#BLUE arc is still incoming

[rollarcoasting]

I bet isagi would go fucking insane for this

[shinjisdone]

𝑇𝜎 𝑆𝜎𝑓𝜏𝜀𝜋 𝛼 𝑊𝛼𝑟𝑟𝜄𝜎𝑟’𝑠 𝐻𝜀𝛼𝑟𝜏 (Vinland Saga; Thorfinn - 𝑺𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝒓𝒄, 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝟏)

In which you have joined Askeladd’s band…and grow closer to the Son of Thors - though as your future seemed promising, his thirst for revenge devastated all that you had left.

[Headcanons of how it would be like to meet Thorfinn again after he shattered your heart (based on season 2; both platonic and romantic)

Sᴇᴀsᴏɴ ₁ ﹙Wᴀʀ Aʀᴄ﹚ is here

Tag list:

@luopenis , @jinsecho , @mitsureigen , @theknightssecrets , @lana-del-stan , @theghostofanficpresent

[Mentions of murder, death, war, slave trade, harrasment against women and whatever awful things happened in the viking era. Slavery will be a main subject throughout the entire arc. Mostly gender-neutral examples but female-leaning ones are there, too.]

[This part will specifically mention: Nightmares, detailed gore and killing, slavery, humiliation, hallucinations, slight romanticization of death/wishing someone to be dead, slight panic]

Time And Time Again, My Hopes Are Gone...

Far west, across the sea is a land. Rich of fertile ground and warm all year round. He can see the stillness of the meadow as the wind softly blows through the trees.

The wilderness is untouched. Far away from slave traders and the flames of war. The sun is benign with its rays that gently fall on his skin. It's warm and quiet. A gale so soft it embraces his throbbing pain.

Far to the west, across the rich and green hill, is a figure drawing closer. Colors clashing with the soft sky and land, washed out compared to the world around him. Nevertheless, he feels his heart picking up on speed and appraoches the figure with painstakingly slow steps.

The colors and the gear are still the same. Old and bented, abused and dull and so was the glare in their eyes. He should not feel a thing here, knowing this gaze all too well, but it still festered fear inside his heart when it is directed at him. The clear blue sky grows red and the sun fled.

Still, somehow he was able to crack a strained, faltering smile. "...What are you doing here?" He needed to take a deep breath, "You still look the same...like yesterd-"

"What the hell are you talking about, dog?"

The feigning smile was wiped off his face in an instant as his eyes widened. He could feel his muscles aching again, his stomach grumbling, his heart shattering.

You looked at him with such distain in your eyes.

It's Like A Never-Ending Marathon...

"How can you even act like this? Does all of this mean nothing to you?"

His breath hitched in his throat, burning hot and sickening as the quietness of the world was cut down by the incoming roars emerging from the scenery behind you. Pumping up their spears and axes, they tainted the meadow red as small figures galloped across the sky. The fires were following closely after them.

"You left...left me, and left this massacre behind you as you trailed over the sea."

Chants of victories rung in his ears as the flames consumed the both of you. The herd of men loud and clear but always seemed too far to touch and reach. There you still stood, your glare as dark as thunder and never-changing.

"Coward. Deranged mutt. Calling yourself a warrior."

Jaw agape, he watched with white, bulging eyes the scene behind you. It was all too familiar that it should have kick in an instinct - but all he could feel was terror.

With a swift pull to your back, you drew the blade out before plunging it with a sprint down to his abdomen. He barely could let out a scream. Instead, wide agape, he looked down with darting eyes to see his father's dagger.

A crooked grin decorated your visage as you twisted the dagger, cut further, deeper horizontally before yanking it out. Blood tainted your skin.

He could feel himself fall. Fall longer, deeper, faster, down, down, down, and down before a scream pulled him out.

I Hear Voices Every Night Of The Ones I Left Behind...

The same quietness he dreamed about surrounds him in the hut. No, a barn it was. It didn't have a door and he constantly reeked of hay and manure.

Right - this was the barn on the farm.

Sluggishly, he got up as pieces of hay fell off his worn out tunic. With a slow and steady gate his legs carried him to the well standing still and cold in the early morning, the sun having risen just a moment ago as well. He reached out with rough and calloused hands to the cold water and splashed it on his face. Always three times at least as the master told him. With each splash, his mind and vision got clearer and finally, he breathed freely.

What a strange nightmare. This hollow feeling expanding in his heart remained even in the waking world but he cannot recall from what.

As the sun rose higher, he made his way over the dirty, sandy road. Not a lot of the others were up and about as he was, though he only paid attention to the forest further away. The tired mutters of greetings flew over him, like a leaf in the cold wind. All he needed was the axe.

The axe cuts. It hits the sturdy trunk, chopping it away bit by bit, splinters of wood occasionally digging into his skin. Though it was as thick as the trees themselves, so no one ever heard a complaint from him.

The axe cuts. No tree shrieks in pain nor does anyone raise a brow at the lone man in the forest letting one tree fall after another. It keeps him awake and his muscles at work.

The axe cuts. The trees die and fall like flies, slowly - as it is with tree felling, he was told - down to every last twig and root it bears. Nothing can be left behind as the master wished it. All needs to be cleaned off the land so he can use it. So he cut and cut and cut.

"Thorfinn!"

Thorfinn halted. Stopped in his tracks as he was told and looked up through lidded, droopy, brown eyes. In the distance he saw a hand waving as the master galloped closer and with him, a younger slave.

Getting off the mount, he steadied his fall. Master Ketil was an older and seasoned farmer. His blonde hair growing thinner, broad but kind face decorated with wrinkles and his wealth showing in his round stomach. Once again, as he often does, he approached Thorfinn with a smile. "You will be getting a friend." Then he pointed behind him and the youngling followed hastily to bow. "This is Einar and he will be helping you starting tomorrow to fell the trees and turn it into fertile farm land. Einar, Thorfinn has been doing this for a bit longer than a year, he will show you around."

Brown eyes followed the man's gesture and fell on the younger one with kempt, auburn hair. Face young and with no stubbles, a small wart at the side of his nose - finished with an nervous and perplexed expression.

His own looked deep into the one of his new companion and found nothing but vapidness in them.

"Oh, uhm...it's nice to meet you." Einar tried to crack a smile. Thorfinn did not.

With a small chuckle of his own, Ketil pointed towards the small forest, talking of an subject Thorfinn had heard of time and time again.

Talks of fertile land, of wheat, of buying and selling, surpassing ones own price and freedom.

Freedom.

Did he have any of that ever in the first place? He doubted it.

But the new guy had a different opinion of it.

"Buying ourselves back?!" Einar stuttered, not believing what the farmer had just uttered, "We can get our freedom back if we just plant and sell the wheat to you?!"

Ketil jumped and blinked in surprise. "Why...yes. Does that not sound like a good deal to you?" "It's not that! N-Not at all! Thank you, thank you so much! I'll gratefully take the offer!"

Without another word, Einar sprinted deeper into the forest. Sighing heavily, Ketil settled back on his mount, ready to go back. "Do show him around for today Thorfinn and don't have him slack off after that. Both of you have a lot of work to do."

The blonde looked back at him with lidded eyes.

"Yes, master."

Dragging himself after the brunette, the young man watched him observe the area in awe. Trees loomed over the two and Einar swiftly turned back to the shorter man, his jaw agape.

"Thorfinn, was it?! Is that something you can do here in Denmark?! You - You can buy yourself out of slavery?!"

That I Love...

In the midmorning, Einar couldn't sit still.

Strenuously, he mimicked Thorfinn's day-to-day work. Inspecting each tree and root, yanking on them with his bare hands in hopes it might detach just a bit, and throwing questions.

Thorfinn found his keenness perplexing.

At noon, Einar awaited food.

Hearing about the service of the helpers, paid guests helping and guarding Ketil's farm, he grew ever so keen again. The helpers were not the kindest folk and seemingly the most hungry as well.

"What is there to complain?" One sneered as he appraoched Einar. The latter showed the crumbles and nibbled cheese in his rough hands instead. "This, this is our food? How is this supposed to be enough for two people? And it was obviously gnawed on!"

"So?" The second man of the trio sauntered closer with a wide grin. "Slaves like you should be grateful you can even eat a day. For someone so small and little, you sure talk big. We helpers wake up each and every day to bring food to lowly rats like you! And none of you even have the brains on how to thank someone for it!"

With a shaking gasp, Einar stepped back. The mere tone. The way the spit splashed on his face as he talks with that knowing glint in his dull eyes.

How could someone be like that? Just a year ago, he was surrounded by normal people, a village and family.

Once again, the helper spits as he scoffed. "Say it, dog," The grin grew ever so crooked as Einar's shock quickly transformed into rage. "Say 'thank you for the food'."

Breath hitched as the brunette took everything within him not to batter the man here and there. Balling a fist, he pulled back - before a smaller figure squeezed himself between the men and held out the crumbs of bread in his hands.

Thorfinn avoided the helper's gaze and looked down, as if giving a woeful prayer. "We thank you for the food."

Einar observed the tension dissolving, face that of an fish out of water, as Thorfinn returned to his work as if nothing happened.

In the afternoon, Einar hauled a sack of hay on his shoulder, heart feeling disarrayed.

Up ahead he followed Thorfinn who carried two sacks on his shoulders. He wondered how he does it despite his shorter and hunched form.

In fact, the blonde always seemed to hunch so far. He wondered how he does the entire labourous work in the first place.

"...How can you do all of this so easily? And with an empty stomach, too, day in and out. Chopping off the trees and then hauling them off the ground...like that old donkey was of any help." He pouted at the memory of the helpers bringing in an old, weak horse as 'aid' while they snoozed under the trees, "And you were so obedient to these jerks, too."

The walk continued to be quiet. The brunette continued to pout, making an even longer face at the one-sided conversation.

"You know, you can report that to the master! No, we should, have to do that! We are his property and these jerks treated us like were are lesser than that! He should know how his slaves are being treated and get rid of these pigs!"

The walk was silent after that as well. Thorfinn did not turn his back away neither show any sign of taking in his words. Einar only pouted even more and bit his tongue - momentarily.

"You're really strange."

As if struck by lightning, the blonde stopped. A force jolted through his muscles and bones that almost threatened to have him let go of the hay. The same force took a hold of his heart, like a fist squeezing it so tight with the intent to kill him. It won't let go.

Calming down from the start, Einar sped up in front of him with raised brows. The blonde's face was frozen in fear.

"...Thorfinn...?"

"What did you just say?"

"Uh," Quickly, he stepped back. Even the way Thorfinn managed to utter the question, jaw agape and frozen as well, perplexed him. "I said you're strange. Like, it's not like I dislike you it's just…just that I thought we could talk more. You're so quiet all the time but then get so obedient around these jerks but then act like you don't care-"

Agonizingly slow does he regain his body. With each word Einar spoke, Thorfinn nodded along, listened and had it ring in his head like a chant. Just as slow, he began walking again. "...I really am, aren't I?" He muttered after taking a deep breath.

"Eh, uhm, what?"

"Strange..."

I'm Trying To Find The Place Where I Belong...

Thorfinn was allowed to call it a day early for teaching Einar.

Today's chores were almost completed anyway with how tenacious his new companion had been. It was an insistence he could not comprehend.

The brunette did not expect much when Thorfinn showed him the way to the small barn, pointing to the heaps of hay and buckets at the corners. The master's house was across the road at least and the well free for him to use.

Einar also expected not much from his peer, as he had learned today when he quickly dozed off. He believed him to be anyway, when he stayed silent through all his questions.

