#Shion on the other hand tries to always use sword but sometimes he goes -fuck it- & use his own fist

[damianito]

"The Shikanoin twins? They're one of the kindest people you'll ever meet, but don't let that fool you into thinking they are weak, I heard that they can easily bring the storms of the seas onto the land."

[tsuisou-no-despair]

Higurashi TEN (Role Swap AU) - 34 Random Facts

Well, I'm slightly stuck with the question arcs, so instead I'm just going to write up and throw out a whole bundle of random facts about the world, its characters, and things that have or could happen. Hopefully this will lead to something clicking into place for me, and hopefully you'll like it, too.

Kei, Reina, and Mion still use a bat, nata, and taser, respectively, as their main weapons, though Mion's been forbidden from using the taser by Oryou. Hanyuu uses the ritual hoe and swords in about equal measure. Miyoko uses whatever's on hand to frightening effect.

Shion thrives at St. Lucia; however, she is pulled out of the school by her family after Oryou decides that Mion's twin would be better utilized if she was right on hand...

Miyoko does the Joseph Joestar "your next line is..." thing, which almost always works like a charm. (It doesn't work on Satoko or Bernkastel, but the former plays along when she's not in the black outfit)

Hanyuu's horns aren't initially broken, but by the end of the series, they have their signature crack.

Tomitake is a much more common sight in Hinamizawa than he was in the original universe, being a resident of Okinomiya who frequently visits. He's also quite well-liked, mostly because he's there to fix just about anything that breaks.

Rumiko was the original user of Rena's signature nata, as well as the person who first converted the van in the dump into a hiding place.

Satoko finds the contents of the Saiguiden fascinating but ultimately disappointing; she expected something more directly tied to Hinamizawa Syndrome's origins.

Irie almost always manages to get clear of Hinamizawa before Emergency Procedure #3105 is executed; however, he's usually dead in under 24 hours due to his escape catching Tokyo's attention.

Both Ooishi and Akasaka are hated by the Sonozaki family but the former much more so, to the point where Ooishi schedules his visits to Okinomiya when the Sonozakis will be looking elsewhere, such as on festival nights.

Rina targets Kei's dad in the loops where she doesn't die. Kei's mom does not take it well - to the point where she goes L5, in some cases.

Mion's "feelings" for Satoshi are primarily a result of Satoshi being just that nice and caring and good-hearted. It helps that she's enamored with a saintly image of him that's only grown more pure since his absence.

When Miyoko bothers to start telling people about how she's lost in time loops, their reactions are mostly in the vein of "oh, that explains so much".

Bernkastel can be heard by people who are deep in the throes of Hinamizawa Syndrome; naturally, she uses this to fuck with people for kicks.

Okonogi takes the role of the clinic's head after Satoko dies/disappears. He's regarded exclusively with suspicion - if he wasn't only filling the role until the GHD triggers, he'd probably get run out of town within a month.

Rumiko regularly made Miyoko curry after learning that Teppei and Tamae were denying her food; this led to Rumiko taking her curry very seriously because it represented the only "acceptable" way for her to help Miyoko.

Officially, Tatsuyoshi Sonozaki and his wife (Naeko) are Mion and Shion's parents. In reality, Akane is their mother, and whether or not Tatsuyoshi is the father is strictly a matter between him and Akane.

All of the locations from the original universe are present and more or less unchanged, along with a few new "sets" such as Akasaka's apartment.

Satoko has an alternate version of her "Tokyo" outfit that includes a mask that resembles an inverted Eye of Providence. She wears this when acting in Hinamizawa after her death, claiming that she needs to hide her identity due to being known in the village. (Okonogi thinks that doesn't matter in the slightest and that Satoko is trying too hard to be "cool", and he isn't wrong... except that it's managed to keep Miyoko from realizing who it is throughout the loops)

Beyond mahjong, Akasaka, