of loyalty to another person, to the point of detriment to yourself? He’d never felt it nor had he had it. It was alluring , damn it.   

“Deathly little thing, aren’t you?” he whispered to this mysterious boy, unwillingly feeling more attracted to him still. The tension between them finally broke when Edwin’s lips formed a teasing smile and his eyes softened a little.

“Only when I have to.” he whispered back, before breaking his gaze and pressing the faintest of kisses on Thomas’ jaw, surprising him. He then sidestepped him and walked out of the yard. 

By the time the Cat King turned around, Edwin was already jumping into a puddle, travelling to where he needed to be. Monty cowed twice and Thomas felt the hidden amusement.

“Oh, shut it, bird-boy. Like you didn’t defy your witch for him, even after he rejected you.” he snapped. 

—-- —-- —--

—-- —-- —--

Charles woke up all at once, gasping. He was sopping wet and chained to the ceiling. The metal of the chains was iron, and they were burning every part of his body that touched them. He was still only wearing his trousers, felt his extremities numb with cold and some of his curls had crusted over with ice.

When his eyes got used to the dim room, he could see it was the same basement he had been trapped in since the beginning. The only real difference was that he wasn’t alone this time. There was a woman on the corner, deep in the shadows. For what he could see, she was pretty fit. Charles might have looked twice if he had seen her on the street.  But with her wild blonde hair, tight red dress and tall boots; she looked like she was wearing a halloween costume that couldn’t decide if it was vampire or witch. A large white spider, with its eyes closed, peacefully placed inside her hair didn’t help matters. He had almost missed it.

“You’re finally awake!” she cheered, getting closer. “Now we can finally get started .” her grin was dangerous and the boy felt a shiver go down his spine.

Taking advantage of the fact that his feet barely touch the ground, she spun him around, making him lose balance. His knee buckled under him and his whole weight was left suspended from his shoulders until he managed to find his footing again. He was trembling even worse  after that, and tears of frustration began leaking from his eyes.

“Are you crying? How cute .” she cooed, grabbing his face and licking the trail the drop had left on his cheek. ”I’d give you a comfort kiss, but I don’t snog anyone that’s not my man.”

“You. Are. Crazy.” Charles said, leaning away from her. The spider opened its eyes and winked with half of them, waving two of its legs. The shivers got worse.

“Don’t be like that, poppet. Everything I’m doing is for love.”

“ Love ?” he repeated, sceptical. 

“Yes! I’m gonna get the love of my life back, and you’re gonna help me.”

“I don’t know anything about love potions or spells; we don’t mess with that shite.” Charles explained, weary. The witch snorted, the spider wiggled, like it was laughing too. (Was this her familiar? Did it share the same amount of sentience as Monty? Somehow, that thought was terrifying).

“Pffff, I don’t mean like that . My boo and I were tragically separated when he was killed by the police and then he got dragged to Hell! ” she huffed. “Like, what even? I just want him back .” 

Usually, Charles was willing to give everyone a chance to explain themselves. It’s not like the system was flawless. Good souls could be sent to Hell, like it had happened with Edwin. 

However, since he was still shivering from the literal torture this woman had put him through (torture she implied her ‘boo’ would enjoy); he would go out on a limb an bet the bloke completely deserved his tenure in Hell.

“And why was he killed by the police?” he asked anyway, already tired of dealing with this. The chat was a step up from the freezing water, but the talk itself so far was three steps down from the earlier solitude.

“Because his stupid best friend and he decided to rob a bank!” she exclaimed, clearly miffed. This time, when she grabbed him to spin him around, her nails left deep scratches, burning and bleeding. This bitch had iron in her nail polish, apparently. “They were caught doing that. I mean, you have to give it to the pigs. They really messed up on that one.”she laughed. “They were caught and got done in as fucking robbers. They didn't even search their flat! They just killed them and left them at the morgue.  They never found out that we were the ones dropping the mangled bodies everywhere.”

