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[missblurose]

Does anyone else know the pain of waiting anxiously for Pokemon Masters on mobile, constantly checking in on google play store to see when it will come out, only to find out that it was available for pre-registration and that not seeing it in playstore meant your phone wasn’t a model that could play the game? Please, give me a sign. Show me I am not alone in my pain and my hatred towards my not-advanced-enough phone.

I know it sounds like I’m overreacting, but I don’t have a Switch, so it’s not like I can look forward to Sword or Shield. On top of that, Pokemon Duel’s going offline this year and I don’t play Pokemon Go, so how am I expected to get my Poke-game fix?

[missblurose]

Am I the only one who’s kinda depressed with Hilda/Touko/White/Whatever-You-People-Like-To-Call-Her looking so short compared to the other player characters in the latest Pokemon Masters trailer? It’s not like I was expecting her to be tall even if that’s how I imagine her to be in my fannon, but...for some reason, it just rustles my jimmies.

Still gonna wanna make a team with her of course. I ain’t petty.

[missblurose]

As much as I like D4, I’m kinda sad that it’s the one getting the “Complete” treatment next. I’d guess it’s because unlike 2 and 3, it’s already got HD sprites, so there’s less work to do, but in that case, Disgaea Dimension 2 would’ve worked just as well (not to mention be strangely chronological for the Switch, considering 5′s a prequel).

But let’s face it, I think a lot of people’s major concern will be: “is this gonna be like D1 Complete where it feels like the same as the most recent release and the only new thing to entice buying is gonna be new characters?” Because the only other good incentive is bound to be the Time Leap scenario that was unavailable in the original.

Ah, well. At least there’s no chance of everything aside from the HD character models appearing to look graphically outdated. I actually shudder to think that’ll happen if/when 2 and 3 get remade.

Also, is D4C likely to get released on PS4? Does anyone know?

[missblurose]

So...what if Artina lived?

So, as my mind tends to do, I started thinking about potential fan fic ideas. In this case, it’s Disgaea--more specifically, Disgaea 4, a series I somehow both love and hate at the same time for strange reasons. In particular, I thought of the Time Leap episode that failed to satisfy my Valvatorez x Artina urges, and what could’ve happened if Artina actually DID survive.

But my speculating was about the “original” storyline, where nary a mechanic or time traveler’s to be seen. The first thing I thought was that if Artina survived, Valvatorez would still stick around in the human world and...he’d probably die because I like to imagine that Artina would never genuinely be afraid of him no matter what he does because he’s just too nice. Or he could just be on the brink of death due to starvation when Artina goes “your pride’s not worth your life” and gives him her blood while he’s unable to resist, forcing him to (sort of) break his promise. Valzy’s naturally upset at her, but he’s also mad at himself, because not only did he fail to scare Artina, but she went out of her way to save his life despite him pretty much threatening hers. It makes him question if he’s an inept demon who never really grasped the concept of fear. He feels like they BOTH need to be punished (Artina for making him break his promise and Valvatorez for proving incapable of keeping it), so he decides that he’s going to feed off of ONLY Artina until the day that she dies, because SHE deserves it for being so willing to give up her blood and HE deserves it because he considers himself “unworthy” of even biting another human’s neck.

And Artina...is okay with that, much to his dismay.. Because SHE thinks she needs to be punished, too--not for saving Valzy’s life or not having enough common sense to be afraid for her own life, but because she felt responsible for exhausting him to the point of nearly killing himself. Then she starts thinking about that one soldier who got in trouble because she saved him and thinks she ought to receive some punishment for not thinking abou the consequences of her actions--even her good ones.

Valzy takes Artina back home to the netherworld and Fenrich, who is naturally upset with the fact that his powerful lord is much weaker now due to some human woman with no common sense. He tries to convince Valzy to change his mind and just punish Artina by killing her, or keep drinking blood from other humans since he couldn’t possibly take enough blood from a single person to even satisfy his hunger, let alone bring his strength back to what it used to be. But Valzy is willing to accept whatever consequences come from this “punishment” as something he deserves, so he instead insists that he’ll take care of Artina until one of them dies. Fenrich attempts to have Artina killed a couple of times, but it fails because Valvatorez always swoops in to save her and Fenrich, not wanting his weakened lord to be hurt, always ends up helping to foil his own schemes. Whether or not he realizes what his servant has been doing, Valzy confides to Fenrich that if Artina died, he’d pretty much just let himself die since breaking another vow would be too much for him. So Fenrich begrudgingly tolerates Artina’s presence while scheming of ways to get him to drink more blood and regain his power before he’s forced to fall to Hades.

Eventually (or inevitably?) Valvatorez tells Artina he’s going to marry her, which he insists is because it would be awkward and rude to drink her blood if she were someone else’s woman. Despite Fenrich pointing out that he could just lock her up somewhere or keep her in a tighter leash, Valzy refuses to give Artina another choice. She gets upset about it since she’s a nun and also admits that she’d rather get married to someone who loves her, he states that not every couple who gets married loves each other and that this is just another layer to their “punishment” of being together, and they spend the first months of their marriage upset with one another. But eventually (inevitably?), they make up. Artina confesses that she’s fallen in love with Valvatorez and he...promises to be a good husband and make her content. Despite Artina’s disappointment with his unromantic response, she’s happy that they’re no longer on bad terms, and at some point in the near future, they finally consummate their marriage.

Artina eventually conceives and everyone has different reactions to the news. Artina is delighted and strives to prepare things for the baby. Fenrich is worried that the child will grow up to be someone who’ll intervene in his lord’s “destiny” to rule the universe. Valvatorez aspires to take care of his little family as best as he can, and so ends of getting a job in the corrupternment (but only because more “ordinary” employers were too intimidated by his reputation to hire him), though he’ll probably wind up in Hades due to slowly losing his power. All in all, it seems like a happy ending for those two.

As for Nemo, or the man who would’ve become Nemo, I’m torn between speculating that Artina surviving the war changes nothing about his own hatred for humanity or it helps him keep hope in the kindness of people. Regardless of whether he survives the war somehow or not, he might dedicate the rest of his (after)life helping others the way Artina helped him, or simply trying to find her to make up for the trouble that he believes he caused her. Or maybe he’s able to pass on and become a Prinny without waiting four centuries.

But if he doesn’t go about wanting to end all life on earth with his stupidly long and complicated scheming, that opens up a problem with those damn aliens, because Nemo’s the one who somehow gets them to NOT blow up the earth. Perhaps something else will stop them or they’ll just not go to Earth at all, but there’s also the matter of Desco not existing because Nemo’s the one who apparently(?) supported the research that went into making her. Maybe she’d be created at a much later time, at a point where Fuka had grown out of her desire for a younger sibling or her dream to conquer the world. For that matter, who knows what sort of ripple effect hijinks this could mean for Fuka? She might have a different fate, a different personality, someone else may be born in her place or her entire family tree could be drastically altered. Emizel’s life could be different, too, as it might take even longer to stop being a brat since there’s no netherworld-ending situation that forces him to mature. Though I’m entertaining the thought of “something” happening to Hugo, forcing Emizel to live in the lowest level of the netherworld and work in Hades just to make ends meet while he plots to claw his way back to the top.

And what about the rest of the Disgaea series at large? After all, 400 years worth of a ripple effect could have an effect on a LOT of things. Maybe D1 will follow the bad ending where Lamington is killed and Laharl becomes a Prinny. Maybe that could cause the events of DD2 to follow its bad ending where the entire netherworld is destroyed because Etna and Flonne (who doesn’t have access to her Pure Flonne form) don’t’t have the power to stop Xenolith, or because angels don’t go to the netherworld to slow down the rate of its destruction since it’s unlikely ANYONE would want to go to the place where the murderer of their Seraph came from. Maybe Zenon never reincarnates, making the plot of D2 never happen and ensuring the residents of Veldime remain happy, but also dooming Zenon to continue her lonely, paranoid existence. Maybe Almaz becomes the Overlord like in that one ending for D3, which is eventually accepted by his friends and he tries to share the responsibilities with Mao, who just wants to defeat him and earn the title rightfully.

Then again, this is all stupid speculation from someone who’s sick and been up since 12AM, so who knows how likely any of this would be. I’m almost curious to see if anyone responds to this mess and has their own ideas about what could happen. All I know is...I might actually write about this.

[missblurose]

So, all things considered...have the AbilityShippers thought of scenarios for SM!Anabel from the games encountering SM!Ash? Just for the potential alternate universe stuff? This is so not because I just remembered how much I loved AbilityShipping back in the day.

[missblurose]

PKMN Volt Yellow #13 and Beyond!

I feel really bad right now, because I recently finished a story that i had been posting chapters for up here and stopped posting the links to those chapters after a while, so... Here’s where I left off!

Pokemon Volt Yellow #13: Betting your Life On It

Summary: After the incident at Silph, Red decides that Team Rocket must be destroyed and sets out to infiltrate their base with the help of a friend. But how will he fare on their turf? LINK

Technically, there’s, like, 10 more chapters after this, but I won’t put up the links and summaries for those.