Einar was strange...but the blonde reckoned he was, too.

That night, his visions turned into nightmares once again - but only to be left forgotten again in the morning.

A dark blue sea and an equally dark sky above. The wrath of the gods over the clouds and a hoard of monsters waging further away. He found himself lucky he wasn't so close.

But that relief was cut short by the freezing pain in his abdomen, as he looked down at you, teeth gritting like a beast. When did he grow taller than you?

He always thought you were the same height. Or were you the taller one?

With a growl, you swayed back with the dagger out of his flesh and thrusted it into it again. Labored breaths tried to escaped your gritted teeth, nosetrils flaring up as you only scolwed at him. With great effort and little strength, you drew the blade back and stabbed him again.

"Liar..." You croaked out, the smallest of hints of tears in your eyes, "This isn't where we're supposed to be. You liar..." Another sob and another attack. Blood oozed out of his open stomach like a broken spring and while the pain was unbearable, Thorfinn remained standing.

"You were supposed to take me somewhere that isn't here!"

He watched with terror as you drowned in his blood.

Einar shot up at the ear-splitting shriek. He wondered how none of the master's family had heard.

All he vividly remembered on his first night on the farm as a slave, was Thorfinn feeling up his abdomen in a mad frenzy, his eyes wide and jaw agape in a silent scream.

Until I Do, I Guess I'll Carry On...

The sun rises and the reek of manure still dwells in his nose. Einar was not dreaming of the farm.

But as he followed Thorfinn's demure figure, anxiously keeping up with his chores and strength, he cannot keep his eyes off of him. Of this strange guy and his hushed whispers in the night.

Again, he observed and stayed back this time as the blonde accepted the spit thrown on his face and food. The amount of labor he carries on his broken back with an lost look in his eyes.

So small and dry, brown so hazy and milky, he wonders if he can even see.

Einar stays back and listens as the master and his employers give him more work, more duties, more praises, more insults. He takes it all the same.

Then, at the setting of the sun, the young man still stays back and watches with the rest of the slaves nearby as Thorfinn dropped all he had carried diligently to the master, and sprinted to a small person further away.

His heart beat in his ears, ringing against his skull and Einar found himself surprised as he prayed that Thorfinn would not get in trouble for whatever he was doing there.

Not getting in trouble for the calloused hand that reached out for that person's shoulder, how they yelped out and whipped their head around at the contact with the man.

How they watched as Thorfinn's hopeful face slowly dimmed to shock - then reverted back to his nonchalant ignorance.

What a fool he was. No, it couldn't be. The words he heard, they weren't yours. This little slave, just a terrified child, may have talked like you - walked like you, had a stature like you, looked like you - but in their place, you wouldn't have frozen on the spot. You would have killed him, or he you, when you gazed upon him as you did time and time again.

Without another word, he let his hand fall to his side and dismissed Einar's concerns. The brunette apologized for Thorfinn's stead but the man was already on his way to the barn.

He didn't even know what he was thinking. How his mind could see a silhouette that could resemble you, mistake you, and start running after you. Thorfinn didn't know what he was doing.

The master was already used to his behaviour. Perhaps that's why he wanted to get rid of him while still gaining a bit of gold.

Trapped In Every Sacrifice, Feel Like I'm Gonna Lose My Mind...

Another night. Another new slave - a young, blonde woman - another curse from Einar about wars and beasts and another nightmare. It's what Thorfinn finally reckoned them as.

The demons that haunt him as he stabs them down for the earth to swallow. Your bloodied body holding a blade. The insults and spits thrown at him, his insides falling down into the sea. Your flailing arms as you cry for his help as the ground splits in two.

In the dead of the night, he checks for his companion, still seeing him to be asleep. Limply, Thorfinn forced himself to sit up.

The stars were as bright as ever. They were when you two were together but in the past year, the nightsky seemed different. Under it, all alone, he mumbled your name under his breath to remember you by.

That's right, he did not even have anything to remember you by, did he? Not a weapon, not a trinket, nothing. All that was left of you were the nightmares haunting his mind.

He hoped it was even less. In this cool, dark night, Thorfinn hoped you were dead. All would be easier for you to bear if just bones remained of you - and it would be easier to bear for him on his heart and mind.

You'd be free.

No Freedom, Without Love...

Scorching was the sun that morning as Ketil appraoched Thorfinn and Einar on his horse once again. Pater accompanied him with another in tow. Shackles of splinted wood around their swollen wrists. Their head hanging low.

"Thorfinn, Einar!" Ketil called out and began his usual prattling. His face bore that same, kind smile even when his words fell on some deaf ears. All Thorfinn could really focus on were lidded eyes slowly moving from the dirtied path up to him. Eyes that were drooped, limp, cold and familiar.

A shaky gasp. Air that got stuck in their lungs. Ketil halted in surprise as they stepped closer in hesitation, their bound hands rising and Pater yelling out about authority and respect of a property to follow.

All Thorfinn could hear were their breathless gasps, the darting eyes, hollow and in tears as their chafed hands gingerly cradled his face - as if unsure if he was really there.

Then, the shock turned into sorrow and anger.

"...You were supposed to be in Iceland..."

Pater yanked them away from him, the familiar warmth gone as they disorientate. Thorfinn could barely breath.

[howlingday]

Jaune Arc fell into ice. That's the last thing he remembered. Now he's in a strange grove with spirits watching him all the time.... He thinks they might be broken.

Team RWBY are faunas researchers who've found the discovery of the century. A human man still alive in ice. It's a contested theory that ancient humans eventually evolved into faunas and with a member of the previously thought extinct species they might just be able to prove it. Now how to get closer to him

(tldr stone age jaune dealing with modern day faunas RWBY being horny on main for him. The spirits must be crazy)

Last Man Standing

The last thing Jaune remembered that cold winter evening was sulking across the ice to get away from his cheating ex-girlfriend. What was supposed to be a romantic night of welcoming in the new year instead became the worst heartbreak of his life, made worse when she called him out as a spineless nobody that no woman would ever want. She also said his hair looked shaggy, which didn't hurt as much as the betrayal itself, but it still stung.

Then everything got fast. Then everything got cold. And then everything got dark.

When he awoke, he took a deep breath through his nose, inhaling a sweet scent of strawberries. His eyes still shut; he leaned forward to get closer to the smell. This earned him a yelp, a slap, and a scream. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a girl in a red hood running around the corner. Did she have dog ears?

"Where..." Jaune groaned as he leaned forward, noticing the hot air blowing over him. Though he was still partially frozen in ice, he managed to push his way through the, at best, hard slush of his cocoon. He looked down to see his clothes were soaked. "Ah, man..."

"I'm telling you, Weiss, I know what I saw!"

"Ruby Rose, the specimen has been frozen for at least a thousand years! Even if he did manage to thaw out, he wouldn't... be..."

The two young women stared at Jaune as he twisted his hoodie like a used dishrag, water spilling onto the floor. He turned and saw them, his eyes nearly as wide as theirs as they stared at one another.

For Jaune, he'd never seen anyone like them before! It was like something out of an anime. Two beautiful girls, one with pointed, dog-like ears, while the other had a long and bushy tail twitched back and forth. For them-

"CODE GRAY!" Screamed the tailed girl. She then rushed out of the room, dragging the other girl behind her. The dog-eared one glanced back with sort of sad eyes. None of it sounded good to Jaune, and considering the wailing sirens and flashing lights, he had to get out of wherever he is and fast!

Tossing on his still damp shirt, he made for the exit, accidentally knocking over a poor girl with rabbit ears. He gave a hasty apology as he continued to bolt down the hallway. Unfortunately, this caught more people's attention, and eventually a woman came barreling after him, hand on her beret to keep from flying off her small, round ears. He couldn't see much of her eyes past her designer shades, but what he could see spelled death.

"Incoming!" Jaune looked ahead, flipping backwards as his neck slammed into an extended arm. He gave a hoarse groan as he looked up to see three women towering over him. One was the same woman as before with round ears poking from her beret, the cute appearance contrasting with her snarling scowl. Another had gave a cheeky grin as she leaned forward a bit, showing off her cleavage to her catch, all the while a long, blonde tail swished about.

But the third and final woman gave no hint of any sort of emotion. Neither anger nor joy, but simple indifference. She reached behind her and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, tethered by a thick cable with glowing blue lights that ceased and revealed an opening with the click of a button. Her pointed, red dog-like ears made her look all the more intimidating.

"You're under arrest."

[adrift-in-thyme]

I’m not thinking of specifically any good prompts for fairy time, but you know I love me some angst XD hurt/comfort, perhaps? Maybe with Warriors?

-Sky Floor

TIME AND WARRIORS MY BELOVEDS

And hurt/comfort too?? You couldn't have sent in a better prompt Peggy

CW for captivity, blood, and injury

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

Someone is speaking.

The voice floats to him like stray strands of fairy dust. Distant and hazy and soft…familiar.

The clouds of gray and black begin to part. The new light of a summer day pierces through closed eyelids. Reluctantly, Time shifts. 

Pain streaks up his small form in response, carving through the dim awareness he has only just begun to grasp. A low groan escapes past cracked lips. 

A fingertip brushes his cheek, so gentle it is hardly there. 

“It’s alright, Sprite. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Here…

Time shudders as the memories pour in. Unwanted. Unstoppable.

The translucent walls of a bottle surrounding him on all sides. Iron cuffs on his wrists and ankles, burning through his flesh. The agony of his torn wing. The pain of the wounds that pepper his abused body.

And a voice…a voice that pushes through an eternity of pain, that rises above the others that have filled his ears with their cruelty and derision. It is thick with anger, heavy with care.

“I’m here, Sprite. They won’t touch you again.” 

He drags open his eyes to a world of royal blue. Silken folds surround him on all sides, dipping and diving in graceful arcs. They snake around and over him, protective, secure. 

He knows their embrace well. After all, it is not the first time he has taken refuge within them. 

He fists his hands in the fabric, feeling the softness beneath his fingertips. It is gentle upon his abused body, gentle on his wings.

His wings…

He frowns as his awareness grows like a slowly incoming tide. He can feel them again, sense them upon his back. Whole. Healed. 

A torn wing is not easy to mend. Of that he is certain. 

“How?”

He doesn’t realize he has spoken the question until he hears his own voice, little more than a croak, tight with remnant pain and fear.

“Don’t worry about that now.”

Time looks up into the eyes he knows so well. Anguish and adoration, beauty and pain, the flames of defeat and the spark of victory – he has seen them all reflected there. But right now he isn’t certain what emotion permeates those deep blues. He only knows what they make him feel.

Safe. Loved.

His next breath stutters on the way out. A lump situates itself in his throat before he can quite comprehend why it is there. 

“Big brother.” The title slips out on impulse and Warriors’ face spasms in response. 

“It’s been a while since you’ve called me that,” he says, quickly schooling his features into a soft smile. 

He scoops Time into his palm with such care, the hero hardly feels himself being lifted. The breeze caresses his newly freed wings, coolness mingling with the wonderful warmth of the sun. He revels in the feel of it. 

“I’m glad you’re awake, Sprite. How’re you feeling?”

Time blinks, searching vainly for words. There is so much he needs to say, so much he needs to ask. But exhaustion and pain still cling heavily to him. He is uncertain how long he was held captive though it felt an eternity. And now all he wants to do is sleep.

“Thank you,” he whispers, instead, and prays that his brother will understand everything he means by it.  