“You're sick.” Charles said, swallowing, as he found his rooting again. 

“Oh, baby, of course I am. Didn't I tell you already? I love making people break, playing with them.” She licked her lips, seductive. The ghost boy just felt nauseous. “What I love even more is watching my man do it for me. And that's why you're going to help me bring him back.”

“From Hell ?” He asked, incredulous. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn't help you. Edwin is the one with the knowledge of Hell and its paths, not me. You chose the wrong one of us to kidnap.”

“I don’t think I did. Word is, you are the one that I saved him from hell this time.” she smiled.  She put her extended arm on his shoulder and placed her weight on the claw-like nails sinking in the muscle there. He felt blood dripping down his back. The spider began walking down her shoulder and onto her arm. Leaning in until their faces almost touched, she looked him dead in the eyes, despite his efforts to keep the blasted thing in his line of sight. 

“I did, yeah.” He admitted. “But I had help. I had someone else, much more powerful than I or you ever could be. They opened a portal down to Hell and they kept it open until we got back. You can't do that.” He swallowed. “Can you?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking, now looking at the spider.

Cursing, she pushed him back and started roaming the room, hands wildly gesturing. The spider had quickly climbed up to her head again. Charles had lost his balance and was spinning again, but at least that beast was not near him. He took her cursing as a negative to his question. Charles wanted to believe this was good news (he dreaded the thought of that man anywhere but Hell), but you never knew how others were going to react when you didn’t give them the information they wanted. This woman? Completely bonkers. Hopefully she would just let him in here, until Edwin rescued him. Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the basement.

“Hmm, maybe I can't open up a portal. But I can make a deal with a demon so that I can get into hell.” She was smiling again. “And you will help me find my way out.”

“A deal with a demon is a terrible idea. Besides, lady, even if I tell you all I know about hell, which I won’t do. The level Edwin was at? It was terrible, but it wasn't that deep. The level your boo must be in… it has to be one of the deepest and darkest ones, just based on what you describe me you two did, to people.”

“I can think of a few things I can offer the demon so that he helps me.” she countered, now pensive instead of agitated.

“Like what?”

“Like you, your soul. Essence, whatever. Or one of the others’.” Charles was almost afraid to ask.

“Others?”

“Oh, yeah. I've been collecting little souls as gifts for my boyfriend when he comes back. Since, you know, he won't be able to interact with the living now he is dead and will become a ghost.”

“... Little souls?” he asked again, disgusted. He tried leaning away, but she plunged her nails into his face to keep his eyes on her. 

“Yeah, the souls of little ones!” she smiled, and it was a terrible smile. A wild hunger seemed to seep from her feverish eyes. “He's not that much into kids. He prefers young people, teenagers, you know.” she winked at him, suggestive.

“So he's a paedophile, but not that much of a paedophile?” Charles mocked, deciding to ignore the implications. 

She let go of his face only to slap him hard, hard enough to leave deep gouges from the iron on the nails she wore.

“He hates that word!” she screamed, offended. “He just… really loves young people.” The sheer incredulity must have shown on his face, because she just continued. “Anyways, I was collecting these souls so he could play with them when he comes back, you know? I bet he will be in a foul mood, and I just thought 'well what better way to cheer him up than letting him blow off some steam on a couple souls he will find pleasing?’ ' I took great care in ensuring they were innocent, as well. The responses to all the pain and the bit of little pleasure here and there that we can teach them are always the best .” she sighed, dreamy. “And ghosts are so much more resilient! We can play with you and play with you and play with you until you break.” She said, eyes evaluating him up and down. “And then we can start all over again!” she laughed.

Charles puked all over the floor.

"You truly are," he said in disgusted awe " the most despicable person I've ever met. And a few months ago I was at the mercy of a witch that cannibalised little girls. "

“Oh, cannibalism.” she hummed. “That sounds fun, doesn’t it, Ari?” she cooed at her familiar, reaching for the thing. “You have to get me her number.” she said to him.