[missblurose]

Almost everyone else in this fandom right now: WTF Yukio?!

Me: (insanely happy) Woohoo! Bring on the madness! Unleash the chaos! Who wants to bet he shoots Rin again in less than ten chapters?!

But seriously, compared to all the other info that came out of nowhere and shocked me, Yukio’s pulling a gun on Ryuji doesn’t get a “WTF” from me, but a “finally, something I halfway expected”. Then again, I’m a loony who’d prefer drama and chaos to raising even more questions that won’t be answered for months.

[missblurose]

PKMN Variation: Water Dancer Ralts Family + Empathovore Frillish

Ralts is a Psychic/Fairy type Pokémon known for its shyness and empathetic ability. They evolve into Kirlia, who are known for dancing when exposed to a trainer’s happy feelings, and then Gardevoir, who are known to distort dimensions and be fatally loyal to their masters.

A breeder from a certain region wanted to create a breed of Gardevoir that showed sexual dimorphism. Not wanting to stray far from the Gardevor family’s basic egg group (Amorphous), the breeder chose to breed members of the Gardevoir family with members of the Jellicent family, whose species were known to show sexual dimorphism in the form of their coloration. With continuous breeding over the course of years, eventually, the breeder’s efforts bared fruit in the form of the Water Dancer Gardevoir line.

Water Dancer Ralts are born Psychic/Water types—a result of being constantly bred with the aquatic species of Jellicent. Its “helmet” is umbrella-like, pure white, soft and gelatinous to the touch and the dress-like protrusion surrounding its body is transparent and frilled along the edges, showing its thin, delicate-looking torso and legs. The feeling-sensing horn on its head has also become gelatinous and frilled, and depending on its gender, is blue (male) or pink (female). This breed of Ralts enjoys drifting in water lazily. Underwater they drift with a grace reminiscent of Frillish and Jellicent. Instead of the Fairy type moves Charm, Disarming Voice, and Draining Kiss and the Grass type attack Magical Leaf, they learn the Water type moves Bubble, Water Pulse and Aqua Ring and the Grass type move Absorb. The last move is likely learned as a result of Frillish and Jellicent’s ability to absorb energy from captured prey. In Ralts case, it’s only used in self-defense rather than nourishment.

Water Dancer Kirlia have bodies that are shaped more like gowns or robes with bell-shaped skirts than purebred Kirlia’s tutu-like bodies. Depending on the gender, they’re either a shade of pale blue or pale pink, but they’re transparent and reveal their torso for all genders. The torsos also differ in color depending on the gender, once again being blue or pink for males or females. Females tend to be decorated with frills while males are not. All Water Dancer Kirlia move and dance slowly on land, as if they were water. In fact, their dance is more enthralling when they’re underwater, as their bodies float and move in a magical way. By this stage, their “helmets” become “veils” that are thin and transparent, and frilled if the Kirlia is female. They learn Mega Drain, an even stronger absorption attack move, and they become capable of numbing people with a touch of their willowy hands, but the latter is only if they’re feeling hostile.

Water Dancer Gardevoir’s horns do not move down to their chest after evolving from Kirlia. Instead, a third horn develops on their heads, reminiscent of a crown—another influence of their Jellicent heritage. Their “dresses” are lined with a series of blue or pink-tinged white stingers capable of numbing those who touch them when they’re hostile. At this point, they adopt personalities befitting of a royal, considering their trainers to be their servants. So long as they’re well cared for, they will willingly fight or perform as their trainer wishes to the best of their ability. Poor treatment will lead to them lashing out and punishing their “servants” with stings at best and life-shortening energy absorption at the worst, so patience and kindness are key when dealing with this breed. They learn Giga Drain and Brine, and oddly enough, they learn the Ghost type moves Shadow Ball and Hex.

Frillish are Water/Ghost type Pokémon that live in the ocean and all bodies of water connected to the ocean. They absorb life force from prey that are unfortunate enough to get wrapped in their veil-like arms and get dragged miles beneath the surface. They evolve into Jellicent, who’ve been known to sink ships and boats and absorb the life force of those aboard them.

Previously mentioned was the Water Dancer Gardevoir breed, created by repetitive breeding of Gardevoir family members with Jellicent family members. Physically-speaking, they are no different from a purebred relative beyond a paler coloration, looking white from a distance to the human eye. But as a result of this experimentation, the breed of Empathovore Frillish and Empathovore Jellicent—also simply called Water Dancer like their Gardevoir-line cousins—were born. Water Dancer Frillish and Jellicent lack a desire to eat life force. Instead, they feed off of emotions with a preference for positive ones—a side-effect of being constantly bred with the empathetic Gardevoir line. When they’re filled with positive emotions, they twirl and spin about as they float in midair, almost as if they are dancing in water—a trait similar to Kirlia, hence the reason for sharing the same moniker. People believe this trait makes them safer than—or at least not as fatal as—purebred Frillish and Jellicent, but it is still warned to be wary of this breed. They learn the Psychic type moves Psywave, Barrier, Mirror Coat and Extrasensory in addition to the typical moves that purebred Frillish and Jellicent learn naturally.

[missblurose]

Title: Bachelor Party

Series: Blue Exorcist/Ao no Exorcist

Summary: Summary: Ryuji didn’t ask for a bachelor party, but Renzo is more than happy to ignore his wishes and throw one anyway. What’s the worst that could go wrong? Spider prostitutes, that’s what.

“Now, which one of you wants to get married first?”

“Why should it be up to them? It’s the bride’s special day, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. Why don’t we all consummate our marriages at the same time?”

A Jorogumo was a type of spider demon known for taking on the form of a woman to seduce men into being their husbands for the rest of their lives—and said lives didn’t last long due to the jorogumo’s habit of using her husband as a nest to hatch her babies in and serve as their first meal. And standing right there was a trio of them. From the waist up, they resembled women dressed like geisha: elegant kimonos hung off of their bodies, their hair styled up in the appropriate manner, and their faces painted white. But from the waist down, their bodies were no different than a spider colored in gold and black stripes, easily towering over Ryuji by virtue of their long, spindly legs.

It would’ve been fairly easy to exorcise them with a spoken sutra, but Ryuji’s mouth had been sealed by the same webbing that had him bound up and pinned to the tatami floor, just like Konekomaru, Rin and Renzo. The latter two weren’t even conscious. Renzo couldn’t handle their arachnid lower halves and promptly blanked out, while Rin had gotten so drunk that he had fallen unconscious and proved no hassle to the demons.

“I can’t wait until I get a taste of you, darling~!” One jorogumo cooed as she crouched down just enough to stroke Konekomaru on the cheek.

Another looked between Rin and Renzo, taking in the relatively dumb looks on their faces before sighing and tapping her long, sharp nails on her cheek. “Are these two the only choices that I have?”

The third jorogumo approached Ryuji, licking her lips. “This one will be mine. Such a rugged figure… I’ll enjoy our time together, my dear.”

Ryuji tried struggling against his bindings, but his body was numb and his movements were sluggish. His efforts were in vain. Damn these whorish spiders. No, damn Renzo! It was all his fault that they were in this situation. Him and his stupid bachelor party…

Earlier that evening…

Ryuji found himself constantly questioning why he agreed to this. In less than a week, he would be a married man. And Renzo, being Renzo, suggested that they have a bachelor party in order to properly say goodbye to his life as a single man, or some nonsense like that. Not that it made any sense to have a bachelor party, considering his wedding wasn’t going to be something western-themed the way Rin’s had been. But Ryuji thought that maybe his childhood friend was trying to make up for the disaster that had been Rin’s bachelor party.

“Are we there yet?” Rin whined as he, Ryuji and Konekomaru followed behind Renzo.

“Not according to these directions,” Renzo said as he kept his head down and his eyes focused on a small card.

“I’m surprised you decided to even come along, Okumura,” said Ryuji. “Bachelor parties don’t sound like the sort of thing married men should be attending.”

“We all know why he’s here. It’s because he’s aching to remember what it feels like to be a single bachelor again, free from the worries of upsetting his wife or looking bad to his kid,” Renzo said with a laugh.

Rin ignored the statement, refusing to neither admit nor reject it. Instead, he laughed and folded his arms behind the back of his head, saying “Just think of me as a present reminder of the future that awaits you!”

“Y’see? He wants to get out and have some fun like in the good old days!”

“After his bachelor party, it’s amazing that he would come along,” Konekomaru pointed out. “Remember?”

Rin looked back at the shorter man and frowned. “I thought we all agreed to never talk about that night ever again. Besides, Renzo’s learned from his mistakes. I’m sure he knows what he shouldn’t do now if he knows what’s good for him.”

“A-are you threatening me if this party happens to go awry?” Renzo asked as he looked back at his friends. “I keep telling you all that it wasn’t my fault that—!”

“SSSSHHHH!!! Never again!” Rin interrupted. “I don’t even feel comfortable thinking about it…”

“You were the one who thought it would be okay to throw a bachelor party back then. Nobody was even willing to come to this one when they heard you were behind it—not even your own brothers!” Konekomaru said as he shook his head.

“Yeah, Yukio just flat out said ‘no’, too.”

