#COME ON SHADOW PLAS IS SO FUN

[brokenpcsys]

self indulgent Cerulean from forsaken BAH pack :]

faceclaim

NAME(S): cerulean , fauna , dyani , issi , oisin , oshin , osian , sappho , iris , azura , capri , cyan

AGE: immortal

GENDER: feminine leaning nonbinary , weirddeeric, deerthing, disturbgender , dxxric , deerskullskelletic , deerheadlightsgender , deerwolfteethix , unholyrotic , genderabyss , voidangelgender , nothingboy , riernali ,

PRONOUNS: she/her, he/him, they/them, pla/play/plays, cha/chase/chases, gra/graze/grazes, fle/flee/flees, ta/tail/tails, ru/run/runs, ju/jump/jumps, spo/spot/spots, sne/sneak/sneaks, ho/hoof/hoofs, ant/antler/antlers, fi/fight/fights, deer/deers, fawn/fawns, bu/buck/bucks, do/doe/does, ki/kick/kicks, mu/munch/munches, lea/leaf/leafs, sna/snack/snacks, crea/creature/creatures, he/herd/herds, for/forest/forests, Blood/bleeds , Cryp/cryptid , Beast/beasts , Creature/creatures , Deer/deers , Watch/watches , Look/looks , Thing/things , Stare/stares , Faun/fauns , That/thats , Shift/shifts , Doe/eyes , Ant/antler , Void/voids , Shadow/shadows , Danger/dangerous , Stalk/stalking , Crypt/Cryptself , Shade/Shadeself , Dark/Darkself , Canine/canineself , woof/woofself , scream/screamself , critter/critterself , Claw/clawself , Scare/scareself , ze/zem

ORIENTATION: gaybian acespike

SPECIES: deer-humanoid

SOURCE: Forsaken

ROLE(S): Praegressor , Dehumanization Holder , Devotee, Enforcer, Distortionist

SIGN OFF: 🔄, 🦌, 🌀, ♾️, 🪦, ⚰️, 🥀, 🌲, 🍃, 🌱, 🌳, 🍂, 🍁

TYPING QUIRK: all lowercase and spaces between all punctuation. a lot of exclamation points

example: “i . . . do not know whether or not she is believable , but , i do find her to be reliable . “

LIKES: Forest animals , kids shows , outdoors , music , religious studies

DISLIKES: people talking over her , the popping of balloons , not having control

TRANSID(S): transdisguisedangel , transjackolope, transnephilim , transloving , transnaive , transdistortedreflection , transinnocence , transreligousparanoia

CISID(S): cispescatarian , cisbpd , cisdpd

OTHER ID(S): trishypnotist , trishumanoid , deadharmed , permahigh , permahypnotised

PARA(S): Ω , 🐾 , 🌷 , ficto , 🧟 , ❣️ , 🥀 , 💤 , 🔱 , 🫀 , 🌑 , 💧 , 🔗 , 🪢 , 📸 , 🫶 , 🫁 , 🛐 , 🧹 , 💀🍭

POS TRIGGERS: Deer , body being high , body being hurt , the woods , dark places

NEG TRIGGERS: loud noises , body being overstimulated in any way , dead animals

SOURCE MEMORIES:

💻: Has memories of being attached to “the followers of spawn,” following the same cult that Two time is apart of.

💻: Acted as recruitment for the cult aswell as helping “punish” nonbelievers, as she was decently high up in “rank.”

💻: Remembers stumbling her way out of the forest when she first joined the cult, they took watch in and took care of them when fawn was young.

💻: remembers running through the forest for fun, always had branches and sticks in critter’s hair and always had scrapes all over their body from running

SPEECH: voice quiet, almost a whisper

PERSONALITY: Friendly and quiet, she isn’t exactly much for conversation, but she wouldn’t complain if one comes up to speak to her, very easily manipulated. she tends to get super attached to people really easily, basically clinging to them like her life depends on it.

AESTHETIC:

we probably wont post any other bah posts other than this (on this blog.. we have a bah blog that im in the process of working on!! :]) so dont expect too many in the future!! this was just to help our own fragment of her develop!

[renewedawn]

arceus & giratina: a slightly convoluted canon divergence

First and foremost before I get into this headcanon I do just want to emphasize that you do not need to ascribe to this to write with me. This is really truly just the version of poké-mythos that best suits what I'm interested in writing. I'm diverging from actual Canon and lot here and frankly? I'm just making shit up because it's fun. Imma be real with you if that's not what you're here for then I am not the guy (gender neutral) to follow. So without further ado:

That Giratina is a "child" of Arceus is untrue, technically speaking. One could make an argument for a chicken/egg situation, but ultimately, at the Beginning, where were two beings: The Original One, and the Roiling Chaos from which it arose. More than "antimatter" or any scientific, physical concept, Giratina represents a perfect counterpart to Arceus. A shadow, if you will. The Distortion World has existed as long as the Material World has, which is to say, as long as Time and Space have. It is a necessary counter balance, the equal and opposite force to All of Creation.

The Distortion World is, functionally, the place from which all things originate, and the place where all things must inevitably return. If Arceus is what is, then Giratina is what isn't. If Arceus is the material, Giratina is the immaterial. Kind of abstract, I know.

(Bonus, since idk where to sneak this in: Giratina, not Arceus, created the Lake Trio within this version of the lore.)

We know from PLA that there was a time and place wherein Giratina was, indeed, worshipped along with the rest of the family, but its statue was destroyed and lost to time. Broadly speaking, humans interpreted it as a sort of afterlife deity. Usher of souls of the dead to reincarnation, keeper of the boundaries between this world and the next. And while this isn't really correct, it's not wrong either. It is true that souls return to the Distortion, to Chaos, to the very heart of everything when a living thing dies. In the depths of the Distortion, it is changed, takes on a new form, and returns to the Material. (Ideally, anyway. Sometimes things get a bit stuck in there and that's how ghost pokémon are born but that's a headcanon for another day. Take my word for it.)

Unfortunately, Giratina's role and frankly its existence have been utterly lost to time and - ironically - become rather distorted. Some records indicate a myth from ancient Sinnoh, passed down in Celestican oral tradition, refer to the time Giratina was sealed in the Distortion World. (This being the Hero of Sinnoh who teamed up with 10 pokemon and kicked Giratina's ass.) However, much of the context surrounding this particular myth is a complete and utter mystery. What did Giratina do? Why did Arceus need to call upon a human hero to do it's dirty work? All we know is what did happen, and what did happen was that the Hero vanquished Giratina and Arceus subsequently locked the door to the Distortion World so they couldn't get back out and cause more problems.

Some stories suggest there was a time, in the days of myth, where Arceus and Giratina were, in fact, close. Whatever falling out happened between them is now lost as well, leaving only one truth: Giratina and Arceus are bitter enemies. Whatever comes of their fighting will eventually determine the fate of the universe itself.

[himehikoshrine]

Sissia of the Central Nation Stage Script (EN) – Fumi Route

Here's the Univeil Performance Stage Script from the menu for Fumi's route. As with the rest, no ad libs are in these. Which means what you see here is the version Neji wrote.

Apologies if I accidently added any typos or minor punctuation changes, I did my best.

Also as before, I have kept in all the things that don't change across routes, so you can read any of them in full without having to cross reference. There are a handful of changes to things that otherwise stay the same on this route, in the Major Azur sections, but most of those don't change, either.

Other stage scripts can be found clicking on the tag or here:

Sissia of the Central Nation [route selection post] Oh Rama Havenna [x] Mary Jane [x]

Without further ado... Tonight is another performance by the Central Nation of Kielce!

Sissia of the Central Nation (Fumi Route)

By Neji Kokuto

(1) The Central Nation of Kielce

◆Along the Border

???:   Over there! Don’t let them get away!

???:   Hahh, Hahh…Ugh!

A shadow crosses over the border. 

The sound of hurried footsteps chasing after them.

Border Patrol A:   Damn it! A rat from the servant country crossed the border into the Arbine Nation!

Border Patrol B:   If word of this gets to the commander and the king of Arbine…

Border Patrol A:   We need to find them, fast!

Blackout

◆National Standing Theater

Restless murmurs

Adra:   …

Adra:   All right, my body’s all warmed up.

Adra:   Tonight is another performance by the Central Nation of Kielce!

◆National Standing Theater

(The scene goes from dark to lighter. As if lights have turned on.)

The dazzling show by Kielce begins.

Isaac:   Welcome, one and all to the theater of the Central Nation of Kielce! I am the goat-headed Isaac!

Isaac:   …What’s that? Why do i have such a head, you ask?

Isaac:   It’s a bit of a long story, but when my father visited a farm one day, he fell in love with a female goat, and…

Laughter from the crowd.

Isaac:   Ah! The local officers told me not to tell this story! They asked that I not disrupt the moral standards of Arbine.

Isaac:   Well, let’s put aside the idle chatter, all the kings and nobles, the living and the dead, the passing mugwort sellers…

Sound of fireworks.

Smoke comes pouring in and acrobats enter the scene with style.

Adra:   Let the Central Nation of Kielce’s show begin!!!

Chance:   Hah!

Audience A:   Ah, It’s Chance! His somersaults are the best! You wouldn’t expect any less of Kielce’s star!

Audience B:   What are you talking about? Everyone in Kielce is a star!

Adra:   You couldn’t be more right!

Adra appears on the stage, dancing brilliantly.

Audience A:   Adra! Oh, I can’t believe how beautifully he dances! He’s certainly Arbine’s treasure. 

Audience B:   He certainly is from a family of officials! The flower of Kielce!

Crowley catches Adra dancing across the stage.

Crowley:   Now, then. Allow me to lend you a hand, Adra!

Audience A:   Crowley just caught Adra! He’s the genius who creates these performances, and even joins them himself! 

Crowley:   Now’s the time to forget the time! Next, let’s all sway to a beautiful tune!

Someone singing can be heard, and Carlo appears.

Fan Carlo:   …!

Audience A:   Oh, how beautiful…!

Audience:   She really lives up to her reputation as the most beautiful voice in all the nation…!

Levi appears at the center of the stage.

Levi:   We are the Central Nation of Kielce! Is everyone ready for some twisted fun?!

The crowd cheers in response.

Sissia watches Kielce’s performance from the audience.

Sissia:   …

Sissia:   The Central Nation of Kielce… I’ve dreamed of them for so long!

Sissia:   Ah, I can’t believe this! I can’t believe I’m able to see them perform again!

Blackout

◆Kielce Base

Adra:   Another full house today, huh?!

Chance:   What did you think?! How were my somersaults?!

Fan Carlo:   They were full of energy. You’re like a monkey.

Chance:   Thanks… Hey wait, Carlo!

Isaac:   A monkey, huh? That’s not too bad. Want to switch places with my goat, then?

Chance:   I can’t give long monologues like you can, so I’ll pass…

Isaac:   That’s unfortunate. I’ll take my leave for now, then. 

Chance:   Hey, you going already, Isaac?!

Adra:   He’s always so calm after getting off stage, that Isaac.

Crowley:   Haha, that’s just fine for a comedian. Isn’t it, Levi?

Levi:   Yeah.

Crowley:   You’re not part of the comedy act, so you can stand to give it a little more energy!

Levi:   … There was something I noticed about the performance today.

Chance:   Something you noticed?

Adra:   …Ah, I see.

Crowley:   You’re right.

Chance:   Hey! Stop just agreeing with each other and tell me what you’re talking about!

Fan Carlo:   They’re talking about a problem the Central Nation of Kielce has in general.

Chance:   I’m telling you, be more specific! I wanna know, too!

Isaac appears among everyone chattering.

Isaac:   All right now, sorry to interrupt your conversation. As always, we have some prospectives hoping to join our troupe.

Chance:   Oh! Some future Kielcesters have come, eh? 

Chance:   Let’s see what they’ve got, then!

Fan Carlo:   I’m tired, so I’ll pass.

Crowley:   Don’t be like that, Carlo. They’ve come all this way to see us.

Adra:   There may be some among them with talents like Chance and Isaac.

Isaac:   That’s right. If Levi hadn’t found me back then, I might still be working at a factory. Wearing a goat head.

Chance:   …I kinda want to see that, too.

Levi:   Carlo, you seem to understand the problem with the Central Nation of Kielce we were talking about just a minute ago, so I’ll ask you to join. 

Chance:   Oh yeah! I forgot! So what IS our problem?

Isaac:   I’d like to know, too.

Crowley:   It’s that… we lack a ‘gear’.

Isaac:   A ‘gear’…

Isaac:   …Is what we lack?

Fan Carlo:   It means we aren’t well harmonized.

Adra:   You know how the Central Nation of Kielce’s performance style is just a showcase of our separate talents?

Crowley:   It’s been that way for a very long time, but it’s even more pronounced now that Carlo and Chance have joined. 

Crowley:   As we are now, we can’t put on the best performance ever!

Levi:   We definitely need it. A gear that unites our individual parts to move together as one whole.

Isaac:   I see…

Chance:   All the more reason to hold auditions, then! Come on, Carlo!

Fan Carlo:   Hahh, fine. I couldn’t handle it if someone as tone-deaf as you joined.

Chance:   Exactly! It’d be a disaster if TWO of us were tone-deaf and couldn’t harmonize or… Carlo!

Isaac:   I think you’ve gotten much better, though.

Chance:   Are you trying to cheer me up, Isaac? Gee, thanks a lot.

Crowley:   So how many are we going to let in through the audition, Levi? 

Levi:   Your eyes tell me one person.

Crowley:   That’s our ringleader for you! I do hope that one person shows up.

Adra:   All right, let’s go then. Can’t keep our future star waiting, can we?

Everyone:   Yeah!

Carlo says “Right”.

◆In front of the Kielce Base

Prospective members are gathered in a line.

The members of Kielce test their talents.

Candidate:   Listen to my song, Leviii!

Levi:   Next.

Candidate:   Only one person will pass, right?! I’m confident in my acting! Oh, God! Give me the kiss of death!

Crowley:   Neeext.

Candidate:   I’ve danced for 18 years with the national dance troupe!

Adra:   Who’s next?

Fan Carlo:   Hahh… Levi, I’m sure we’ll all die of boredom if we try and test everyone here. 

Crowley:   Wow, I think I’d be able to write a song with that as the theme!

Adra:   Carlo’s right. We’re making our prospectives wait, too… 

Mean Candidate:   Hey! Is it my turn yet or what?!

Mean Candidate:   I’ve run out of patience! Only one of us is going to pass anyway! Skills are all that matter in this world!

The prospective starts singing and dancing.

Chance:   Ah, he just started singing and dancing!

Isaac:   He’s like Chance.

Chance:   Hey!

Candidate A:   Hey what gives?!

Candidate B:   Wait your turn!

Mean Candidate:   Shut up! If you’re confident that you’re better than me, then why don’t you try singing?!

Candidate C:   I’ll show you what talent looks like!

People start singing in protest.

Crowley:   Now things are getting interesting!

Fan Carlo:   …Can I leave?

Sissia watches the commotion.

Sissia:   …

Candidate:   My singing is the best! Aaah…

Candidate:   Watch my dancing!

Mean Candidate:   Out of the way! I’m gonna be the one who joins the Central Nation of Kielce!

Adra:   What do we do, Levi? Want to cancel this for now?

Levi:   Yeah. It’s getting late. We can do this another day…

Sissia:   …!

Sissia:   Excuse me! I…

Mean Candidate:   Who are you? Get back!

Sissia:   …Urk!

Sissia:   Please… Please let me sing. 

Sissia comes out to the front.

Sissia begins a beautiful dance while singing in a clear and free voice.

★Song  “Departure”

Candidate:   …

Mean Candidate:   …Whoa.

Adra:   Huh…

Adra:   She looks pretty interesting…

Chance:   That one’s super good!

Isaac:   You’re right about that… I can just imagine the scene they’re creating.

Fan Carlo:   …

Crowley:   Now that’s unusual, for even Carlo to sit silently and listen!

Adra:   What do we do, ringleader?

Levi:   …

Levi:   An applicant has been chosen. Anyone have any objections?

Sissia:   Huh? Who is it…?!

Candidate:   …

Mean Candidate:   …No! You all saw that too, right? Talent is everything in this world!

Mean Candidate:   Even if I can’t join the Central Nation of Kielce, I’ll keep singing and dancing! Do your best, got it?

Sissia:   Oh, r-right!

Candidate:   …It’s frustrating, but he’s right. I’m rooting for you!

Candidate:   I’ll come watch your show!

The prospective members start leaving.

Sounds of departing footsteps.

Sissia:   U-um…

Adra:   Hey, you… What’s your name?

Sissia:   Ah…It’s Sissia…! I’m Sissia!

Levi:   Sissia, huh? Congratulations on passing the auditions.

Sissia:   Really…?! Thank you so much…!

Crowley:   You’re going to be an apprentice for a while!

Adra:   If you are deemed worthy of being a member of Kielce, it’ll be official.

Sissia:   I’ll do my best!

Chance:   Congratulations, Sissia! Let’s get along together!

Fan Carlo:   I’m glad we didn’t get another tone-deaf member.

Isaac:   …Welcome.

Sissia:   Thank you all for the support!

Adra:   …Levi, Crowley, we've found what we needed, don't you think?

Crowley:   The little 'gear' we were looking for to make the best performance ever!

Levi:   ..Yeah.

Levi:   Sissia, come with me. I'll show you around Kielce.

Sissia:   Right!

As everyone leads the way, Sissia stops a short distance away from them.

Sissia:   …

Sissia:   I can't believe I've really joined the Central Nation of Kielce...!

Sissia:   The dream I've had for so long has come true! My next dream is...

Sissia:   To stand on the stage!

(2) Path to the Stars

◆National Throne Room

Subordinates arrive in front of Major Azur

Aide:   Major, there’s something I think you should know…

Major Azur:   …What is your report

Aide:   Well…

Major Azur:   A fugitive?

Major Azur:   What’s border patrol even doing…? How insufferable!

Major Azur:   We’ll take care of this before the commander and king of the Arbine Nation finds out about this. 

Aide:   Yes, sir…!

Major Azur:   Don’t think you can return alive…horse of the slave country.

◆Kielce Base

Adra:   What’s the matter?! You tired already, newbie?! We can’t put on the best show with you like that!

Sissia:   …No, I can keep going!

Isaac:   …Adra’s more fired up than usual.

Fan Carlo:   That’s just how much Adra is hoping to get out of Sissia.

Chance:   But I’m catching the flack and forced to join their rigorous training, too!

Training ends

Adra:   All right, let’s take a break!

Sissia:   Hahh! Thank you so much, Mr. Adra!

Adra:   You don’t need to call me ‘Mister’. No need to be so polite with me.

Adra:   It’s about time you become a full member, too…

Sissia:   Huh?

Adra:   No, it’s nothing. Anyway, just address me casually.

Sissia:   …Okay, Adra.

Chance:   Great work Sissia! Wow, I can’t believe you can keep up with Adra!

Sissia:   Oh no, not at all… Oh, that’s right!

Chance:   Yeah, What’s up?

Sissia:   Chance, when you have some time, I’d like you to teach me how to do your somersaults.

Chance:   Hey, you’re not trying to steal all my acts, are you?

Isaac:   Well, I’m sure they’ll cut our singing parts. What do you think, Carlo?

Fan Carlo:   With Sissia with us, I’m sure they would. 

Chance:   Whoa! Crap! At this rate, Sissia’s going to take up all my acrobatics time out there…!

Sissia:   Ahaha, your time won’t get cut. no one can fly as high as you.

Levi arrives and everyone gathers around him.

Levi:   …Is everyone here?

Adra:   Oh, what’s up, ringleader?

Levi:   Crowley has something to discuss. Crowley?

Crowley:   Yes, all right! This is about our next performance!

Crowley:   We will have Sissia join our next production.

Sissia:   …!

Chance:   That means…!

Isaac:   We’re going to bring Sissia in as an official member of Kielce, right?!

Crowley:   Exactly!

Levi:   It’s your first performance. Make sure to polish up your act and give it your all.

Adra:   I’m looking forward to it. Let’s show everyone the fruits of your labor.

Sissia:   Right!

◆Kielce Base

Adra and Sissia are walking together.

Adra:   You did it, Sissia.

Sissia:   Thanks to all of you! I’m especially grateful for your support, Adra.

Adra:   Haha! It’s enjoyable to coach someone who improves so quickly!

Adra:   It’s because of the Central Nation of Kielce that we were able to meet someone as interesting as you.

Sissia:   Why did you join Kielce, Adra? 

Adra:   I just got sick and tired of living as the son of a government official. 

Sissia:   Come to think of it, I heard that one of the stars of Kielce was related to a government official… 

Adra:   …My father’s part of the Arbine military. Of course, I was supposed to take over his post one day.

Adra:   When i was forced to attend one of their parties, I saw Kielce put on [a] performance. Levi and Crowley were in it.

Adra:   My world changed completely. I thought, ‘This is for me!’ I mean, they were able to make even those sour-faced officials smile. 

Adra:   From that point on, I decided to become a Kielce dancer. I was already learning national dances.

Adra:   But of course, my father was against it.

Adra:   Those officials call Kielce performances ‘vulgar diversions’…

Adra:   It’s just idiotic elitism. They themselves will come and watch the performances, too.

Adra:   It’s my dream to change the minds of our ridiculous military by being in Kielce. To change my father’s mind.

Sissia:   Then we’ll have to put on the best performance ever.

Adra:   Crowley’s rubbing off on you, it seems.

Adra:   So what about you? Why did you come to Kielce.

Sissia:   My reason is similar to yours, Adra. I grew to admire the Central Nation of Kielce after watching one of their performances.

Sissia:   Kielce’s Border Performance.

Adra:   Ah, the show that we put on atop the high border wall between Arbine and the other side!

Adra:   …Kielce went through a lot of trouble after that.

Adra:   Arbine officials suspected the whole group of being enemies of the state.

Adra:   Among those suspicious of us was my father.

Adra:   After winning the war 20 years ago in the ‘War of Joy’, Arbine’s become a completely discriminatory state when it comes to neighboring countries.

Adra:   The fact that they would even call a 77-year war where so many lives were lost the ‘War of Joy’ is disgusting.

Adra:   I really wanted them to have it, which was my motivation for the Border Performance at the time

Adra:   Thinking back on it now, I feel like we really pushed ourselves, but I’d love to show them up again.

Adra:   …Whoops, I’ll end up being seen as a traitor again at this rate. You wouldn’t be a spy from the military, by chance?

Sissia:   No! I was really moved by that performance. 

Sissia:   The Quatrans on the other side of the border were also so happy…

Adra:   The Quatrans?

Sissia:   …Huh?

Adra:   Oh, sorry. I guess that’s the name of the country on the other side of the wall.

Adra:   They’re called the ‘nameless country’ here, so I forgot.

Sissia:   Oh, I lived near the national border, so that’s what we called them.

Adra:   I see. Terrible, isn’t it? To take away the name of the country you fought against, just because you won.

Adra:   On top of that, they have this thing called a Quatral, a horse tattoo that’s a symbol of their subjugation. They’re made to work like animals.

Adra:   I want to blow away those kinds of ridiculous ideas.

Adra:   …That’s why I have high hopes for you. Don’t let us down, Sissia.

Sissia:   …Right.

Blackout

Pause

Finishing rehearsals, Sissia takes a break in a private room.

Sissia washes her bare legs.

Pitch black. 

Sissia:   Hahh…

Sissia:   I need to soak my feet…

Sissia:   …

As Sissia washes a leg even further, makeup comes off, revealing a tattoo in the shape of a horse on Sissia’s left shin, the sign that this person is a Quatra, a servant citizen. 

Sissia:   My leg… This tattoo I hide with makeup… 

Sissia:   The Quatra… must bear the mark of servitude, the Quatral.

Sissia:   I want to appear in the Border Performance. For that…

(3) The Quatral of the Servant Nation

◆National Standing Theater

Adra:   All right… Another day for the Central Nation of Kielce to let loose!

Cheers.

A performance is held on a dazzling stage by the members of the Central Nation of Kielce. The audience is at full Capacity. 

Sissia is one of the members performing as well.

★Dance “Kielce the Nation at the Center”

Audience:   Wowww!

Audience:   Sissia! Sissiaaa!!! That was amazing!

Sissia:   Thank you…!

Adra:   Haha… Well, aren’t you popular. 

Levi:   Good day to you all!

◆Break Room

Adra:   Sissia, you’ve gotten pretty used to being onstage now. My spot as the star of Kielce might be in danger.

Sissia:   Oh, no! I’m still trying hard to catch up with everyone!

Crowley:   No, no you really ARE something!

Chance:   You’re completely in sync with me and my jumps!

Fan Carlo:   The songs… have much more depth to it now that you’re here, so that’s a big help.

Isaac:   It seems like you’re fitting in well with all the different moving parts. Really…

Levi:   Looks like the Central Nation of Kielce has finally found its ‘gear’.

Sissia:   Its… ‘gear’?

Adra:   Kielce is a bit fragmented.

Crowley:   Even if you have solid parts, a machine won’t run if you just place them next to each other, right?

Crowley:   You may be the very one who can connect those parts together!

Sissia:   Oh, no…That’s much too kind of you, but…

Sissia:   I’m so happy to hear it!

Chance:   Heh heh. Well, we’ve found our ‘gear’ now! How about we all celebrate with a meal? What do you say, Isaac?!

Isaac:   I’d like some steak from an Aibee cow.

Adra:   Do goats eat beef? In any case, I’m getting pretty hungry myself.

Fan Carlo:   I guess… it can be nice on occasion. 

Crowley:   I mean, we had a big audience today, right? How about it, ringleader?

Levi:   …Stomachs of the Central Nation of Kielce. Are you ready for dinner?

Everyone:   Yeah!!!

◆Market Street

The members are satisfied after their meal.

Chance:   I ate so much!!!

Sissia:   That was good… That was the first time I had meat like that!

Crowley:   It was such a generous portion broiled to perfection!

Fan Carlo:   Phew… I think I’d prefer not to see any animals with horns for a while.

Isaac:   Huh? Are you talking about me?

Adra:   We’ll bring everyone back here sometime. Okay?

Levi:   Yeah.

Chance:   All right! I wonder what I should get next time!

A loud bang is heard.

An old man is being beaten with batons in the middle of the street.

Other citizens crowd around and watch, murmuring to themselves.

Sissia:   …?!

Old Man:   A-Aaah…! Spare me…

Patrol Officer:   You, horse! Do you even know what you’ve done?!

The Quatral is the tattoo of a horse, with ‘horse’ used as slander to refer to a member of the servant country.

Sissia:   …!

Isaac:   That’s…

Chance:   Hey, what do you think you’re doing! Hey, you!

Adra:   Chance!

Patrol Officer:   What’s your problem!

Old Man:   Y-you’re…!

Chance:   I’m Chance Orlando of the Central Nation of Kielce! Why are you hurting this old man…?

Patrol Officer:   The Central Nation of Kielce? Hmph, that makes sense.

Patrol Officer:   I’ll show you the reason why he’s being beaten! …Look at this!

A tattoo of a horse drawn on the man’s left shin is shown.

Fan Carlo:   A tattoo of a horse on the shin of his left leg…

Crowley:   A Quatral… So he’s…

Levi:   …

Patrol Officer:   He’s a citizen who escaped from the nameless country into the Arbine Nation!

Patrol Officer:   Fleeing your country is a serious crime! We’ll deport you and sentence you to heavy labor, perhaps even death!

Sissia:   …

Chance:   Well, there’s no need to do THIS, is there?!

Crowley:   Right! What’ll happen if you kill him?

Crowley:   Isn’t it also a serious crime to kill anyone, regardless of where they’re from?

Patrol Officer:   …Urk! Shut it! I can arrest you for treason, you know?!

Crowley:   What did you say?! We have the son of one of your superiors here, you know?!

Crowley:   The son of the trusted confidant of the commander and king. The aristocrat, Major Azur Hybird!!

Adra:   …Crowley. Stop using my father’s name to get us out of trouble.

Adra:   …But, oh well. Would you mind treating him carefully?

Adra:   I’ll be sure to tell my father, Major Azur Hybird, that you were real nice to me.

Patrol Officer:   …

Fan Carlo:   It could be an opportunity to get promoted, underling.

Patrol Officer:   Urgh…!

Patrol Officer:   How merciful of the Central Nation of Kielce to pity him, after being the very ones who encouraged is crime in the first place!

Levi:   …What do you mean?

Patrol Officer:   He fled the servant country in order to see your performances!

Levi:   …!

Patrol Officer:   And the reason he did that was apparently because he saw your ridiculous Border Performance!

Crowley:   Our Border Performance…

Patrol Officer:   That’s right! Other members of the audience found them sneaking in to watch the play, and did their civic duty in reporting it to us! 

Patrol Officer:   How’s that?! How’s it feel to be an accomplice to his crime?!

Patrol Officer:   This ‘Border Performance’ of yours is pathetic! Singing and dancing on top of the wall is nothing short of rebellion!

Patrol Officer:   You all should have held your performances on a proper stage! Your little shows are nothing but boorish spectacles.

Adra:   Shut it.

Sissia:   Adra…!

Patrol Officer:   Aagh!

Sound of the patrol officer being hit.

Sound of the patrol officer hitting the ground.

Patrol Officer:   …?!

Sissia:   Adra just hit that patrol officer…?!

Adra:   …Don’t worry. This isn’t about my father or my family or anything.

Adra:   This guy just ticked me off, so I hit him.

Patrol Officer:   Wh-Why, you…! I’ll arrest all of you!!

Citizen:   That’s enough from you!

Sound of rocks being thrown.

Patrol Officer:   Ow…! Rocks?!

Sissia:   The people around us started throwing rocks…?!

Sound of rocks being thrown one after another.

Patrol Officer:   Wh-What do you think you’re doing?!

Citizen:   Shut up already! Listening to those guys from Kielce is way better than listening to you!

The citizens in the area come to protect Kielce and jeer at the patrol officer. 

Patrol Officer:   You little… Agh, stop throwing those rocks! Damn it!

The patrol officer runs away. 

Sound of footsteps running away.

Citizen:   Haha, that patrol officer ran away!

Citizen:   Take that!

Citizen:   He was always so arrogant. I never liked that guy!

Chance:   Everyone…!

Levi:   Heh, I didn’t expect them to come to our rescue. 

Sissia:   …Are you all right, sir?

Old Man:   Ah… Thank you so much.

Old Man:   I came from Quatra since I wanted to watch you all just one more time…!

Crowley:   Did you enjoy our performance, good sir?

Old Man:   Yes, absolutely…! It was a wonderful performance. Now I can pass on without any regret…

Adra:   Don’t say that, old man. You got a lot to live for…

Major Azur:   …So this is it. The place where some traitors have gathered to protect a fugitive. 

Cutting through the people, Major Azur Hybird approaches.

The father of Adra and a military aristocrat. 

Adra:   …!

Citizen:   It… It’s Major Azur…!

Citizen:   The closest confidant of the commander and king, the strategist of Arbine…

Adra:   Father…

Patrol Officer:   It’s those guys, Major…!

Major Azur:   Traitors who protected a fugitive… Did everyone here participate? 

Citizen:   …!

The citizens flee the scene in all directions.

Adra:   … 

Major Azur:   …To think I’d see you here, Adra.

Major Azur:   And the other clowns of Kielce.

Levi:   …

Crowley:   Oh, good day to you, Major!

Major Azur:   Levi, Crowley. Every time I see you, I’m reminded of the Border Performance.

Major Azur:   And of all the commotion you all caused atop the border wall between Arbine and the nameless country.

Major Azur:   Ever since that day, the commander and king has pushed to imprison everyone in the Central Nation of Kielce. 

Crowley:   Oh my… We must thank the commander and king of Arbine for such kind sentiments. 

Major Azur:   …Hmph. You too, Adra. Even my own flesh and blood won’t be spared in charges of treason.

Major Azur:   Soldiers. Take away the horse that escaped. 

Guard:   Yes, sir! Come on, you.

Old Man:   Augh.

The old man gets taken away.

Sissia:   Sir…!

Guard:   Get out of the way!

Sound of Sissia getting knocked back.

Sissia:   …Urk!

Adra:   Sissia!!!

Sissia:   Adra…!

Adra:   You okay?

Chance:   …Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!

Fan Carlo:   Chance! Not now… Not now… 

Chance:   …Urk!

Old Man:   All of you from Kielce…

Old Man:   I promise I will never forget the brilliance of your performance today, or your kindness…

Isaac:   Old man…

Guard:   Move, horse!

Old Man:   …

Old Man:   …Weee, aaare, the Central Nation of Kielce!

Guard:   …?!

Adra:   …

Adra:   Is everyone ready for some twisted fun?!

Sissia:   Adra…

Old Man:   Hahaha…

Guard:   M-Move!

Sissia:   Old man…!

Major Azur:   …

Azur senses something from Sissia.

Though the tattoo on Sissia’s left shin is covered with makeup, he knows of cases in the past where Quatra have hidden their tattoos in the same way.

However, all he has now is a feeling.

Patrol Officer:   Heh… You’d better not disrespect the military anymore!

Chance:   Why, that little…

Major Azur:   Soldiers, arrest that patrol officer as well.

Patrol Officer:   …?!

Chance:   Huh…?

Major Azur:   Of course he’ll be arrested. He committed the serious crime of fleeing the scene with a fugitive in front of him. A serious punishment awaits.

Patrol Officer:   N-No…

Major Azur:   We’re heading back.

The troops leave.

Sounds of footsteps leaving.

Chance:   Damn it! They have no respect for the people…

Isaac:   Chance… it pains me to say it, but in this country, that’s the right way for an Arbine to be.

Chance:   But that’s just…!

Adra:   …Let’s do it.

Chance:   Huh?

Adra:   We’re doing another showing of the Border Performance.

Sissia:   …!!!

Crowley:   The Border Performance…

Isaac:   Another showing?!

Crowley:   Adraaa?! Are you sure you don’t mean, ‘Let’s go to another restaurant for more meat’?!

Levi:   I agree

Crowley:   Wait, really?! We’re going?! You two must really love meat, don’t you?!

Fan Carlo:   …Hahh… Are you serious?

Adra:   No way I’m keeping quiet after seeing all that.

Adra:   …I’m sick of how stubborn my father is.

Adra:   I’ve felt this way for a long time now.

Adra:   I want the Central Nation of Kielce to put on the best performance, good enough to crush Arbine’s idiotic ideology.

Adra:   …I feel like the time has finally come. So… I want you all to help me.

Adra:   I can’t do this alone. There’s no point in trying without all of you.

Levi:   …Adra

Levi:   You’re a precious friend to me. I’ll lend you my strength whenever you need it.

Crowley:   I’ll give you as much strength as I can muster for the most amazing performance you can imagine.

Fan Carlo:   I don’t want any trouble… But if you’re doing it, I’ll join too.

Chance:   It would be a wasted opportunity not to see a show with our star front and center!

Isaac:   Your strength has always pulled us along, Adra. I’ll follow you wherever you go.

Adra:   You guys…

Adra:   …What about you? Will you join me, Sissia?

Sissia:   …I will. I’ll join you, Adra!

Sissia:   I’ll follow your lead all the way to the Border Performance!

Adra:  …Then it’s settled!

Adra:   The next performance by the Central Nation of Kielce will be…

Adra:   The Border Performance!

Everyone:   Yeaah!

(4) The Military Nation

◆Training Room

The Kielce members are all focused on working towards the Border Performance.

Crowley:   All right, and here’s the big fight! We need more dynamic movement!

Adra:   Don’t forget the details! Feel the movements all the way to your fingertips!

Sissia:   Our seniors really are amazing…!

Chance:   I can practically feel their enthusiasm radiating! 

Isaac:   It’s painfully clear how much they’re betting on this performance…

Fan Carlo:   We can’t let those efforts be in vain. I’ll be training you all hard for the singing, too.

Chance:   Aaugh, looks like I’m not getting any sleep tonight, either!

Levi arrives at the training grounds.

Levi:   Everyone, gather around.

Crowley:   A quick break! Are we talking about what I think we are, Levi?

Levi:   Yeah. I’d like there to be two lead roles for the Border Performance.

Crowley:   It’s a story about a fugitive, seeking asylum elsewhere! Here, the script!

Crowley:   A tragedy between a woman who escapes a country with closed borders, and a man she meets along the way.

Levi:   The two of them fall in love, but the woman continues to be pursued by the country’s officials.

Adra:   The woman falls into the hands of the officials, and the man puts his life at risk to get her back. But…

Adra:   The man’s injury is grave, and he dies.

Adra:   …It’s a pretty sad story.

Isaac:   But it’s as if this is…

Chance:   The story is based on Arbine and Quatra.

Crowley:   Heh heh, that’s right! That’s the idea behind the Border Performance!

Crowley:   On top of all that, there’s a giant bomb hidden in this performance. I’m sure you’ll all understand once we get into the singing rehearsals.

Chance:   A bomb?! I wonder what it is… Aagh, I’m so excited!

Sissia:   …Um, who will be playing the leads?

Adra:  Will you?

Sissia:   Huh?

Levi:   It’s already decided that Adra will take the male lead.

Crowley:   And Adra wants you up there with him.

Sissia:   Me…?

Chance:   You’re the only one who can keep up with Adra’s dances!

Isaac:   You’re the ones who shine the brightest in the Central Nation of Kielce. I think it’s natural for you two to be chosen.

Fan Carlo:   That’s how it is.

Sissia:   …I’ll follow you, Adra. I’ll be with you wherever you go.

Sissia:   I’ll do my best to dance with you on the stage!

Adra:   …Thanks.

Sissia smiles in approval.

Blackout

◆National Standing Theater

Sissia is practicing with Adra.

Adra:   Sissia, let’s add a bit more to that last part.

Sissia:   Okay!

Sissia:   …Hey, Adra.

Adra:   Hm?

Sissia:   All this time, have you… been fighting with your father?

Adra:   Well… maybe fighting, maybe taking a different path…

Adra:   I’m just a different person from my father. I don’t want to live like him, and he won’t acknowledge my livelihood, either.

Adra:   We can’t… get along.

Sissia:   I feel like… I’m seeing you two as Arbine and Quatra.

Adra:   …What do you mean?

Sissia:   To wage war after some misunderstandings, and after fighting for 77 years, the two countries’ relationship becomes so distorted.

Sissia:   It just made me feel so sad thinking about that happening between you and your father…

Adra:   …

Adra:   Hah, you sure are an odd one.

Adra:   I guess that’s also what it means to be a ‘gear’.

Sissia:   Huh?

Adra:   Connecting other parts to function together… That’s what I mean.

Adra:   There was a time when I was desperate to fix my relationship with my father, but it just wasn’t happening. 

Adra:   And he’s the one who pushed me to begin dancing in the first place.

Adra:   I’m sure as a member of the military, he can’t accept the idea of his son being a traitor. That stubborn old man.

Adra:   …When I was a kid, he’d praise me when all I did was just dance.

Sissia:   Adra…

Sissia:   I think it would be nice if something changed.

Adra:   …Yeah.

Adra:   It’s gotten gloomy in here. Let’s keep going. Time’s going to leave us behind, otherwise.

Sissia:   Right!

Blackout

◆National Standing Theater

A sudden change in mood as an ominous aura envelopes Kielce.

Sounds of murmuring.

Levi:   …What is it?

Isaac:   …It’s the officials.

Major Azur:   …Levi, Crowley.

Crowley:   Well, we sure have been seeing a lot of each other lately.

Levi:   Did you need something?

Major Azur:   Don’t be so defensive. We’re only here for a simple questioning.

Adra:   …About what?

Major Azur:   I want to know the contents of your next performance.

Adra:   …!

Crowley:   Oh? Have you been bitten by the theater bug?

Major Azur:   No. I have not the least bit of interest, but it seems it’s drawn the attention of the citizens of the Arbine Nation.

Major Azur:   As a servant of our commander and king, I wish to know what sort of performance is being planned. 

Isaac:   We’ll be doing a really fun play.

Chance:   R-Right! Like with…puppets. That sort of thing!

Fan Carlo:   …Even a ‘puppet show’ is out of the question now.

Major Azur:   …

Major Azur:   Confiscate everything on the premises!

Adra:   Damn…

Crowley:   How tragic! We won’t be able to hold our performance like this!

Crowley:   I trust you’ll be issuing refunds for all the tickets we already sold, Major?

Major Azur:   Not to worry. We have but one purpose.

Sissia:   What do you…?

Guard:   Major Azur! It’s here, the script!

Sissia:   …!!!

Major Azur:   …Hmph. Pretty provocative for a puppet show, don’t you think?

Major Azur:   I think we need to investigate further. We’ll be taking all the scripts here.

Chance:   Without our scripts, we can’t practice for the performance…! I haven’t even memorized all my lines yet!

Isaac:   Chance, I think it’s a bit late for that…

Levi:   …Crowley, what about the original?

Crowley:   No use. They swiped it right away. Should’ve expected as much from Adra’s father.

Adra:   Yeah, really unfair…!

Major Azur:   Really, I have no idea why our citizens wish to see such a clown show.

Sissia:   …

Sissia:   … I’d like to ask you something, Major!

Adra:   …!!!

Major Azur:   …What is it?

Sissia:   …Have you ever seen a performance by our troupe?!

Major Azur:   I have not.

Sissia:   Then…

Sissia:   We’ll show you one!

Sissia:   Watch! This is a special Kielce dance!

Sissia starts singing and dancing. Major Azur stands confused.

Major Azur:   …Hey, stop twirling around me!

Sissia:   La-la…

Major Azur:   Stop! Don’t sing! What are you doing?!

Sissia:   You just said you’ve never seen a performance before, so I wanted to give you a glimpse of how fun they are!

Sissia:   Right, everyone?!

Levi:   …Heh.

Levi:   Are you ready for some twisted fun, Major?!

Major Azur:   …?!

Chance:   H-Huh?!

Crowley:   Ah, that’s the way!

Isaac:   Sing, dance!

Adra:   …So that’s the idea.

Fan Carlo:   Are you serious…? I’m not responsible for whatever happens next!

Everyone bursts into song and dance.

Guard A:   W-Wha-! The members of Kielce started a show around us…!

Guard B:   B-But it’s amazing…

Sissia:   …Now’s my chance!

Adra:   Come on now, dance, dance!!

Major Azur:   …Enough! Stop, stop this!

Major Azur:   That’s an order! Stop or I’ll arrest all of you!

Crowley:   All right, stop!

Chance:   Sir!

Isaac:   We were just getting started, though. 

Fan Carlo:   I had finally gotten warmed up, too.

Adra:   You done yet, Father?

Levi:   I hope you enjoyed yourselves. 

Major Azur:   Hardly! How ridiculous!

Within the confusion, one of the scripts was taken back by Kielce.

Major Azur:   We’ve confiscated all the scripts, right? Let’s go!

Sissia:   …

Sissia sighs with relief.

Major Azur:   …Come to think of it.

Sissia:   Huh?

Major Azur:   You have an eastern accent.

Major Azur:   Where are you from?

Sissia:   I…

Major Azur:   Show me your leg.

Sissia:   …!

Adra:   …You wanna die or something?

Major Azur:   …Don’t misunderstand. This is an inspection. Show me your left shin.

Sissia:   …

Sissia shows her leg as directed. Her skin shows no sign of a tattoo.

Chance:   There’s nothing there!

Major Azur:   …

Major Azur:   Let’s go.

Chance:   H-hey!

Levi:   …They’re gone.

Adra:   Jeez, they sure made a mess of things…

Chance:   …Ah wait, the scripts!

Sissia:   Here you go.

Isaac:   A script…!

Sissia pulls out a script from underneath her clothes.

Sissia:   …I only got one, though.

Adra:   You took advantage of the chaos and got it back.

Crowley:   My, that was some quick thinking. How very fun.

Levi:   As long as we have this, we can still hold the Border Performance.

Chance:   Man, I didn’t have any of the program memorized! I’m so glad the script is back!

Fan Carlo:   …The fact that you said that is even scarier. 

Chance:   And what was that last bit about? Having Sissia show him a leg!

Chance:   It’s like Sissia’s…

Sissia:   …

Levi:   …

Adra:   Right.

Fan Carlo:   …

Isaac:   But there’s no Quatral there.

Chance:   Y-Yeah. It’s no problem if you don’t have that ‘koala-troll’.

Sissia:   …!

Sissia:   I…!

Levi:   You are the Central Nation of Sissia. That’s all there is to it.

Sissia:   …!

Adra:   …Even if you come from a country far, far away, all that means is you’re a new flavor, right?

Fan Carlo:   …An accent just makes you interesting.

Crowley:   Yeah, it’s fine! We’ve all seen how much you’ve worked! 

Chance:   You don’t have to say anything!

Isaac:   All you need to do is get up on the stage. Right?

Sissia:   Everyone…

Sissia:   …Thank you.

Blackout

◆Town at Night

Aide:   …Major. About that Kielce member named Sissia…

Major Azur:   That was oil make up made out of dried fat of an Aibee cow. One would have to soak their leg in hot water to melt the cow fat or it won’t come off.

Major Azur:   At a glance, you won’t notice at all, but there’s a slight thickness to it. My eyes cannot be fooled. 

Major Azur:   That one is a fugitive. 

Aide:   Then, shouldn’t we have just arrested the fugitive on the spot?

Major Azur:   You’ve seen them in town, too. Year after year there are more servant citizens fleeing their country.

Major Azur:   Simple patrols are far too ineffective to take care of them. We’ll need to make an example of the Central Nation of Kielce and that fugitive.

Aide:   …What do you mean?

Major Azur:   What do you think of using a fugitive’s corpse to adorn the very wall the servant citizens climb over?

Major Azur:   We can certainly open fire on them once any of the members of Kielce climb the wall.

Aide:   Major, you’re so…

Aide:   If we do that, I’m sure this would alleviate another worry from our commander and king.

Major Azur:   That is our duty and purpose in being here.

Major Azur:   The wall will be the grandest tombstone for any servant citizens who cross the border.

Major Azur:   Hahahahaha…!

(5) The Central Nation of Sissia

Cheers

◆Border Proximity (Arbine Side)

Arbine Citizen:   Hey, what’s that?! Some people are climbing the wall!

Arbine Citizen:   It’s Kielce! It’s the Central Nation of Kielce!

Arbine Citizen:   You don’t know? They’re about to do their Border Performance!

◆Border Proximity (Quatra Side)

Quatran Child:    What’s the Border Performance?

Quatran Mother:   Your mother saw it long ago as a young girl… It was like being in a dream!

Quatran Elder:   I never thought we’d have such entertainment in these days of forced labor…

◆On top of the Border Wall (About 50m high)

The members have just finished climbing.

Kielce Member:   Wow…

Kielce Member:   We’re finally here…

Adra:   … This sight sure takes me back.

Levi:   Yeah.

Crowley:   Hahaha! How have you been, little wall?! It’s like you’re a part of our origins!

Chance:   Whoa… It’s taller than I thought!

Isaac:   We’re really going to do it… here!

Sissia:   …Urk.

Sissia:   …This is the top of the border wall. 

Sissia:   The wall that separates Arbine and Quatra.

Sissia:   You can see both countries from end to end.

Sissia:   The town I grew up in…

Sissia:   Is that the Central Nation of Kielce’s standing theater?

Sissia:   …The wind feels nice.

Sissia:   And even further is… an ocean?

Sissia:   The mountains are over there…!

Sissia:   The sky is still so far…

Sissia:   I’m so… small.

Adra:   That small person might very well flip the entire country on its head.

Sissia:   Adra…

◆Observation Tower Some Distance Away

Aide:   Major, they look like they’re about to start.

Major Azur:   The sniper will need some more time to prepare. Let them start.

◆On top of the Border Wall

Crowley:   Now then… Are we all ready?!

Kielce Member:   Yeaaah!

Kielce Member:   Ready anytime!

Levi:   …Let’s begin, everyone.

Crowley:   Goat-headed Isaac! The prologue, if you will!

Isaac:   …

Isaac:   …Right!

The crowd stirs.

The crowd cheers at the appearance of Isaac wearing his goat head.

Isaac:   Welcome, one and all, to the theater of the Central Nation of Kielce! I am the goat-headed Isaac!

Isaac:   …What’s that? ‘Where is the theater?’ you ask? We are THE Central Nation of Kielce, you know!

Isaac:   Wherever we sing and dance, be it a shoddy castle, a lounge, or a chapel haunted by ghosts!

Isaac:   Even a place like Pontartia is our stage! Oh rama Kielce!

Laughs from the citizens.

Isaac:   Now, let’s start the show before the officials arrive! We will now present to you a tragedy between two nations!

Isaac:   A woman who seeks freedom! A man who falls in love with her! The cruel fate that tears the two of them apart…!

Isaac:   We have high-flying, dazzling acrobats and enchanting dancers!

Isaac:   We have the most beautiful singing voice in all of Arbine… No, in all the world! And a magician who weaves his story as he stands upon the stage!

Isaac:   Our gorgeous ringleader who leads us all! Oh, and I, who issued from the loins of a goat…

Laughter from the crowd.

Isaac:   And with the beautiful ‘gear’ of the Central Nation of Kielce, we will take you all to a fantastic dream world.

Footsteps stopping.

The members of Kielce are all lined up together.

Crowley:   Now’s the time to forget the time.

Sound of fireworks.

Everyone:   We are the Central Nation of Kielce!

Adra:   Is everyone ready for some twisted fun?!

Adra:   Let’s dance until the morning sun rises, shall we?

The crowd cheers in response.

★Dance  “Quartz Anima”

The crowd continues to cheer.

Audience:   Central Nation of Kielce!

Audience:   That was amazing!

Isaac:   Everyone’s so happy…!

Chance:   Heh heh, they’re all excited, no matter which country they’re from…!

Fan Carlo:   I never knew singing could reach people like this…

Crowley:   Now then, it’s finally time for the climax!

Levi:   We’re counting on you, Adra and Sissia.

◆Night Sky

Sissia:   …Amazing

Sissia:   Isn’t it amazing, Adra?

Adra:   Yeah…

Sissia:   What’s wrong, Adra…?

Adra:   The view’s just so amazing… I can feel this heat in my chest…

Adra:   …Sorry, there’s still the last song left! Aagh, what is this? Damn, it won’t stop.

Sissia:   Adra.

Adra:   Whoa?!

Sissia:   You’re a good boy.

Adra:   Huh…?

Sissia:   Sorry. You just seemed so precious, it made me want to do that.

Sissia:   You’re such a good, hardworking boy.

Adra:   Hey…Quit it, everyone’s watching. It’s embarrassing… Agh, but, well…

Adra:   What is this? I feel like this is what I’ve been wanting for so long…

Adra:   Let’s stay like this, just a bit longer…

Adra:   …!

Adra:   Sissia!!!

Sissia:   …?!

He pushes her away.

Sound of a gunshot.

A bullet flies towards Sissia, but Adra protects her and takes the bullet instead.

Adra:   Agh…! I… see… Damn…

Sound of him falling over.

Sissia:   Adra? Adra…!!!

◆Observation Tower Some Distance Away

Major Azur:   What are you doing?! I told you to aim for the fugitive!

Sniper:   But that man…

Major Azur:   Adra…

The major falls to his knees, crying.

Major Azur:   I just… wanted you to…! Adra…!!! Aaaaaaaaagh!!!

◆Border Wall (Arbine Side)

Startled murmurs.

Spectator:   What’s wrong…? They stopped.

Spectator:   Show us the rest!

◆Border Wall (Quatra Side)

Spectator:   Did one of the lead actors die?

Spectator:   It’s part of the act, right? I’m… sure…

◆On the Border Wall

Crowley:   …There’s something wrong.

Isaac:   They should already be performing the song…

Levi:   …

Levi:   I’ll call Sissia back here.

Chance:   What… do you mean?!

Fan Carlo:   No… It can’t be true…

Chance:   I’ll go!

Levi:   You stay here!

Chance:   …!

Levi:   …Take care of everyone.

Crowley:   …Got it.

◆Night Sky

Sissia:   Adra… No, I can’t take this…

Sissia:   Please… get up…

Adra:   Heh… I guess the best moment ever… and the worst moment ever… happened at the same time.

Sissia:   Adra…

Adra:   Don’t cry, dummy… It makes me feel like I’m going to die or something.

Adra:   How many times do you think I’ve played dead before…

Sissia:   But… the blood…

Adra:   …Yeah.

Adra:   …The way I am now, I can’t sing the final song. Sorry.

Adra:   You… should sing it alone.

Sissia:   I… can’t do that…

Sissia:   If I leave you like this, you’ll…!

Adra:   I’m telling you, I’m not gonna die…

Adra:   You know… there’s one thing I’ve been keeping from you.

Sissia:   …What is it?

Adra:   I actually knew from the start that you were from Quatra.

Sissia:   I… see…

Sissia:   I guess I can’t keep any secrets from you, Adra.

Adra:   …Even so, I wanted to watch and see what you’d accomplish, to watch how you’d change…

Adra:   You’ve grown so much… far beyond what I expected…

Adra:   Before I realized it, I couldn’t keep my eyes off you.

Adra:   …Show me how you’ll make your dreams come true.

Adra:   Hah, I’ve got the best seat in the house… I never thought I’d be able to see a Kielce princess so close…

Adra:   The audience is waiting too… for your song. They haven’t noticed yet, so…

Adra:   Go…

Sissia:   …

Sissia:   …All right.

Sissia:   I don’t want to let your wishes… be in vain.

Adra:   …Good girl.

Sound of her standing up.

Adra:   …Ah, sorry. There’s one more thing I kept quiet about.

Sissia:   What’s that?

Adra:    I love you.

Sissia:   …!

Adra:   What? You’re pretty dense. Haha…

Adra:   …Not even my mother has held me like that before…

Adra:   I wish they had waited to shoot me… Jeez.

Adra:   …It’s time.

Adra:   …Go on.

Sissia:   …

Sissia:   Okay.

Sissia:  …

Sissia:   I will sing!!!

Sissia slowly stands back up.

There is no hesitation in Sissia’s eyes.

★ Song  “Over the Wall”

◆Border Wall (Arbine Side)

Cheering

Arbinian:   Yeah… Why are people talking about how two countries right next to each other are better or worse than the other?

Arbinian:   It’s true that the war lasted so many years, and we wished that another would never take its place.

Arbinian:   But… is this really what we wanted?

Arbinian:   These ideas about borders and nameless servant countries are absurd. At this rate, Arbine’s just a nation built and ruled by discrimination!

Candidates:   We’ve got tools!

Arbinian:   …!!!

Mean Candidate:   Let’s break through it! That blasted wall!!!

Arbinians:   Yeaahh! 

◆Border Wall (Quatra Side)

Loud thudding sounds that shake the wall.

Quatran:   The wall, it’s…

Quatran:   Shaking…?!

Quatran:   Wait… Are they trying to break through the border wall?!

Quatran:   The People of Arbine…? Why…?

Old Man Forced Into Heavy Labor:   …It was that performer’s song.

Quatran:   …!

Old man:   That performer’s song must have touched the hearts of the people of Arbine…!!!

Old Man:   Get anything you can! Bring any kind of tool you can find!!!

Old Man:   We’ll tear down this wall… alongside the people of Arbine!!!

Quatran:   Yeaahh!

◆Observation Tower

Loud thudding sounds that shake the wall.

Aide:   Major! We have to leave…!

Major Azur:   Who cares…

Aide:   …?!

Major Azur:   I finally remembered why I was fighting.

Major Azur:   Adra… It was to protect that small child’s smile…

Major Azur:   I don’t even care about the country anymore…

Major Azur:   But I haven’t forgotten what it means to be Arbine. I’ll carry out the punishments for the traitors myself… Goodbye.

The observation tower collapses in a loud crash.

Blackout

Aide:   Major!!!

◆On Top of the Border Wall

Levi:   …Rgh, at this rate…!

Crowley:   …We won’t make it.

Chance:   But…!!!

Isaac:   So you’re saying we’ll just leave them behind?

Fan Carlo:   …

◆The Reddened Sky

Sissia:   …I’m back, Adra.

Sissia:   I did my best.

Sissia:   I’m sure they felt it.

Sissia:   It’s become a bit of a predicament, but… I think you’re happier now.

Sissia:   …I wish you could have held me.

Sissia:   I think we’re alike in how lonely we are.

Sissia:   Good night… Adra…

Sissia:   …I love you.

Blackout

Monologue

Adra:   After the destruction of the wall, the Arbine Nation collapsed from the combined efforts of the Quatrans and the Arbinians who supported them.

Adra:   The Arbine commander and king was captured with his officials, stripped of their powers, and became normal citizens.

Adra:   The nameless country’s 20-year servitude ended, and the former Nation of Arbine allied with the former Republic of Quatra.

Adra:   And with the collapsed border between them, the two countries became one. 

Adra:   Levi Caineman, ringleader of the Central Nation of Kielce, invited people into the troupe from Arbine and Quatra without discrimination, and grew Kielce into an even larger troupe. He also continued to shine as a performer himself.

Adra:   Though he was the illegitimate child of the commander and king of Arbine, Crowley Arbine asserted himself to the throne in order to help the Arbine Nation rebuild itself after its collapse. With the superb eloquence he had polished while in the Central Nation of Kielce and his perfect writing abilities, he helped the nation rebuild into a new kingdom. He continued as a benevolent king, and throughout his life, would lend ear to the citizens, and at times feel the need for a good prank.

Adra:   Fan Carlo Albus showed off her beautiful singing voice to its fullest as a songstress of the imperial court of the new nation, capturing the hearts of its people. Though reluctantly accepting her duties to teach singing to the nation’s new national choir, she contributed to the growth of the generations that followed her. Continuing to face the path of singing in earnest, even in her elder years her voice continues to stay as young as someone in their youth.

Adra:   Chance Orlando began to spread the skills he polished in Kielce to the citizens of the newly formed nation. Giving joy to the hearts of the people through song and dance, he united the hopes and hearts of the nation as one. Upon the establishment of the new nation, he served as a counsel to the king, both giving him advice, and spouting nonsense at other times.

Adra: Isaac Bazmaz continued activities in easing intercultural tensions even after the new nation was formed. Performing as a clown to bring people joy, he created spaces for people to come together like Kielce had done in the past. people say that on occasion, he continues to visit the remains of the border wall, which serves as a grave for an old friend.

Adra:   In the collapse of the former nations and the rebuilding of a new one, the place that became the spiritual home of them all was named after the person whose sacrifice became the catalyst for a new beginning… And so, it was called the Central Nation of Sissia-Adratze.

The End.

[lowryinbohemia]

Day 2: Istanbul

Another full day of adventures in this incredible city. We started our day at the Topkapi Palace, right in the shadow of the Haga Sophia. I knew nothing of this beautiful place before coming to Turkey, so everything I saw was a new and complete surprise. I of course took lots and lots of pictures of the various state rooms, halls, spaces for worship, as well as the beautiful garden areas. But the major highlight for me when getting to see the kaftans worn by the sultan, and learned about the delicate and beautiful process of the intricate tunics that were hand painted with prayers and numbers in Arabic, as a way of wearing your prayers and calls for protection every day.

Our next point of adventure was the basilica cistern, which is most definitely the most ethereal thing I have seen underground yet in my life. Though it used to hold water that could take care of the whole city, the water level has now dropped significantly to the point where you can enjoy the columns of the cistern, as well as various commissioned statues placed around the area. But the coolest part was definitely the Medusa heads; as a lover of Greek mythology, it was fascinating to see this misunderstood woman in various statue forms. I also loved that they kept the lights low and changing colors, because it just made the water and the pillars shine in such a beautiful way.

A lot of walking required a short rest and a moment to refresh, so we popped into a small cafe to have a coffee and a pastry. Though the cups are small, anyone who has ever had Turkish coffee knows it is stronger than espresso so it wakes you up very quickly. Coffee and an apple & walnut tart later.

After our cafe rest, we headed to see the mosque specifically built by Sultan Suleiman (Suleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent), as well as the beautiful resting places of both Suleiman but also Hürrem Sultan. I had a bit of nerdish-out moment because in the last year I discovered the Turkish show “Magnificent Century”, which is a dramatization of the relationship between Suleiman & Hürrem. Beautiful views of the Bosporus as well as some of remnants of palaces & protective walls of long ago.

Then we came to one of the other things I have been waiting for a while to see; The Grand Bazaar & The Spice Market. We visited the Bazaar first and I found myself overwhelmed with the colors and sounds and busy bustle of a maze of shops. We of course had to stop to purchase a pashmina, and I found a hand woven pashmina and a cashmere scarf that I look forward to getting to show off when I get home. Mom and Pat both got a beautiful pashmina themselves, each of us purchasing one which best suits our personalities. In the Spice Market, we found a hole in the wall tea shop where I got to try some DELICIOUS pomegranate tea, as well as some fresh Turkish Delight. As those of you who know me well as well aware, I am a massive tea nerd so I of course had to get some fresh teas. Luckily they were able to vacuum pack my tea so it will be able to safely get back to Louisville and stay fresh. Mom found some delicious teas for herself so she and I are going to have so much fun when we get home & can enjoy our teas in our own teapots.

The day came to a close with a lovely ferry ride around the Bosporus, which gave us the chance to see the city via the water, plus a chance to sit and just enjoy the view. Sergun, our awesome tour guide, was able to point out various locations of interest as well as the history of some of the oldest buildings on the coast. We pulled back into the harbor just as the sun was setting, and Sergun showed us the way to a very delicious kebab restaurant. I will say this, I haven’t had a bad meal/food since I’ve been here.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Istanbul as we head to the airport Sunday to head to Prague, so I know Sergun will make sure its a good day. No idea what he is planning for us but we have gotten to see so many beautiful and interesting places in only a day and half, so I know it will be a grand day.

Which I will tell you all about tomorrow!

Lowrs 💜

[chibisnowfox]

(Over) Analyzing Pokemon Hints (13)

Some interesting Sinnoh things this week. First, about the Epilogue DLC - I had a lot of fun with it! And it felt like the writers had maybe a little bit too much fun (always a good thing). I also didn't realize until... maybe yesterday? that the DLC is an epilogue for the Treasure of Area Zero, NOT Scarlet and Violet. Youtube has been recommending a lot of videos from PokeTubers who follow leaks and the thumbnails keep saying there's another DLC coming. I used to not believe that, but now I'm not so sure.... I still kind of doubt it because we're likely getting big games this year, so I don't see DLC happening unless it's something like Johto and Unova DLC instead of big games.

Onto the Sinnoh stuff! In Pokemon Masters EX the Dreams of the Void and Galactic Awakening events are getting repeats. And, the Cynthia & Kommo-O Sync Pair is available again. I find this very interesting because the Dream of the Void event involves Giratina, and the only time we've seen Cynthia's Kommo-O in the anime was during the PLA special episodes. And GO is getting the Shadow Sinnoh Starters. These could just be happening at the same time just because. Or, the craziest thing, it could be hinting at Platinum DLC for PLA. Diamond and Pearl came out in 2006. Platinum came out in 2008. Two years in between. This year, it will be two years after PLA was released. AND, we still have not been able to visit the Distortion World in current games. I'm thinking it could be PLA because I don't think a Platinum remake is likely with Johto and Unova remakes being so heavily hinted at. Yeah, PLA is two years old at this point, so it's unlikely, but it's still interesting how the EX events are happening at the same time. I do feel like something big is coming. That should be it for this week unless we get a surprise trailer or a big announcement.

[doberbutts]

Yeah message me and I'll shoot you my discord info and we can talk it out there? I mostly emulate on my phone these days but PC isn't a bad option if your computer is halfway decent. I just vastly prefer the ability to lay down to play, due to my back injury. I have to be moderately upright to play on PC and that strains my back to a fairly ridiculous point.

Also meant to say; my "not interested" list absolutely includes games I've beaten, so it's not always a mark against their quality or how much fun I had while playing. I genuinely liked Animal Crossing, I just... I've played it to death, after 70+ hours there's nothing really there to interest me in coming back anymore.

I had a feeling I wouldn't like Brilliant Diamond because I hated Gen4 to the point where I initially abstained from Gen5, then a friend got it for me for my birthday and, yeah, don't like this nearly as much as PLA. It's not bad per say it's just Gen4 which is my least favorite generation. Tales of Arise was a really fun game that had a very stupid last arc/chapter and I beat it but I'm not really interested in replaying or going back to 100% it as a result. Shadow of War similarly I beat once, and stuck to it because I was genuinely happy to run around Mordor/Middle Earth some more, but also... really not the gameplay style I prefer, took a lot of liberties with canon (which is why ROP-haters who like the Shadow of Mordor/War games are hypocritical), and had a stupid ending. So, again, not really interested in going back.

I actually had Ghostwire Tokyo on my "not interested in returning" list despite *really* liking the game just because the ending felt very final and I wasn't particularly interested in 100%ing the collectables, but like the day after I put it on that list the devs released a bunch of new content including a sidestory so now of course I'm interested in diving back in. My "not interested" list are games that I'm willing to trade in or sell, which is what makes them different from "beat it, liked it" because "beat it, liked it" are games that I may return to for bonus content, just to get closer to 100%, or replay entirely because I liked them so much. Same with Ghost and KH3- there's new content in the form of DLCs that I'm interested in so while I'm not super interested in playing KH3 again I do want to play Re:Mind, and Ghost of Tsushima has the Iki Island expansion plus supposedly more content in the base game which I liked well enough to play a third time I guess.

@scutellatebooted (won't let me tag you?)

Purple checkmarks: beat it, liked it

Blue dot: playing it, have to finish it at some point

Yellow dot: haven't started

Turquoise dot: not interested in playing it anymore, whether I've beaten it or not

Tales of Arise and Shadow of War are also under the Turquoise dot but I don't have them on my shelf anymore so they are not pictured

If you're looking for suggestions, that's currently what's sitting on my shelf. Horizon Forbidden West was given to me as a digital code, and there's some stuff on Steam obviously not featured here, but yeah.

[blaiddraws]

HI I LOVE UR WORM

Does Ingo have to eat after dying??? How long did it take until Melli figured out this weird metal worm was Ingo? Did he get his own page in the Pokedex?

(anonymous asked:

What does the worm train eat)

he Does have to eat. he still needs energy and he's not too fond of the other options for getting that energy. however he doesn't actually have much in the way of "organs"

leading to our next questions:

anonymous asked:

can ingo talk? if not, can he learn how like meowth did?

anonymous asked:

Would be fun if our new ghost/steel type Pokemon Ingo here, pulled s Meowth and learned how to speak

he cannot speak! he is physically incapable of human speech. he can make train noises tho

(theoretically, however, he might be able to one day sorta telepathically speak to emmet and maybe a couple other friends/family members)

back to the original ask;

"How long did it take until Melli figured out this weird metal worm was Ingo?"

it didn't take long! he actually Knew it was ingo right away but he was under the impression that he was just like. a sort of shadow left behind. a ghost type created from ingo's death, but not truly ingo himself. (i figure, that's probably the more common belief about loved ones coming back as pokemon. because people here are still very wary about pokemon so they'd never been able to get much info about them). which is why he was so comfortable around him; this was just a new pokemon, even if it was created from ingo's death, it wasn't actually ingo

aaaaaand then ingo learned how to use his new claws well enough to write and melli was mortified to the end of time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

as for the Pokedex. he does not

by the time ingo gets TrainWorm'd (euphemism for dying), it'd been several years since the events of pla. akari/rei had long since vanished back to their home by then, and laventon had "finalized" the pokedex. he certainly kept an eye out for any new pokemon, but the game protag was Very thorough.

if he ever gets wind of a strange new pokemon haunting wayward cave and the surrounding areas, it's rumors at best that most people attribute to ghost-type tricks and zorua illusions. maybe he even went out a couple times to survey the area, but he never caught sight of anything odd. eventually laventon ends up moving back to galar (or he might've pursued the rumors further)

[fluffywings13]

@delphi-thefairy here’s a lil something of Kei being the best uncle

Rody knew it was time to leave when dad came home without mom, something shining in the older man’s eyes, a light that didn’t mean anything good, a light that was dangerous, like a match before it lit an explosion. He knew it was time to go when that match was lit and dad started talking about some man named Flect Turn.

In the dark of night, hidden by the shadows, he packed their backpacks full of essentials. Roro sat awake in bed for him, he’d told them the plan some time ago, but Lala had fallen asleep, which put a hindrance on their plans. Still though, he carried through, he pushed through, lifting his baby sister into his arms to carry her as he and his baby brother snuck out of the house. They had no other family in the area to turn to, all of them would return them to dad, and he didn’t want to know what would happen if they were returned to him after trying to run away.

There was mom’s family, but they lived on the other side of the world, Japan was at least a few hours by plane. And that was where their nearest relative was that wouldn’t turn them back over to their dad, Uncle Kei was not a fan of dad, he’d heard him talk to mom about leaving him many many times.

Mom always laughed and brushed him off and see where that got her now.

With his secret savings stash in his pocket, he makes his way down the street towards the bus station, they had just enough for a bus ticket for all three of them, they’d have to be sneaky getting onto the plane.

Lala sleeps the entire way to the airport before she wakes up, yawns widely, and turns to look out the window. She knows of course that they’re running away to Uncle Kei in Japan.

Rody manages to get them through the security fence, spying around carefully for anyone who could stop them, and they slowly make their way through the airfield searching through the planes for the one heading to Jap–”Rody?” Jumping at the sound of his name, he turns, slowly, meeting the confused eyes of his Uncle Kei. “What’re you doing here at this time of night?”

The oldest Soul shuffles his feet and looks down at his brother and sister. “I know this looks bad but it isn’t what it looks like.”

“No, really now.” Keigo crosses his arm. “So you’re not sneaking around an airfield trying to sneak into a pla–”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Oh,” his uncle purrs, smiling when his younger siblings giggle as the man turns to face them completely, away from the green haired boy, a growling blonde, and an even faced dual haired boy. “But I’m not the one sneaking onto the airfield, I’m allowed to be here.”

Lala skips forward, despite Rody’s best attempts at stopping her, and hugs the hero’s leg. “We’re gonna come live with you Uncle Kei! Are you excited!”

Keigo blinks for a moment, in the shere surprise at that statement, scooping the girl up as he glances over at his oldest nephew. “Is that so?” She nods happily and he nuzzles the five year old affectionately as he turns his attention away from his oldest nephew for a moment to coo at the cutie bird in his arms. “Of course I’m excited.” Then his attention returns to his oldest nephew. “Just a huge surprise is all, Cutie Bird, Uncle Kei didn’t know this.”

Roro hops forward before Rody can stop him and latches onto their Uncle’s leg, fingers curling in the fabric of the pant leg of the hero’s costume. “Rody said you did!”

“He did, did he?” The blonde man stares his oldest Nephew down. “He should have told Uncle Kei so he could’ve gotten you three tickets to Tokyo and from there to Fukuoka. Not to mention a larger hotel room for our stay in Tokyo.”

Lala pouts and leans into his shoulder. “Does that mean we can’t come Uncle Kei?”

“Now, did Uncle Kei say that?” He nuzzles the little Cutie Bird affectionately. “No ma’am, that means Uncle Kei has to rebook a hotel with a pool in it so his Cutie Bird can play and have fun and get three extra plane tickets.”

“Sooo….” The older boy rubs the back of his head. “Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”

“Oh no sir.” Rody grimaces at the look he receives. “Not at all. You good sir are in deep trouble.”

He can’t help himself. “Damn.”

…..

Keigo is quickly reminded of his Niece's fear of heights when the plane disembarks the airport and she starts screaming, wincing at the shriek in his ear, he trades places with his oldest Nephew to sit between him and their younger brother. He distracts Lala with his phone, the five year old takes to it like a tadpole takes to water, she ends up hugging his one hand as he holds his phone up for her to watch Spongebob with his other hand. Roro falls asleep against his bicep and Rody curls up in his seat with Pino sleeping on his head.

He stays awake for as long as he can, standing vigil over them, protecting them as they sleep as any good Uncle would, but he succumbs to the inevitable after such a battle they fought and falls asleep surrounded by his cousins sleeping children. He stays awake until the inevitable exhaustion from what had just transpired in the span of several days overcomes him and he falls asleep surrounded by his soon to be adopted (he’s sure) kids.

…..

“Uncle Kei! Uncle Kei!” He looks over from watching Lala play in the shallow end of the pool at the other youngsters call, Roro latches onto his arm and tugs excitedly. “Throw me again! Please!”

“Of course my little rascal.” He hooks his fingers under his arms and tosses him down further into the deep end of the pool. “I’d be happy to.” He turns back to check on Lala for a moment before turning to check on Rody in the hot tub, the teen was fine on his own, but he entered the pool to keep an eye on the five year old and nine year old in the pool.

They hang out in the pool for a few hours, after the pool had technically closed, the pros of being Hawks in Tokyo before he pulls the adult card and says its time for them to go back to their room.

He and Rody take care of their business while the little ones are in the bathtub getting all cleaned up, and the teen’s puffy eyed when they return in new clean pajamas and the teen trades places with them in the bathroom to clean up. Keigo is the last one to get cleaned up, after making sure Roro and Lala are tucked into their bed all nice and snug.

Him and his oldest Nephew are sharing a bed.

Keigo knows his niece and nephews like he knows the back of his hand, so when Rody hesitantly reaches out for his hand, he snatches that small one and tugs him in closer, into his chest, and curls his arm and wing around him. “Get in here, Robin.”

….

“Get his tummy, Uncle Kei!” Roro yells mid laughter as he watches his older brother suffer so horribly under their Uncle’s hands. “Get his tummy!”

“Get his tummy?” Keigo turns his attention from his squealing nephew to his giggling nephew. “Trade me a kiss for the tummy?” The younger boy giggles wildly and smacks a kiss to his lips, so, as a man of their word would, he turns back and claws his fingers into his oldest nephew’s belly which makes him squeal with laughter and arch his back into his fingers. “The tummy, as requested from my favorite little Rosefinch.” Lala rests her head against his as she giggles at their older brother's, completely losing himself like a child (that he still was). “Any requests from the adorable little Lovebird?”

“My turn Uncle Kei!”

Chuckling softly, the man nods, sweeping her up with his right arm, dropping her down onto her giggling older brother, and he claws his fingers into her belly. “Your wish is my command, Cutie Bird.”

[ratherhavetheblues]

INGMAR BERGMAN’S “Thirst” ‘Something robs me of my will’

by James Clark 2022

The Surrealist treasures of Ingmar Bergman’s early films culminate with the film, Thirst (1949). Our approach here will not coincide with the melodramatic saga, so necessary for the young artist’s business. There will be a nucleus, taken  far from the beginning of the text; and then many ironies with their crises; and then the genius of cameraman, Gunnar Fischer.

Believe it or not, there is (and has been, for eons) a significant number of folks who live millions of miles away from their friends. Living beyond the normal, pious hopes. Our protagonist, here, being one of those who has an uncanny energy, unable to put the picture together.  (The famed Surrealists also had problems with coherence. While making serious fun, much was missed.)

We start (and end) with her. We start at the cemetery of her long-dead husband, and its moments that never reached him. Nearby, she was a part of her adolescent’s crisis at a mental hospital, whereby she had smashed a window and left much blood that day. Moreover, and more to the point, there was a multimillionaire financing  the place, who thought he was a medical wizard. (This moment, however, had, for Bergman, also its viciousness angle. Several of these near-war films had been warped in face of a fascist bias. You might argue that the losing side had something to offer. But here, we come upon a sneer for the name, Rosegreen, meant to be attacked. And yet the irony flows beyond.)

   She begins with, ���Do you have plans for Midsummer?”/ “I’ll be at my chalet, writing my book. Come with me… Come away and break a marriage…  Do something worthwhile… I’d like to shatter your illusions about your marriage.” She replies: “You open with an all-out attack today. My marriage was very happy…”/ “That’s  an illusion you cling to … You never loved your husband until after he died. You’ve spun a coat of armor around your marriage, like everything else. One long mistake! An eclectic childhood, a foolish marriage, twists and turns. Wake up!” (He walks away; then he comes back.)/ “Of course, you could stop seeing me.”/ “I always feel awake!” (She rushes away. She comes to the door. Her shadow. Back to him.)/ “You’re clever, Doctor. That was close.” (Shadows.) She lies on the sofa. She is morose./ “I feel very sorry for you…”/ “You don’t mean that… You’re not a good man. Your kindness is a sham.”/ “Kindness!”/ “You have no imagination. You’ve never lived. You know nothing about life, and therefore about suffering. All you do is think!”/  “You smoke too much.”/ “My last lover agreed with me.” (Pathetic excuse of understanding.)/ “And married a dancer!”/  “How do you know what’s true? Sure, you talk a lot. But in fact, you’re holding back. What are you keeping from me? Just be normal. Talk and let it out, any old way. Don’t worry about the form. I’ll sort it out… You need someone. Otherwise, you’ll perish… I’ll never abandon you. I’m your friend. More than that, I don’t want anyone standing in my place when you cry. You do cry, although never with me. Give yourself to me and I’ll deliver you…” (Delivering in spades will never occur by way of such a foppish creature.)/ “You’re clever… You call that giving? To stand and wait for the shock. You’ll never see my tears. I won’t put them on display.” /”What is it you can’t bear? The fact you’re fond of me? Try to understand. The main thing isn’t to be loved, but to love. I’ll put up no resistance. Love me.” / “You need psychotherapy yourself!” (She cries.) /”I can’t let you out.” She rushes past the door, and the worker repairing the glass smashed by her daughter, stops the fancy cop.

   A while later, on a very quiet street, in an affluent district, our protagonist finds herself overtaken by another woman. Whereas the latter had been clearly a young woman, the interplay proceeds as if they had been school friends. Surrealist twists have taken over here. What does that mean? In Bergman’s eye’s, it’s not about school’s-out! In fact, real work has only begun, on planet earth; with the thought that the work is beyond its capacities, given the odds.

Nevertheless, Toronto Music Director, Gustavo Gimeno, a brave and alert conductor, has–for the alert–a study for the aegis. Very recently, he had put into place a program for the zenith. The march there was as follows: two short, explosive hurricanes of sound; followed by Frederic Chopin’s, Piano Concerto No. 2, in F Minor, Op. 21; clearly different worlds, setting up a crisis (something no longer fully powerful, except as a minor querque, a surrealist twist); the last and most potent  work, being, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade, Op  35, Jonathan Crow, violinist), being a force to the new. Thereby, one could disclose a new form of reaching out, to meet a new world. A surrealist  gift, seldom engaged.

   However, concerned with this issue, one must admit that virtually nothing has been accomplished, beyond hopeful wishes. The trouble is history. A history with two powers, religion and science; where, in fact there are three, the arts. In order to make sense, here, we need to hear more of those two who dabble. The protagonist is Mrs. Hemrukron; the other is called Ruth. (Remember, the first sight we got in this sight film was a huge swirl in the sea.) After the connection on the quiet street, the lady asks,/ “What’s in the bag?”/ ” A pork chop.”/ The younger one is beaming!/ The lady becomes morose./ Ruth proposes, “Come to see how I live. We can cook our chops together.” (Now the protagonist is sunny.)/ “That would be nice!” The host says, “Nice teeth! You should smile more often…”

   Surrealism is a deadly serious business. It suggests that Planet Earth is wasting its precious time. However, there are intermediates to make a sort of shine. Also, there’s no elevator. (Clearly the substandard. But don’t push that.) The flat: “How cozy,” the visitor enthuses. (Wild paintings, throughout.)/ “I don’t understand why flowers never last…” (As if a modest error.} The protagonist rushes to the window. She looks down on a party scene./ “You must have so many memories!”/ ” I won’t answer that.” (This being in full advantage on the part of the  host. And this being lost to the real heart.) The lost hope tells Ruth, “I think I should go home, after all.”/ “Are you afraid of me? You’re beautiful, standing there with your sad thoughts.”

The protagonist reaches the point of calling out, “I’ve been through hell. Everyday I go through hell!  I’m so lonely…lonely and desperate…” (Thoughts,  being crushed.) Our protagonist  could not manage the exertion. But, surprisingly, there is a way. A way which has a steady beat.

   However, before we tackle this matter, there is a need to understand that great obstacles virtually ruin the proceedings. We begin with a couple, crippled by the instinct of advantage over others. (Though the matter here is extreme, one needs to understand that everyone here is seriously infected, by way of advantage.) Thereby, we find a couple on a beautiful sailboat. On disembarking, the man picks up a benign  snake and drops into a poisonous ant hill. In maintaining his style, there was a complicated marriage. The woman who accompanied the sailboat was about to be another form of snake. He would tell her, “A man my age who is not married with kids is a failure.” (That was news to her.) At first his response was cheerful. But on calculating the birth, and finding that she had had somebody else’s baby coming on, harsh measures appeared. (Not only was he merely a megalomaniac; but he was a military man, like those other fascists of that vintage we have seen in this era by Bergman. Here the punishment was a quick, vicious abortion, leaving the woman sterile.

   By way of enchantment, Ruth has appeared as not only the host in that flat, but a wife to an academic. Her balletic background seems to have carried her to remarkable poise; (not to mention her husband). (actually surrealist.) For example, during a several-month tour by train, by the two, there was a stop at a station. Noticing the fascist and his wife, waiting on a platform for another train, they opened  the window and spoke to them in remarkable terms. Surreal terms./ “So you’ve been out seeing the world, I see… On your way back from Italy.” Ruth adds: Verona, Bologna, Florence, Venice, the Lido, Capri, Messina, Syracuse…/ “I see we’re headed that way ourselves. The train there, and the plane back… to waste a few vitamins.” (All this verbosity occurs only by way of the soldier.) The lady maintains a sharp silence…/ The academic chirps, “So you’ve bought your plane tickets, Lieutenant.”/ “Yes.”/ “That’s wise. We flew out and then there was no cloud for the return.”/ “Wasn’t  it hard to leave the children?”/ “Raoul being so fond of them all./ “They’re being so happy, so in their house boarding the well. Our regards to Italy.”/ “You’re such a fool!”

     What kind of fool has not yet appeared in this disaster.

Ruth kicks it off with, “I love how you look so wise engrossed in a book.” (This last segment  being  clearly desperate, gut-wrenching and farce, as to the real deal.) “Tell me something about coins,” she asks, as to his hobby./ “You have no idea how it’s created.”/ She mocks, “The stab of pain–what to do now or that? You tell me about it, day and night! A butterfly brings no joy to your heart, but a coin gets you aroused… Dear boy, don’t listen to the things I say! You know how I get when I’m tired…”/ “Of course I do, dear…”/ “I’m anxious about the future… “/ “Stop that… You mustn’t make such violent gestures, both angry and in various ways. Feel how my heart’s pounding… He adds that the  two of them are far beyond the working class who have no time for an inner life.”/ “I prattle on like a machine gun because I’m afraid of silence… Am I a bad person?”/ “It’s my cursed fate to always meet hysterical women. It’s my cursed fate to play the nurse, and I’ve had enough.”/ “I’ll never leave you. To hell with your coins and your cold eyes. To me, ballet isn’t a profession. It’s my second home, more real than any actual home.” However, at this point, her career is over. She blurts out, “I’ll get into folk songs.”

   To round it off, a religious conference, where the Hollywood-two has become pious. “The conference was a success. But we all agreed on one point: if we’re to reach our parishioners, we must be less pious about marriage. We must admit that blaming occurs, even in our marriages. And the solution is to talk things over. A quarrel is fine, but then you talk. My wife and I had our disputes. We’ve talked it over, and I don’t ask her to account for small sums. Everything is in order.”/ (Comes the reckoning, by her.  “You go to bed. I’m going to smoke.”/ “Please, let’s sleep tonight. The circus has to stop!”/ “What circus?”) He posits, “As I’ve been saying, talking things over is essential. I’m going to write a book on marriage, and its ups and downs.”

   Mrs. Hemrukron had the right idea, in knowing the mysteries of sensibility. Her crash was not pretty. But with a boon companion, she might have gone far. (Near the end, our protagonist brings forth a brief beguiling, to match the swells of the beginning.) Even with a dying planet, it is crucial to love the elements, to dance with the dialectic–sober; and giddy; and both. As we’ve noted several times before, in our works,  launching here could be a matter of two powers, launched together by steady fingers. Or flying dance. Or many others on the fly.

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clans part 36! @brightlotusmoon @selfindulgenz @scentedcandlecryptid

Content warning!! Physical attack, restraint, cursing

SMACK!

April woke up to a solid, heavy thud. It took her a moment to recognize her own room; it was her first night staying in her house for almost three weeks. Every time her parents would go away on their business, the house would be too quiet for her to want to stay in it very long. But now the lair was just as quiet, and with her brothers gone, she didn't want to spend much time there either. It just made her sad. Her conflict with Splinter and Cassandra served to make things worse.

SMACK!

That sound came again, and this time her head snapped immediately to the window. Another impact, and another. A steady, drumming sound. April slid out of bed and into her slippers, slowly approaching the window and pulling back the darkened blinds. Surely the brothers couldn’t be back so soon?

April gave a shout and fell away as another projectile was launched at the window and smacked against it. Was that a rock? Quickly, she scrambled back over to the window and peered outside. Then she opened the window, just barely ducking her head in time to dodge another rock. She slowly peeked back over the windowsill and threw her arms open.

“What the hell Casey?!”

“Sorry!” Cassandra called back from the streets, “You opened the window!”

“No shit, Jones!” April snarled back, and then fell to a weak laugh. “What are you doing throwing rocks at my house at…” She checked the time, “Two in the morning?”

“Come down!” Sunita called up; she was in her human form, which hadn’t changed at all in the years April knew her. Skin a shade darker than April’s own, and hair of ink pulled tight again her scalp in braids.

“Not tonight, yall.” April leaned on her window sill and gave a tired smile.

“What?” Cassandra scoffed in an exaggerated fashion, “Why not?!”

“I have a headache.” Was April’s excuse; she didn't have one, but she certainly didn't feel good. She just couldn’t exactly pin point what part of her body it was that ached.

“I have ibuprofen!” Cassandra held up her purse.

“Good night, girls.” April closed the window.

***

“Well, that stinks.” Sunita put a hand on her hip as she turned to face the shorter Cassandra. “Should we knock again?”

Cassandra considered. She gave a smile that was undetectable due to her mask and cracked her fingers and neck. “I have a better idea~”

***

April was more than happy to enjoy the warm, weighted embrace of her comforter, hugging her childhood teddy bear to beckon sleep to return to her faster. With her injuries, this was shaping up to be the most boring summer of her life! But to be fair, the promise of a simple, normal summer of relaxation definitely appealed to her, no matter how far out of her reach she knew it was. A girl could always dream, right?

April’s body shuttered. It told her to open her eyes, and when she did it was like her worst nightmares came true, though for only a moment before her mind caught up with the fear in her heart and recognized the silhouettes standing over her like villains in the night.

“Casey? Sunita? What are you—?”

Cassandra grabbed April around her waist and hoisted the teen over her shoulder.

“Casey! Put me down!” April growled and kicked her legs, but Cassandra only laughed.

“Sunita— help me! Get her legs!” Cassandra howled, and Sunita hurried to restrain April’s legs while Cassandra supported her front, both of them holding April between them like a hammock. “You’re coming to girls night April!”

They started to carry April toward the open window. April’s initially startled screams slowly turned to laughter. She still struggled, but her actions were more playful than anything. They stopped at the window, though Cassandra had already climbed out of it.

“She ain’t got no shoes, get her shoes!” Cassandra laughed.

Sunita’s arm turned from human back to its slime form and extended out to grab April’s shoes and a pair of socks. Cassandra forced April’s feet still so Sunita could put her shoes on, and then they continued out the window and into the fire escape.

“Guys— I need a mask!” April laughed.

“Got one!” Cassandra reached into her purse and pulled out a blue mask, fixing it over April’s mouth and nose while still carrying her with one arm. Down the fire escape they went, and only when their feet had touched the ground did they put April down.

“Are you proud of yourselves?” April huffed, putting her hand on her hip.

“Very.” Cassandra smirked.

“You could at least have let me get dressed!” April laughed, “I can’t go out for girls night in my PJs!”

“Why not?” Sunita asked innocently.

“Cause It's not proper for a social setting!” April scoffed.

Sunita was quiet for a time before whispering, “Humans are so weird…”

“Oh yeah. Forgot you’re a slime dude.” Cassandra turned to face April, “You’ll be fine! It’s not like we’re going drinking! You’re not old enough; believe me, I’ve checked.”

“Then what are we doing?” April asked, genuine curiosity seeping into her voice.

***

The trio got close enough to see the mutant hippo known as Hypno Ron wandering the shadows of the streets; he didn't seem to have a care in the world as to being spotted. After all, he could always just Mesmer any human to forget! April wasn’t so keen on how reckless the mutant was being, but Cassandra locked on to the hippo almost immediately from the rooftops.

“Oh! Oh! I got this one!” Cassandra cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, it was in a heavy accent; her best attempt at mocking the way Hypno spoke. “Oh oh, deary me! I simply have to find a tiny suit for my tiny worm friend for our anniversary! How am I ever going to find one in time to enjoy tiny tea cakes and orange peels with the lovely Warren Stone?”

“Orange peels?” April scrunched up her nose.

“What? Worms taste with their body.” Cassandra shrugged.

“Oh! There’s one!” Sunita spotted the next mutant, Repo Mantis, buzzing around. She dropped her voice low and raspy. “Rrrrr. I just know there’s a birthday cake to repo ‘round here somewhere. That three-year old’s hiding well, but I’ll sniff em out with my sniffer.” Sunita made exaggerated sniffle motions that made April and Cassandra almost fall over laughing.

“This one’s mine!” April claimed a few buildings down when they spotted the mutant prairie dog wandering an alleyway, her nose twitching in the search for decent morsels. April didn't know her name, so she had to improvise, clearing her throat. “Can I dig here? Noooo this isn’t a good place for digging? Here? Maaaaybe not? Here? No. Man, none of these places are good for digging!”

Sunita and Cassandra were covering their mouths trying to keep their laughter to a minimum. The prairie dog seemed to hear them anyway, looking up from her curious search to twitch her ears in search of the noises.

The girls all ducked down low to hide from her sight, all covering their mouths and their snickers until the suspicions had died down. Then, at Cassandra’s command, all three of them peeked back over the edge and down at the mutant as she continued her work.

“Ohhhh the voices are back!” April carried on, this time in a lower whisper, “Hm? However will I pass the time? I know!” she cleared her throat and started to sing in her mock accent. “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene! I’m begging of you please don’t take my man! Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeene! I’m singing this song just because I caaaaan!”

The prairie dog looked up again. “Did someone call me?”

That made the trio of girls fall apart laughing until their sides hurt and they felt like they might be sick if they laughed any harder. Through the next hour, they found more and more people to mock from afar, both mutants and humans, but after the hour had passed, April was starting to feel completely exhausted. The constant running and laughing made the soreness of her side ache even worse, and now her head really was hurting, and her stomach too.

“Sorry gals.” She told the two of her friends when she felt her body couldn’t hold out any longer. “Really gotta turn in for the night.”

“What?” Cassandra groaned, and Sunita seemed disappointed, “Come on! We still got two hours before the sun comes up!

“And I really should be spending it sleeping.” April sighed, “But I had a really good time! I’ll see you in the morning, girls?”

“Do you want us to walk you home?” Sunita asked softly.

“No, no, don’t trouble yourselves!” April waved her hand, “I know you two are having fun, and I can handle myself.”

“Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, “It’s no trouble…”

“It’s fine! I grew up with the turtles, I can handle myself!”

“If you say so…”

“I’ll be fine. Really.” April tried to reassure.

“At least take my knife.” Cassandra said, giving the long blade over to April, “I feel bad for abducting you without your bat.”

“You don’t have to do that.” April said.

“I want to!” Cassandra beamed. “Besides, I’ll just come back and get it in the morning! No big whoop.”

“Well then… thank you.” April turned the knife over in her hands a few times. “I promise I’ll give it back.”

April found where she was by checking the nearest street signs. She wasn’t more than a few blocks from home. The streets would be far easier to traverse than the buildings; as much as she had trained with the brothers, she never did quite get the hang of building jumping. That’s why Donatello had his special seat in his armor just for her! Thinking of Donatello, April felt a sudden sadness wash over her. She missed his sarcastic voice, his dramatic flare, his simple presence!

When she was out of view of Cassandra and Sunita, the first thing April did was let herself finally release the bile that had been churning her stomach for the past ten minutes, and she felt a lot better when the vomit was outside instead of in. Then she started to cry immediately after, but she didn't know why. She missed Donatello, sure, but enough to cry? And though her head hurt it wasn’t the agonizing, ripping headaches that usually plagued her, so it wasn’t the pain. Maybe it was just a bit of everything mixed into one, and that was why she felt so… not good. She wanted to feel better, and maybe crying could help that! It wasn’t like she could stop now. Once the tears started to fall, they just got heavier.

The tears fell hard as April entered a shortcut alley. Then she stopped when she saw a man at the other end; a man that looked to be just minding his own business, leaned up against a wall drinking from something within a paper bag. She already had a hunch of what it could be, and she certainly didn't want to cross his path. Not when there was a longer, but safer, path she could take instead. Gripping the knife in her pocket, April started to back away; it was preferable to turning her back on the man. At least, that’s what she thought before she collided with a bigger, heavier weight.

April tried to turn around. Powerful arms wrapped around her, one around her chest holding her in a grip so tight she thought her ribs might break, and another holding a cloth to her mouth. She held her breath for as long as she could, kicking out and trying repeatedly to strike the mans legs and groin, but all she met was muscle and what must have been an athletic cup protecting him. Figures! Just her luck!

When April could hold her breath no longer, she squeezed her eyes shut as the acrid fumes overwhelmed her, followed quickly by darkness.

[homestuckexamination]

in my experience both on your server but mainly on a server i'm in now that arrghus is actually on as well a lot of he theorists there outright reject od, and they always talk about him like he's some false prophet, mainly points like that his theories have no evidence (they do), that he is too essentialist about his theories (he's not). they call him stuff like a theologian and they stick religiously to older theories like aspects shadowing and inversion and prince ghosting and passive page. while they accuse him of trying to hardline the classpects into a hardline dichotomy and they claim that there is no consistent order. they claim that bards are not royalty becasue court jester, stuff like that where they never actually discuss why he thinks those things. the biggest comparison i've seen is that OD is the game theory of homestuck, stringing together concepts through weak connections. they hate that he compares it to symbolism even though they bring in stuff like mbti shadows and ghosting which are completely foreign to the comic. they claim he rode off the backs of older theorist and that he doesn't acknowledge them, and that he's full of shit and isn't very accurate. and to me amit of this sounds like they didn't even read the essays or didn't pay attention to the vids. like half the mods regularly shit on him. they treat people who defend him as "Od stannies" and don't bother to listen to them. i've had many a discussion there where i will draw on ods theories or defend him and it never gets anywhere. like to me the arguments about active page and the active passive force flow thing are sound, while the arguments for active knight and inversion and ghosting seem to usually rely on poor analysis of characters or weaker arguments based on intuition and confirmation bias. yet every time they seem fixated on those older theories. they just seem fixated that he's full of shit and and that he doesn't know what he's talking about. is it a fandom thing where when certain people get more popular in more lefty spaces the rest seem to turn of them? do they just genuinely not get it? (becasue whenever i debate these theories they always misinterpreted or take bad faith interpretations of what he says). why do they think so low of him?

Oh jeez, that bad huh? :I I’ve not seen much of that on my server! I did a quick scan of ‘optimisticDuelist’ and ‘OD’ and while few, the references were usually, linking videos and talking about him positively, and I’d HOPE they do because MY own analysis is deeply intertwined with his takes!

Heh, Hope, because he’s also a Hope pla-

But yeah that goes beyond the realm of ‘not liking his theories’, I have no idea what sever you’re in, but that sounds like they just, have it out for him for some reason? Which I don’t know if it’s political, if there’s something more insidious beneath the surface, or if they’re just assholes, but damn.

And it’s like, first of all, he sources the Class vibes quite strongly? Like, his stuff about Class Pairings and Active/Passive alignment is explicitly “Hey, the Fandom thinks that these are super vague and so it’s hard to come with a definitive answer, but I think you CAN actually draw a proper conclusion from canon, so I am going to try to stick closely to Canon Example stuff to showcase my ideas”. And even a lot of the more loose ties are just... Fun to follow? Bleh.

Not liking someone’s theories and ideas and not wanting to deal with that is fair, but the outright hostility? Yeah. >:I

[writemywaytoyourheart]

Onsra- Chapter 36: With You...

banner created by: @envity ♥️

pairing: vampire!jungkook x female reader (also vamp!tae x ga-in oc & vamp!jimin x yuri oc)

genre: E2L, romance, drama, horror, angst

warnings for this chapter: fluff but also some sad shiz. sad koo and y/n, and some language

word count: 6k

Onsra: ML, Previous

I want to thank you all for being so patient, I'm sorry it's so late. I hope the fluff makes up for it :')

____________________________________

You are the sunlight, risen again in my life.

The second coming of my childhood dreams.

I don’t know what these feelings are.

Whether this too is in a dream.

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Your eyebrows scrunch together, the soft melodic voice that was in your dreams quietly slipping away as you try to grasp it with the last bits of unconsciousness in your mind. When you let out a tired little sigh of disappointment, a tiny chuckle sounds right next to you.

Your eyes open slowly, the heavy feeling that they’re being weighed down by bricks making you groan before rubbing them. When they finally open all the way, you’re met with Jungkook’s pale face, looking down at you sweetly. 

His big crimson eyes watch you carefully, and you’re reminded of how truly innocent they look when he’s happy; despite the disconcerting color that would make any normal person draw back in fear. As you stare into them, you feel like you can almost see a flicker of life, and you imagine what they must have looked like before he was bitten.

You’d bet they used to hold all the stars in the sky.

Jungkook reaches out a finger and brushes a sweaty strand of your hair from your forehead as he whispers, “Hi, little flower.”

“Hi.” You blink a few times, a crooked smile forming on your face at the sight you get first thing in the morning.

“How did I end up here?” You ask tiredly, rubbing your eyes again and stifling a yawn. You look around your room with curious eyes. Jungkook smiles, his fingers still dancing across your cheeks as he gets all your hair out of your face.

“You fell asleep in the backyard last night and I brought you up here.” He says, watching you with so much interest that it makes you fidget awkwardly. You’ve never seen someone stare at you with so much awe and love, especially first thing in the morning when you must look half dead.

“T-thank you.”

“Am I making you nervous again? Sorry.” Jungkook breathes out, embarrassed as he moves back a little so you can sit up.

You shake your head, trying hard to swallow. “No, it’s okay. I’m just awkward.” You laugh nervously and Jungkook’s eyes squint in fondness.

“Are you hungry? Everyone already ate breakfast.” At Jungkook’s words, you frown unconsciously, disappointment seeping into your mind at having missed another family mealtime. Jungkook takes your hand quickly when he sees that you’re upset, “I’m sorry. Seokjin hyung and I thought you needed the rest since you were sleeping in, even after the food was done.”

You swallow your disappointment and shake your head, forcing a small smile onto your face. “I needed the extra sleep, I guess.” Jungkook nods and smiles, still gently holding onto your hand, making your heart skip a beat.

“I’ll get you something to eat, you just stay here and rest, alright?” Jungkook stands up before kissing the back of your hand and setting it down, “I have a lot of things planned for us to do before-“

He cuts himself off and you frown at that, “Before what?” You ask curiously. Jungkook just shakes his head. “Nothing, I just meant since you’re feeling better, I have some things planned…that’s all.”

“O-oh, alright.” You give him a bright smile, which he returns before scurrying out of the room, then you hear his footsteps bounding down the stairs, his voice echoing in the old house as he searches for his eldest brother.

“Cute.” You mumble, your cheeks tinted pink while the feeling of his kiss on your hand lingers.

Not five minutes later, Jungkook is coming back in, a tray in his hands as he kicks the door shut behind him with his foot, carefully bringing the tray full of food over to you.

“Oh, Kook. You didn’t have to do this.” Your cheeks start to flame again as he chuckles, sitting next to you and putting the tray on your lap. “Hyung helped me. Eat up y/n, you need your strength.”

You thank him before digging into the food, not wasting a second in case he decides to try and feed it to you himself if you don’t hurry up.

When you’ve finished breakfast and gotten dressed, you make your way downstairs to find Honey in the living room with Hoseok and Yoongi. The little girl is sitting on Hobi’s lap on the couch while Yoongi is on a chair in front of them, a children’s book on his knee as he reads the story, holding the book for Honey to be able to see the pictures. Your heart melts at the sight of them, Yoongi trying his best to do different voices- much to Honey’s delight- and Hobi smiling brightly while he carefully brushes the small girl’s wisps of golden hair.

Honey’s eyes drift over to you and she squeals happily, sliding off Hobi’s lap and running to you. “Flower! Flower!” Her tiny voice shouts happily, despite not quite being able to pronounce the word correctly, her ‘r’s sounding like ‘w’s. She had overheard Jungkook call you that at some point and ever since, that has been her nickname for you.

“Honey, hi!” You scoop her up in your arms, not noticing Jungkook coming out from the kitchen after hearing your voice. He smiles softly at the sight of you cuddling with the tiny girl, something aching in his stomach, which he immediately tries to push away. He blinks rapidly, shaking his head to clear it before walking over to the two of you.

“Koo.” Honey whispers, looking at him over your shoulder, her bright blue eyes shining. Jungkook smiles sweetly at her and waves, “Hi, little one.” He says to her as you turn to see him.

“Oh, hi Kook! Sorry I took so long getting ready.”

Jungkook looks at your messily brushed hair and oversized black t-shirt, that no matter how much you try to wash and iron, refuses to get unwrinkled. His eyes trail down to your ripped blue jeans and dirty sneakers.

He feels his tummy tickle, wanting to just cover you in bubble wrap and keep you safe forever. Jungkook clears his throat and shakes his head, “You didn’t take long at all. Are you up for some fun today?”

“Fun, fun, fun!” Honey squeals, wriggling out of your arms and wrapping her arms around Jungkook’s leg, holding on for dear life. Jungkook looks down at her in surprise and you see his lips twitching up into a smile.

He crouches down as she finally lets go of him, so now he’s eye level with her. “You’re having fun with Hobi and Yoongles, aren’t you, Honey?”

“Yah! I told you to stop calling me that you little shit- I mean brat, she’s going to pick it up!” You hear Yoongi shout from the living room, causing a burst of giggles from all of you at the older boy trying his best to control his habit of cussing. The smallest one picks things up quite easily as you all learned yesterday when she shouted an expletive at the dinner table, causing Jin to scold everyone for their terrible mouths while trying his best not to laugh.  

Honey nods vigorously, then she shocks Jungkook further by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. “Good boy, Koo.” She whispers before her little cheeks turn pink and she runs back to hide in Hoseok’s lap.

You laugh at the pure astonishment on the vampire’s face at the affection from the tiny human. “Aww, I think someone has a crush on you, Koo.” You tease as he laughs and gets to his feet, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“Shuddup.”

Jungkook grabs your hand, intertwining your fingers with his before leading you to the front door. “Let’s just go.” He mumbles in embarrassment. You’re positive that his face would be a bright pink right now if he was a human, the thought making you giggle.

“So, what are we doing today?” You ask as Jungkook leads you through the forest. He just turns and smiles at you but doesn’t say a word. You roll your eyes playfully at his ability to keep a secret when he wants to.

When the two of you arrive in the cave where you first found Koko, you smile happily. “Oh! We haven’t been here for a long time.” You drag your fingers along the cold walls that are slightly damp. Jungkook walks over to a bag in the corner of the dark cave, he pulls out a flashlight and turns it on.

Then he points to a dry spot on the floor, “Sit.” He says simply, then he smiles when you oblige his request. Jungkook moves to sit next to you, his knee brushing yours and making goosebumps break out on your arms. You fight the urge to slink away from him, fearing that he can tell your heartbeat has sped up considerably.

But Jungkook doesn’t make any indications that he knows you’re trying not to combust, so you take a few breaths to calm down. You watch as Jungkook turns the flashlight to face one of the cave walls and props it against some rocks so that the beam will stay fixed on the empty wall of the cave.

“What is this about?” You giggle and he looks at you, his eyes shining with excitement. Then he puts his hands in front of the flashlight, projecting a giant shadow of his hands on the wall as he makes them look like a little dog, opening and closing its mouth.

Delighted giggles spill from your lips as Jungkook announces triumphantly, “A shadow show! See?? I remembered today when I used to do this as a kid all the time with my mother.” The look on Jungkook’s face as he watches his hand shadows on the wall is exactly how you feel.

Bittersweet.

You smile sadly and pat him on the head, “You’re adorable, Jeon Jungkook. And you know exactly how to make my day.” Then you put your hands in the beam, making a little bunny to hop over to Jungkook’s dog. You two keep playing around with the flashlight and shadows for longer than you thought you would, making up silly stories and laughing your heads off. You’re not sure how much time has passed when Jungkook announces that it’s time to go.

“I have more planned for today.” He states matter-of-factly, making you laugh again.

When you look back at him, your laugh cuts short seeing the way he’s watching you. “What is it?” You ask nervously, afraid something is on your face.

Jungkook gives you a half smile as he scoots closer, leaning in slowly. Your heart pounds heavily in your chest as he gets closer. No matter how many times he’s kissed you, it always feels like the first time, and the butterflies in your tummy always freak out on you.

“I know you won’t believe me.” He whispers so quietly you barely hear him, the only reason you do is because he’s only a few centimeters from your face. “But you’re beautiful when you laugh, it just makes me so happy to see you happy.”

And for the first time in forever, you don’t feel the need to argue with him.

Jungkook smiles at your silence and leans in, pressing his lips to yours gently.

The flashlight beam still shines against the cave wall, projecting the shadows, taking a fleeting picture of the exact moment that you realized, maybe you aren’t so unlovable after all.

~                 ~                 ~

“Ok, read.”

You laugh at Jungkook, who’s settled himself comfortably on the soft grass with his head in your lap as you lean against the willow tree in the clearing.

“I’m serious, y/n! I’ve been waiting for so long, read to me.” The pout evident in his voice makes you bite your lips to keep from smiling. “Ok, you little baby.”

Jungkook sighs in satisfaction and snuggles his head more in your lap, one of his hands reaching up to play with the hem of your shirt as you open your copy of Beauty and The Beast and start to read.

As you read, you run your fingers through Jungkook’s thick locks, massaging his head and making him sigh in content. Jungkook doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy, sitting here with the most important person to him as she reads to him and plays with his hair gently.

This is what heaven is like, he’s sure of it.

When your voice starts to crack a little as you’ve been reading for so long, Jungkook reaches up and takes the book out of your hands gently, smiling at your sleepy expression. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked that long in my entire life.” You mumble tiredly, making his smile widen even more.

“Lie down, y/n.” He whispers, then he helps you to scoot away from the tree enough to lay on the grass as you close your eyes. Jungkook lies next to you, putting one of his arms under your head as a pillow for you and another wrapping around your waist. He pulls you closer and snuggles his face into your neck.

“Kookie.”

“Mm?”

“I’m scared.”

He lifts his head to see that you’re still keeping your eyes closed, “What are you scared of, love?” He asks, concerned.

“I’ve never been so happy, and I don’t want it to end.” Your sleepy voice is laced with tears and it makes his throat close.

“It won’t, I promise.”

“How can you be so sure?” Your eyes are open now, one little tear slipping down your cheek before Jungkook wipes it away.

“Please, don’t cry.” He breathes out, desperate to make you happy. “I know that no matter what happens, I’ll always love you, that can never change.” Jungkook’s hair is draping over his face as he leans over you, his eyes scanning your features.

“Why do you love me?”

Jungkook knew this was coming, so he takes a deep breath to keep himself from crying. “I love you because you have a beautiful heart, but you’re far from perfect. That makes me love you even more, because you’re just you, and I love that. You never hurt me, even when I was so cruel to you, you always found it in your heart to be kind to me.”

You sniffle as he continues, “I love your eyes, and your nose and your mouth.” Jungkook lightly kisses each and every part of your face as he names everything on you. “I love your hands, and fingers. I love how silly you are, and I love how unpredictably predictable you are.” You laugh at that, “That doesn’t make sense, Kook.”

“It does when we’re talking about you.” He smirks before going on, “I love your laugh.” He tickles you a little, making you giggle, then he kisses your lips, “That’s the one, alright. And I love your dirty hair.” He plants one last kiss on your hair, making you laugh harder. “You’re gross, Kook.” You look away from his piercing gaze.

“You see the good in people, y/n. Sometimes when they don’t even deserve it. And I love you for that.” Jungkook lays his head on your chest, placing his ear over your heart as he listens intently to the rhythm it makes.

It only takes a few minutes for the sounds of a heartbeat and steady breathing to lull the two of you to sleep, the warm air enveloping you both as you lay in the shade of the willow tree, lying safely in each other’s arms.

~                 ~                    ~

“No, no. You’re doing good, try again.”

You smirk at the sight you’re met with when you walk into the kitchen to see if Seokjin needs any help with dinner.

It turns out he has plenty of help already.

Sooyoung is muttering to herself as she awkwardly maneuvers the knife she’s holding, trying her best to cut an onion the way Seokjin showed her earlier. She sighs and sets it down, her tiny hands looking even smaller next to the big knife.

You’re about to walk in to help her when Jin moves next to her again, neither of them seeing you in the doorway. You watch with a smile small as he takes the knife, “Aren’t you a nursing student?” He asks.

“Yes?” Sooyoung’s quiet voice responds, and she pulls at the sleeves of her long shirt over and over anxiously. Jin takes her hand, his own looking massive next to hers, and places the knife in it again, then he moves behind her and holds the onion with one hand over hers, and the knife, one hand over hers once again.

You start backing into the hallway, not wanting to interrupt them, then you hear Jin speak gently.

“Since when do nursing students, of all people, give up? Try again now, come on. I’ll help you.”

You’re biting your lip so hard so as not to giggle as you turn to run the other direction, when you run into a hard chest. A tiny squeal escapes your mouth and you look up to see Jungkook smiling down at you.

“What are-“

You clap a hand over his mouth and push him into the downstairs bathroom. Locking the door and breathing deeply, you turn to tell Jungkook why you were sneaking around when you see him smirking at you.

“W-why are you looking at me like that?” You look away from his gaze, not being able to keep it for very long.

“I never took you for this kind of girl, y/n. If my hyungs found us in here, we’d be in big trouble.” Jungkook muses tauntingly.

“You little-“ You seethe, your cheeks burning as you try to find the words you need. “Shut up, you pervert!” You hiss, making Jungkook chuckle. “I’m not the one that gagged you and dragged you into the bathroom, now am I?” He asks innocently.  

You blink, “W-well no…b-but I have a good reason!”

“And that is?” One of his eyebrows quirks up and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. You have to peel your eyes away from the veins on his forearms that are extremely visible when he crosses his arms like that…

No.

No, not now!

“Well, I think Seokjin likes Sooyoung.” You blurt out, instantly feeling bad for possibly outing one of their secrets. Jungkook’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his mouth drops open in surprise.

“What??”

“SHhhhuddup!! Stupid!” You smack your hand over his lips again and he breathes a chuckle, then he reaches up and moves your hand off his mouth.

“Don’t be mean, y/n. I’m not stupid.” He pouts, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.

“Well, I’d hate to see what you’d do if you were then, if this is you being smart. Don’t you know how to be sneaky? Unless you want the whole house to know we’re in here then be quiet!” You whisper sharply as you look at the door anxiously, not wanting anyone to barge in and get a completely and utterly and totally wrong idea about this situation.

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry. Now, tell me what you saw.” Jungkook’s eyes are practically shining with excitement to hear the details and you soften instantly.

“Ok, so. I went in there and Seokjin was being really cute and sweet with Sooyoung and-…what’s the matter?” you look at Jungkook in confusion, not understanding why he suddenly looks upset as he pulls away from you.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” You’re scared that the dark cloud in his mind might have come back, but then Jungkook scoffs in annoyance. “You called hyung sweet and cute…” He looks away and you laugh in disbelief.

“Seriously? You’re jealous of Jinnie when I’m literally telling you about how cute I think him and Sooyoung are together? That doesn’t even make sense, Kookie!” You start to laugh harder and he glares at you.

“It isn’t funny. What if I was the one that saw it and I was telling you that I thought Sooyoung was so sweet and cute and whatever. How would you feel?” He snaps back and you feel your blood heat up at the thought of it, then you snap out of it.

“Ok, I’m sorry. I get why that would upset you, I won’t do it again.” You smile at him, but he still glares at you. “And stop calling him Jinnie!” He huffs, leaving you shocked at his behavior.

You frown and cross your arms, moving to the door to lean against it as you pout. “You don’t have to be so controlling, Jungkook. Geez, you just ruined the whole mood.” Jungkook softens and walks over to you, putting his hands on either side of your face as he leans in to kiss your nose. “You’re right, that wasn’t very thoughtful of me. You can call everyone whatever you want, baby. I’m sorry.”

You try to bite back your smile but break when Jungkook keeps pecking your nose, “Ok, ok. I’m not mad. And if I had known it bothered you, I wouldn’t have done it. I just don’t like it when you tell me what to do like that, it makes me feel like you’re controlling me, and that doesn’t feel very good.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was controlling you. I just got overwhelmed and I said what I wanted without thinking.” Jungkook frowns guiltily.

“Hey, I forgive you. Do you forgive me for being inconsiderate about my wording?” You ask him gently, not wanting the mood to be sour anymore. He nods and you smile brightly, which makes him smile again.

“Ok, now tell me what you saw them do-”

Knock, knock.

You and Jungkook jump away from the door when someone knocks on it harshly, then a voice comes from the other side, “Jungkook, I need to use the restroom. Are you done yet?  You’ve been in there forever.”

Yoongi.

Jungkook looks at you with wide eyes, neither of you know what to do in this situation. Then Jungkook clears his throat, “Uh, yeah. G-gimme a sec, please.”

A loud sigh comes through the door and you try to stifle a nervous laugh.

“Fuck.” Jungkook breathes out, running his hand through his hair. “It’s not funny, y/n! You want to know who’s going to get skinned alive if they find us locked in the bathroom together? Well, spoiler alert, it isn’t going to be fucking you.”

You bite your lips, his words only making you want to laugh harder.

He points an accusing finger at you, “This is your fault, you remember that.”

Then Jungkook pushes you behind the door and cracks it open, smiling nervously at his older brother. “H-hyung, sorry.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, “Ok, it’s fine. Just let me in now, please?” He looks at the young vampire expectantly. Jungkook clears his throat, “Uh, yeah, ok. Oh! Hobi hyung is calling you.”

“Hoseok knows I was going to the bathroom.”

“Did I say Hoseok hyung? I meant Joon hyung.”

“Get out of my way you little shit, what are you hiding?” Yoongi pushes past Jungkook and opens the door, making you shuffle back until your back hits the wall. Then Yoongi looks behind the door and scowls when he sees you standing there.

“Hyung! Why’d you do that?” Jungkook seethes, but Yoongi just shakes his head and smiles. “Get out of here, you idiots. I know you weren’t doing anything, what do you think I’m stupid? Kook is too nervous to even look at you for more than a few moments, I doubt he’d try anything scandalous.”

“Hyung!”

“I have to use the restroom! Get out before I tell Seokjin you’re getting frisky in here!” Yoongi scolds you two, pushing you both out after sending you a quick wink. Jungkook is sputtering in humiliation at his hyung’s usage of words while you try to stop laughing at his expression.

“H-he’s an idiot, y/n. Don’t listen to anything he ever says.”

“Alright.” You try your best to stay calm and not burst into another round of giggles. Jungkook just shakes his head in annoyance and stomps towards the living room.

~                       ~                        ~

“Oh shit, Jin hyung is whipped.”

Jungkook giggles when you shove his arm, trying to hold in your own laughter. He looks back at the eldest who is kindly and calmly talking Sooyoung through the making of dinner.

“Seriously though, he is totally falling for her.” Jungkook whispers.

Both of your heads are peeking around the corner of the kitchen, watching the pair cook dinner. You have a moment of wondering if maybe this is a bit creepy, then you shake your head and decide that it isn’t.

Look, it’s cute ok?

You can’t help but watch them and root for Jin. He deserves to be happy, he’s always putting others first before himself, never taking much time to take care of his own needs and wants. Sooyoung coming and befriending Jin couldn’t make you any happier. He’s finally got someone to hang out with all the time, and it brings a sense of relief to you knowing he isn’t lonely when you can’t be there to hang out with him.

“You better be nice, Kook. Don’t tease him and make things harder for him, ok?” You turn and glare at Jungkook, who looks at you, offended. “I wouldn’t dare.” He scoffs and your glare gets harder.

“I’ll deal with you myself if I find out you’ve done anything to make him uncomfortable, you understand?” Jungkook laughs internally at the stern look on your face as he nods. He finds it amusing that even when you’re really nothing compared to him with strength, you can still make him do whatever you say.

You’ve got him wrapped around your little finger, and he loves it.

~                             ~                                ~

After dinner that night, you offer to do the dishes, to which Jungkook automatically volunteers to help you with.

You’re scrubbing a plate and rinsing it as Jungkook twirls the dish towel in the air, busying himself while you clean the dish for him to eventually dry.

“I feel bad that you always help with the dishes, Kookie. You don’t use them, so it isn’t fair.” You frown and hand him the now clean plate. Jungkook takes it and smirks, “Do you want to give me a kiss to make up for it?” He asks playfully, making you roll your eyes.

“Goodness, you’re incorrigible.” You mutter before dipping your hands back into the soapy water to find more dishes. Jungkook just laughs and puts the plate away, then turns back to watch you wash.

“Kook, you’re giving me heart eyes again.” You say simply, handing him a cup and diving back in the sink for more. He giggles, “And? Something wrong with that?”

You shake your head, “Not at all, but when you’re looking at me like that as I’m elbow deep in dishwater it’s kind of a strange combo.” You laugh to yourself as his smile brightens.

“You know it takes a certain kind of girl to look as beautiful as you do while cleaning dirty dishes, I’ll give that to you.”

“And I’ll take it.” You say with a smile, handing him the last of the silverware to dry and put away. “Do I really not get a kiss though?” Jungkook pouts and you shake your head in amusement, “Ok, a quick one. Close your eyes.”

Jungkook obeys instantly, squeezing his eyes shut and puckering his lips.

When the cold and wet feeling of dishwater touches his lips, he flinches back, spluttering and coughing. “Agh! You did not just put dishwater on my mouth you little brat.” Jungkook wipes his lips aggressively as you laugh. Then, he scoops up a handful of bubbles from the soapy water and plops it right on your head.

“Hey!’ You scream and grab more bubbles of your own to attack him with. You two end up squealing and running around the kitchen, covering the whole place with bubbles until Jin finds you making a mess and scolds the two of you for being foolish.

But you can tell he doesn’t mind when he sends you a quick wink before grabbing a handful of bubbles and practically slapping Jungkook in the face with them.

“Yah! Why me??”

~                             ~                                ~

The house creaks quietly as you make your way to your bedroom door, pausing to look back at the girls sleeping in the bed and on the floor.

All of them are sleeping soundly, so you smile and turn the knob, slipping out quickly and closing the door silently.

You knock softly on Jungkook’s bedroom door, waiting to hear his response. You frown when he doesn’t answer right away like he usually does. Instead, a long silence drags out, making your stomach turn.

“Kookie?” You whisper softly, trying not to wake the whole house.

When your call goes unanswered, you crack open the door slowly and look in the room. Moonlight shines through the blinds and cascades across the floorboards. By the tiny amount of light, you can already see that Jungkook isn’t in his bed. The covers are all messed up, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

Sighing and closing the door again, you turn to go down the hallway and towards the stairs. The stairs groan when you descend them, and you cringe at the sound. When you make it to the bottom you flinch when you hear a small sound coming from the living room.

This time you know exactly what it is, so you don’t hesitate as you hurry into the living room to see Jungkook sitting on the couch with his face in his hands. A pained sigh leaves your lips at the sight of how broken he looks, suffering alone.  

He looks up and you see the tear streaks down his cheeks, his deep red eyes reflecting pain and regret. “Jungkook-" You breathe out before he cuts you off. “Y/n, I don’t want this. Y/n, I want to be a human again. I don’t want to die a monster.”

“Jungkook, you won’t die, and you’re not a monster.” Your heart clenches.

Jungkook doesn’t seem to hear you as another choked sob leaves his throat.

“I’m sorry I found you…I’m sorry I brought you back…I’m sorry that I fell in love with you.” You walk over to him, gently taking his slumped shoulders in your hands and making him look up at you.

“Don’t say that Jungkook. I’m grateful I met you. I’m glad you love me.” His eyes shine with a fresh wave of tears and he pulls you into his lap. “Don’t ever apologize for loving me, Kookie. Because loving you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I know now. You’re the one thing I never knew I needed.”

Jungkook bites his bottom lip, his eyes shining with unfallen tears as he takes a shaky breath. “Why aren’t you sleeping, love?” He wipes his eyes and clears his throat, tightening his grip on your waist and pulling you closer on his lap.

You stroke his hair gently while he tucks his head into the crook of your neck. “I couldn’t sleep.” You murmur softly, closing your eyes and laying your head on his as you whisper, “I just missed you.” Jungkook sniffles at your words and you feel his hand searching for yours, giving it a tight squeeze when he finds it.

“There’s something bothering you.” You say as you lift your head, watching him left his slowly, meeting your eyes. He looks away and you take his chin, pulling him back to look at you.

“It’s me, Kookie. You know you can tell me anything. Besides, I’ll just find out anyway and then it’ll be worse if I don’t hear it from you.” Jungkook sighs at that and pulls you to lay down on the couch.

“I’m just trying my best not to give up.” Jungkook whispers brokenly, his eyes closed as he lies next to you. You feel your heart stop in your chest at that.

“I hate everything that I am.” Jungkook continues, his voice low and full of emotion. “But when I’m with you, I feel human again.”

Without opening his eyes, Jungkook reaches a hand out to caress your cheek with his fingers, his other arm still wrapped around you. You shiver slightly at the cold touch of his skin. “Your skin is so warm.” He chuckles quietly. You smile sadly and take his hand in yours as he keeps talking, “What I wouldn’t do to be a human again, just so I can feel everything like you do. I want to feel, y/n. I want to be a human again.”

“I know, Kook.”

“I feel like there’s always a thin curtain separating us, and it kills me. I just want to feel my heart pounding for you like I know yours does.”

When you open your eyes to look at him, you see his crimson orbs gazing out the living room window, his eyes have a faraway look to them as he lets himself say what’s been on his mind.

“That’s one thing that I know I always took for granted.”

“What?” You ask after he doesn’t speak for another minute. Jungkook blinks slowly, “We know that when we die, everything stops. When there’s no pulse, we’re gone, done. So, I took my heartbeat for granted, I never thought I would lose it until the day I die. It’s something so simple, but I miss it so much.”

You blink back burning tears and take a deep breath, then you take his hand, “Close your eyes, Kookie.” He looks at you curiously before closing them like you requested.

You gently put his hand over your heart, letting him feel the steady and strong beating, watching as his lips curve into a small smile. He sighs happily and pulls you closer to him to the point where there isn’t any space between you at all anymore.

“My heartbeat belongs to you too, Koo. You’ll always be a human at heart, no matter what you look like on the outside or what any voice inside tells you. The most beautiful part of humanity is when a human is broken and doesn’t give up. Humans were never meant to be perfect. We’re made to be broken and rebuilt again and again.” Your words reach into the deep crevices of his mind that have been untouched for as long as he can remember. He lets out a shaky breath as you continue, “I love all of you, Kookie. And I’ll always be here, I promise.”

Jungkook lets himself melt into the couch, focusing all his attention on the beating of your heart through his palm while your words gently flow through his aching mind. He imagines that his heart beats at the same pace, joining in time with yours. Jungkook eventually falls asleep, for the first time in a long time, his mind is clear as he lets himself relax into a deep slumber.

Dreams of beating hearts and warm caresses fill your heads as you sleep away all the fears that will eventually come crawling back into the depths of your minds.

But for now, an escape is all you can ask for.

The next morning, Namjoon is the first awake, and the first to jump back in surprise when he finds the two bodies tangled together on the couch, puffy eyes and messy hair a more human and beautiful picture than he ever thought he’d see in this household.

He smiles and quietly grabs his book from the shelf, glancing back once before moving himself out of the room, ready to explain why no one can go in the living room for now.

Because even if it’s just for one more hour, he wants to let you two dream.

____________________________________

a/n: im weak for soft vamp kook :')) tysm for being so nice ;-;

taglist: @jjungkook99 @ditttiii @fekitza @rubinora @xxxanimangxxx @jkhey97 @your-best-behaviour @adelina1299 @lettersforjoon @karissassirak @krystle1990 @elliegrace1999tvd @hopeworld-baseline @nikikookie @howbizarre @squidyelmosquidbutt @jeonjungkookismyfuture

[kimhargreeves]

No Escape-Doom Head

(Based on the movie: Rob Zombie's 31 from 2017)

"Let us out of here you fucking psychos!" I shout looking at the cameras that watching our every move. I don't know how long I've been passed out but I remember me and my friends being attacked and kidnapped by these crazy people in aristocratic clothing.

The sick mastermind began to explain this game, "The game is called 31. Each of you will go through a mazes throughout 12 hours, but this is a survival game after all so you'll be meeting The Heads on your way. There won't be any mercy of either of them finds you." The old guy from before announces and indicating that the game has begun.

"Fuck!" I started to run and started calling for any of my friends name especially Charly. I cursed at the times I would trip over since I was super nervous and saw my knees all scrapped and my dark makeup all messy from the sweating and crying, I almost looked like one of the clowns that was beginning to follow me. I continued to run and luckily I saw Charly up ahead and attacked her in a hug, "Shit. Thank fuck you're alive." She says tiredly and checked if I was anymore hurt.

The blonde headed woman took my hand in hers and we started walking, "We just gotta find the others and we'll beat these motherfuckers to the ground."

"I knew it was a bad idea coming here." I tell her since she was the one who convinced me to come with her. "Should've listened to that guy over by the gas station who told me to be careful. If we weren't in this situation I'd even say he looked hot." I confess and hold onto the bat I found nearby and saw Charly glance over at me.

"You met a guy?"

"Yeah when I went to the bathroom behind those creeps house, a man came out and told me a few warnings. He kept looking at me which bothered me a bit but he seemed nice enough."Charly smirks and rests her hand on my shoulder.

"By the sound of it he surely wanted to have sex." I blush and pushed her away slightly. "Whatever let's just find your dumb friends." Along the way we encountered five "Heads". Sick-Head, Psycho-Head, Schizo-Head, Death-Head and Sex-Head. While we fought for our lives we lost half of our team, the only one remaining were me, Charly, Roscoe and Venus. I bashed my bat against one of the "Heads" just in case they weren't dead. I cursed at them and continued bashing them until their heads looked like mashed potatoes.

Charly rushed to my side and calmed me down since I was nearly killed a minute ago. "(Y/N), You need to breathe. We're done we just need to find a way out." I look up to see Charly's blonde hair all knotted and covered in blood and sweat. "Come now." She takes my hand and we begin to run in search of an exit. Suddenly there's an alarm and the old man who kidnapped us reveals there's the final "Head" to kill who calls himself Doom Head.

We hear Venus scream which only meant that this Doom Head got her quick.I drop to my knees exhausted by all this and fell Roscoe helping me to my feet, "Shit get up!" he shouts so I follow his orders and felt him pushing me when we heard the doors being pushed open and I look over at the shadows and see a tall man behind us. My heart starts beating faster and this time I begin to hurry to where the supposed exit is, "You both have to leave without me." Roscoe tells us from behind. Charly looks back and begins to cry.

"No we're almost out!"

"Listen to me damn it! You won't survive with me. I'm too wounded to continue, take (Y/N) with you and tell the police what these sick fuckers are doing." I try to not cry when Roscoe stays behind and suddenly gets stabbed by Doom Head before he could finish. Charly cries out but turns around and shoved me up the stairs. Both of us growing nervous when we hear the man behind us, taunting us and making fun of us.

"Hurry run (Y/N)." Charly screams and when I look back I hear her cry when she's stabbed in the back and then stabbed multiple times on her chest. "Charly!!"

"Poor little (Y/N), all alone down here to play my game. I'm gonna have fun carving you up." He says pushing Charly onto the bloody floor. My eyes widen and begin to cry when I realize that this is the man I spoke to earlier, he killed all of my friends and now he's gonna kill me. I stay still horrified as I stare up at him since my legs won't help me get up. His face covered in makeup stares down at me and gives me a sinister grin when he takes a knife out and slowly begins walking towards me.

"What a cute little thing you are. If you only listened to me back then we wouldn't be in this mess. You'd be at my place having fun with me instead. Now come here." "No!" I scream when he took hold of my feet and dragged me closer to him and felt him rip my shirt off. I raised my feet up and kicked him in the jaw and hurriedly got up and ran out of there. When I escaped I began laughing and breathed the air sighing at being free for now. I fell down and sat tiredly against the dirty ground and moved the sticky hair from my forehead and touched up the blood that was slowly pouring down my face.

Why do these thing's happen only to me? Despite me being tired as hell, I start standing up and slowly begin to walk out further. I had a bit of trouble to walk since Doom head took hold of my leg and stabbed me. I hold down onto it and continue my way, I found myself in the middle of nowhere but there was a house, "Anyone home?" I ask running when I saw a house up ahead and entered, no one was inside.

Suddenly I was yanked by my hair and thrown against the floor and cried out when Doom Head approached me with blood covering most of his face,mouth and chest. He held the knife out and sat down on my stomach so I couldn't break free easily.

"Leave me alone!" I beg and see him smiling down at me held the dagger close to my neck, he got closer and closer until alarms went on indicating the game was done. I shivered when the man above me stared at me with hate and angrily gripped the dagger he had and shoved it into his pockets. Slowly he got up and continued staring down at my frightened state, he eventually left the house leaving me alone and taking a deep breathe, I rested my head against the floor and stared up at the ceiling.

It was only announced that for the first time in years I've won 31. And it was time for me choose if I should leave or join their little game and become a "Head". Instead of walking back to that place so I started walking in hope of finding someone or a car nearby. I tiredly stopped when I heard a car behind me, I turned around and silently cursed when I saw hi standing there all bloody with his daggers out, grinning at me. Angrily I held onto my bat and ready to aim at him the moment he'd get closer to kill me.

Doom Head took a step closer and what surprised me is he stuffed the daggers in his black pants and surrendered his hands, "Need a lift?" I tilted my head confused but slowly nodded my head and held onto the bat just in case. Doom head got into the car with me following right after, "...Thanks."

The man angrily looks ahead and held onto the steering wheel, "I guess I should be sorry about your leg, we'll stop at my place and I'll patch it up." I glanced at him and our eyes met. Despite me being terrified of him I couldn't help but feel nervous and felt my cheeks getting warm. "Those fuckers refused to pay me this year..so how about we head over and kill the rest of them?" he says and again looks over at me. I could only nod my head and stare at the desert up ahead. "Sure..why not?"

[angrylizardjacket]

take me to your heart

Summary: Lola's never had a proper Christmas, and after this one, she still hasn't, but Tommy's a surprisingly good gift giver. Set during the tour with Roxie, but well after she's departed.

A/N: Written on my phone, v Christmas. Warning: Lola n Nikki give each other dirty gifts but the fic is sfw. Tommy-centric. Also idk if he's genuinely greek orthodox, he might not be idk

[run to paradise]

----

"Sharise wants to do something for Christmas," Vince sighs, his heels resting on the table of the tour bus. Lola, at least, looks up from her magazine with a frown, though she seems to be the only one paying attention.

"She's in LA."

"We'll be in Phoenix by then, its not that long of a flight," Vince answers quickly, and Lola goes back to her magazine. "I don't know what to get her."

"A six-pack and edible panties," comes Nikki's answer, half distracted where he was trying to write lyrics. Vince's expression, however, wrinkles.

"Have you ever bought a present for a lady who wasn't Lola?" He snaps, crossing his arms, and though he can't see Lola's amused expression, he hears her snort of laughter.

"Yes," Nikki responds flatly, finally looking up, "but incase you haven't noticed," he gestured around to the bus, which was filled only with the band, as well as Doc and Lola, "none of them are still here."

"That's correlation, man, not causation -"

"You know what? Fuck your five dollar words, man, I was trying to help." Nikki snapped, picking up his notebook in a huff and heading to the back of the bus. Silence fills the air, Vince sulking a little, Tommy just looking between Lola and Vince. Mick, who was trying to nap, sighs deeply and shifts in his uncomfortable seat.

"Is that all you've ever gotten for Christmas?" Tommy asks and Lola's response is surprisingly honest.

"Zero expectationsl, zero disappointments; drink, eat, fuck, like any other day." She does give pause there, the magazine rustling as her grip tightens just a little, and when she lowers it, there's amusement in her eyes. "Also, grape is the best flavour."

"What?"

"For edible panties."

"You guys are absolutely no help." Vince declares. Mick just laughs at that.

Lola's never been too bothered by not having a proper Christmas, she and Nikki live a pretty secular life when they weren't dabbling in Satanism, and the others were usually too busy doing their own things around the holidays to notice the pair's lack of any sort of traditions. Usually they'll buy each other booze, or some sort of joke present, but its never been a particularly sentimental time for Lola, not that anyone had really noticed her apathy enough to care.

Until now.

The holidays have always been a sentimental time for Tommy, and though he'd strayed from his Greek Orthodox roots, he still took it as a chance to show his family how much they meant to him, and now he was feeling like a fool for leaving his band-family out for so long.

What the hell could he get them that they didn't already have?

Nikki was easy, as it turned out. One quick phonecall home, his father spends about twenty minutes rifling through the junk Tommy had left from hia teenage years, and a poster, heavily creased and golden with age, is waiting at their next hotel, express shipped. Nikki didn't want or need any fancy packaging, so Tommy bought a big, yellow envelope and put the poster inside, along with a lighter he'd bought at a gas station. It looked cheap, a bit rough around the edges, but he was pretty sure Nikki would appreciate it all the same.

Mick was a little more difficult, seeing as he was almost guaranteed to throw out any joke gifts, or amything he didn't want. It feels like a cop-out, to just give him booze - expensive booze, mind you - instead of something sentimental. As luck would have it, Tommy finds himself scoring blow in an alley beside a pawn shop, and once the deal's done, he spots an iridescent alien-head keychain. He tapes the charm to the bottle of booze, amd slaps a bow on it, and is satisfied.

He and Vince have been exchanging Christmas presents since high school, as long as they were in the same town. Mostly they're joke presents. Tommy's had this year's picked out for months; a Malibu Barbie he'd repainted himself with Vince's stage make-up. Vince he didn't need to worry about.

Lola was a different story. She lived her life in the shadow of the band's, her existence, her belongings, were a patchwork of their leftovers; her creature comforts were consumables, and while she always took whatever she could wherever she was, it was because she could, not because she wanted things. What can you get for the girl who seems to want nothing, and still gets everything?

"Lola doesn't want things, she wants experiences, opportunities," Vince is the one who Tommy finally goes to for advice, and was the only one who Tommy knew would be actually helpful. They're in Vince's dressing room now, Tommy polishing off a bottle of Jack while Vince touches up his own eyeliner. Tommy's frowning, still at a loss, and he lowers the bottle. Their eyes meet in the reflection of the mirror, and Vince visibly hesitates before speaking again.

"Have you ever heard her play piano?"

Christmas rolls around and they're stuck in a hotel in Arizona. They're finishing the tour in LA just days before New Years Eve; the end is so close they can all almost taste it.

Sharise invites them all to dinner, well, she invites Lola when she learns that Lola's never had a proper Christmas dinner and 'the rest of them can come too if they want'. Tommy feels like Santa, laden with gifts, as he gets to the private room they had booked at the nicest resturant in town that was still open. He'd spent the morning organising Lola's gift, and was glad to have a break to eat before he gave it to her, or more accurately, took her to it.

"We were meant to bring presents?" Lola looks immediately panicked when he steps inside with a rather full backpack. She starts patting down her pockets as if hoping to magically find a pile of gifts there. "I didn't- I mean like I didn't bring them- its just drinks- nice drinks -" she clarified, but Tommy grins brightly.

"It's chill, Lols, I just saw this stuff around and thought it would be nice, its not a big deal," with that he laughed a little self consciously, "and dude, I'm sorry but I don't even have a thing to give you."

Lola can't help but be a little put out by that, still strangely childish in ways that continue to baffle Tommy, but he hopes she'll appreciate his gift, even if he can't give it to her with the others.

They do exhange gifts; Tommy gives Sharise champagne, and she seems more amused by his gift to Vince than Vince is. Vince, for his part, gives Tommy an ornate fountain pen, which has Tommy confused at first, while Nikki roars with laughter, pulling out an incredibly cheap ballpoint with a bow on it.

"You guys are fucking assholes," Tommy scowls once he realises, though by now even Lola's snickering. The scar from where Roxie had stabbed him several months ago begins to ache, just a little.

Mick, like Lola, doesn't have any gifts either, but he passes her a lighter and gruffly tells her he found it on the bus, that it was her's and that this isn't a gift. He does, however, smile at the keychain Tommy gives him, and in a few days, Tommy will see it looped around the handle of one of his guitar cases.

To no ones surprise, Nikki puts a six-pack and a pair of cheap, grape flavoured, edible panties on the table, and slides it gracelessly across the table to Lola wearing a shiteating grin. Mirroring his smile, Lola reaches into the inner pocket of her jacket, and flicks him a little cardboard package. Its unmarked, nondescript, and absolutely no-one at that table trusted Lola to have put something appropriate in that box. Everyone waits with a sort of morbid curiosity as Nikki shakes the box, giving pause before opening it.

"It vibrates." Is all Lola says as he holds up the bright purple cockring, smile on his face giving away how genuinely amused he was with it.

"Presents are cancelled," Sharise declared with faux exasperation, but Tommy's already protesting, holding out his own gift to Nikki.

Sharise hands Lola a small present as Nikki unwraps his. For Lola, its new black lipstick and eyeliner, and for Nikki, its an old poster of his band, London, and a cheap lighter. Nikki's expression is unreadable, blinking slowly at the poster, the room's gone quiet enough that everyone can hear it crinkle in his hands as he looks up at Tommy's smile.

"It's the one I used to have on my wall, man; my folks kept all my old posters, I thought you might wanna burn the shit out of this one." He gestures to the lighter, nervousness bubbling in his stomach, unsure of how Nikki feels about it, his face still a little shocked.

Little by little, Nikki's lips turn to a smile, a bright, beaming, genuine grin. He practically launches himself across Mick to wrap Tommy in a hug, fierce and bright. Mick grumbles, but Nikki just crows about how weirdly cool it was.

"Yeah, i figured arson and petty revenge are like, two of your favourite things," Tommy babbles, hugging Nikki back, quietly pleased with himself. Its a strangely endearing moment, and when Tommy looks over at her, he catches Lola's adoring smile as she watches them, but its gone quickly.

Dinner is fun, between the bottles of rum they finish off between them and the lines of coke they have for dessert, which Sharise mostly abstains from, they don't really get out of line. Except for when Nikki sets the poster on fire with the candle in the middle of the table, and he ends up getting kicked out.

Whatever, he was mostly done anyways.

After dinner they all go their separate ways, but Tommy catches Lola before she gets too far. She's tipsy, grinning in the cold night air, happy to let Tommy lead her where he may. Lacing her finger with his, her free hand swings the six-pack Nikki had gotten her, while she hums a tune Tommy recognises but can't place.

They come to a stop outside of the Hall where the band were due to perform the following night, their equipment bus parked and quiet beside the building.

"Nothing's in there yet; we're bumping in tomorrow morning," Lola says, her hamd still in his. Tommy just grins, pulling a set of keys from his pocket, jangling them enticingly.

"So we've got the whole night."

Inside, in the middle of the stage, lit by a single warm, golden spotlight, sits a grand piano. The whole building is empty, save for the two of them, and Lola's grip on his hand tightens. All words leave her, eyes going wide and surprised.

Walking forward, she heads towards the piano, but she doesn't let go of his hand, gently tugging him along with her. His name leaves her lips, a disbelieving, reverential utterance. The lid is already lifted and she carresses the keys with her free hand.

"You didn't have to-" she turns to him, expression awed, but he gives her hand a squeeze.

"Merry Christmas, Lols."

Stepping up to him, her hand is gentle on his cheek, far more gentle, more tender than he was used to her being. Leaning in, they kiss softly, in sync, fitting together as they always had, as they were always meant to. Pulling away, Tommy's grin is fond as he kisses the tip of her nose. Untangling their fingers, he gestures wordlessly to the piano.

Lola sits, hesitates, listening to Tommy's retreating footsteps.

"Where are you going?" She asks quietly, fingers dancing across the keys as she plays a quick scale.

"Vince told me-"

"That snitch." Lola laughs softly, before adding, "'told you I don't like an audience, didn't he?" Tommy agrees, still paused halfway to the door. Lola is quiet for a moment, and she stops in her movements, but then she starts up again, and Tommy's heart is in his throat as he hears thw opwning bars of the song he'd been working on for almost a month amd a half now. The song's not yet finished, but he'd know the opening to Home Sweet Home anywhere.

"Can you stay?" Lola's voice is barely audible above the music. "If you want to, I'd like you to stay." And she doesn't know the lyrics, so she keeps playing what she's heard him play a hundred times over.

"I didn't know you knew this that well," Tommy finds himself smiling, walking back to the piano, to sit down beside Lola where she's shifted over to make room for him. She's smiling too, genuine, actually a little bashful, and she's still playing when she admits her thoughts.

"It's shaping up to be one of my favourites."

[kiddoryder]

Deadly Derby

Hey guys! Thanks for liking my latest story! Really appreciate it!

 This story will be about Sonya getting injured at a game, and the others have to find out who did it.

 So relax and enjoy the story!

 Charlie, Vaggie and Angel was in the limo driving to the Hell’s roller derby place called “Roller Town”.  Angel was just reading a magazine looking bored. 

 Angel - “So why are we here again?”

 Charlie - “Because we have to pick up Sonya and Rimfire from their X-Ball practice.”

 Angel - *confused* “Their what now?”

 Vaggie - “X-ball. It’s a roller derby game that some kids enjoy playing.”

 Angel - “Eh. Never heard of it.”

 Vaggie - *annoyed* “Angel, you been here for years and never heard of stuff like X-ball and Alastor?”

 Angel - *shrugs* “I don't really care for sports or politics.”

 Both Charlie and Vaggie rolled their eyes in annoyance. Then they made it to the roller and went inside. 

 ()()()()()()()()

 Inside they saw kids practicing the game. They saw kids pushing each other the invisible shock fence and they end getting electrocuted, getting pounded, avoiding traps and scoring. Angel and Vaggie looked surprised while Charlie look amazed.  

 Charlie - *excited* “Wow...I forgot how fun this game was!”

 Vaggie - *surprised* “Charlie you played this before?”

 Charlie - “Yep! I was the former captain of my team: The Bad Apples. We were named after Daddy’s favorite fruit of course.”

 Angel - “So what’s the point of this game?”

 Charlie - “You basically have to get the ball in the other team goals while dodging some traps, the other teams and be careful not to get shocked by the shock fence.”

 Vaggie - “How come you stop playing?”

 Charlie - “Well my princess duties got more, and I had to stop. Sonya and Rimfire signed up because they got interested and they are really good at the game. Even Liz love playing this game. Oh there they are now!”

 Charlie pointed to the girls and Vaggie and Charlie saw Sonya dodging some traps along with Rimfire. Rimfire use taser guns and shot it at the other teammates. Then Rimfire passed her the ball and Sonya threw it in the goal. 

 Rimfire - “That was great Sonya!”

 Sonya- “Heck yeah it was!”

 Liz nodded in shadow form. She loved the rush that she was feeling during the game. 

 Charlie - “Hey Baby Cousin!”

 Sonya - *turns and saw Charlie and the others* “Oh hey guys!”

 Vaggie - “Wow you guys are pretty good.”

 Rimfire - “Heh. Pretty good? We are the best ones in the team!”

 Sonya - “We are like the golden stars.”

 Angel - “I know what it’s like the golden star kid. I’m the best at what I do.”

 Sonya - *uncomfortable* “Yeah...I know what you do, and I don’t want to know anything else.”

 Angel - “Suit yourself.”

 Charlie - “Okay, you girls are ready to go?

 Coach - *whistle* “Hold it Princess! I need to talk to my team first.”

 Then the team came around the coach. Then the coach said:

 Rimfire - “What is it coach?”

 Coach - “I just made a call to one of the best yet, advance team known as The Death Xs. I decided to give one up one of my team members and I picked Sonya also known as Liz.

 One of the members - “What?! Why?”

 Coach - “Because I say so!”

 Sonya - *shocked* “Oh uhh thanks. Can Rimfire come with me?”

 Coach - “Let me think...No!”

 Both - “What?! Why not?!”

 Coach - “Because they only wanted one member. Besides, I like Sonya better than Rimfire. Even that shadow I like better. *to Sonya* After the big game, you and the shadow girl would be transferred to the Death Xs got it?”

 Sonya - *sighs* “Yes coach. Come on Rimfire and I’m sorry for what happened.”

 Rimfire - *sighs* “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

 They both went to the locker room to change. Then they all went to the limo and first, they drive Rimfire home. Then they began driving back to the hotel. 

 ()()()()()()()()

 At the hotel, Sonya was looking down in the lobby room. She was even too gloomy to eat her weed filled snack cookies. Charlie noticed this and sat down next to her baby cousin.

 Charlie - *concerned* “You Okay?”

 Sonya - “I don't know…”

 Charlie - “Why are you upset? Aren’t you happy that you are moving up to the advance team?”

 Sonya - “Yeah but it wouldn’t be the same without Rimfire.”

 Vaggie and Angel was hearing this conversation and walked up to Charlie and Sonya. Angel began to eat Sonya’s snacks and Sonya didn’t even cared. That’s when Vaggie and Charlie noticed that something was definitely wrong because Sonya would complain. Even Liz would come out to play a prank on Angel, but she was also upset about the situation. 

 Charlie - “But you get to see Rimfire other times.”

 Sonya - “Yeah...But the game is our thing. Sometimes she’s even too busy to hang out with me or Liz because she’s busy hunting or other things. When we play X-Ball it’s like we bond more.” 

 Vaggie - “That’s understandable. Maybe Rimfire would transfer to the Death Xs sometime soon.”

 Angel - “If not then oh well, what’s done is done.”

 Charlie - “Angel!”

 Angel - “What? They always like the better person. I mean I always get choose for movies because I was naturally better than everyone.”

 Sonya - “But that’s the thing too: Liz and I see the Death Xs team: they look like brutes. Even Liz said how there’s a girl on the team who look like have a 5 0 clock shadow.”

 Vaggie  - “Well they could only act tough. Inside they're nothing more but traumatized little kids ready to cry at any moment.”

 Charlie - “Well maybe you should give the team a chance. You could make a new friend.”

 Sonya - “I can't be friends with those monsters they look feral. Even for Liz. What should I do?”

 Charlie - “Well...Why don’t you lose on purpose? That way you can stay on the team with Rimfire.”

 Sonya - *beamed up* “Hey! That’s a great idea! I can do it during the big game tomorrow since it’s gonna be on TV.”

 Charlie - “Oh really? That’s great!”

 Angel - “You’re lucky you are losing on purpose. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t mind rubbing in ya face that ya lost.”

 ()()()()()()()()

 Later in the afternoon, everybody was relaxing at the hotel. Then Niffty turned on the hotel’s TV and switch to the sports channel. At the channel, she saw the X-Ball game with Sonya on the tv. 

 Niffy - “Charlie! Your little cousin is on TV!”

 Charlie - “Oh great!”

 All of them began to watch the game on TV. Sonya was doing good and was shooting some scores. Tom Trench and Katie Killjoy was the sports announcers. However, Tom looked more interested in the game then Katie. 

 Tom - “The Bad Apples are getting in lead!”

 Katie - “That’s right Tom. The only thing isn’t boring is that other team name after the head honcho’s favorite fruit is winning!”

 Tom - “Yep the Head Honcho’s niece is really good at the game.”

 Sonya kept shooting some scored. This made the crowd cheered. Even in the hotel Charlie and the others cheered including Angel who was impressed on how good Sonya was at the game.

 Angel - “The kid's winning! But I thought she was gonna sabotage herself.” 

 Vaggie- “She's probably waiting for the right moment.”

 Vaggie’s words were true: Sonya was actually waiting for the right moment. She said that there was only 5 minutes on the clock and the score was Bad Apples 15 to The Bloodsheds 16. That’s when she decided to miss the score on purposes, Sonya roller skate to a ramp and did a jump spin. 

 Tom - “Oh she did her famous tornado jump! *Sonya stretched her arm out* She about to shoot the winning goal and!” 

 Then all of a sudden, a meat cleaver hit Sonya in the shoulder, and she screams in pain and fell on the ground. Then when she was about to get up, she got stabbed in the right ankle by a mysterious hooded figure and fell on the ground again screaming in pain with people gasping and booing. Sonya didn’t care about it since she was too much in pain. Liz in her shadow form was trying her best to comfort her. 

 Tom - *shocked* “Holy shit she got stabbed!”

 Katie - *beamed up* “Tom this might be  the only funny and exciting thing in X-Ball that ever happen in a long time!”

 The others were horrified to what they just witness happened to Sonya. It even cut to commercial and not even revealing what happened next. 

 Angel - *shocked and horrified* “What the hell just happened?!”

 Vaggie - *shocked* “I can't believe this just happened! Charlie what do we-“

 They a door slammed open and it was Charlie got the limo keys in her hand. She also looked angry, concerned, and rushed. 

 Charlie - “Everybody get your asses in the limo now!!”

 ()()()()()()()()()

 After driving like a madman on drugs, Charlie quickly parked the limo in the front and rushed the others into the derby. Then they made it to the derby place and look for Sonya, but it was almost empty. They saw a demon janitor who was mopping up the blood and Charlie ran up to him. 

 Charlie - *frazzled* “Where’s my baby cousin?!”

 Janitor - “She’s in the infirmary. Girl bled like a fountain and it ruined the floor that I worked so hard to keep clean. It like she didn’t care.” 

 Not wanting to deal with the janitor rudeness now, Charlie and the others rushed to the infirmary room. Inside, they saw Sonya sitting on a bed in her regular clothes but only instead of her usually sweater and shirt, she was wearing a black tank top and one sneaker. Her left arm and shoulder were in gauze bandages and her right ankle was wrapped up as well. She looked better but also in shock and drained at the same time. She looked up and saw her cousins along with her friends. 

 Sonya - “Oh hey Cousin Charlie.” 

 Charlie - *almost in tears* “Oh my poor baby cousin!” *hugs her tightly*

 Sonya - *in pain* “Charlie! It hurts! Stop!”

 Charlie - *letting go* “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Are you Alright?!”

 Sonya - *sighs* “I’m okay. But I’m in shock that something like this happened.”

 Angel - “Kid what were you thinking sabotaging yourself like that?!”

 Sonya - *shocked* “Dude! I wasn’t planning something like this to happen to me!”

 Vaggie - “Then who did this to you?”

 Sonya - “I don’t know! It all so fast I didn’t see the stabber face. *sighs* The coach told me that while I can’t go to the Death X’s team now which I am happy about, but it’s  just suck that I won’t play for a while due to my injury. Can’t this get any worse?”

 Angel - “Uh I hate to burst your bubble kid but look at the news.” 

 The TV was on they saw the 666 News playing.  

 Katie - “Coming up next: Pentagram City funniest video: this week video would be the Head Honcho’s niece biggest flop at the big X-Ball derby game!”

 Tom - *chuckled* “I’ll admit: It was actually funny!”

 Katie - “Funnier than you are having a hot dick Tom! *pour coffee on his crotch and be screamed again* The video will be like in a short while.”

 Then the commercial played. This made Sonya even more upset and annoyed.

 Sonya - “Oh great I’m gonna be a laughingstock now!”

 Sonya covered her face in embarrassment. Not only she was stabbed, but now she was going to be humiliated on live TV. Liz tried her best to comfort her and looked angry at Katie Killjoy. She badly wanted to go there and get the tape, but she knew that if she switches with Sonya, she will just cost more damage to their body. Much to hers and everybody else’s surprised: Charlie left without saying a word. 

 ()()()()()()()()

 Charlie marches to the news station pushing some demons out of the way. She didn’t care that if it was going on live TV. Charlie kept on pushing until she  marched right up to Katie and Tom saying before the clip was being played. They were surprised to see her just walked in here. 

 Charlie- *angry* “Give me the tape! Now!”

 Katie - *annoyed* “What are you doing here?!”

 Charlie - “I’m here to get the tape of my baby cousin! *held out her hand* Give it!”

 Katie - *laughs* “Not a chance! This would make the ratings for today news go through the roof. Besides, why should I just hand the tape to you? I told you; I’m too rich and influential to give a flying fuck about a tux wearing demon princess-“

 Charlie got so angry that she pounds the table so hard to the point it broke into two. This shocked everybody even Tom and Katie. Charlie was slowly started to turn into her demon form. 

 Charlie - *demonic and serious* “The tape. Now.”

 Katie - *scared but still try to sound tough* “Now hold it! You’re not gonna-“

 Charlie grabbed Katie even Tom by their shirt collar and made them look into her eyes. Her eyes showed fire and a lot of scary things that can’t even be described. This made Tom and Katie looked very traumatized and was even shaking in their fear. Everybody in the news station was shocked to see how tough and scary the Princess of Hell can actually be. 

 Tom - *scared and trembling* “M-maybe you should give her the tape now.

 Katie - *scared* “Y-Yeah!”

 After getting the tape, Katie fearfully handed back to Charlie. However, still in her demon form, Charlie held Tom and Katie by their shirt collars again. 

 Charlie - *threatingly and serious* “If I EVER see or hear or even THINK trying to humiliate my baby cousin again, you will be WISHING those exterminators would kill you instead! Got it?!”

 Both - *scared and trembling* “Yes!”

 Charlie - *back to her cheerful self-* “Okay! Thanks for the tape. See ya!”

 Charlie let them go and left the news station with the tape in her hands. Katie and Tom were still shaking and trembling over what happened. Even the rest of the news station crew was still in shock that Charlie is not the person to mess with despite her sweet personality. 

 ()()()()()()()()

 At the hotel, Charlie came in and the others helping and taking care of Sonya with her injury. Then Charlie said:

 Charlie - “Hey Guys! Good news! I got the tape! I can see whoever did this to Sonya now.”

 Charlie the tape inside the TV DVD player. Then she began to play the tape. First, she played in regular motion, then she began to put it  in slow motion and saw the hooded figure. Vaggie did noticed the first thing about the stabber was its height. 

 Vaggie - “Huh. Look like the stabber was a height of a kid.”

 Charlie - “Who do we know that could have done it and fits that height?”

 Angel - “I don’t know. But that knife look kind of familiar.”

 Vaggie - “Yeah it looks like something I seen before, but I can’t tell what kind of knife it is.”

 Sonya - “You know Rimfire is an expert when it comes to knife. Maybe she can help us.”

 Charlie - “Yeah, let's go ask her.”

 ()()()()()()()()()

 Charlie and the others began to walk to Rimfire’s house. However, Sonya was the only one who wasn’t walking thanks to her injury. So Charlie decided to carry her by giving her a piggyback ride. As they were walking, Angel said: 

 Angel - “You know kid, I’m surprised that Rimfire didn’t come to the game. She’s a great player like you.”

 Sonya - “She told me that couldn’t. She had to buy her mom cupcakes for an upcoming party.”

 Vaggie - “You think she's back by now?”

 Sonya - “Probably.”

 They went to Rimfire house and they knocked on the door. The opened and it was Rimfire’s mother Darlene who was a white cat with medium brown hair and red eyes. She was wearing a camouflage tank top, gauze bandages around her hands and wrists, blue navy shorts and brown boots. 

 Darlene - “Why Hello there. How can I help you?”

 Charlie - “We are here to see Rimfire.”

 Darlene - “Oh I see. Well-“

 Rimfire - *comes downstairs and sees her friends* “ Oh hey guys.“

 Darlene - “Oh Ruthie, I didn’t know your friends were coming.”

 Rimfire - *embarrassed* “Mom!”

 Sonya - *surprised* “Your real name is Ruthie?”

 Rimfire - *embarrassed* “Yeah…”

 Angel - *giggled* “ You got an old broad’s name!”

 Rimfire - *mad* “Shut up!”

 Sonya - “We your help with something Rimfire.”

 Rimfire - “What is it?”

 Charlie - “We are trying to figure out who Sonya during the game.”

 Vaggie - “We figure we come to you because you are good at recognizing knives.”

 Rimfire - “Well Okay no problem.”

 ()()()()()()()()()()

 They were now all in Rimfire’s Living room. Charlie gently put Sonya on the couch and sat down with the others. Rimfire put the tape in the tv and the part with Sonya getting stabbed was played. Charlie watches as the stabber came and she said:

 Charlie - *pointing* “Stop right there!”

 Rimfire stop the video and it show the stabber holding the knife. Charlie walked up to the tv and said:

 Charlie - “Can you notice that knife Rimfire?”

 Rimfire - *No. *nervously* I gotta go take care of something. Will you excuse me.”

 Rimfire then left the kitchen much to the confused of others. Then Angel looked at the video and said:

 Angel - “Oh! There is something I noticed in the video.”

 Sonya - “What is it?”

 Angel took out a piece of paper in his pocket. Then he fit the paper since it was a little crumbled and it was revealed to be a receipt. 

 Vaggie - “Really? A stupid piece of paper?”

 Angel - *offended* “Hey it’s not just any stupid piece of paper. This happens to be a receipt.”

 Sonya - “Why do you have a receipt?”

 Angel - “So I don’t have to pay for my own shit.” 

 Vaggie rolled her eyes but noticed something on the paper. She took it from Angel’s hand and noticed that there was a name and when she looked at it said “Bloodworth” and the price of a box of cupcakes which was 10 bucks. 

 Vaggie - “Wait a minute...Isn’t that Rimfire’s last name?”

 Sonya - “Yeah…*covered her nose* Sorry there’s a certain smell that’s grossing me out.”

 Charlie - *sniffed it* “Yeah...I’m starting to smell it too.”

 Angel - *impressed* “Wow. You guys got nice sense of smell.”

 Charlie - “It runs in our family.”

 Charlie follow the smell until she stops at the closet. She opened the closet and saw a black sweater dripping blood. 

 Charlie - *disgusted* “Ugh. Don’t Rimfire ever clean her sweaters after hunting?”

 Vaggie - “Hold on Charlie.”

 Vaggie reach in the pocket and everybody’s eyes widen in shock. The knife was the same one like in the video and when Liz made Sonya pointed up and Sonya saw the meat cleaver that stabbed her in the shoulder. 

 Sonya - *shocked* “R-Rimfire...No it couldn’t be her! S-She told me that she was buying cupcakes.”

 Angel - *reading the receipt* “According to this, Rimmy-Boo order these a half hour BEFORE the game. She could have plenty of time to get her little plan ready.”

 Charlie - *mad* “We gotta talk to her! Where’s Rimfire?”

 Sonya - “In the kitchen.”

 Charlie carries Sonya and stomped into the kitchen and kicked the door open. However, the kitchen was empty, and nobody was there. 

 Sonya - “That’s weird...She said she was in here.”

 They heard loud munching noises in the closet. Sonya got off from Charlie’s arms and hopped to the door. She opened the door and it was Rimfire trying to eat the cupcakes and the cupcakes had lots of frostings. Half of the cupcakes was gone, and a few were still there, and some were half eaten.

 Charlie - “Rimfire...You’re the stabber!”

 Rimfire - *mouth full* “Where’s your proof?”

 Angel took out the receipt and Vaggie took out the bloody knife. 

 Rimfire - *mouth full* “Damn it!”

 Sonya - “Why would you do this?”

 Rimfire - *swallowing* “Because I really like pastries and a lot of frostings.”

 Sonya - “No! Stabbing me?!”

 Rimfire - *breaking down* “I don’t know!! *tears up* I-I guess I didn’t want to be all lonely on the team. Not only you’re a great player but you’re my best friend I ever made in hell. When you were gonna go on the other team...Something inside me snapped! I didn’t want you go to, so I figure if something bad happened, you were able to go back to the team. I didn’t want to shoot you with my guns.”

 Vaggie - “So stabbing her was better?!”

 Rimfire - “I didn’t think it through!! And I felt awful for what I did but I just didn’t want to lose Sonya...I’m really sorry…”

 Charlie - *touched* “Rimfire I-I didn’t think you cared that much about Sonya.”

 Rimfire - “Of course I did! Why else would have I done it?!”

 Sonya - “Rimfire...You didn’t have to stab me.”

 Rimfire - *sniffles* “I-I didn’t?”

 Sonya - *shocked* “What?! Of course not! There wasn’t a good reason to- *pinch her eyes and calm down* Never mind. What I mean is that I didn’t want to join the other team anyway. I was planning to sabotage myself so I wouldn’t join.”

 Angel - “But ya beat her in the punch!”

 Charlie - “Angel you’re not helping!”

 Angel - “I’m just spilling out the truth.”

 Rimfire - “Anyway, I’m really sorry for what I done Sonya. Can you forgive me?”

 Sonya - “...Yes. Even though what you did was really painful and stupid, I understand why you did it. Frankly, I would have done something similar like that.” 

 Rimfire - *wiping tears away* “So you forgive me?”

 Sonya - “Of course. Best Buds forever in Hell?”

 Sonya held out her hand to Rimfire. Rimfire smiles and claps her hand into Sonya’s hands.

 Rimfire - “Best Buds forever in Hell.”

 They both hug but Rimfire was being careful due to Sonya’s injured. Charlie and her friends were happy that not only the mystery was solved, but how Sonya and Rimfire managed to overcome a tough spot in their friendship and the strong bond they have despite some shortcomings.

 Hope you all like it!

[tokusashi]

For real

invincibleHello guys, please her me out.

(My english is kinda bad but I’m trying my best. Also I DON’T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE, if some words were poorly used then I’m sorry. But please, let me know)

Lately, reading posts about bnha spoilers, I’ve noticed that people are making a little mistake. I’m talking about blaming OP as the main source of the anime/manga falldown. At least- shounen m/a.

Well, let me say this- not really.

As examples, I’ll use three titles, “Fairy Tail”, “Bleach” and “Naruto”.

So, let’s start with the first one, shall we?

(about the Boku no hero Academia I’ll write at the end)

1. FAIRY TAIL - Hiro Mashima, creator of the FT had once said, that he’s not good with creating a big plots. And we could see that. When stories were short, it was funny, clever even and nice to read and watch. But when the whole Zeref problem was on the picture and whole DRAMA? Wellll... 

Biggest problems of FT were:

a) many, many characters that meant nothing

- Fairy Tail is an title with so many characters, that people can’t remember half of their names, but not only because of their number, but because of their lack of existence. Yeah, sure, they are there, but they don’t do ANYTHING important, mainly just waiting for the main hero (or his crew) to rescue them.

They’re just there for to be there and this is really not good. You know that Lisanna won’t do a thing, she’s just there for being pretty. You know that Evergreen won’t be a hero of the day, because there will be bigger shark, like Laxus or Natsu, to bite the enemy.

Even Levy was supposed to be the intelligent one, but in the end she was just a plot device as a damsel in distress and Gajeel’s lover.

b) main character without character development

- Natsu. Just... Natsu. He haven’t changed ALMOST at all. (I’m not saying completly).  Through the whole series, he always was just a loud idiot who liked to fight with strong oponnents and with those who have hurted his friends. I mean, it had it’s charm, but it was leading to nowhere. A breakthrough moment for him was the one, when Gildarts taught him, that he won’t always win. But we never ever see it again. Yeah, was this one time when he decided to leave Sebertooth members alone to be sure that Happy’s ok, but it wasn’t situation about win or lose. Natsu, all alone, was interesting with his problem about dragon and demon seed in him buuut... It get only worse.

c) almost lack of any training of the characters, they were always stronger because plot demanded it

- Like when they were with Spirits in Spirit world, and then learned that “Oh sh*t, we lost our all time for training”, and there was DEUS EX MACHINA, Ultear with “Sure, I can make it up guys”. And BAM! Done! Now we have super powered fairy tail members!

And it was just ugh. Like, no training arc or anything. Yeah, sure, when they were fightiung they were learning and “gaining lvl”, but not drastically.

And then we had power up “because”.

And then time-skip to explain why everyone are super powerfull right now.

And that’s kinda meh.

d) every villain who had tits was on list “to forgive everything what she had done” 

- Do I have to even explain it? Like Minerva. the biggest sadistic jerk of the females in Fairy Tail, who tortured Lucy, had FUN with it and so on. Buuuut why won’t we turn her into and lovely sheep and adopt her, because of her bewbs.

And sad story written on an knee.

e) lack of consequences around choices that main heores have made

- Again, Natsu. People were kinda worried, what’s gonna happen to him! Will he turn into a dragon?! Or a demon?! Or a mix of both?! And what have killed it all?

Igneel: Are you dragon or demon

Natsu: I’m human

WELL DONE, END OF THE PLOT.

Also Zeref had literally fu*ked a kid. Like, the body of Mavis was the one of a little girl. BUT WHO CARES.

Also, many many times characters did something, but it had no meaning whatsoever. Even the big plots, and that’s really nono.

d) Erza as a very bad written OP character

- Erza is an perfect exaple of op character, that is terribly bad written. Like, she’ll always win. She’ll be always the strongest, she’ll have armor for EVERYTHING, she’ll do the thing. I’m surprised that she had no fight with zeref 1v1, she could end the whole series a lot sooner.

Like, seriously, there’s no other character like Erza. She’s just there to win, that her whole plot. And it wasn’t suddenly. She was OP since the beginning till the last fight, and it wasn’t interesting at all. Hiro Mashima had no knowledge about “how to handle an op character”.

SUMMARY:

It wasn’t OP that destroyed Fairy Tail. Those were character, that Mashima-sensei didn’t know how to use, plot devices he had used poorly and lack of consequences and feeling of the real danger. Sure, Erza as OP was also a problem, but not the main source.

SO, NEXT’S BLEACH:

a)  Tite Kubo had continued the series after Karakura Arc.

- It was really good! The end with Ichigo who had lost his powers? Great!  Final Getsuga Tenshou! Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo merged! Very nice!

And then... yeah. Continuation. We’ve seen that Kubo-sensei had no heart to this anymore. Next Arc after another was worse and worse. 

b) potential of whole Gotei destroyed

- To be honest, whole Gotei was not even as half interesting as Hollows.

Even worse, we had seen whole Gotei from the very bad view for more than a half of the series. Also captains (after KArakura arc) had almost no real meaning. They were just meh.

c) getting tangled up in his[Kubo-sensei] own mistakes

- Like making a hybrid of shinigami-hollow-quincy-human main character, just because shinigami with hollow powers was not enough for the audience.

Or creating a third crowd with bows in white out of nowhere, just for the plot.

Or making Ishida the Sasuke of this series with even more drama than before.

Or creating fullbring just to throw the arc away.

Or just Yhwach. Kubo made him so powerfull, that he had the same problem as Masashi Kishimoto. Had no idea how to kill it. Also, the whole Zangetsu-Yhwach thing was kinda out of... yeah. Just, there were a lot of things that had no sense or were just simply stupid, and that hurts. 

d) problems of Tite Kubo

- As I’ve said before. Tite Kubo had his own problems with Shounen Jump. It became the source of the flaws that Kubo-sensei had made, and we all know it.

SUMMARY:

Actually all of the main flaws are coming from continuation, because really- If Tite Kubo could end the series after Ichigo had lost his powers, then it would be a really great shounen! Buuuut we can see how it went. The biggest problem here was not an OP, the biggest problem was the fact, that Kubo-sensei had the toys, but had no fun with plaing with them, and it’s clearly visible. He drew because he drew, because people had pulled him by the ears

AND THE THIRD ONE, NARUTO:

a) no meaning of side characters

- DON’T BITE ME, I’m not sayin “completly”! there are those like Might Guy, but when we’ll look at Kiba, Temari, Kankuro, Ino and many, many others. They were not as bad written as the ones from Fairy Tail, but also not perfect. They had almost no effect on the “final bosses”, and were out of league, when we look at the golden trio- Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, who were almost like a gods at the end in comparison to the others.

b) ninjutsu was forgotten

- At first it was amazing. Techniques! Elements! Limited chakra! Kunais were deadly, and bombs and everything that ninja used.

And then they just forgot about all of it, and Made Dragon Naruto Ball Z. There were big effective blasts, and power flowing out of characters, giant beasts who made every shinobi not important [at all] and so on. I’m really glad that Naruto had won with the final boss because of the sexy no jutsu, becase, AT LEAST, it was a jutsu.

c) Madara Uchiha and what to do with it

- As I’ve had written above abour Bleach, I have to repeat myself. Uchiha Madara was the problem, that Kishimoto-sensei had no idea how to solve.

When he was stronger, Naruto had been stronger, and Sasuke to, but there he was even mooooore powerfull, so they also had to and, yeah.

He was just a poorly used plot device.

d) Love out of nowhere

- Let’s talk about Sakura. she did loved Sasuke only because he was cool, and then he tried to kill her, he betrayed the whole village, her and naruto over and over, had treated her as she was a nuisance etc. so what she did at the end? She walked after him so long till he made her pregnant and they’ve got married. Best romance ever. Except it’s not.

Also, Naruto and Hinata. Hinata is a great character, don’t get me wrong, but while she ALWAYS loved Naruto, Naruto never really payed attention to her, and it all was created very rougly and quickly at the end. He was always more focused on Sasuke, and there was also problem with that, because Kishimoto-sensei didn’t knoiw how to show devotion to someone, that’s not as romantic as Naruto’s toward Sasuke. And it’s obvious that it WASN’T INTENTIONALL, it just looks like it looks.

Also, the only one relationship that was builded was the one between Temari and Shikamaru (we can also say about Asuma and Kurenai but it was a really short one). 

And then the final chapter, everyone are married and with kids out of nowhere. Good for them, just, it was really weird.

f) who needs Akatsuki

- Akatsuki was an organization that was purely great as long as it was in the shadow. People were scared of it. It was a really BIG DEAL, and members of it were dangerous. And then in manga, and in shippuuden anime, when they started to show themselves, they... well, died pretty quickly. Also the whole thing about the chief of Acatsuki, Pain, who was in fact only a puppet of Madara... I mean, suddenly Akatsuki became nothing, and it was kinda unnerving.

g) Friendly Tailed Beasts

- Demons. Pet demons. Plushies who need to be understood.

Like, Tailed Beasts were a really interesting creatures, but obiously Friendship no Jutsu of Naruto worked also on them so here it is. Naruto’s Zoo.

Killed potential. There was a chance to show something with power and brutality, but nah, why we should have that? Demons can’t be evil obviously.

SUMMARY:

- “Naruto” is not a bad series. Just have it bigs flaws. But also here, like in Bleach or Fairy Tail, the OP’ness wasn’t the main source of the failure. It was lack of the proportion between main characters and side characters, and Kishimoto-sensei clearly had no idea what to do with his own villains and had really strong problems with creating a relationships. But in the end it wan’t about ninjas anymore, it was Dragon Ball with guy in a tracksuit, and that was the worst one.

SO, DID THE OP-THING DESTROYED THOSE THREE TITLES?

My answer is: nope.

OP characters are totally ok, as long as creator KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEM. Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach was an OP character, but still great, Hatake Kakashi from Naruto was an OP character, but also- still great.

Also I want to say, that I don’t hate Fairy Tail, Naruto or Bleach.

I don’t like FT, but with Naruto and Bleach I’m pretty ok. I’m just a person who understand flaws of the title she reads.

SO, ABOUT IZUKU MIDORIYA’S “OP’ness”:

Many have doubts how it’ll turn out, but what I want to say is that Izuku is supposed to defeat All for One, and to become the greatest hero. He have to become powerfull and have more than one trick, so for me 6-7 quirks works.

Also just look at chapter 215. Everyone cried that he can use “black whip” so suddenly, but the price for using it is STRONG PAIN and reduction of One For All limit, that is possible to use (20%). So now, add 5 more an every each with it’s own restriction. Yeah.

Izuku have a lot of strenght, but Todoroki or Bakugou are controlling their powers FAR BETTER than him. Tokoyami too! He still have to catch up, ant to learn a lot of things.

Also, how many quirks does All for One have? Is he invincible? Ofc not.

Also summing my babling:

Izuku’s “op’ness” won’t destroy a thing. Horikoshi-sensei (for now) know how to handle and OP characters.

If there will be a downfall of the series, then there will be a lot of another flaws, not just one to kill it all, so don’t be afraid. Have a faith.