Charles spat at her. It barely touched her face before she shrieked and sent him crashing to the back of the room. The chains had fallen from the ceiling and onto his torso, burning him terribly.  

“And you need to learn some manners." She said as he screamed from the sudden agony. Then she turned her back on him and walked towards the door. "I guess I will just leave you to repeat the cycle until you have had enough."

Charles’ last coherent thought before he was dropped under the thick frozen layer of water of the lake instead of through the ice as always, was that Edwin and he would absolutely need to save those poor spirits.

—-- —-- —--

—-- —-- —--

“That took longer than you said it would.” Crystal said as soon as he stepped through the mirror into the office. “Did the house not let you in?” she asked, remembering how they had just phased through the walls last time.

“The house gave me no problem at all.” Edwin answered, placing the knife on the desk. “It was Monty, actually.” he explained, with a grimace. “I had an encounter with the Cat king,” Crystal’s eyebrow went up “but not much came out of it. He was very insistent about not letting any kind of knowledge leave that witch's house.” He took off his coat and his gloves and, uncharacteristically, threw them onto the couch. It was the only free surface, she supposed. “Which would normally be a good thing, but in these circumstances, I could not abide by it.”

“And did he give you any trouble?” she questioned, sceptical. 

“He tried to threaten me, so I just…threatened him back.” Edwin said, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves, trying to play it off as unimpressive. Yeah, Crystal was not gonna let that one slide.

“ You threatened the Cat King?” she said, incredulous. “He left you trapped in Port Townsend for weeks!”

“Ah, but I didn't know anything about him back then.” He countered. “And I wasn't dabbling in anything more dangerous than usual. And perhaps the most important thing of all…” Edwin started, leafing through his notes.

“...It was you in danger, not Charles.” Crystal interrupted, finishing the idea.

“Exactly.” He said, pleased that she understood this about him by now.

As they began prepping the materials for this massive ritual, she managed to corroborate that it was far beyond anything they had shown her so far. The ritual seemed so complicated. Beyond the dagger that he had to pick up from the other side of the world, it required them to move every single piece of furniture against the walls, then grabbing the bathroom mirror for a later use. 

After that, they placed a bedsheet on the floor, drawing a big circle on it with black chalk, and drew a set of runes inside it, near the centre. Then Edwin grabbed Charles' backpack, and took out a bottle full of a viscous dark liquid. He then lit a dozen candles inside the marked circle, each one in its specific place. A wave of different smells assaulted Crystal’s nose. She supposed that ghosts weren’t bothered by it since they couldn't smell much. She tried very hard not to sneeze.

Edwin retrieved two different cups from a cupboard, one made from silver and one from crystal, and poured the liquid from the bottle inside the silver one. For the other, he took out Esther’s knife from his pocket and sliced his forearm with it. Blood tinted with ectoplasm began to pour inside the empty cup, and once it was three quarters full he removed the wound from it to avoid overspilling. He slid two fingers over the wound and the black smoke that was becoming familiar to Crystal ate up the blood and sealed the wound. Then, he reached for Charles' chain around his neck and took it off. Gently, he let it fall inside the cup that had his blood. He took a big piece of parchment paper, those old ones that you see only in movies, yellowed with age, thick, and coarse to the touch. 

With a grimace, he sank his fingers into the first cup. A low hum came from his throat, sounding almost like words but not really. He began writing symbols with the blood onto the parchment. With the other hand, he began tracing the same symbols again, on another blank sheet of parchment, on top of the first one. These symbols were mirrored, and written with his own blood from the second cup. Once he was done, a string of Latin came out of his lips, and the second set of symbols lifted up in the air, glowing golden light, and fused into the first set, on the first sheet of parchment. The other parchment disintegrated as soon as the last trace of blood left the paper. 