Judging by the way Warriors’ expression grows impossibly softer, he does.

“Of course,” he murmurs, eyes shining with vulnerability, a smile on his lips. “I’ll always come for you, Sprite. Always. You’re my little brother.”

He holds Time to his cheek for a moment, and Time hears his breath hitch as he leans into the embrace. He yearns to comfort him, to protect him from the memories and emotions that seek to harm him. But then Warriors is releasing him once more into the silken bed of his scarf. And his mind grows wonderfully fuzzy.

“Rest,” Warriors says. “I’ll watch over you.”

Time doesn’t doubt that he will. 

[stillness-in-green]

On Heteromorphs and Heteromorphobia (Arc XV - My Villain Academia)

(Skewing away from the wiki arc titles here, because come the eff on; everyone on god's green earth calls this My Villain Academia, not "The Meta Liberation Army Arc.")

At the request of a kind asker, I'm trying something different with footnotes this time; you'll find them at the end of the relevant bullet point, rather than at the bottom of the post. I've also flagged the numbers in purple, though I left the text itself the default color. I hope people find that a little easier to handle than having to scroll all the way to the bottom, have two tabs open, or wait until the end when they've forgotten the context.

Content Warning: Mentions of the KKK, as well as anti-Korean hate crimes/speech in Japan.

The My Villain Academia Arc (Chapters 218-240)

Chapter 218: 

Tsuyu’s weakness to cold is noted in-canon, rather than in a volume extra profile.   

All of the people featured specifically in the Detnerat commercial are heteromorphs—a four-armed woman, a walrus gent, and a little gelatinous boy.  Re-Destro pontificates about how people with these “newer types of bodies” struggled in the new era because they couldn’t find products that would meet their daily needs; mass production was not equipped—could never really be equipped—to handle the endless variety of body shapes and sizes that came about due to the Advent of the Extraordinary.  It recollects the mall scene back in Chapter 68—or, even further back, Ojiro’s character sheet and UA’s lack of varied desks—and calls the reader to consider, once again, the sorts of special needs that those with heteromorphic bodies might have, and how difficult it can be to meet those needs.    RD says that his company’s ability to rapidly customize and produce unique goods for every customer has made them #1 in their industry (lifestyle goods).  Assuming there’s at least some truth to the commercial shpiel—and the newscaster does at least call Detnerat “a big player”—it suggests that plenty of other companies are not so good at the rapid+customizable combination.  Of course, not all companies are trying to be all things to all people, but specialization costs money—as do speed and customization, really, and note that nowhere in the commercial is there a talking point about affordability!  So mainly what the commercial leaves me wondering is what degree of inconvenience is still felt by heteromorphs, especially those who are somewhat cash-strapped.    That strikes me as a particular hazard when it comes to child bullying.  Of course, Japanese schools have uniforms, but I wonder how available tailoring and alterations are for students with particular needs?  Is there a provided budget for that sort of thing?  Financial aid?  How much did Ojiro’s parents have to pay for him to have a full set of uniform pants with a hole for his tail in them?  How about Shouji getting all his uniform tops made sleeveless?  What arrangements had to be made for Shouto’s gym uniform to be fire retardant?    Even setting uniforms aside, there are also their social lives outside of school to consider.  Kids will absolutely notice when one of their number wears the same clothes all the time, or home-made clothes instead of name brand, or with obvious patchwork and repair.  As in real life, it’s at the intersections of more than one type of disadvantage—in this case, a heteromorphic body combined with a low-income family—that problems become more likely.

Here in 218, almost fifty chapters after the first mention of them, we finally get the proper introduction and explanation of the Meta Liberation Army.  Of course, they aren’t heteromorph-specific—the closest any of the named commander-types in RD’s inner circle get is Curious, with her bright blue skin and black sclera,[1] though certainly Re-Destro himself has drifted somewhat away from baseline compared to his ancestor.  Regardless, their foundational belief is the deregulation of quirks, stemming from a time when any deviation from the norm made meta-humans targets.  The compromise society reached—that quirks require a license to use—is restricting enough on those whose abilities are found with a baseline body, but, as I’ve brought up before, it makes life even more potentially fraught for heteromorphs.  That kind of thing is basically a pre-written excuse for heroes or police to stop and harass a heteromorph they don’t like the look of!  And while the evidence of that kind of bias has been pretty circumstantial thus far, it’s about to get way, way less so.    [1] Wacky hair colors being somewhat de rigueur in anime, we’ll give her a pass on the purple hair.

   Chapter 220: 

Here we finally hit the major leagues: the Creature Rejection Clan, or CRC.  The Japanese is igyou haiseki shugi shuudan, with igyou and shuudan being pretty straightforward—igyou is, of course, “heteromorph,” and shuudan is any sort of organized or self-identifying group of people, anything from a family unit to a business organization, even all the way up to a nation.  Haiseki shugi is the important bit, with shugi meaning “doctrine; principle” and haiseki meaning “rejection; expulsion; boycott; ostracism.”  Thus, “group whose doctrine is the rejection of heteromorphs.”[2]    Note that, in the Japanese, the word in the group’s name is heteromorph; they didn’t pick something more insulting or derogatory.  They didn’t really need to, since igyou is, as discussed back in the introduction to this piece, plenty derogatory all on its own.  So Caleb Cook went with a translation of igyou that would better get that derisiveness-in-the-context-of-a-hate-group across than his choice way back in Chapter 14.  Creature Rejection Clan is a fairly localized translation, but Cook was pretty frank in his Twitter thread on the chapter that he was thinking about the KKK when he made the decision.    And it’s not an unwarranted comparison!  Of course, I wouldn’t think to presume Horikoshi’s that up on the history of racism in the U.S., but combine the cod-religious trappings and the full robes and hoods with an explicit textual description of hate crimes, and it’s an extremely easy parallel to draw. [2] The Japanese also gives the abbreviation of CRC, with the databook eventually coming out and revealing that it really stands for the name they’ve chosen for themselves in English, the Curious Rejection Committee.

That established, it’s notable that Spinner, in describing them, says that they commit hate crimes against “people with heteromorphic quirks”—a nearly word-for-word translation of the Japanese igyou-gata no ningen.  This leaves aside the idea I’ve spent so much time talking about, that heteromorph discrimination is aimed broadly at those with heteromorphic bodies, and not only those with the more narrowly defined heteromorphic quirks.  Shortly, however, I’ll cover some evidence that Spinner is over-generalizing, or just misinformed.

In the meantime, take note of a few things the CRC guys[3] actually say here, starting with the fact that they call Spinner a lizard. Instantly, a word that was previously a snippy and dismissive little shrug in Dabi’s mouth takes on the weight and ugliness of a slur.    Further, they call the League of Villains “sins against nature”—or, in a more literal translation, “impure criminals.”  I provide the more literal translation there because it’s more specific.  My immediate question of the English translation would be whether the CRC judge the League as being sins against nature simply because of their criminality, or because of their association with Spinner, but the Japanese makes clear that there are two separate labels being flung there: the League are both criminals and impure.    This idea of impurity brings in a religious dimension to heteromorphobia, a dimension heightened by the line (dropped by the English translation) in which the CRC accuses the League of invading a sanctuary—in Shinto, shrines have to be kept pure.  The CRC calling their hideout a sanctuary, with the added context of, “They have a lizard with them.  How disgusting,” thus makes it pretty clear that the impurity is about Spinner’s presence, not just the League’s assorted crimes.  This spiritualistic justification for bigotry will later be made even more explicit in Shouji’s flashbacks.    [3] With skull masks right there on their hoods!  A real, “Are we the baddies?” moment, but given some of the other things we get on them later, it's possible the skulls are meant to contrast what e.g. Spinner or Koda’s skulls might look like: baseline human versus animalistic or “misshapen.” Credit to @codenamesazanka for connecting the dots on that!

Spinner also gives us here the line that I covered back in the terminology section at the beginning:

We’ll go with the official version this time.

So here we have the observation that the word absolutely everyone uses, the word that, as far as we know, academically defines an entire category of quirks, is an unpleasant, even rude word.  But what is the alternative?  We’re never given one.  Indeed, Spinner doesn’t suggest one; he says that the nice thing to do is “avoid” the word instead.  In other words, talk around it.  See again what I said at the start about all the difficulties baked into that prospect.

Later, we get the first drops of Spinner’s backstory, and hit again on the “lizard” thing, with the note that Spinner’s backwater, stuck-in-the-last-century hometown called him “the lizard freak.”  He grew up with it, grew accustomed to it, thought there was nothing he could do to change it—he might even have internalized it somewhat, though clearly by the time Chapter 160 rolled around he was ornery enough about it to complain.    It's perhaps also notable that Spinner knows who the CRC are.  Though we’ll later find out that their numbers have hugely diminished, he not only recognizes them, he’s not even surprised to see them—unlike many, Spinner knows the CRC never truly went away.  (Compare his lack of reaction to, for example, Shouji's unsuspecting classmates, who will later be shocked, just shocked, that this kind of ugliness still exists in their country.)    So just to state the obvious here, yes, the presence of active hate groups does irrevocably shift the lens on everything we’ve seen up to this point.  You can’t say calling a heteromorph an animal is harmless, a little insensitive at worst, maybe even meant as a cute nickname, when that same language is used by openly violent bigots.

The volume version gives us, at the end of the chapter, further notes on the CRC.  It’s full of relevant tidbits, so I’ll provide the text in its entirety:

Once superpowered society grew more stable and less chaotic, this group emerged, based around a lack of acceptance for those with body-altering quirks.  They started out with demonstrations and protests but eventually started committing violent hate crimes.  Most felt this was taking things too far, so the group saw a sharp decline in membership and a scattering of factions.  These days, one faction might only reject people with animal properties, while another focuses its hate on people with irregular heads.  These two, among others, have very few members left.  The faction that Tomura and the villains attacked was one that stood by the original group's fundamental tenets.

So what is there to gather from this?  Let’s break it down a point at a time.

“Once superpowered society grew more stable (...)”    If you’ve ever lived through a time of increasing acceptance for a marginalized group, particularly if that acceptance involves measures for legal protections being passed, you’ll recognize what this is.  Just to pick a few U.S. examples, the KKK didn’t exist until after the Civil War;[4] proactive federal bans on same-sex marriages didn’t start getting passed/proposed until individual U.S. states started legalizing them and civil unions.  When opposition to something is the norm, said opposition often doesn’t start organizing until they see that status quo being threatened; they weren’t organized before because they never imagined they’d need to be!  That’s what we see with the CRC: they didn’t formally declare themselves until it started looking like quirks—and especially non-baseline quirks—were going to find legal acceptance.    [4] Literally.  The last day of the war was May 26, 1865; the date the first Klan was founded was December 24 of the same year. Easily the most vile thing I learned in the process of writing this piece.   

“(…) based around a lack of acceptance for those with body-altering quirks.”   This is what I was referring to when I said Spinner's characterization of the CRC might be a little bit off: the CRC wasn’t founded because of a hatred for specifically heteromorphic quirks; they were founded because of a hatred for different bodies, a descriptor that could also apply to those with transformation-style quirks!  Those, too, are quirks that alter bodies, after all; it’s just possible for people to turn them off, which is not the case for those with heteromorphic quirks.  So Spinner was not quite on the mark before.    Further, note that the phrase “body-altering quirks” is used here—a phrase that’s similar in meaning and much less othering than igyou.  It doesn’t fully cover everything I use “heteromorphic” and “non-baseline” to cover, in that it’s still murky in situations like e.g. Cementoss’s, where his emitter quirk is entirely independent of his oddly shaped head, but it’s still a useful term!  Except for the small complication of where it isn’t found: anywhere in the actual story.  The fact that Horikoshi uses it in an author’s note, but it comes up nowhere in BNHA proper, puts it in an unclear place as far as in-universe alternatives go.  Has it just not come up because Horikoshi hasn’t thought to include it?  Or has it not come up because it’s not a phrase people in-universe use?

“They started out with demonstrations and protests but eventually started committing violent hate crimes.  Most felt this was taking things too far, so the group saw a sharp decline in membership and a scattering of factions.”    Confirmation here of what Spinner said about the CRC and hate crimes, but note what this doesn’t say: that the CRC was outlawed.  There are, I suspect, a couple of factors influencing that.   o Firstly, while Japan has legal methods to restrict undesirable organizations,[5] making it difficult for them to raise funds or engage in publicity, the country doesn’t actually de facto criminalize membership in such organizations.  That distinction is part of the legacy of violent crackdowns on labor groups and protest movements in the first half of the 20th century; people tend to get very loud about anything that whiffs of the government trying to give itself the power to get that heavy-handed again.    Assuming that the laws haven’t changed overmuch in HeroAca!Japan, then, I wouldn’t expect membership in the CRC to have been criminalized outright, but the volume extra doesn’t mention any kind of legal repercussions at all.  That, I think, may go more to my next point.    [5] The relevant laws are aimed mostly at terroristic groups or organized crime.      o Secondly, another thing Japan has very, very little of is hate crime legislation.  From my research, there are only two laws of any note: a federal law passed in 2016 and widely regarded as toothless thanks to it lacking any criminal provisions targeting offenders,[6] as well as a local ordinance passed in Kawasaki in 2019 that went as far as mandating fines against repeat offenders, among other measures.[7] [6] It required the government to start “implementing measures” to eliminate such speech/behaviors, as well as to “respond to requests for consultation” from victims, but did not directly mandate consequences for offenders. [7] I suspect from some of what I read that Osaka has picked up a similar ordinance, but I didn’t find anything detailing it specifically.  Osaka and Kawasaki are home to the largest and second-largest population of Koreans living in Japan. One major thing neither of these measures did, though—and something activists have been pressing for—is to establish standards for considering discriminatory motivations when issuing sentences against those who have committed violent crimes.  To pick an example that made the news last year, a man committed arson out of openly admitted hatred for the Koreans he targeted, but nowhere in the trial or discussion of his sentence did the prosecution ever bring up discrimination.[8]    [8] https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220829/p2a/00m/0na/015000c    Also, it’s worth noting that both of these measures were aimed at ethnic discrimination—speech and behavior targeting people living in Japan while being themselves, or being children of, people of non-Japanese ethnicities.  They did not address discrimination based on e.g. religion or sexuality.    Folding both of those points together, the image we have of the CRC is of a violent hate group whose existence is regarded as perhaps distasteful and extremist, but not actually illegal.  Even what few laws Japan has now wouldn’t have applied to anti-heteromorph discrimination, because, while they may look wildly different from a prototypical Japanese person, heteromorphs still are Japanese, and therefore not protected by a law based solely around ethnic discrimination.    Incidentally, the ordinance in Kawasaki laid out a number of specific examples of the kind of behavior it was looking to address, and one of those examples was likening victims to something other than human.  I know why that was included in the context of anti-Korean sentiments,[9] but it certainly does shade e.g. Dabi calling Spinner a lizard more harshly to know that there’s legal precedent for categorizing such dehumanizing language as hate speech.    [9] An extremely common form of anti-Korean hate speech in Japan is to refer/allude to Koreans as cockroaches.

“These days, one faction might only reject people with animal properties, while another focuses its hate on people with irregular heads.”     This is a good echo of the sort of factionalization you see in organized religion, wherein the minutiae of tenets that seem similar to an outside eye are the topic of vicious, vehement inter-group debate. More to the point, however, it provides an excellent illustration of the senselessness of bigotry.  They can’t even keep their own discriminatory dogma straight!    Probably the second most common complaint about the story’s use of heteromorphobia—after calling it retconned-in bullshit that didn’t exist until Chapter 220—is that it’s illogical, that it makes no sense to judge people because they look a little different in a world where everyone is now a little different from the way we see the world.    And I wonder if the people who say that are listening to what they’re saying.  “Illogical bias that has no foundation in reality is unrealistic?”  What do these people think bigotry is?  Racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, religious discrimination, all the many different shades of queerphobia: all of these are built on foundations of fear and hate for people who are fundamentally still as human as anyone else, yet they all exist, and have existed, and will go on existing for quite some many years still.  Because irrational hatreds are, by definition, irrational.  Heteromorphic discrimination is the most realistic societal dynamic in the entire series! That little rant aside, I also want to highlight the first group in the excerpt above—people with animal properties.  Check any talk on the theme of, “So you can believe dragons but not black people in fantasy?” and you’ll run into the ways people are much more ready to suspend their disbelief for full-on fantasy than for something that, rightly or wrongly, pings them as incorrect, and it’s easy to imagine animal-associated heteromorphs running into a similar issue: it’s fine for people to just look weird, but looking like an animal, that’s bad and unnatural.  A heteromorph who just looks like nothing in particular other than “non-baseline” is not evoking the baggage of animal anthropomorphization and cultural animal symbolism that someone who looks like a bird, a lizard, a dog, an orca, etc. is.   

Chapter 223: 

Shigaraki refers to Gigantomachia as a gorilla.  It’s debatable how much this is of a piece with Dabi calling Spinner “Lizard”—Machia’s only actual animal quirk is Mole, not anything simian, nor is Machia particularly ape-like in anything other than his large size—but it does stand out to me that Spinner, who we know to have strong opinions about animal epithets, just refers to Machia by name or as “the big guy.”

Chapter 224: 

Mr. Compress calls Machia “our pet gorilla”; see note above.

Chapter 226: 

Curious introduces the idea of quirk counselling, telling us that its goal is to align people to a unified understanding of how the world and society work, but that it’s flawed in that it winds up emphasizing peoples’ differences instead.  The advisor at the hospital raid will include quirk counseling in his litany of grievances, so I’ll discuss its possible utilization against heteromorphs more there, but for now, recall that I talked previously about how quirk-based behavioral tics might vary from person to person by comparing Hound Dog with Sansa.  With that in mind, it’s not a big reach that some heteromorphs might run into similar problems with quirk counselling.   

There are a good number of what appear to be heteromorphs through the Curious fight; whatever the MLA’s core views on quirk supremacy, the organization self-evidently makes ample room for heteromorphs, even if, like e.g. the red panda guy in the crowd jumping Toga inside the noodle joint, they don’t seem to have any other stand-out powers beyond the fur and fangs.   

Chapter 229: 

Twice notes in his flashback that something about his eyes always rubbed people the wrong way, scared them.  We’ll eventually see this same thing with Tenko on the street—a totally normal-looking child, but the look on his face scares people away even more than the blood.  And I can’t help but think, “If even a totally baseline person’s eyes can creep people out, how much easier—and more extreme—is that reaction for the more out-there sort of heteromorph?”   

Gori makes the tiniest of cameos in Twice’s flashback, playing backup off to the side when we will, in current times, find him having worked his way up to the interrogation chair himself.   

Chapter 230: 

Geten brings us quirk supremacy via his understanding of the MLA’s goals.  It’s hard to say how accurate this is, since the MLA leadership is inconsistent on what exactly their vision of Liberation entails.  Whatever it is, it certainly doesn’t seem to dissuade the MLA’s own heteromorphs, though of course there’s a big difference between how e.g. Spinner or Ojiro versus Gang Orca or Mirko would fare in a societal quirk free-for-all.  Likewise, the MLA is a cult, so one can’t discount the likelihood of double-think in its members.   

Chapter 232:

Re-Destro talks about the state of the country in Destro’s infancy, a period in which metahumans suffered “constant abuse—blatant discrimination.”  Merely for speaking out that her child was just like everyone else—that his special power was just a quirk—Destro’s mother was killed by an anti-meta mob.  This gives us further evidence of the violence metahumans faced.  Of course, in that time, the hate wasn’t distinguishing between types of quirk, but with that being said, an emitter and a transformer can still hide the truth about themselves with far more ease than heteromorphs—recall All Might’s discussion about the early days of quirks back in Chapter 59, in which the panel showing four people with quirks contained only one baseline person.  It would be entirely unsurprising for an outsized number of the metahumans killed in those days to be heteromorphs.

Chapter 233: 

The confrontation between Trumpet and Spinner gives us Trumpet clucking about Spinner having a weak meta-ability—Gecko lets him cling to walls, and that’s about it.  It’s a striking contrast to someone like Mirko or Gang Orca, or even Tsuyu, all of whom have some combination of big power moves and a veritable fleet of sub-abilities.  We can see the way Hero Society prizes powerful, flexible quirks in this.  Having a strong quirk can help overcome the societal bias about heteromorphs, but if you’re stuck with a weak quirk and a weird face, you lack that metaphorical ticket out.[10]    [10] Incidentally, the fandom reflected some of that attitude as well.  There was a widespread assumption that Spinner’s quirk would be really useful or situationally powerful, otherwise why would Horikoshi have hidden it for as long as he did?  Then, after the reveal, there was a certain amount of complaining that Spinner was useless to the League, and why even bother with him?  Sometimes, life imitates art in some very unflattering ways.

Trumpet brings up that Spinner was a recluse, “mocked and pilloried,” and we see Spinner in his hikikomori days.  What we’ve gotten on Spinner up to this point suggests that the abuse he endured was mostly verbal, though one can imagine it was pretty rough when he was young enough to be the target of school bullies.  There’s a certain amount of temptation to minimize that in comparison to his response: most people who are bullied or targeted by discrimination don’t grow up to become terrorists.  But there was, we will eventually find, more visceral stuff going on—and parts of the country that were even worse than Spinner’s hometown.

Spinner spent most of his life trying to fit himself into the world around him; his strongest parallel in the League in this regard is Toga, as they were the two that held themselves back, let the world define what they were and how they should act, right up until they saw something that caused them to snap.[11]  Trumpet tries to do much the same to Spinner here (albeit probably less as an intentional psychological attack than Skeptic’s attempts on Twice), but Spinner, like Toga, is long past the point where he would swallow that abuse without fighting back.  When you tell someone they are something long enough, they eventually start to believe it—but if you aren’t careful, they’ll start to embrace it, at which point those weaponized words change hands.    [11] Shigaraki and Dabi, by contrast, pushed back harder, trying to get the world to accept them and never accepting it when their families (and particularly their fathers) told them to stop.  Twice was ejected without getting the chance to try to contort himself into a shape that fit the world, whereas Mr. Compress seems to have been raised to reject his society's accepted norms from the start.   

Chapter 234:

We see an image excerpted from Quirks and Us, a children’s book published by Curious’s outfit, that exhorts the reader not to judge people by their quirks.  It really, really begs the question, “If this is what’s being said in literature published to coax people towards anti-suppression radicalism, what on Earth is normal society saying?”    Regardless of that absolutely wild disparity, though, the fact that there are children’s books being published about quirk bias being wrong suggests that the world very much does have a problem with quirk bias.  Indeed, that much has been shown throughout the series, not merely in terms of anti-heteromorph bias, but also the bias against “villain quirks,” as well as the widespread idea that people with weak quirks—or no quirks at all—are weaker people overall, pitiable folk who lack the power to live their fullest lives or pursue their dreams unhindered.[12]    People on more than one of these axes of discrimination will, as in real life, be more likely to experience discrimination and violence. [12] Villains like All For One and Geten may say it more loudly, but it’s not only villains who believe it—perfectly good-hearted people like All Might and Midoriya Inko fall into that trap as well.   

Chapter 237: 

Nothing much to say about Shigaraki’s flashbacks save to note that, if people won’t stop to help a lost and bloodied (and baseline) child, they sure as hell won’t intervene in anti-heteromorph bullying.  Recall that Kirishima was accused of sticking his nose where it didn’t belong for trying!

-----

Thanks as ever for reading along, everyone! How was the new footnote format? Should I keep that up for lengthy meta going forward?

I was kind of expecting to be able to wrap this up (the main canon, at least) in one more post, but I underestimated the amount of writing I'd be doing for the first war arc. For next time, then, I'm looking to cover the Endeavor Agency, Paranormal Liberation War, and Dark Hero Villain Hunt arcs. See you all then!

[fio-renze]

This was probably a huge mistake. 

Fiorenze slowly exhaled as the waves crashed onto the Dornish shore, the sand glittering with glowing flecks of arcane residue that was still washing in — and out — from the wreck and remnants of Dalaran. 

Her first scry that she’d cast in the Stonelight Rest tried to go somewhere, but she could feel it stick and seize as if something was preventing her magic from finding Pyraelia. That was enough to give her some hope; if her little sister had been vaporized with the bulk of the city then the spell wouldn’t have gone anywhere at all. 

Sometimes a little extra oomph was needed; in the Shadowlands she’d been able to use the ponds in Bastion — little wells of arcane power. 

Her sister was worth risking the irradiated sea. 

She waded in, waist high, and seethed through her teeth at the raw, unmitigated rush of it as each incoming wave brought more. Too much. The sane instinct in her urged flight — but flight would get her nowhere. 

New lavender elementals sparked and formed on the surf and danced around her as she cast the spell again, fueling it with the might of the city her sister had adored. 

And it worked. 

There wasn’t anything inherently malicious in what had prevented her prior sight. Her spell cast hadn’t been strong enough to punch through the haze of void magic that seemed to permeate wherever Pyraelia was. Even with the extra, nearly overwhelming power, it was still difficult to get any specifics or recognizable surroundings. 

But Pyraelia was alive. 

That made all the difference. 

She hurried to get out of the water before the arcane pushed her beyond the brink, heart racing as she stumbled onto the sand. The excess magic had to go somewhere, so she dumped it all into an exultant cascade that carved a neon arc up the beach. 

The ramifications of her actions became apparent when she made it back to the inn. The woman staring back at her from the mirror in her room had a full head of stark, starlight white hair and brilliantly blue eyes. 

Shit.

@themercenaries

[chaotic-would-you-rathers]

Would You Rather...

A: Be Recruited to a newly formed magical girl team at the end of its first story arc as the final member, your salary will be £20/hr (or equivalent), for 35-45 work hours a week, in which time it will be your responsibility to patrol and fight villains of the week and assorted monsters (with additional hazard pay for the risk of death and injury involved), full medical and dental coverage is provided, as well as full parental leave and 20 paid leave per year, a pension plan of 15% your annual salary/year is also provided. Your employer will supply your magical transformation item, and replace it free of charge and you will be given a choice of one powerset/outfit (from the list under keep reading) HOWEVER, you are contractually obligated to continue this job until the age of 80 or otherwise your death, and you will be required to come into work in the case of sudden villain/monster attack, even outside of work hours on holidays or parental leave. B: Become a freelance, solo magical girl who has a secure source of donations easily accessible by the public, you still have to save the city from monsters, but are responsible for your own time management and reputation/income, you will know how to make your own transformation item by the same process as if it were a normal nonmagical object, but it becomes a magical transformation item when you complete it. You will be given a choice of one powerset/outfit (from the list under keep reading), you will also soon encounter a friendly rival freelance magical girl (with a powerset of your choosing and a personality you can learn to get along with but not currently)

Magical Girl Powersets: Set 1: Powerful pyrokinesis & related fire powers + Super Strength & Durability sufficient to easily lift and throw cars and withstand being hit with one, outfit is a sparkly red dress with fire related accessories, weapon is a huge red flaming greatsword, you will look as normal when transformed but with bright red hair, eyes and tattoos, others will be magically unable to recognize you when transformed (unless they see you transform at least once etc), transformation item is a red hairclip with a crystalline heart-shaped jewel Set 2: Ability to create magical barriers and shields, levitation and super durability sufficient to be bulletproof and unharmed even by buildings being thrown at you, barriers can also be made sharp with which to cut things, outfit is a frilly green dress & green ribbons/etc, you will look as normal when transformed but with bright green eyes and different hair colour at random, others will be magically unable to recognize you when transformed (unless they see you transform at least once etc), transformation item is a small green shield-shaped pendant, weapon is a massive green greatshield Set 3: Supersonic speed and durability sufficient to withstand this + weak electrokinesis & levitation + thought speed acceleration such to control your direction at full speed etc, weapon is a electric blue spear, outfit is an electric blue tracksuit + trainers and tinted visor & ribbons, you will look as normal when transformed but with long bright blue twin-tails (like Hatsune Miku) and electric blue eyes, others will be magically unable to recognize you when transformed (unless they see you transform at least once etc), transformation item is a cobalt blue lightning bolt shaped necklace. Set 4: Shadow Controlling + teleporting between shadows within 100m (via sinking into and out of them) + Levitation + Summoning demonic minions out of shadows + weak electrokinesis + pyrokinesis (except the lightning and fire is black) + creating weaker shadowy duplicates of yourself + minor super strength speed & durability sufficient to throw cars with great effort and only take minor injuries from being hit with them + run at 35mph, weapon is giant black greataxe, outfit is full black gothic funeral garb, transformation item is an onyx skull-shaped ring, you will look as normal when transformed but with long silky black hair reminiscent of the mythical princess Kaguya, eyes that are entirely black except from the iris, which is bright white, and a height of 8ft, others will be magically unable to recognize you when transformed (unless they see you transform at least once etc) Set 5: Extremely powerful telekinesis sufficient to hurl around buildings with ease + levitation + 1000x thought acceleration, outfit is a reflective white dress with lots of frills & ribbons + silver accessories. Weapon is a silver revolver with infinite ammunition, transformation item is a silver bangle with a white rose motif, others will be magically unable to recognize you when transformed (unless they see you transform at least once etc), you will look as normal when transformed but albino, (unless you are already, in which case you look as normal)

[chloe-caulfield94]

A Miracle I Chose Not to Perform - a LiS fan poem

On a surprisingly sunny and warm day in October

a genuine miracle was about to happen

In spite of the consequences of their actions

(and fitting conclusions to their character arcs)

emerging from the ocean and coming their way

the following wonderful people would be spared:

A promising young artist would be allowed

to keep making his haunting works

after just a brief three year stay

in an institution run by those

who clearly fail to comprehend

that in pursuit of real art

sacrifices must be made

Some shallow graves simply need to be filled

with whores

I mean sluts

I mean models

if truth and beauty are to be discovered

An ambitious businessman would be allowed to keep

the spirit of entrepreneurship alive

by selling his intoxicatingly enticing wares

to the most challenging customers of all – schoolchildren

And I’m sure that such a nice, hard-working man

would soon find a new, suitably young match

to replace the one he killed with his product

One that would understand

that after a hard day’s work

(and tasting his own stash)

a “man” has the right to explode into a blind rage

A devoted school principal and brave boys in blue

would be allowed to keep supplementing their incomes

(which are absolutely inadequate, when you factor in how much they care about the people they teach, protect and serve)

with envelopes coming from

a pillar of local community

for keeping the young artist’s career

under wraps

A valued member of the student body

would be allowed to teach

many a more stuck-up prudes

a lesson using her phone camera

having never been made aware

that other people have feelings too

All those wonderfully revolting things

would be allowed to happen

for a low tall Price

of just one murdered girl

What is the murder of a single girl

if it allows the putrid entrails

of a scenic Oregon town

to keep on churning

An irrationally angry girl

who had the audacity to confront

the boy who'd merely roofied her

Big deal!

He only wanted to

do something beautiful to her

and he would have

had she not unceremoniously fled

while she was still alive

How rude!

But you can’t expect class

from a scholarship kid in tattered clothes

Forgive my sarcasm dripping from the page

I will now speak plainly

The miracle described above I chose not to perform

I decided that just this once

friendship

should carry more weight

than the cruelty of evildoers

One ghoul pierced her heart

with a bullet-tipped spear

Another placed a red crown of thorns

on her forehead

Conquering her fear she didn’t cry

„Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani”

No, instead she handed me

the final nail

and begged me to hammer it

so that others might live while she would die

But despite her bravery

in the face of oblivion

(or perhaps because of it)

a blue-winged seraph was sent down

to defend her life

Nobody would miss her

the promising artist said

and if I had let her cross be raised

I would’ve proven him right

Nothing ever is worth someone

being murdered

Nothing ever is worth someone

dying alone, abandoned, hopeless and afraid

And for that reason

unlike two millennia ago in Palestine

expiation was denied

to those who required it the most

but deserved it not

I made sure of that

by pulling the would-be Christ of Arcadia Bay

down from her cross

Even though two nails

had already been driven

her hands, feet, heart and brow

bear no holes

My supposed crime is digging out of her heart

a bullet fired by

the promising artist

Shouldn’t the fault lie with the one

who aimed the gun and pulled the trigger?

I never claimed to be a hero

and if saving a friend's life is a sin

then I’m the greatest sinner

(and unrepentant one at that)

Once you cut out all hope

from your own friend’s heart

and you nail their body to a cross

once you’re smiling over their coffin

bloody knife and hammer in your hands

once you selfishly reduce

the light of their life

to a memory locked away

in your brain

then you can judge me

But know that

I don’t care about the verdicts

of ghouls

Isn’t it written

that whoever saves a life

is considered to have saved

the whole world?

So by digging the bullet out of her heart

I saved her world

my world

our world

the world

She was the Price to be paid

for sparing Arcadia Bay

from its fate

I refused that bargain

because who in their right mind

would pay with the world

for a town?

All the fine people described at the begininng

casual in their cruelty

banal in their evil

learnt an important lesson

(and for some of them it was their last):

sometimes hatred and disdain sown

become a Storm reaped

So on an unsurprisingly cold and stormy day in October

the miracle turned out to be

how such a tiny town could've fit

so much cruelty

before it burst at the seams

and that the seeds of the Storm

sown by its dwellers every day

took that long to yield crop

[yumedoca]

Ataru’s Harem: The Bad End (An Analysis)

Attention!! The following analysis was written by an inexperienced me during the month of November. This might've been my first one, so I had a habit of overexplaining back then, which I no longer do as much while writing now, so please excuse any mistakes. Also, The arc which this analysis focuses on didn't have an official translation at the time, so I had to rely on the fan translations instead (which I do mention in the analysis as well)... This was just sitting in my drafts and the poll I held said to post it, so...

Analysis under the cut...

[I repeat, EVERYTHING under the cut is from November, so it's not like my usual ones, including the blue title above..]

The Doors of Fate Arc (AKA Inaba the Dream maker) is probably my favorite storyline in Urusei Yatsura. Just the way everything’s written in that arc is done so perfectly. And so, one of my favorite things about the arc is how they portray Ataru. The focus on not just Ataru, but his ideal harem and the reality of his harem is what this analysis will focus on.

We’ll begin from the point in the story where Ataru, Lum, Shinobu and Inaba were resting after witnessing all the bad futures and Lum asks Ataru what is it that he wants to see in his future. Ataru knowing that Lum won’t take his answer of “Harem” very well, says “Something…” as his reply. To which Lum questions him whether he wants to see them married or not, and that he’s probably looking for a future where he has a harem. To which he tells Lum that she’s misjudging him and that all he wants is to just live in a cheap six tatami apartment with Lum… (with Lum in the background being touched by that sentiment) ….and Shinobu and Sakura and Ran, Ryunosuke, Ryoko, Benten, Oyuki. He states that that’s his meager future to which Lum angrily replies “THAT’S MEAGER!?”

The first thing we can pick from this is that Ataru’s vision of a harem here is more humble than his initial one. His initial harem dream had him in a huge mansion[?] and with far more power, money (it isn’t stated, but from the way how big his house[?] is, you can assume he’s rich) and of course a lot of sexy women. It seems that by now, Ataru’s realized that he won’t naturally gain a lot of power or money from the way he is, he’s mostly aware of how he is and what all can he achieve in that area without some kind of miracle, after all he’s not Mendo who naturally can get those things. So he opts for the easier and more realistic scenario… Even though it isn’t a 100% realistic….. 

Later the gang go into the destiny factory and Inaba explains that the destiny factory is where is all the futures are made and that they can make their own futures as well, which they do. Ataru, Lum and Shinobu end up creating knobs for each of them, which if attached to a door can create their ideal future. 

Unfortunately, they got found out by bunnies of the Fate Production Bureau. The gang immediately runs away so they don’t get caught by them and during the chase Lum ends up dropping her knob into the abyss and losing it. While Ataru tells Lum not to worry since he still has his harem knob, prompting her to go on an angry electric chasing spree which Ataru manages to avoid by attaching his knob to a door and escaping Lum’s wrath (for the time being, that is.) And then he has a good look at his “ideal future made with extra- special care”…

The first thing he notes is that the place is too small (and whether his future income can handle this), probably since everyone’s complaining. Future Ataru awkwardly laughs the complaints off since there’s nothing he could do, since this how the future was made. This issue was probably created since Ataru didn’t think of the consequences of his humble future.

(To be read from left to right for this arc, cuz for some reason the fan translations are flipped)

Ataru thinks to himself that this lifestyle is pretty rough. Then he points out that everyone’s here including Benten, Ran, Oyuki. Everyone, Except…

Future Ataru leaves his apartment saying that he’s going for a short walk, and then he sits down to contemplate (with the present Ataru quietly coming towards him and standing behind him and listening). And then future Ataru reveals the truth about what happened to Lum while he was creating his harem…

So in a nutshell, he basically treated her like a worthless slave. And even after all of that, future Ataru questions her decision to leave, with the present Ataru giving the most appropriate reaction in this situation.

Now this is where an analysis is the most necessary. This section of the story shows us the most important thing about the reality of Ataru’s harem which is… Ataru’s Personality Change.

Usually if Ataru did something stupid or wrong from his side and if Lum tries to give him what he deserves in that situation. He’d start acting as if he’s the wounded party and complains about it (comedically), but deep down he’ll admit to himself that he does deserve the blame after all. This is the most apparent in the “Electric Jungle” arc. When Lum runs away with Shingo, Ataru acts like Lum’s the one at fault even though he’s the one who was originally late for their date. 

(To be read from right to left, since the material for this chapter is taken from the official translations)

…He got zapped after that panel…

Anyways, later on when Lum doesn’t return and Ataru starts worrying about her, he does admit that it was his fault for being late after all.

Not only that but Ataru knows about the limits to how selfish one must behave and he manages not to cross that limit because deep down he’s a good guy. Even when he insults Lum he makes sure that his insults will receive an angry response (which she recovers quite quickly from) from her rather than a sad one (which hurts her really deeply and it takes time for her to recover from).

But Ataru’s future shows that making a harem has made him far more selfish than before, so selfish and greedy to the point where he doesn’t even realize he’s at fault for using the love of his life for slave labor of all things. Of course future Lum leaving future Ataru makes sense after what he’s done, but I think the main reason she left him is because deep down the Ataru she fell in love with, ie. the side she loved him for, no longer exists. That’s quite a depressing future if you think about it, and thank god Ataru removed the knob from the door, deleting that future, while questioning whether he wants a harem or not (cuz what’s the point of a harem if he can’t have Lum?).

We also get to hear from him that he only loves Lum, not Shinobu, not Sakura, not Benten and so on… since he admits to being fickle.

The harem future has a sad end for both Ataru and Lum, but the reason he ditched it is not because he had a depressing end, it was because Lum had a depressing end. This proven later on we get to see him react to a future where they are married, and we see him accepting and trying to save that future, because he saw that Lum was so happy to the point she was crying tears of joy.

(Also Ataru’s smile and blush in this scene is so fckin cute! Like, look at that blushing bunny!)

Anyways, that’s all for this analysis. I just felt like this section of the arc deserved an analysis since no one really talks about it. Thank you for reading and hope you have a nice day.

[thegodemperorsmycopilot]

Dramatis Personae

The Agents

Ezekyll Krinn, "Hollow"

Jeziree M'Bannyon, "Dust"

Rezika Kastalani, "Rush"

Sabin Zimnyadova, "Frost"

Uhlaxendra Oktano, "Lex"

2

Engines screamed as the blocky shape of the guncutter shifted laterally and upwards across the grey face of the skyscraping hab.

Tracers and lasbolts filled the space around the ship as it rose, ricocheting off the hull, barely scratching the heat-resistant paint. Banks of heavy guns in the 'cutter's body and on its wings rotated, centred and roared as a storm of explosive bolts struck the hab's facade, blowing out windows and walls.

Fingers danced across the air as the pilot tapped haptic-laced tips across the noospehrically projected controls, their feet working the pedals. They murmured softly as they watched the incoming small-arms fire slow to a trickle as they unceasingly emptied round after round into the face of the building. Their ammunition count was still in the green despite the volume of their fire.

Their fingers's dancing paused momentarily as a received transmission squealed in their ears, causing them to wince and reflexively duck their head to the side.

"Hollow, Rush, ETA one mike less," they uttered the soft reply, the 'cutter hovering before continuing its upward climb, its guns silent and smoking. "More hostiles on the floors below you. Their ascension has been arrested."

They breathed in slowly as they levelled off the 'cutter, engines howling, less than a minute later. The guns spun up and unleashed a storm of fire as they pulverised the walls ahead, revealing the lurid pink and purple glow of heretic sorcery. Bolts roared across the floor, shredding bodies and hastily erected cover.

They grit their teeth as an unnatural screeching filled their  headset, almost making them tear the faceless helmet from their head. Their eyes widened as arcs of purple energy streaked towards the 'cutter. Out of the corner of their eye they saw a rail-thin silhouette charging through the pink-hued walls of flames.

Too late, they thought, as the arcs of purple stretched and spun, reaching for the 'cutter, even as the 'cutter's engine shrieked, trying to climb out of the way.

A bright blue ball lanced past the 'cutter, exploding within the hab in a sun-bright flare. A twisted skeleton was illuminated for brief seconds before being reduced to ashes on the wind.

The screeching ended abruptly and the purple and pink energies winked out of existence as though they had never existed. They released the breath they hadn't even realised that they were holding.

They heard the familiar gravelly drawl through their headset, "Dust bids Hollow and Rush. The shriek by torch ended, to the worshipped place ebb."

There was a brief pause before the drawl continued, with the hint of a smile, "And you're welcome, Zeek."

They shook their head as they heard the grumbled reply amble over their communications network, "Took you pikin' long enough, 'Ree."

Section prev

Section 1

Section next

[bluerosesinthenightsky]

There’s A Hollow Fracture In Kirito’s Chest...

{{Not A Title, Just an Attention grabber for a preview of a polyfic of different romantic/platonic dynamics between Eugeo, Kirito, Asuna And Alice coming to an A03 near you. Yujikiri is the main focus, and the poly stuff comes more towards the epilogue. How does it all play out? You will just have to wait and see!}} _ _ _

OBLIGATORY MAJOR SPOILER WARNING FOR Sword Art Online: Alicization Arc! Do not READ if you haven't finished the first half of the Alicization Arc! MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH INCOMING! YOUVE BEEN WARNED!

_ _ _

There’s a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest, a fissure stretched all the way vertically across the middle, it is wide and raw. Bleeding, red, agonizing and burning, yet all at once so cold.  

So cold… 

It was as if a blade of ice, so cold it burned, but so hot it was cold- had flayed him open. Cleaving through skin, muscle and finally carving against the bones within his ribcage. Where it punctured downwards, rending them until broken, and struck true into his heart. 

The frigid point piercing and plunging its serrated edge so deeply into it, that it found his very core, his soul and froze it over. 

There was a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest. It was far deeper than it was wide, like a black abyss, swallowing him up whole, devouring everything he had left to give. 

A murky nebulous, akin to the night sky, yet there was no light to guide his way, no stars speckling the canvas of the lonely void to bring him back home. 

Why? Why wasn’t there any light? 

He knew why. 

His light, his star, it had burnt out like a supernova and had left him all alone. 

Isolated and suffocating in his own despair. That’s right… his heart had been plundered and his soul pillaged, and all that remained was ice. 

Kirito’s home didn’t exist anymore. 

There was a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest and in that hollow space between his bloodied and shattered ribs, was a single blue rose. 

It was withering, yet a sheen of glistening frost had crept over the surface of its beautiful petals. 

Beautiful just like…him. 

Beautiful it might be it was still just as ugly.  

A merciless constant reminder of being so brutally bereaved of his beloved partner. 

It was as if the frost had frozen Kirito in time. Forcing him to remain in that exact heart-stopping and spine-chilling moment. When the sword, that was responsible for this fractured and icy hollow in his chest, shattered and then dispelled and released his precious partner. Leaving him to plummet to the floor. 

Leaving him all but lifeless, his crimson cruor pooling like a sea of ruby rose petals underneath him. His frame severed into two halves, leaving him a shell of something once whole, by the sword of the ruthless ruler of the Underworld. 

“EUGEOOOOOOOO!!!” 

The guttural and wounded growl, of Eugeo’s name, detonated like a violent gale. It surged rapidly out from Kirito’s vocals like a swirling storm and echoed within those damn forsaken walls. 

And she with her long lavender hair, fitted with a dress as white as snow, looked on. 

Outwardly, one might mistake her for a holy being, innocent and pure, full of love and light. 

If Kirito didn’t know better, he would have thought her an angel sent from the heavens above to collect Eugeo. 

But the angel was a devil in disguise, staring mockingly and sneering with a smirk so vile that Kirito had come to despise it and her. 

That despicable woman, no not a woman, she was naught but a callous and cold creature with no capacity for loving anyone put herself. She had love for herself alone and her insatiable bloodlust for control over all. 

The Administrator, Quinella, were she still alive now- Kirito would have hunted her to the ends of the Underworld and he would have slaughtered her. Then he would have used system commands to bring her back and slaughter her again, and again, and again… 

Over and over… until not a trace of her fluctlight remained. He would raze her away, permanently deleting her from the system, and by the time he was finished it would be as if she’d never existed. 