“Wh-who cares?! More fun for us then!” Renzo sounded a bit like he was whining. Of course, everyone ignored him.

“Hey, Suguro! You better not get too crazy tonight, or your future wife’ll have your ass!” Rin teased the aria.

“As a married man, you have far more to be worried about if things go wrong…” said Ryuji.

Eventually, Renzo stopped walking and smiled. “This is it!” The others stopped as well and looked up at the establishment that the pink-haired knight had led them to. “Well? What do you think?”

“…It’s…not a strip club,” Rin pointed out the obvious while Ryuji and Konekomaru nodded in agreement.

“It’s an ochaya,” Ryuji stated. “How the heck did someone like you get a reservation at a place like this?”

“Especially since it’s so tasteful,” Konekomaru added.

Renzo gave a wry smile as he placed his hands on his hips. “You guys…really expected me to mess this up, didn’t you?” They didn’t even hesitate nodding. “If I weren’t such a nice guy, I’d be offended.” And once again, his disappointment in his friends was ignored.

“A teahouse! I don’t think I’ve ever visited one of these!” Rin exclaimed.

“A place like this feels almost too classy to hold a bachelor party,” said Ryuji. “These are the kind of places where business men get together to settle deals and whatnot.”

“But at the same time, it’s unlikely we’d encounter anything that we did during Okumura’s— I mean, it’s unlikely for anything bad to happen. Good job, Shima!” Konekomaru congratulated the pink-haired man.

“Yeah, I know what Bon favors!” Renzo said with a smile as he put his hands on his hips. He started laughing, feeling victorious. But in the back of his mind, he thought ‘They don’t have to know that this place wasn’t my suggestion…’

Days ago, Renzo stood in the office of Mephisto Pheles before the desk of the man himself. The demon king had been playing a handheld game, and while it may have looked like he was too focused on said game to pay mind to the pink-haired man, Renzo felt that he had been aware of his presence for a while. After a few minutes spent in silence, waiting to be addressed, Renzo spoke, “You wanted to see me, Sir Pheles?”

A smile crept onto Mephisto’s face that would’ve seemed unsettling to anyone not used to him. “I hear tell that our Suguro-kun will be having a bachelor party later this month in celebration of his upcoming marriage.”

Renzo blinked, surprised that he knew about it. Really, it had only been a thought brought up by Renzo that almost everyone had been vehemently against. After all those years, no one could forget about the stupid stripper incident that was Rin’s bachelor party and refused to let Renzo forget it… “Well, it’s still in the planning process… By which I mean that it’s probably not going to happen.”

Mephisto actually bothered to look up from his game to shoot Renzo a disappointed look, if only for a moment. “What?! After that marvelous party that I heard was thrown for Okumura-kun a while back?”

“Yeah, about that. You still haven’t said why you didn’t want to come along for it despite suggesting the, erm…entertainment.” Renzo wanted to tease the idea that maybe Mephisto planned for Rin’s bachelor party to be a disaster out of spite since he hadn’t been invited, and that he would likely do the same again for Ryuji’s. But accusations may have landed him in hot water with his superior. So the unspoken insinuation just hung in the air.

“If it’s ideas that you’re lacking, I have a suggestion to make.” With a snap of his fingers and a puff of pink smoke, a card appeared on Mephisto’s desk. Renzo leaned forward to get a better look at the card as the demon continued, “An ochaya! The perfect place for a traditional man having a traditional Japanese wedding to reminisce about his last days as a bachelor! It’s even in Kyoto. Quite convenient, no?”

“Uh, that’s a…good suggestion, Sir Pheles, but I can’t afford to hold a party in place like that.”

The smile on Mephisto’s face became wider, flashing his sharp teeth. “Well then, I suppose out of the kindness of my heart, I will make the arrangements for Suguro-kun’s party. I’m even willing to let you take the credit.”

“Wow, that’s…!” Renzo trailed off and his smile dropped. “Actually, the last time you said I could have all the credit, Okumura’s bachelor party turned out to be a disaster.”

“That was unintentional. It’s always a surprise when strippers turn out to have been possessed by succubi.” The Demon King of Time smiled. “Come now! What are the chances something like that could happen again?”

‘Well, it’s not like anything bad could happen in a nice place like this,’ Renzo thought after they had entered the ochaya. Right now the boys were being led down a hall by a woman dressed in a simple-looking kimono. The woman eventually stopped before a shoji door and slid it open, gesturing for the group to enter. The men all entered, although Renzo stayed back for a few seconds to look at their guide as she left before joining his friends. Nothing unusual-looking about her. His paranoia really was unfounded.

“Y’know,” Ryuji began as they sat down on cushions positioned around the short-legged table, “I almost suspected that this place was a strip club with a theme.”

“Same,” Rin and Konekomaru agreed at the same time.

“Aw, come on! Now you guys are doing this just to be mean!” Renzo complained.

“I’m looking forward to this! Never been entertained by a geisha before!” Rin said with a smile.

“Something to tell the kid and wifey without fear of reprimanding?” The pink-haired man asked, feeling spiteful.

The spawn of Satan, however, was too excited to notice said spite. “They’ll be so jealous! I should probably take pictures…”

“Not sure if you should be showing your wife something like that,” Ryuji commented.

“Maybe your fiancée doesn’t find you trustworthy, but my wife and I have established a bond of trust and understanding,” Rin said with a huff.

“…Did you practice that?”

“Yeah, a little. Told ya: I’m your future.”

The conversation was interrupted by the door sliding open once more. A trio of geishas entered the room, looking identical save for the color of their kimonos. “Greetings, gentlemen,” the red-clad geisha began. “We will have the honor of sharing each other’s company tonight.” She bowed and the other two, dressed in yellow and purple respectively, followed in suit. “Now, shall we begin?”

The yellow and purple-clad geishas began the festivities by playing a flute and biwa while the geisha dressed in red performed a dance. At several instances, her eyes seemed to be focused on Ryuji for the longest of times, which didn’t go unnoticed by him. After a while, the woman in red began singing. Her voice sounded hypnotizing, and if the men felt tense from the beginning of the performance, it all melted away. Eventually, the performance ended with the applause of the group and the women began chatting with the men, serving them drinks and generally being sociable.

“Are you certain that you don’t want something stronger than tea, Suguro-san?” The geisha in red asked as she poured more tea into Ryuji’s cup.

“I’m fine. Besides, I believe that someone has to be sober by the end of this.” Ryuji took a sip of tea as he looked around the room at his friends, who were consorting with the other geisha. “And everybody else is getting drunk, so that automatically falls to me.”

“And what do you do, Miwa-san?” Asked the geisha in yellow who was sitting next to Konekomaru.

“I…I’m an exorcist,” Konekomaru told her as she poured another cup of sake for him.

“Exorcist? As in, you slay demons? But you’re so cute!” The yellow-clad geisha exclaimed.

Konekomaru blushed and scratched his cheek. “C-cute?! W-well…”

Renzo stared enviously as the geisha next to Konekomaru continued gush about him. Meanwhile, the geisha in purple who was sitting between himself and Rin was paying more attention to the son of Satan, who’d already gotten drunk before finishing the first cup of sake.

“You must meet a lot of people in your proof…prof…job,” Rin asked as the woman poured more for him to drink.

“I certainly meet many an interesting man, Okumura-san. But what about you? Are you an exorcist as well?” The geisha asked as she flashed him a smile.

“Yeah! All of us are!” Rin spoke cheerfully before taking another sip. “We’re from the… We’re from a place called True Cross Town.”

“My, that must be an exciting job!”

“Oh, yeah!” Renzo exclaimed, worming his way into the conversation as he turned his attention to the purple-clad geisha. “We’ve slain a lot of demons together and overcome quite a few difficulties.”

“Oooh! How dashing! How daring!” The woman in purple hid her mouth behind her sleeve-covered hand. “You must be better than those exorcists who run around here in Kyoto!”

“W-well…”

“‘Scuse me!” Rin interrupted. “This may be kinda rude and weird, but can I take a picture of you? My wife will be so mad at me if I didn’t even try to get a picture of a geisha.”

The geisha pouted. “You’re really married? I thought that ring on your finger was to hold off the girls who chased after you.”

“Ha-ha-ha! No, no! Been married for 4 years! Suguro over there will be married soon, too.”

The geisha in yellow looked at Konekomaru with a pout. “Are you in a relationship, Miwa-san?”

“Me? No, not now… Someday, maybe.”

“I envy the woman who’ll get to marry such a charming man!” Once again, her compliments combined with the aria’s tipsiness got them both smiling and laughing.

The geisha in purple had taken to observing Renzo for a few seconds before saying, “I am certain that you aren’t in a relationship.”

“Nope! I’m single, but eager to make a match!” Renzo said with a wink. “I just hope whatever ladies I get together with are half as attractive as you are, miss!”

“My, aren’t you the charmer?”

The red-clad geisha refilled Ryuji’s cup once more. “So, Suguro-san… This person that that you’re marrying…does she set your heart on fire?”

Ryuji snorted. “I wouldn’t quite say that.”