Edwin let out a breath Crystal hadn't noticed he was holding. Done, he took the parchment, and began ripping it in pieces, keeping each symbol inside its own square of paper, and placed the symbols inside the circle according to the instructions written down by his own hand. The bloody symbols then sank through the paper and sealed themselves to the linen fabric. Edwin waved his hand and all the blank pieces of paper flew from the array. Then he took the necklace from inside the second cup and put it into the first cup. 

He took the bathroom mirror, and placed it in the middle of the circle array spell, then took the necklace out of the cup and flicked it in the air where it remained still, frozen in place at about two metres high. The symbols on the bedsheet and the blood on the necklace pulsed with golden energy every couple of heartbeats.

“I need you,” he started to say, very clearly, “to not, for any reason, enter the circle.”

“All right” she said, heart beating like crazy. 

“Whatever I ask you to bring me, you will put it inside the circle without touching inside it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Edwin repeated, breathing deep. He knelt beside the foggy mirror on the floor and began writing on it with his finger. At the same time, he spoke up, to keep her in the loop. “Charles? Are you there?”

Charles

are you there?

[chuuya-fan-page]

How different do you think Chuuyas would be if Verlaine had gotten his way and taken him as a child to protect him?

I like to think he gets a relatively peaceful life, but something tells me his meeting with the Port Mafia and especially Dazai is inevitable

(sorry if I said something wrong, English isn't my first language)

Ok so, to be honest these questions are real hard for me bc it's like "hey what would x character be like if you completely changed every aspect of their life?" y'know? Like I don't know, what would Ranpo be like if his parents had lived and he never met Fukuzawa? That uproots the whole plot, y'know? I could try and puzzle it out using their base characteristics but there are infinite ways that could go depending on when in the plot their story shifts, bc that would affect which characteristics they'd retain.

For example, meeting Dazai and the PM. Is it inevitable?

Verlaine is French. He would probably take Chuuya back to France or at least out of Japan, where he stole Chuuya from. Chuuya is now removed from the narrative. He never joins the sheep, they never rise to power and never challenge the PM, Dazai never goes to Suribachi to investigate he never meets Chuuya Skk never forms.

I could go down a path of is Dazai even alive bc Chuuya made him give life another shot, who's to say if he would've survived without that boost, but let's say he lives.

Is Dazai as relevant without Skk? Maybe not. Maybe he fades into the background as one of Mori's underlings. Maybe he is he's still a genius, still makes perfect plans and still pulls the strings as Mori's right hand but without his partner he might not be sent on the same missions he might stay more to the shadows, does he still tople organizations? Maybe not. Maybe the PM is defeated and he dies. Maybe he does, he'd have to do it differently, slower, less flashy, would the PM have survived the Dragon Head Conflict without Chuuya?

But before that, would Fyodor have taken any interest in Dazai at all if he wasn't in the spotlight? Would the ADA have survived against the Guild if Skk didn't beat Lovecraft? Would they even have the prison arc if Dazai didn't plan for Chuuya to help get him out?

These questions are very very hard w/ just an event change and no additional details. Even just the Characterization. Like Verlaine. We have 1 book to draw character from, where he is presented as the antagonist. We know his motives and what his goal is. He seems unstable. Can I get a clear idea of what he would be like if he were stable? Maybe we do have the notebook, but would he be stable? He'd probably have to kill Rimbaud, his partner, to get Chuuya. Would he be ok after that? He'd likely be overprotective of Chuuya, how overprotective? I'm not sure but he sure does kill a lot of people in stormbringer so maybe murder on a whim overprotective? How would that affect Chuuya? He's 7 or 8 experiencing everything for the first time, either he goes numb to the violence around him and what would have to be near constant moving or it royally fucks him up.

TLDR: I don't know, I don't have enough to work with to give you a good solid answer. I'm not upset about the ask at all, I'm just trying to explain why I don't have a good answer for you. If you wanna send me another ask w/ more specifics I'd be happy to answer it for you