#$CLB

[thesovereignfanclub]

(Ryn is over at Pigeon's house. There are several pictures of her and a man with blue hair that all look older. A memorial piece. The more they look they dig up military uniforms and records]

Huh. . . . She was in the military?

[moodboardmix]

Wasatch Range Retreat, Morgan Country, Utah, USA,

CLB Architecture

[cantcatchmeee]

[redwolf]

CLB Architects designed Basecamp Residence in Big Sky, Montana -- via ArchDaily

[peterarkledrawings]

© Peter Arkle 2025 C*NTY LITTLE BOB

[ryn-halo26]

President of the Sovereign fan club present

It me but Redacted-fied aka @thesovereignfanclub . I look so cool

[awstenlookbook]

For the Friendship CLB LA popup at The Friend bar, Awsten wears Fclb x Kangol Coaches Jacket ($80).

📸 hxltmusic

[vlindervin7]

Sade, 1992

[timelessarchitecture]

CLB ARCHITECTS - CAJU

[thesovereignfanclub]

[Maddie comes in through the window. And finds ryn, hugging them]

I'm here fratrem.... always...

[They seem in a daze until Maddie hugs them. They jump in surprise]

Maddie?-! You came? I thought you couldn't?

[moodboardmix]

ShineMaker Retreat, Wilson, Wyoming, United States,

CLB Architects & HSH interiors

[freshthoughts2020]

[ambyandony]

Miscellaneous JJBA OC: "Maruko" Profilette

okay this is actually really fuckin long but uhhh so i got the stand ref, maruko ref, and a bunch of real quick low-qual sketches for flavour

//cw for general child neglect/abandonment, infant death, implied train violence

Maruko is a young orphan boy, born around 1990, generally portrayed as he was active in 1999 Japan - possibly Morioh (Part 4 works for the timeframe, and Morioh has potential for a perfect setting so there's no reason against it). His Stand's name can give you a pretty good idea of his past: Coin Locker Baby.

In Japan, there has been a phenomenon of babies - often newborns - being abandoned in coin-operated public lockers, relating to overarching child abandonment issues in Japanese society (which I won't get into right now) and various factors contributing to why. It was more prevalent in the past, although there have been reported cases as recently as 2021. Presumably, the assumption is that these lockers are regularly checked, and the baby (if not stillborn) will be found quickly, but unfortunately, many are not found in time. The victims of this phenomenon are known as coin-locker babies.

One February night, around 1990 or 1989, a newborn was abandoned by his mother in one of Morioh station's coin-operated lockers. He was found alive by the next morning and taken to safety.

At the time of his abandonment, the child had been normal in every regard, average size, perfectly healthy, but something changed when the locker door slammed. His spirit, that is; the psychological strain of abandonment and the need to survive pushed him to develop his Stand, though it would be a few years until he was fully cognisant of it.

For the first few years of his life, he was raised in an orphanage, developing a detached and cold demeanour, being incredibly quiet and moody, and never really getting along with other kids. The few possessions he did have were often taken by other, bigger kids, and he gave up trying to reclaim them when he began to consider them less valuable than the effort was worth. Despite his undeveloped cognitive capabilities given his young age, he began to heavily focus on what value meant to him and figured the only thing he found valuable enough to save was himself.

The most he typically spoke was when he would ask care workers about his own past, asking why he'd been abandoned and who his mother was, to minimal effect. With nothing telling him otherwise and knowing he'd been willingly abandoned, the child began to imagine his mother as a cold, uncaring woman with more important things to do than care for a child, and developed a hatred for her, even though he wasn't yet sure who she was. Around age 5, the boy ran away from the orphanage, taking few belongings with him, and was not missed.

Following his departure from the orphanage, the boy found his way to Morioh station, and decided he would stay there, in the very place where he'd been abandoned. He was able to tell by instinct alone which specific locker had been 'his'. It was at this station that he was finally able to comprehend that he had a Stand and discovered its ability.