“Well, how would you describe her? I’m curious to hear what sort of woman managed to capture the heart of a man like you.”

Ryuji took a drink before saying, “Bossy. Insulting. Overly sensitive…”

The geisha pouted as she poured him another drink. “That…doesn’t sound like such a nice person to spend the rest of your life with.”

“That’s just what I thought of off of the thought of my head. Unfortunately, her worst traits are the ones that are often on the surface.” Ryuji took another drink, which the geisha was happy to refill. He noticed how lighthearted he began to feel, but decided that it was because of the woman he was thinking of right now. “But she can also be caring, considerate, dedicated…” He took another drink. “And she can be pretty cute when we’re alone together. Cuter than when we’re in public, anyway.”

“Is that so? What kind of woman refuses to be affectionate to her lover in public? There’s no shame in expressing one’s love for another. Could you really stand to be with a woman like that, day in and day out? Waking up to her year after year, for the rest of your life?”

“Making a marriage work can’t be easy. But I’m certain the two of us can.” Actually, though he didn’t want to admit it out loud, Ryuji did have his doubts that he attributed to cold feet as the day of his wedding approached. He wondered if their marriage would last, or if it would fall apart in some short time. Heaven knows how volatile their relationship had been before they got serious about each other. Would it just deteriorate into something worse with time if they weren’t compatible?

Time passed. One would think that the party would be winding down an hour later, and…they would be right. The boys, after drinking so much alcohol at the spurring of the geishas, had become pleasantly numb and not as conversational as they had been a while ago. Rin had been the first to fall unconscious and was currently snoring away on the floor. The yellow and purple-clad geishas had cuddled up to Konekomaru and Renzo respectively, giving the exorcists kisses as their hands groped particularly sensitive areas. The geisha in red was trying to do the same to Ryuji with her head resting on his shoulder while one hand attempted to slip into the back of his pants. And Ryuji, if only because his mind was so clouded with pleasure that instead of getting upset, blindly accepted her actions.

“Suguro-san…” She whispered into his ear. “Do you like me? Wouldn’t you rather marry me instead of that awful-sounding woman? I’m certain I could make you happier in an evening than she could in a lifetime.

Ryuji said nothing. Not because he was mulling over the thought of ditching his fiancée for this overly familiar woman, but the utter opposite. The mention of her had prompted him to brush the woman off of him, but he physically couldn’t. Suddenly, the pleasing numbness that he thought was associated with drunkenness seemed more sinister. He looked at Konekomaru from across the table. As the yellow-clad geisha sitting close to him whispered something into his ear, Konekomaru blinked a few times and his body language became more tense. The same happened to Renzo, who looked shocked and panicky.

“H-hold on a second!!” Renzo exclaimed, shuddering in place. “I don’t wanna get married yet!”

“I’m sorry, I think you’re mistaken. You seem to believe you have options, darling,” the purple-clad geisha said with a frown.

“That’s right, Konekomaru-san~! We’re going to become husband and wife until you die!” The yellow-clad geisha cooed as she drew circles on his chest.

Under normal circumstances, a woman proclaiming that they were going to get married to him regardless of his opinion would’ve upset him or creeped him out. But Konekomaru’s attention was focused on Ryuji. “Bon.” If he had more to say, it was interrupted by the geisha in yellow shoving him down to the floor before she began to straddle him. “G-get off of me!!” Konekomaru shouted, but he couldn’t move.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?!” Ryuji snapped.

“Nabbing husbands, of course,” the purple-clad geisha said with a vicious-looking smirk before she did the same to Renzo. “The modern day woman sometimes has to approach the man first.”

“It’s a shame, Suguro-san. I was hoping you would be willing to accept my offer,” the red-clad geisha spoke. She sighed before nonchalantly shoving Ryuji to the floor, where she looked down on him with contempt. “But you don’t necessarily have to want me to become my husband,” she continued in a cold tone.

From his position on the floor, Ryujii watched as the two other geisha in red seemed to grow in height. He watched as their kimonos spread apart and ripped as long, slender, spider legs poked their way out, black and striped with a golden yellow. “Jorogumo…” Ryuji spoke darkly as he narrowed his eyes. Konekomaru was clenching his teeth as yellow-clad demon took off his glasses. Renzo’s eyes had rolled into the back of his head, a sign that he had fainted. Rin…was not even stirring the slightest bit from his spot on the floor despite the commotion. Ryuji wasted no time. He began to speak the words he knew was the fatal verse of the Jorogumo, and Konekomaru joined in as well. Ryuji felt himself being grabbed and lifted up into the air so he could face the spider woman, even as he kept uttering the words. The red-clad Jorogumo’s face became contorted with anger before she forced her lips onto Ryuji’s. He felt something liquid being spat into his mouth and down his throat. It made his throat burn and his vision blur before his world went black.

 Present

Ryuji was broken out of his thoughts by the yellow-clad Jorogumo saying, “I want Konekomaru-san! Our children will be just adorable!”

The purple-clad Jorogumo looked back and forth between Rin and Renzo. “I suppose I’ll take the pink head. But what will we do with the other one?”

“He isn’t human. Should we eat him?”

“Why not?”

The Jorogumo in red had been staring at Ryuji with desire in her eyes as he tried in vain to bite through the webbing that was binding him. “And I will have this one.” She bent over to touch his cheek and smirked. “I’m a bit upset that I wasn’t able to convince you peacefully to be my husband, but I’m certain you’ll make a wonderful father to my children—”

“Huh? What’s going on?” Rin slurred as he opened his bleary eyes. He looked around at the geisha Jorogumo and his restrained friends. It took a few seconds for his alcohol-addled mind to work out that something bad was happening. Despite Kurikara being bound up with him in his cocoon of webbing, the half-demon managed to unsheathe it just enough to ignite himself. Blue flames surrounded him and quickly burned through the webbing that constricted him. “I dunno what’s happening, but I don’t like it!” He shouted before the flames spread out, covering everyone in the room.

While his friends only found himself burned out of their bindings, the Jorogumo trio had been set on fire and their shrieks of pain filled the room. Ryuji and Konekomaru offered assistance as they chanted the fatal sutra that had been interrupted before the screaming Jorogumo began to shrink, until their shapes resembled that of three small spiders that were quickly consumed by Rin’s flames. “Oh, thank goodness…!” Konekomaru panted. “We were so close to being killed by those…women…”

“Hey, look on the bright side, guys!” Rin spoke, obviously still drunk. “It was way less violent than my bachelor party! Way to go, Shima! Ya didn’t screw up so bad this time around!”  He crouched down next to the pink-haired man and patted him on the shoulder, seemingly not noticing that he was still unconscious.

“Okumura… The rest of us can’t move,” Ryuji explained. “You’re gonna have to carry us back to the inn.”

“Okay… But how will we explain it to everyone when I walk in carrying the three of you when we all smell like alcohol?”

Ryuji groaned from frustration and squeezed his eyes shut as the possible ending to that scenario popped up in his mind. It wasn’t pretty, and it involved his mother and fiancée giving him an earful with all the fury they both could muster. “Maybe we should just sit here and think about how we’re going to explain this to the people at the front desk…and everyone back at the inn. At least until we can all walk out of her under our own power.”

Rin gave him a thumbs up and grinned. “Now you’re thinking like a married man!”

Notes

Jorogumo are figures of Japanese legend whose name can be translated into “Binding Bride” or “Whore/Prostitute Spider”. One legend involving a jorogumo includes a monk who chants a Buddhist sutra to break her hold on a man she seduces.

Geisha aren’t prostitutes so much as hostesses—traditional Japanese style. Their services includes chats, music-playing, dancing and engaging in traditional Japanese games.

Ochaya are very expensive businesses where people are tended to by geisha. It usually requires connections and clientele is of a very specific sort.

[missblurose]

So I’m probably the last person in this fandom to notice this, but...in the most recent chapter, it seems that part of Shiro’s name is supposed to relate to the number 4 (”shi” is four in Japanese, I think,). I just found it hilarious considering 4 is considered an unlucky number in Japan because “shi” is also the word for “death” (with different symbols, of course). And Shiro is supposed to be a clone of the king of spirits (which includes ghosts of dead humans). What’s sad though is that he also dies in the first part of the series, so...unlucky number 4?

[missblurose]

Note to self: in the future, if I’m going to to play a game based on a series I have never watched, I am allowed to spoil myself with TVtropes or something. Because I’m mostly just skipping through Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization’s cutscenes and the actual story because I cannot care about characters I know next to nothing about, nor do I feel anything for my online wife, my fake daughter, or those two cutscenes that showed me main characters washing the back of a naked dark elf chick.

But I seriously do love playing this game. I wish I had time to play more! With all the cutscenes I’m skipping, I’d probably be done with it quickly were it not for my dicking around with optional quests.

[missblurose]

Just finished FE: Fates Birthright today after putting it off due to real world stuff and...it's amazing how I can love Awakening as much as I do and be so underwhelmed by Birthright when both are massively hated by fans as being self-insertive and waifu/husbando-pandering mockeries of the old games. I was challenged near the end (though I'm subpar at srpgs) but parts of the story just rustled my jimmies. At least...weapons don't break anymore. I don't care what traditinalists say. Thank goodness for that. Now onto Hollow Realization and God Seekers with no regrets!

[missblurose]

PKMN Variations! Ancient Magikarp & Gyarados

Magikarp & Gyarados – Magikarp and its evolved form are famous even in regions where they are not found for different reasons. For Magikarp, it’s their incredibly pathetic nature that gets them labeled as one of the weakest Pokémon in the world, whereas Gyarados are infamous for being highly destructive. Information from the past claims that ancient Magikarp were once powerful Pokémon, but their descendants are so weak today that it seems impossible. But at a dig site in a certain region, a fossil was unearthed and later revived, revealing an Ancient Magikarp. The following is based upon the research conducted on that individual Magikarp.

Though the appearance of the Ancient Magikarp greatly resembles its descendants—albeit with a constantly upset expression as opposed to a witless one—its behavior resembles that of its present day counterpart’s evolved form: violent and often willing to attack with fatal intent if angered. Attempts to perform tests on it led to several injured researchers. Because of its great resemblance, the Ancient Magikarp test subject was placed in a school of normal Magikarp to see how ancestor and descendants would react to one another. It led to the Ancient Magikarp attacking and badly wounding most of the males, but left the females alone in order to mate with them. After placing the Ancient Magikarp in a tank with all female present day Magikarp, it was observed that most of its time was spent mating. But unlike ordinary Magikarp, who are able to breed eggs within days of mating, the Ancient Magikarp was unable to impregnate any of the females within the span of six months, leading researchers to create Ancient Magikarp eggs via Ditto breeding.

As for evolution, it’s interesting to note that whereas the weaker present Magikarp actually evolve quite quickly with lots of dedicated training, it took a long time for the Ancient Magikarp to evolve despite being stronger and being able to take on stronger opponents than the typical Magikarp. By the time the subject evolved, its eggs had long since hatched. With evolution, its demeanor went from one of rage and violence to one of calmness and serenity. While modern day Gyarados are known for being violent and terrifying, the Ancient Gyarados was calm and serene. Its expression wasn’t one of seemingly constant anger, but one of gentleness. Unlike modern day Gyarados, the crown-like fins on its forehead is a golden yellow color, and its facial fins and tail fin resembling floating cloth when it is in the water. Strangely, in their father’s presence, the Ancient Magikarp school became obedient and calm, suggesting that unlike Gyarados, who rarely swim in schools of their own kind or stay among Magikarp after evolving, Ancient Gyarados led schools of Ancient Magikarp and kept their violent tendencies under control.

In terms of ability, Ancient Magikarp are certainly more impressive than their descendants. Not only is their strength greater, they can learn moves beyond Splash, Tackle, Flail and the occasional Bounce. It can learn moves that Gyarados can learn naturally—Bite, Leer, Aqua Tail and Dragon Rage—and a few unique ones such as Aqua Jet, Outrage, and Glare. Also, unlike their descendants, Ancient Magikarp have demonstrated the ability to capably swim through even the roughest seas, climb waterfalls, power through whirlpools, dive deep underwater, and most impressive of all, smash rocks with their bouncing and splashing—which basically translates into them being able to learn Surf, Waterfall, Whirlpool, Dive and Rock Smash. Ancient Gyarados, however, are different to their descendants in many more ways. Most obvious is its typing: Water/Dragon as opposed to Water/Flying. They have the ability Serene Grace and the “hidden” ability Multiscale. Though they learn similar attacks to ordinary Gyarados, they naturally learn moves such as Dragon Tail and Dragon Pulse, and strangely learn Psychic type moves like Zen Headbutt and Calm Mind the same way, and the moves Psychic and Psyshock via TM and tutoring. Ancient Gyarados can be exposed to Gyaradosite like their modern day counterparts and Mega Evolve into Ancient Mega Gyarados. Its fighting prowess and ability are all the same, but its appearance differs. Its fins resemble flowing cloth and its body is covered in dress-like frills rather than tough armor.

Actual fossils of Ancient Magikarp are very rare. 99% of the time, Magikarp fossils turn out to be of their weak descendants. Many enthusiasts of creatures dubbed “fossil Pokemon” are willing to trade or pay virtually anything to even obtain a fossil, let alone a revived specimen.

[missblurose]

A chunk headcanon around Trainer Red in the “Bluniverse”.

Red Ketchum (Generation 1)

Is a registered psychic. He was born with empathetic abilities that awoke during an incident in his youth, when a moment of pain led to Red temporarily knocking out kids and staff at his school. Out of fear of his power, he started forcing himself to become less emotional and more apathetic, at least externally.

Despite his attempts to be a blank slate emotionally-speaking, Red is a very emotional and empathetic person. Three of the Pokémon he caught—Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle—wouldn’t have warmed up to him as quickly as they did if he wasn’t so loving and willing to try and help them. He even managed to get an Eevee to evolve into an Espeon despite knowing each other for a short time, and a Snorlax to move just by offering it some food when all other options failed.

Blue wasn’t among those who were affected by Red’s accident. While most people in Pallet Town were afraid of Red and alienated him, Blue treated him like he did everyone else—not very respectful, but still normal for Blue. Because of that, Red still sees Blue as a close friend even while Blue thinks of themselves as just rivals.

His mother is the only living family that he has. She often worries about her son, and when she hears about his endeavors against Team Rocket, she feels like she could just die. Red always feels bad for making her worry, so he tries not to tell her about the very worst stuff, but the news always winds up getting to her somehow.

His starter was a Pikachu. This Pikachu, however, was unusual. He was a test subject of Team Rocket’s that escaped and was later caught by Professor Oak, who gave him to Red. He has a dislike of closed off spaces, so he doesn’t like being in his Poké Ball. Though their relationship got off to a rocky start, they became very close friends.

Team Rocket killed one of the first Pokémon he caught—a Nidorino—while he was in Mount Moon. He’s felt guilty about it ever since. He even cried to Blue once about it, and his rival was nice enough to lend a shoulder for him to cry on for a short while.

Red doesn’t mind Ghost type Pokémon, but he doesn’t like ghosts. He once got possessed by a Marowak’s ghost in Lavender Town and feeling its pain broke his heart as well as scarred his mind.

Red’s reason for wanting to go on a journey across Kanto and become the Indigo League Champion was because he felt it would help him become more like normal boys. However, he winds up getting attention for standing up to Team Rocket and becoming one of the youngest residing champions in Pokémon League history, making him even less normal than he was before.

After giving up the position of League Champion, Red travels across Johto to challenge other gyms. No one knows much about him there, so he finds himself enjoying a more normal journey. But he still yearns to become stronger. By the time the remnants of Team Rocket have reappeared, he’s up at Mount Silver, pushing himself and his Pokémon.

After Ethan arrives at Mount Silver, they battle three times. The first time, Ethan lost. The second time, it was a draw. The third time, Ethan won.

After losing to Ethan, he somehow winds up befriending Red. The two wind up bonding over their similar experiences. While Red isn’t as close to him as Blue or Pikachu, he can’t help liking him.

At Ethan’s suggestion, Red begins traveling to other regions and challenging other Pokémon Leagues to satisfy his battle lust. But before leaving the land, he makes up with Blue and they become friends again.

After several years of traveling, Red stops to settle down. He has a wife and two kids and works as a teacher at a trainer’s school.

[missblurose]

A Box of Chocolates - Fire Emblem Awakening fic

Series: Fire Emblem: Awakening Characters: Gaius & Anna (Inevitable S-Rank pairing) Summary: Anna decides to branch out her business by selling chocolate, naturally hoping to make Gaius her biggest customer. Of course, it’s having some side effects on him, but it’s nothing for Anna to worry about...right? (A Support-like fanfic.) Note from Blu: S-rank conversations are so hard to make convincing sometimes...! No wonder some of them feel forced and unlikely...

 After helping to win a minor skirmish involving some merchants and a horde of Risen, Gaius decided he deserved a reward for his participation. He had intended to sneak off somewhere private to eat his sweets in peace when his nose caught an attractive smell. “Mm?” The redheaded thief sniffed once more. “I smell…chocolate.” Fueled by curiosity alongside of his initial craving for sweets, Gaius continued sniffing the air and began walking around the camp, searching for the source of the scent like a bloodhound. The others would have thought it was a strange sight if they hadn’t seen Gaius do similar things before. Eventually, Gaius’s nose led him to the tent where Anna had set up shop. The redheaded saleswoman was standing behind her makeshift sales counter, hovering over a small, open box from which the heavenly scent of chocolate was wafting out.

“Wow, you got here quick— I mean, welcome, Gaius!” Anna said with a smile. “I’m glad that you’re here! I’ve got a favor to ask of you…”

Gaius didn’t hear a thing Anna said as he approached the counter. “Hey, Red. You sellin’ chocolate now?” He stared down at the box’s contents and smiled. “Ah, truffles… Talk about fancy.” The box’s lid was placed on top of it, hiding the chocolates from sight and bringing Gaius to attention.

“Listen to me,” Anna spoke sternly. She soon regained her smile. “I’ve decided to expand my business into the area of sweets. I have here a sample box of chocolates. And since you have such a discerning sweet tooth, I thought you would do me the honor of trying them first!”

Gaius smiled and reached a hand forward to take the box, saying, “Don’t mind if I do— Wait a minute.” His expression soured and he pulled back his hand, staring at Anna in suspicion. “I know you. You don’t give people things for free.”

“Well…depending on your reaction, I’ll decide whether or not it’s worth stocking up and selling.” Anna maintained her smile despite Gaius’s glaring. “Come on, don’t you trust me?”

“I trust you with my life, Red. Not my money.”

“Don’t act like you don’t want to try some. Besides, this whole box is free! Imagine how much you would have to pay just to have a single chocolate in town!”

Gaius stared down at the box and licked his lips. “…It’s free, right?”

“Yup!” ‘The first box, anyway…’

The thief smiled. “I suppose I could try them. Gotta make sure the soldiers are getting their money’s worth.” Gaius quickly took the lid off of the chocolate box, picked up a truffle and popped it into his mouth. It only took a few seconds for him to finish eating the truffle. Afterwards, his eyes lit up. “They’re…!”

“Tasty? Delicious? Scrumptious?” Anna asked with a smirk.

Gaius sniffed, trying to hide his pleasure from the merchant woman. “Okay, as far as chocolate goes.”

“If it’s just ‘okay’, why are you taking more?” The redheaded woman asked, her smirk growing in size as Gaius picked up another truffle to eat.

Gaius ignored her in favor of eating the chocolate. “Where’d you get these chocolates, anyway? Make ‘em yourself?”

“Yup! Although one of my sisters gave me the recipe and others traded me the necessary ingredients.”

“Sister, huh?”

“She’s a very good chocolatier among other things. She makes most of her money selling the food she makes. Along with the money she makes selling non-baked goods, her nest egg’s bigger than mine!”

“That right?” At this point, it was obvious that Gaius was too busy eating chocolates to pay much mind to what Anna was talking about, including her barely hidden money-related envy. Not that she didn’t notice. Just like Gaius, her eyes were on the box of chocolates, noting how much he ate before he finally stopped. “Well, Red, you might be able to make some added cash with this stuff. Me? Not to my taste.”

After Gaius walked out of the tent, Anna scoffed. “Not to his taste? He ate the whole box! Two dozen chocolate truffles, gone in a flash!” She smiled and laughed to herself. “Heh-heh…! Perfect! As a thief, Gaius is bound to have a lot of money on him. He’s gonna be my #1 customer for this stuff. Then we’ll see whose nest egg is bigger!”

 Several days passed as Anna began selling her handmade chocolate truffles. She gained the business of those soldiers and Shepherds who had a sweet tooth and a love of chocolates, but perhaps her biggest source of money was Gaius. Despite his insistence that the chocolates she made were subpar, he had been willing to spend enough for multiple boxes. If it were anybody but Gaius, one would be worried about the amount of chocolate he consumed. Anybody but Anna, that is.

“It’s almost time.” Anna sounded positively giddy as she checked her pocket watch. “3…2…1.” On cue, Gaius entered the tent and Anna slapped on a smile. “Good day, Gaius!”

“Hey, Red. I’ll have the usual.”

“Oh, I’ve already got it.” Anna patted a pile of five boxes of chocolates, stacked on top of each other. “Now, if you’ll just hand me your money…” As the gold changed hands, the redheaded woman noticed something about Gaius that she hadn’t at first. “What’s…that on your face there? And there… And…there?”

Gaius made a noise of confusion as he began eating from a box of chocolates. He wasn’t so much oblivious to the rashes on his face—and the other unseen parts of his body—as he had learned to ignore them.  “Oh, that? Must’ve gotten bitten by a bug or something.”

“That…doesn’t look like a bug bite.”

“Then I probably rubbed up against the wrong plant,” the thief insisted with a full mouth.

“…Gaius?”

“Mm?”

“Do you have any food allergies?” Anna asked, roused by suspicion.

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think I’d know if I was allergic to something, Red.”

Anna arched an eyebrow as Gaius left the tent. ‘Even if your sweet tooth has hijacked your common sense?’ “Ah, well. What do I care? It’s his own fault if he can’t put two and two together. I’m just the person who sells him the chocolate, not his mother. If he gets sick, it’s not my fault, it’s his fault because he’s too addicted to that stuff to notice what it’s doing to him.” Although she was smiling as she said this, Anna still looked unsure about her own words. “I’m sure he’ll realize what’s causing his rash eventually. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” Saying that just fueled the guilt even more. Anna clutched her head, her eyebrow twitching. “Put it out of your mind, Anna… Do it for the money! Do it for the nest egg! Do it for your financial security!”

And so, Gaius continued to eat the chocolates that Anna made and Anna did nothing to stop him. Of course, her conscience gradually ate away at her. Each time Anna took Gaius’s money and got a closer look at his rashes, she’d feel a pang of guilt. Meanwhile, Gaius’s rash got worse. Amazingly, it had no effect on his skill in battle, although it had gotten to the point where acting nonchalant about the numerous blotches on his skin and his constant scratching got Gaius strange looks from people around the camp.

Several days later, an itching and scratching Gaius approached Anna. “Hey, Red. Gimme the usual.”

Anna shook her head. “Nope.”

Gaius frowned. “What?”

“I’m not selling you anymore chocolate. Not that chocolate, at least.”

The redheaded thief narrowed his eyes in anger. “What? Suddenly my money’s no good here? You were so eager to get your grubby mitts on it not too long ago.”

The merchant woman shuddered at the mention of money. It almost made her change her mind and take out a box of chocolates to sell to Gaius. But she pinched her leg to snap her out of it and steeled her resolve. “Not exactly… Look, I’m cutting you off for your own wellbeing.”

“Cutting me off?! What’d I do to you to deserve this?! Haven’t I been a model customer to you, Red?!”

Anna huffed as she glared at the scratching thief. “I’m not gonna be responsible for you getting sick! Do you know how badly that would reflect on me as a merchant if it got out my wares did that to you? Not to mention if you die, my reputation would go down in flames!”

“I don’t care if I— Wait, die?! What’s that about dying?!” Gaius stopped scratching for a moment to stare at Anna in shock.

The merchant groaned and held a hand to her head. “I asked you if you had a food allergy, remember? I guess you must have been allergic to one of the rarer ingredients in the chocolate. Granted, I think it’s mostly your fault you look like this now…but I should’ve stopped when I noticed how badly you were being affected. I’m, uh…sorry.”

The thief was too busy despairing to give any mind to Anna’s weak apology. “No way. You mean…there’s a sweet that I can’t eat?!” Gaius sounded like he was on the brink of tears. He clenched his chest and choked back a sob. “I think I’d rather live with the rash and die!”

“I don’t believe that! Could you really give up every other thing in the world you could eat—and also your life—just to eat some chocolate?”

“It isn’t just some chocolate. It’s heaven in bite-size pieces with a tasty filling of bliss. If I knew where your sister was, I’d go through any obstacle to find her and get her to make them for me for the rest of my life. Heck, I’d marry her to get my hands on more, no questions asked. It’s just that good, Red.”

“Wouldn’t you rather some tasty pastries instead?” Anna reached into a sack hidden behind her makeshift counter and pulled out a small bag that had been tied close with a small piece of ribbon. “They’re not chocolates, but they’ll hold you over.” Gaius reached for the bag, but the redheaded woman pulled it back. “They’re also not cheap.”

Gaius glared at Anna. “You…are…evil.” First she got him addicted so she could get his money. Now she wanted him to pay to be cured from the addiction she started. Nonetheless, he dumped some coins onto the counter, snatched the bag from her hand and took out a small tart from it. He eagerly took a bite of the pastry, but his expression didn’t lighten up. The thief could only sigh as Anna happily counted his money. “It’s just not the same…”

“Would you like to try something else?” Anna asked with a not so innocent smile. “I’ve got cakes, and pies, and cookies, and cinnamon rolls—”

“I’ll take ‘em all,” Gaius spoke abruptly.

In her mind, Anna swore she could hear a cash register dinging and she couldn’t help but smile. ‘Talk about turning a loss into a gain!’

After the whole “food allergy” incident, things almost went back to normal. “Almost” is the keyword, because Gaius’s attempts to go cold turkey after his addiction to Anna’s chocolate did not go unnoticed, as did the way he would cringe when he so much as smelled chocolate. It didn’t help that as of late, someone had been leaving chocolate hearts for him every single day. He didn’t know who it was, but it certainly felt like they were mocking him and his current difficulties with chocolate. The thief swore that if he ever found out who was responsible, he’d make them regret it.

Luckily for him, the perp stepped right up to confess their crime. “GAIUS!!!” Anna screamed as she stomped into his tent. “How could you?! How could you just throw them away?!”

“The hell are you talking about?” Gaius asked while he was in the middle of unwrapping a sucker.

“My chocolates! You’ve been throwing away all the chocolates that I’ve been leaving for you, haven’t you?! I saw you throw one to the ground just now!”

The thief narrowed his eyes as he gave Anna a lukewarm glare. “That was you?”

Anna was too busy raging over Gaius’s actions to notice the way he was glaring at her. “Just throwing away my chocolate like that is a waste of my money!”

“Forget your money!” Gaius snapped as he pointed his sucker at the merchant woman. “Even now, I can barely smell chocolate without gagging! What makes you think I’d want chocolate after what I’ve been through?”

 “It’s not even the same kind of chocolate!” The redheaded woman held a hand to her head and tilted it slightly to the side in thought. “Although I suppose it was thoughtless of me to try and win you over with chocolate after what happened... I’ll just give you a heart-shaped cake or something next time…” She turned to leave the tent, but was halted by the voice of the thief behind her.

“Hold it, Red. What’s the deal with all this free chocolate?” Gaius asked in a suspicious tone of voice. “You’re never this generous. Is this part of some new scheme to milk me for my money?”

Anna huffed and glared at the redheaded thief. “How rude! Villainizing my acts of kindness just because I may have been a tad inconsiderate with my choice of gifts! And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve been avoiding me as of late! You even went so far as to give your business to one of my sisters! Do you hate me that much over an incident where you held more blame than I did?!”

“If I stayed away from you, it was because of trauma. And last I checked, you didn’t hold complete and utter control over where I take my business.” Gaius’s cheeks reddened a bit as he looked away from Anna. “But it’s not like I hate you. In fact, you could say I’ve grown accustomed to your face.”

Anna gave a sigh of relief before smiling. “What a relief! I thought that maybe you hated me or something. To be honest…I’ve also grown accustomed to your face. And I sort of missed it…” Her expression quickly switched back to anger as she continued, “Which is why it’s so upsetting to know you’ve been dumping my hearts like they were garbage! A man shouldn’t treat a woman’s heart in such a way!”

“Sorry. If I knew they were yours, I’d have treated them a bit better. But I’ve got something that might make up for all them.” Sticking the sucker into his mouth, Gaius reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small golden ring. In an instant, Anna closed the distance between them to get a better look at the simple gold band. “I ain’t exactly chocolate, but I consider myself a sweet enough replacement.”

“Hmm…” The redheaded woman closed her eyes, as if thinking about it hard. “I’m not sure about that. I think I should be worth a fortune as a wife, and that ring doesn’t say good things about how much money you have. I suppose you could work off what you owe for both my chocolate and my hand in marriage...”

Gaius began to frown. “Are we talking marriage or business? If it’s the latter, I’m gonna change my mind—”

Anna snatched the ring and started to smile as she slipped it on. “I accept, I accept! You better not make me regret falling in love with you.”

“What a coincidence. That’s just what I was thinking, Red.”

After the end of the war on Grima, Gaius and Anna married. Although he tried to stick to a just path, he eventually returned to the unsavory act of thievery. One would think that his wife would complain about his life of crime, but Anna spurred him on in his endeavors and she was often right alongside of him. Many speculate that she sold the items he stole, but it is unproven.

[missblurose]

I just learned that Fire Emblem’s getting its own Musou style game ala “Hyrule Warriors”...and that it’s gonna be available for portable gaming as well as the Nintendo Switch...but it’s only available on the new 3DS. And I’ve only got an original 3DS. It hurts me so badly...but mostly because I’ve been dreaming of a Fire Emblem musou game since its crossover with SMT and seeing a playthrough of Hyrule  Warriors. And now that it’s gonna be a reality, I can’t play it!!

I guess I’ll be stuck playing the mobile game-Fire Emblem Heroes,-unless that’s not available for download in my country.

[missblurose]

For Want of a Sister

It’s my first new fan fiction of 2017! Happy New Year! (Who cares if it’s belated? Let me have this, please…) I actually started playing FE: Fates during the first week of the New Year—specifically Birthright, but it got my mind on Awakening for some reason. So I wound up doing another fan-made support for Awakening. Or rather, I redid the support series that Lucina has with the characters that are her siblings, but geared towards Morgan’s memory loss. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn’t own the Fire Emblem series. Only this story.

Summary: Despite technically being related through their mother, Lucina never really considered Morgan to be her brother due to never having one in her own time. But when Morgan desperately wants to remember his sister, she can’t help but want to aid him. (A different take on a series of Support conversations between Lucina and Morgan.)

It should have been a normal day like any other for Lucina. She trained, she did her duties around camp, and she assisted in the minor skirmish that occurred when a group of Risen dared to attack a nearby town. But through it all, she felt as if something was watching her. Quite frankly, it was unnerving and had put her on edge. She had thought that it was paranoia fueled by her imagination until later that evening, when as she was walking back to her tent to retire, she heard a sound that was too close to her.

“AH-CHOO!!!”

In what seemed like a flash, Lucina had drawn Falchion from its sheath, turned on her heel, and made to stab the source of the noise. Luckily, she stopped her blade in time just seconds before it hit Morgan in the heart. “Morgan! Oh, goodness… You frightened me for a moment. …Morgan?”

Morgan had frozen in place and paled from the shock of having a weapon pointed at him. Lucina put away the sword and that seemed to snap him out of his shock. “You were frightened?! I was almost stuck like a boar!”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit on edge today… I think there’s an enemy in our midst that may be spying on us,” Lucina said as she looked out of the corner of her eye warily.

“Oh, that wasn’t an enemy. That was me.”

Lucina stared at the blue-haired young man in with an annoyed look. “You? Morgan!”

Morgan raised his hands defensively. “I’m sorry if I made you worry, but I’ve been observing you to learn more about you, sister.”

Lucina’s expression was difficult to read for Morgan. She looked as if she had regained her calm, “Oh. Of course. You…lost most of your memory.”

It had honestly come as a shock to Lucina when the Shepherds had come across Morgan. Here was a young man claiming to be another child from the future, the son of Lucina’s mother and father and in turn, her brother. The problem was that Lucina didn’t have any siblings. She had been her parents’ only child, so suddenly having to call someone who was a relative stranger her brother was confusing. Why, it often slipped Lucina’s mind that they were somehow related.

Lucina frowned, remembering what the problem at hand was. “If you want to learn about me, you should talk to me, not spy on me.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Morgan apologized as he bowed his head. “I wanted to try and remember you, so I thought ‘maybe all I need to do is spend some time with Lucina’! But it seemed as if you were always busy doing something or other, so I thought I could just…watch you from afar and learn about you that way! But I got nothing but a cold and knowledge that you break a lot of things when you’re training.”

The blue-haired woman blushed from embarrassment for a moment before folding her arms across her chest. “Morgan… As I’ve told you before, I have no siblings in the future where I come from. If you have a sister, then I’m sorry, but…I am not her.”

Morgan sighed and closed his eyes. “…But even so, we technically are brother and sister. We have the same mother and father, even if they aren’t exactly the same. Which is why I wanted to…um…spend time with you!” The young tactician said as a smile broke out across his face. “I want us to do the sorts of things that brothers and sisters do! Maybe then, I can remember you—I mean, my Lucina.”

“Brother and sister…” It was Lucina’s turn to close her eyes as she fell into thought. Did she ever want a sibling when she was a little girl? It didn’t seem likely. She always had one of the other children to play with. The idea of playing at brother and sister seemed pointless, but then Lucina opened her eyes to look at Morgan, who was staring down at the ground with a sad, thoughtful expression as he wrung his hands. Unlike her, he only remembered his mother and memories connected to his mother specifically. Lucina couldn’t begin to fathom how awful it would feel if she had returned to the past with no memory of her friends and family. “…Alright, Morgan. If it will help you remember,” Lucina began with a calm expression, “I’d be happy to spend time with you.”

Morgan looked up at Lucina, the light appearing in his eyes once more. “Really?! Oh, thank you, Lucina! I mean, sister! Thank you sister for agreeing to spend time with me! Let’s get together tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow it is, then.” A small smile appeared on Lucina’s face as she waved goodbye to Morgan before he ran off, saying something about ‘reviewing sibling activities’. When he was out of sight, the smile still remained on her face. “A brother… I wonder how this will go?”

In the days that followed after Morgan and Lucina’s agreement to act as if they really were siblings, they did several activities together. They trained together, they did their duties around camp together, they battled together, they went shopping in town together—it was harder to give a time when they weren’t around each other than when they were. And to Lucina’s surprise…it wasn’t bad. When she first agreed, it was for Morgan’s sake. She assumed the experience would be as bizarre as Morgan’s attempts to remember their father and bond with their mother, but it was all surprisingly…normal.

At least until one day, when she once again felt as if someone was staring at her as she was training. She stopped swinging her sword to take a breath and sigh. “…Morgan.”

“Hey, Lucina,” came Morgan’s voice from behind her, sounding dejected.

Lucina turned around to look at the young tactician, who was staring at her with a frown and an upset expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything.” Morgan’s answer caused the blue-haired woman to stare in confusion, so he continued, “I thought that by spending time together, it would trigger a memory of you—I mean, my sister. But it’s been days and I can’t remember a thing about you—by which I mean my sister. I’m starting to wonder if I even have a sister.” His expression suddenly became panicked as his eyes widened. “Wh-what if Father isn’t even my father?! Heavens, it’s all falling apart now!”