Yet nothing could be done now. Though Kirito’s body was in the present, his heart and soul and sense of self and time had been frozen in place. It froze over within an impenetrable barrier, an icy cage. Of which the only key that could set him free had long since melted away. Leaving it forever locked and leaving him in everlasting lament. 

A part of him had died with Eugeo that day. That dark and dismal day, the day that Kirito’s star went out, the day that his precious little Eugeo… 

His best friend and his ever-loyal partner, his everything… 

His beloved Eugeo. 

His icy blue rose. 

Burned and melted away in a baleful blaze of crossing blades and blood. 

_ _ _ There you have it, that's the preview! I've wanted to rp a Yujikiri reunion for a long time, but no one has ever come to the call and actually committed. So I decided to write something my damn self, and make it into a fanfic. this will be a self-indulgent Yujikiri reunion fic, with a small side of poly dynamics between Kirito, Eugeo, Alice and Asuna scattered throughout the fic and in the epilogue. If polyamory isn't for you, then this fic I'm writing isn't for you.

Please do NOT start a ship war in the comments, or reblogs, or even screen shotting this preview and making it into a ship war, thank you. This fic won't be exactly like the Yujikiri reunion I have in my head rp wise. Rp wise would be a much simpler premise, and it would be strictly Yujikiri, and not as long and as lore heavy.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed what you've read so far. I don't know if it's obvious or not, but Kirito is having a nightmare. He's reliving Eugeo's death over and over and has been every night for YEARS.

I take no responsibilities for anyone's emotional turmoil.

[scumbag-the-hedgehog]

Okay, so for Scourge's different "love interests" I've got:

Fiona (@scumbag-the-hedgehog): His only "official" partner.

Cynic, aka “Cyn" (@cynicallyscorned): His “very close friend.” We know what they are. Corruption Arc Ongoing.

Amy, aka “Pink” (@winters-club): Extremely obvious crush. Singular ray of sunshine. Future girlfriend/wife?

Shadow, aka “Scarlet,” “Stripes” (@somewhereinchaos): Strange gay interactions, and we love them for that.

Skyler, aka “Sonic,” “Blue” (@galaxofmuses): This is basically just KakaVege, and we love it for that.

Sally, aka “Alicia,” “Sal” (@tactccladv): Corruption Arc Incoming.

Eimi, aka “Ems” (@smileimi): Oblivious Criminal Mentor-Mentee.

Yako (@omniversentertwined): Dude this is not a love interest, you’re going to be turned into a science experiment.

Scourge, aka “Crystal,” “Queenie” (@fstbmp): ???

...and I'm leaving off ones that are still "in development" but if you want me to add them tell me and I might make an update.

[akirayuri]

Lookism || OC Bio

㋛︎ Name: Ryu Nakamura

㋛︎ Age: 15

㋛︎ Gender: biologically female/ non binory

㋛︎ Hair colour: natural white

㋛︎ Eye colour: Caribbean Blue

㋛︎ Sexuality: Bisexual

㋛︎ Nationality: Japanese

㋛︎ Pronoun: They/them, He/his, She/her

㋛︎ Department: comics and animation

㋛︎ Crew: unofficial member of HOSTEL. Later joined Daniel's allied Crew

㋛︎ Nickname / Allies : ' 白龍' which literally reads as "white dragon". They symbolises death. 'Godfather' of HOSTEL.

㋛︎ Jobs/Source Of Income: Has a YouTube channel on art, video editing and animation related content and manga and anime review. Has a side channel were she dose crime storytelling. ( No one knows she is a Youtubers, besides Eli cause they basically lived together before shifting together with the HOSTEL gang and Daniel, as a form of exchanging secrets she knows about Daniel's second body. and she will take this secret down to grave if needed. ) Does part time job time to time. Popular on Instagram as an artist and animation student. Which only increased after Mary Kim posted some of her and fashion department student's photo together as a prank.

㋛︎ Crush/lover: She was crushing on her best friend and eventually confessed to her, but some bad situation led to her best friend in coma after a failed suicide attempt [ more in the backstory ], she will develop a liking towards Zoe after some interaction. High-key has sexual tention with Mary Kim. Has a affectionate bond will Eli, had a crush on him before he confessed to Heather. But, low-key protective towards Daniel and Eli. After hearing about the stalker arc and what happened in the fight with Gun, she becomes very overprotective.

Does not have a lover.

㋛︎ Likes: dark chocolates, Manga and Anime related content, anything art and animation related, swords, Katana to be specific, her guitar, a good sleep, slacking off or just lazing around, a good smoke after work, surprisingly reading novels, leather products (like eye patch, buckle boots, gloves etc), spicy food, lemons, music ( especially 90's Indie, rock and metal ), having good fight where she can freely break skulls lol, obsession with spooky, mysterious things, thriller and mystery genre, etc

㋛︎ Dislikes: People might mistake her for a bully because of her foul language and intimidating aura but she hates bullying, "Why the fuck would I establish dominance by smacking a bunch of kids?? I would rather fight someone stronger than me." That's something among the of what she will say. Getting her bike destroyed, much less touched by someone other than herself. Distraction when she is working or studying. Overly sweet things, salty foods. Ironically, she hates sun light. People messing with something that's her, be it her friends, crush or her things. Art block, losing in a fight. Someone insulting her department and friends etc.

㋛︎ Appearance: Ryuu Nakamura is a teen with paper pale skin, stark white mid back length straight hair and paired with Caribbean Blue eyes. If you see her for the first time, the only thing you will notice is her white hair and black leather eye patch on her right eye that almost cover half of her face.

𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫: her hair is often tied in a messily done braids or ponytail. She sometimes she keeps her hair lose or in a half bun. Her hair always manages to stays a mess weather it's tied or lose but still is incredibly soft and silky according to Zoe. Her bangs reaches past her eyes just above her nose. Her lengthy bangs are lightly parted unorganisedly in three sections, above her left eye and right eye. Though her bangs mostly covers her right eye and eye patch, but you will catch glimpses of them time to time.

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐧: Her white hair and pale skin almost seems to bland. Because of her eye catching hair colour and eye patch contrasting with her pale skin and hair, people tend to overlook her facial features.

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: She has considerably attractive features with her long straight nose and high nose bridge, pink slightly chapped lips that are not too plum nor too thin and a sharp jawline. She has strong visual appeal due to her distinct facial bone structures, high cheekbones, prominent jawline and everything.

𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬: Her most noticeable feature is her eyes, icy shade of blue, wide, sharp and lidded, framed with long white lashes. Even her eyebrows are white.

𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 ( 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑠 / 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑒 / 𝐵𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 / 𝑒𝑡𝑐): She has heavy dark circles that seems to be even more prominent against her pale skin, due to lack of sleep and pulling all nighters. Her features are sharp, giving her a intimidating but unique look. She has a long, jagged scar on her left eye, this is the reason she wears eye patch. Doesn't have a 'H' despite being a unofficial member of HOSTEL because, 1, she left the group before the tattoo incident and 2, because she thinks she is not worthy of the honour because she couldn't do anything to help them when they needed it then

𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞: Ryuu is very tall for a woman, standing 181 inches, two inches taller then Big Daniel. She has lean and athletic but elegant build. Her shoulders are board and her hips and waist are slight, which gave her upper body a triangle shape. She has long and toned legs. Her body is littered with scars. She has a long neck and prominent collar bone. She tends to bind her cheat with binders or a long strap of clothe. Though her chest is not much noticeable even without binds, they're medium. Because of her frim and tall body and flattened chest, there are very few people that knows that she is actually 'she'. She doesn't even bothers to correct them. She doesn't mind he/him/his pronouns either. .

㋛︎ Personality: Ryuu Nakamura is a some what laid back person. Always Blanding into crowd and out of reach. Someone you will notice time to time as the weird quite kid. Dispite her tendency to by invisible, her presence can be very overwhelming if she wants. One of the many reasons why people are unable to approach her. It's quite hard to approach her because of the going rumours that she was a sadistic bully in her previous schools and tried to kill the girl she liked. And her foul mouth and intimidating aura dose not helps. If it's her who approaches you first it might seem like a bulling tactic or threat but that's when it becomes easier to talk to her. Though, in her department many students did approach her because of her drawing and storytelling skills, they all will say the same thing, "He is really easy to talk if you get to know him a little." Or "Ryuu-san is very helpful and cool". When asked about the rumours, they said, "Huh? We are more or less invisible to this school anyways. We couldn't care less about what other people says." Let's just say, she is very popular in her department. The rumours do get to her time to time and caused her many problems such as becoming an enemy of 'Burn Knuckles' and other individuals, but she stays indifferent to them. Eli once tried to confront some students about it but she stopped him saying, "Don't, it will fuel ther crap even more." Daniel activity avoided her at first. But when she asked him to become her model for, he couldn't say no. That's when they started hanging out.Though scared out of his mind, he becomes so comfortable that when he found himself tangled in any mess, calling her became the most reasonable thing to do. But most of the time Ryuu arrives uninvited, unexpected."I don't know how the hell she tracks me down....but she has killer timing. Oh! And a tendency to came with a 'BANG!', literally." Is what Daniel says. As Daniel predicted, after she started interacting more with people, the rumours died down. She ended up haveing a pretty impressive number of admirers. Often getting called out as an otaku kid. [Vin Jin lol]

She is laid back, but not quite. If you see anything crazy going on with the gang and you're expecting Ryuu to be sane one, you're mistaken a BIG time. She will probably fuel things then watch from sideline with a popcorn pack. She is more chaotic then then the group combined.

As laid back and lazy as she can be, if gets serious she can do anything. Pretty hard working on the things she likes. She won't stand and watch other students getting bullied. Warping up situations with quick and effective moves, if not in the mood to fight or the opponent is too weak. She ends the ending things quickly. But can low-key be a sadistic. Dragging the fight and destroying the opponent with ruthless abandon is her thing. The ruthless use of weapons, techniques and her own genre of martial arts; thing get way more messy and dirty then needed to be.

Safe to say that she is very observant. So much so that she was the first one to catch on Daniel's secret about the double bodies before he could even tell her about it.

She is calculative and wity. One of the many reasons that makes her such a terrific opponent and a hard person to ambush.

Surprisingly, emotional intelligence is her most valuable point. Being the first to be able to pinpoint the real reason behind Olly Wang's jealousy. But doesn't know what to do with the information. She tried to warn Eli about the double standards he was unconsciously playing and Olly Wang, but it end up back firing so hard she left the group before everything went to hell.

The "one to recognise Eli's dampen moods ( while he is not the most emotionally open person ) and Daniel's distress over the things he gets himself roped with ( Ryuu : I swear to god he has a fucking magnet for trouble and creepy ass guys who are constantly at his ass )

While she can read people, she herself is very complicated to read at. At times bottle up things and burst out in the forms a bloody mess. Tries to be peaceful.

Has an urge to dominate. It's intimate and Carmel. But something that brings her a undeniable high.

She is, tad bit unhinged. And it shows time to time. An trigger happy MF if you ask Zack Lee.

Actually, she is a soft boy. Someone who care and it shows. Go ask Eli for a change.

㋛︎ Fighting style and tactics: As said above, she is some quick to end things but will drag them more then necessary if she's in the mood. Aikido and taekwondo are her go to martial arts.

✨ L E G S ✨ she kicks hard. And won't hesitate to destroy you only via legs alone.

You see her with her Katana ( even the wooden one ), run.

Has a keen interest for various types of weapons, especially Katana since it's the first weapon of her Choice.

Her style in welding Katana is a starck difference from her actual, physical fights.

Clean, precise and elegant. Like a dragon as people call it.

But her physical fighting however, is brutal. She gets her hand on any and everything.

Learnt from Eli, use of objects are a ugly thing.

Instead of being ashamed, she basked at the shocked look on her opponents faces.

If her use of weapons are ugly then her physical fighting style with martial art are bizzare.

technicians thrown into blander, resulting in unpredictable attacks that are so fascinating it's beautiful. Her kicks especially, high, precise and killable. Something only demons can archive.

Sometimes, she fights to protect, Sometimes she fights on default, something she fights to kill.

[ still under work lmao. You guy might notice some style change and typos. The first half was written like YEARS before then the second. This will be edited cause I can't stand looking at my old writing lol ]

[sinnohlunarfestival]

^^^ CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE BROADCAST OF THE RACE!

Transcript from the Second Segment of the Lunar Race:

Good morning everyone! My name is Kinsey, with Sinnoh Now in conjunction with Goldenrod Radio.

It's a chilly, windy day up here in the Floating Isles brought you you by Lysader Labs, Macro Cosmos and Devon Coporation. Mankind truly has gone above and beyond indeveloping all kinds of amazing technology, haven't they?

The racers are lining up at the starting line right now and the crowds taking spots on the various isles are cheering and screaming. I can see flags from various regions flying up. From my vantage point I can make out flags from Kanto, from Paldea and Unova! Loads of fans are making their support known.

Our two pinch hitters, Yris and Hilary, are doing some stretches alongside their Garchomps.

Miss Rika is looking pretty confident beside Sosu. Despite being a Ground Type Specialist, she seems pretty at home up here in the sky.

Alistair is pumping up Daisy with a good pep talk. Must be a holdover from his days at Pokestar Studios, eh? Heard the stars there really bring each other up.

Brian is getting his equipment ready for his ride with Chelsea as well as Auwa with her mount.

Giacomo seems to be riding without his signature hat. A good choice; the winds up here will be pretty brutal. Wouldn't want to lose his hat and never see it again.

Green and Blue are both looking pretty confident in themselves. Which of these flyboys will get ahead? Can we expect another win from Green Oak?

Ashe is talking with Kumiko, looks like they're still sporting their colours together. Looking fashionable with your bandannas, you two!

Hassel and Ghetsis are pretty quiet, such stalwart figures. Ghetsis looks so regal and composed and Hassel so calm. Dragon experts really are something else. Considering how they placed last time, will this be their redemption arc?

All right, everyone is getting into place. Unlike the the Water Track, the Sky track is high up in the air. Last time, the Water Track left off at the Pokemon League and that's where our racers will be kicking off! Starting from one of the Floating Isles above the League building, our racers will dive off their platforms and into the sky, headed towards the first marker at Veilstone City! After that it's a straight shot through Solaceon to Hearthome, with several obstacle hoops to fly through in between, and then touching down just outside of Eterna City.

There's quite a bit of danger involving this part of the race, but no worries! We have several members from the Pokemon Centers ready to go as well as many air marshals riding on their own Pokemon in case they need to catch our riders and their dragons.

Now...let's cheer on our racers and pray for their safe journey.

*1....2....3....GO!!!*

And they're off to a great start!

Diving headfirst into the air below, Hilary and Yris are leading the charge, followed by Alistair and Giacomo. The others are following suite and – oh, Team Luxray has gotten off to a bad start! Instead of diving off spectacularly as they had some days ago during a display of Pokemon and human bonds, both have tripped up and tumbled off of the starting platform instead! They're catching themselves up, though, Rika holding on fast to her mount and they're joining the rest.

The air is full of racers flying majestically through the clouds. We are now following them via Pokemon Taxi to get the best view and the best sound! Courtesy of the Safari Zone for volunteering these amazing Pigeot carrying the team safely along the track beside the racers.

Up ahead a large flock of Starly are incoming! Rika and Sosu dove under them, losing a bit of altitude, but gain distance and speed. Racer Hilary and Green Oak have veered to the side, avoiding the huge group of little birds. The rest of the group isn't so lucky and some have been pelted with the incoming bodies of little Starly. Oh, the marshals have caught the little ones affected by the impacts. Don't worry folks, they're all right! The Racers aren't in danger either, flying ahead to catch up.

Not to be outdone by his fellow Paldean, Hassel has caught up and surpassed Rika. Team Mamoswine is soaring ahead, leaving behind Team Luxray in their dust. On his tail is Green Oak of Team Girafarig. Keeping up a good pace is Yris of Team Bidoof, with Hilary and Aluwa coming in behind them. The others are starting to lag behind with Brian at the end of the pack.

We are headed towards Hearthome, but before that, we have the special aerial obstacle course which will prove the bond and maneuverability of each team.

Famed racer Aluwa is shining here, weaving through each loop like threading through the eye of a needle. Doing rolls in mid-air and whirls – what a show off. How graceful. Hassel is no slouch, either, moving through the obstacle with equal grace on top of Rosso. King Ghetsis is following Hassel's every move, gracefully going through the air as well, almost seeming to make a ballet in mid-air with Maryse and Team Mamoswine as their dance partner.

Blue seems to be having trouble, they've bumped into the loops more than once. Oh, Brian and Chelsea seemed to have selected a loop much too small for them to go through and have gotten stuck! The air marshals are flying over to help them get detangled safely and off they go again! Come Team Garchomp, you can do it! Go, go, go!

We're getting past Herathome and into the home stretch.

Currently Giacomo has shot to the forefront on Tyrant, leading the pack to the finish line.

He's followed by Ghetsis, then Aluwa and Green. Next we have Hassel slowing down a little, with Alistair, Yris, Blue, Hilary, Ashe and Brian. Looks like getting stuck in one of the loops cost Brian a lot of time!

We are losing altitude now as we near the finish line and the winds are getting a bit rough as a result as she change the distance between ourselves and the ground. Everyone is making the preparation for landing in front of Eterna City, but a few racers are struggling.

Oh! Aluwa and Hassel's safety harnesses have failed. They are hovering just a bit above their Garchomps, but they are holding onto dear life. Unfortunately it's not easy to make Garchomp turn around, though the other racers have noticed what's happened and are calling out in concern. Oh, the air marshals are coming in to keep an eye on the situation. They should be getting there in time – oh! Oh, no! Another harness malfunction! Hilary of Team Bastiodon has been completely thrown off of his mount! They have separated and the marshals are diving to go help him. The Team Bastiodon Garchomp is also diving to try and catch his rider. Down, down, down...CATCH! Great going guys! Hilary is back up and holding on – phew, that was a close one, but he's on his way again.

We can see Eterna City now! Alistair at the forefront now, Team Bidoof flying beside him. Will this be another photo finish? Oh, but wait! Coming from behind, zipping past Giacomo and Green, Ghetsis and Hassel are now outstripping everyone in the last few seconds. Just zooming ahead like bullets! It's coming down to the last couple of yards and we have A CLEAR WINNER!

GHETSIS HARMONIA HAS CROSSED THE FINISH LINE WITH HASSEL IN SECOND PLACE AND ALISTAIR IN THIRD!

Followed by Yris, Giacomo, Green, Rika, Hilary, Aluwa, Ashe, Blue and Brian. Guess that mess up in the air really cost him his placing. That's okay, Brian, you and Chelsea did your best!

Well, that was an exciting race two out of three for the Lunar Race. Last time we saw Ghetsis Harmonia in 8th place, but he's shot up to 1st! How amazing, what a comeback.

Thank you for tuning in everybody. I hope to see you again January 21st, for the final leg of the race.

This is Kinsey of Sinnoh now, signing off!

[hiroukeimou]

My thoughts on the (hopefully) season finale.

Let's hope I can keep myself sorted because I have had a long week in real life. Also, I'll be bringing up a few callbacks to previous episodes during this so bear in mind if you're super behind on the show.

Spoilers under the cut.

Right off the bat, let's tackle Rafael.

There is something I began to notice last episode in-between all the joking about his hair/posture: How much do we know about this antagonist from his own mouth? All we know about Rafael going into the finale is he might have been betrayed by his own comrades and fell into human hands (as per Shall concluding this without direct confirmation or flashbacks). There isn't much to go on about how or why he desires to be king over his own species other than for power. Because, if you think about it, if fairies betrayed him and humans subjugated him, why should he want to be king for anything other than power? And yet, in the finale, he's supposed to feel sympathetic in his final moments on screen. The problem is this is the final episode and he has primarily served as an exposition dump for the previous two episodes (outside of antagonizing Shall & Anne's relationship). Genuinely, I did not know if I was supposed to feel sorry for him or not because I know literally nothing about his person (of course, Lusul saying "I feel sorry for him" doesn't help). The worst part is he's been here for close to eight episodes…

The fight between him and Shall is… anti-climatic. There's an issue I had during this episode: The big confrontation they hyped up since last episode barely lasts two minutes in the episode itself. No joke, they trade blows for a bit then Hugh and Earl of Downing finally find their place (thanks to Shall) and Rafael simply throws himself off the fortress out of the blue. … … I'm sorry, WHAT!? That's it? This was my problem with the finale following the source material so faithfully because it shot itself in the metaphorical foot here. The animation is fire though; in fact, it's like that for basically all of this episode.

The lull after the fight feels alright. The downside of this small arc is I know none of the fairies names aside from Lusul and their time on screen is super short compared to the artisans earlier on. Regardless, at least they're free. I do have to question when and where Shall found all of their wings and still managed to catch up to them before the soldiers arrived. Especially since he was fighting Rafael most of the time...

The scene of Anne falling to her knees to hug Shall will forever live in my heart. The handholding scene, too.

The timeskip is a bit jarring since it goes from "soldiers incoming, explain thyselves" to "we're home everyone" within one cut. The reunion of Anne & Mythril was the most adorable thing. All of the artisans looking relieved also felt sweet. Even though it's a bit jarring everyone is acting like Anne was on vacation, I found it kind of cute how they all know Anne is worried about the sugar confections above everything else.

If I had not received vol.4 of the light novel on the day this aired, I would have found the conversation between Anne & Bridget odd. I'm not surprised she dissolved her engagement to Elliot or her relationship with Orland blossoming in the background.

Finally, Anne & Shall (plus Mythril at the end).

The ending of the show is bittersweet, of course, but it also isn't really uplifting either. The Holy Festival goes down without a hitch. However, Shall & Anne are now affected by Rafael's words and so there's no confession. The romantic tension of the previous six episodes has now died. It's sad because the trio themselves feels disconnected from every bit of plot that's happened in the last six episodes, I swear. They're optimistic for the future, and I love them for it, but I also felt so conflicted watching this scene in particular. There's something off about this bit of the episode, and looking at social media, I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like this.

Hopefully J.C. Staff will come back to this. Until then, it's a long four-year wait until all 18 volumes of the light novels are finally released in English (provided Yen Press doesn't give up). Maybe I'll come back to this episode a bit more positive once I can read the volumes of the light novel these last few episodes covered. For now, this is all I can articulate.

[karurabluew]

Ryuuji "Bon" Suguro / Blue Exorcist

He just had his character arc and still more incoming!

depend on Ryuji! he needs the assurance.

he's fifteen. Might update the canon point with his latter look eventually.

Will beat up satan for you. despite his looks he's actually pretty hard working and his hair is a sign of his motivation. to go further then others.

Shima hey.

You will be housed in TOWNHOUSE 204.

You'll retain the use of seal of self protection up to five times per day, for up to three minutes per use. You'll also be given a bb gun.

bazooka