Coin Locker Baby is a humanoid developing Stand with a low degree of sentience. Its ability is to take things from people with an impossibly strong pull, and lock those things away in a Stand-construct coin-operated locker, where the item is kept irretrievable until the victim offers something of equal value to the stolen item in return. However, it must be of equal personal value to the person offering payment, as objective monetary value means nothing to Coin Locker Baby and its User. Unless the victim truly values their stolen belongings as no more than monetary value, then approaching the locker with yen coins will do nothing. If the stolen thing is of high sentimental value, the victim must offer something of high sentimental value in return. Any object, no matter the shape, size or kind of item, can be deposited as payment, and the User claims that in some cases, the offer of payment alone has sufficient value; for example, the offer to pay for someone else's stolen belongings is considered an act of high moral value, due to the honourable nature of the action...

The boy, upon discovering his Stand and its ability, began to use it on passersby waiting in the station and train passengers, stealing coats, hats, money and food. Anyone who chased him would be presented with a coin-locker and the boy's stipulation that he wouldn't give back what he stole unless they gave him something of equal value. Doing this opened him up to see different sides of people's behaviour, and he began using Coin Locker Baby not only for survival, but as a test of character. Despite his criminal activity, security and police could never find or catch him, and eventually gave up trying to. Locals eventually knew well enough to keep a tight hold on their belongings when at the station.

Reports and talk of his ominous demeanour, frequent theft and odd behaviour upon confrontation began to develop into rumours, and, eventually, another Morioh-cho urban legend; the specifics varied, but some versions of the 'legend' seemed to insist he was the vengeful spirit of an ill-fated coin-locker baby haunting the train station. Some considered the stories real and believed that he was a ghost. Some didn't believe he even existed at all. Many others, especially those who attested to his existence, insisted that he was just a poor, orphaned, troubled young boy whose erratic behaviour had led people to assume the worst. People, not knowing who he was whether he existed or not, began giving this 'urban legend' varying but similar names, typically along the lines of 'coin boy'. Having lost track of the name he'd been called at the orphanage anyway, he decided to take one of these names and identify himself by it: Maruko.

... Similarly to what it can accept as payment, anything of any shape or size can be locked away by Coin Locker Baby - including entire people. Maruko rarely uses it on people, the few circumstances that he had done so in the past were generally as a test of character. For example, attacking a pair of older kids once, he locked one away to see if their friend would try to free them or abandon them. However, Maruko never keeps a person in the locker, even if payment is not met.

In these cases, where the hostage is human, anyone who dares approach the locker with a hundred yen coin is attacked by Coin Locker Baby.

Generally, this is the only time Maruko will raise his voice.

Every 'payment' Coin Locker Baby receives and every stolen item not returned are kept in a sort of pocket dimension in Coin Locker Baby's torso, making its locker constructs portable, so it can manifest rows of lockers containing the stolen items for Maruko to retrieve for his own use, ranging from food and newly-bought clothes to Game Boys and manga.

He never attacks small children.

The urban legend in its most well-known form came to full 'popularity' in Morioh in 1998. On February 2nd, 30-year-old Saiki Mukosoe, a happily married woman with a 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, was pronounced D.O.A. at the train station after suddenly falling onto the tracks as the train was arriving. What exactly happened could never be officially determined; she was concluded initially to have been pushed, but nobody could concretely tell how or by whom, so it was ruled an accident.

But unofficially, ask anyone who was waiting for that train that day- they'll tell you that the invisible force that she was pushed by was none other than the 'ghost boy' himself, though nobody could be sure why he did it, so the legends and stories once again varied.

Some kids circulating the urban legend, as kids are prone to do, claimed that the ghost boy's own mother was dead, and so he envied those who had mothers. Some people claimed instead that he'd been killed by his mother and so was scorned towards mothers as a result. Some folks less inclined towards the supernatural simply insisted that the so-called 'ghost boy' was simply just as the alternate name given to him implied: a scorned coin-locker baby, abandoned by his mother and vengeful as a result.

By 1999, Maruko, aged around 9 or 10, continues to live his lonely existence. No friends, no family. Nobody wants to approach him if they notice him, most people seem to think he's a ghost.

However, he finally met someone whose answer to "What do you think human life is worth?" he liked.

[vlindervin7]

doechii for paper magazine (2024)

[thesovereignfanclub]

(Someone with N'Dellex's influence within them is sitting outside of the pyschokinesis wing, out of view of Ryn. It feels incredibly similar to the influence over Aria, especially before the incident.) - @aria-aisling (needed a tag so I'd get the notif)

What the fuck?

[They walk out to see who it is]