“Morgan, calm down! You’re overreacting!”

Although he had calmed down a bit, Morgan still looked upset. “Anyway, since my plan was a failure, we don’t have to hang around together anymore or call each other brother and sister.”

Lucina stared at the blue-haired tactician, wanting to choose her next words carefully. “…If it’s your relation to father and I that has you so distraught, you shouldn’t be worried. At the very least, we share the same mother.”

“But I want to remember more than just Mother. I mean…I might have siblings or I may not. I naturally have to have a father in order to exist… I want to know if I have any fond memories of them, or even bad memories!” Morgan sighed. “N-never mind. I won’t bother you anymore with this sibling stuff, Lucina. See you later.” He turned around and walked away, slumped over in depression while Lucina stared sadly at his back.

Although they still participated in battles together as a pair, it had been days since Morgan actually spoke to Lucina about something that didn’t have to do with strategy, duties, and messages from others for her. Ordinarily, Lucina would have been hurt and upset by the sudden way that Morgan was trying to block her out of his life now. But she had been too busy thinking of something she considered of great importance to the young tactician to speak to even speak to him until that afternoon.

“Lucina! I’m here!” Morgan called out as he entered the barracks. “Mother said you wanted to train with me, so here I am.” He stopped walking when he noticed Lucina sitting on a log in the middle of the room. “…There’s a log in the room.”

“Yes. There is,” Lucina answered simply.

“…Why is there a log in the room?”

“Because we’re going to use it to confirm something.”

“And that is…?”

Lucina stood up and approached Morgan, staring him in the eye for a few seconds before drawing Falchion and holding it out to him, hilt first. “Morgan, we’re going to see if you can use Falchion.”

“Huh?! But I’m not—!”

“Only a select few of the exalt’s bloodline have been able to wield it. If you can use Falchion and cut that log in two, it’s proof that you and I are siblings.” ‘Or relatives at the very least.’

“And if I can’t, this will have been a huge waste of time.”

Lucina shook her head and smiled. “No, it won’t. I believe in you, Morgan.” Of course, the chances of one being capable of wielding the Falchion were very, very rare, but who knew? Maybe Morgan did have the potential to wield it.

Morgan stared at the blue-haired woman with wide eyes before looking at the sword being offered to him. He took hold of Falchion and approached the log. Morgan held the sword out in front of him and raised it up in the air. But as he was about to cut it in half, he saw something crawl up on top of the log from behind it, right in his line of sight. Something so grotesque, horrifying and monstrous that he couldn’t help screaming in terror. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

“Morgan?! What’s the matter?!” Lucina asked, too busy looking at Morgan to look at the creature on the log.

“A…a…roach!!”

Whatever bit of concern she felt towards her brother became pure skepticism. “A bug. You’re scared of a mere bug?”

“I like bugs! I love bugs! I hate roaches! And this one’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen!” Morgan exclaimed as he pointed Falchion at the roach on the log.

Lucina turned her head to look at the log and her face quickly shifted to the same disgusted expression that Morgan had. “Gods, that’s a roach?! It’s huge! It’s almost as big as my hand!”

“See?! Kill it, Lucina! Kill it!” The young tactician pleaded.

“Why do I have to kill it?!” Lucina asked, suddenly frightened with the prospect of having to kill the behemoth of a roach. “Why can’t you think of a way to kill it?!”

“Because there’s only one strategy for killing insects and that’s to squish them! Besides, you’re the older sibling! It’s the older sibling’s job to protect the younger sibling! What would our parents say if you let a roach kill your little brother?!”

“I doubt the roach will kill you, Morgan.”

As if to prove her wrong, the roach took flight and flew at Morgan. His reaction was to scream and swing Falchion like a madman, all sense of how to properly wield a sword replaced with frightened flailing done with his eyes closed. “Take that! And that! And that!” Of course, the roach managed to somehow dodge his attacks with unnatural ease, but that may have been because Morgan was attacking with his eyes closed. Eventually, the roach changed targets and began flying towards Lucina.

“EEEEEK!!!” Lucina’s scream made Morgan open his eyes in time to see the roach flying towards her. From a combination of reflexes and fear, Lucina reached for Falchion to shoo away the monstrous bug, only to wind up grabbing air. She watched in horror as the roach drew closer.

“NOOOO!!! You won’t have my sister, foul thing!!” Morgan screamed as he ran after the roach and swung falchion downward. The roach couldn’t evade in time and was sliced in half down the middle. Morgan was too busy flailing wildly with his eyes closed once again to notice that the roach had died after the first swing, but Lucina had.

“Morgan…” Lucina spoke, surprised by what she saw. “That was amazing!”

“HA! HYAH! ARGH!”

“MORGAN!” Lucina raised her voice to get her brother’s attention and snap him out of his frenzy. “You did it! You actually used Falchion to cut the roach in half instead of just smashing it!”

Morgan blinked in surprise before noticing the remains of the defeated roach. He suddenly smiled. “Oh! I guess I did! Hooray for me! Not only did I slay the monster, Falchion likes me!”

The blue-haired woman laughed, “I suppose you could say that. I’m proud of you, Morgan. You killed the roach with Falchion!” Then, realizing what had happened, she spoke again in a less pleased tone of voice. “You used Falchion…to kill a roach. You used our father’s sword—the last earthly possession of his that I have to remember him by…to kill a roach.” Her tone of voice became increasingly more upset-sounding, and in response, Morgan’s expression slowly became one of fear.

“Um…! At least we know we’re related now?” Morgan spoke in a questioning tone as he gave a sheepish smile. “And that Falchion is the best insect-killing tool ever.”

“You won’t be making jokes when I’m done with you. Come here.”

“AHHHH!!!” Morgan screamed as he ran out of the barracks, pursued by Lucina, still holding onto Falchion. “No, wait!! Lucina!! Have mercy on meeee!!”

It had been a few days since the “roach incident”, as the Shepherds had come to refer to the day when Lucina and Morgan caused bedlam with their chase until their father scolded them. Morgan had been walking around the camp while reading a book when he suddenly felt like someone was staring at him. He hummed thoughtfully to himself before continuing to walk. Hardly a minute passed before he was startling into stopping by a noise.

“Morgan!!”

Well, a voice, actually. Morgan turned around to look at Lucina, who was approaching him. “Hey, Lucina.”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the other day.”

“You mean the thing with the roach?” Morgan smiled and closed his eyes as he remembered what happened. “Father really laid into us, huh? But it was…kind of nice to be scolded like that. I don’t remember much about our family life where I came from, but getting yelled at like that made me feel like we were a normal family.”

Lucina blinked before she gave a short laugh and smiled as well. “I guess it did have its moments… I never got scolded for anything like that when I was a child.”

“Maybe, if you did exist in my time, we got into trouble together a lot. It sure felt familiar to me.”

“Morgan.” Lucina spoke up, getting the young tactician’s attention. “Do you consider me your sister now?”

Morgan blushed and avoided looking at Lucina by looking up at the sky. “Well…I think we’re related, at the very least.”

“But when we were confronted by the roach, you called yourself my little brother and called me your sister.”

Morgan’s blush got darker. “Y-you remember that? It was a slip of the tongue, I guess. I won’t do it again if you don’t—”

“You don’t understand. I want you to be my brother.”

“Huh?!” Morgan looked back to Lucina in shock. “Seriously?! Even after using Falchion like it was some bladed bug swatter?!”

Lucina frowned. “Don’t get me wrong. It was still wrong of you to use our father’s sword like that.” She soon started to smile again as she placed a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “But as I’ve come to know you, I’ve come to care for you. It doesn’t matter if your parents, my parents, and our parents of this timeline are all technically different versions of the same people, because they’re still the same parents we love. And even if you didn’t exist in my time or you were unable to use Falchion, I consider you my brother.”

“Lucina…” Morgan sniffed and quickly rubbed his eyes to avoid having his potential tears be seen. He quickly began to smile with a look of passion in his eyes. “Luci— No, big sister! Pat me on the head!”

And just like, the touching moment was interrupted. “…What?”

“Isn’t that something older siblings do to younger siblings? I’ve seen Father do it to Aunt Lissa a couple of times.” He ignored the part about Lissa not liking it when Chrom did so, though.

Lucina stared at her brother a few seconds before sighing. “Alright.” She began patting Morgan on the head. He smiled and laughed childishly while Lucina smiled as well, mainly at how odd Morgan could be sometimes. ‘I had actually been meaning to discuss his ability to wield Falchion, but he looks so much happier now. Another time, perhaps.’

“Say, since I can use Falchion now, can I use it to cut the vegetables when I’m on kitchen duty?”

The affectionate patting stopped and Lucina laid her hand on Morgan’s head, gripping it tightly. “Morgan…!” The mere tone of her voice as she spoke his name was a threat.

“I’m joking! I’m joking! Just kidding, Sis! P-please let me go. Heh-heh-heh…!”

A/N: Okay, so I altered a part of the actual support conversation from the games, but the roach incident was probably my favorite one of Lucina’s sibling support conversations.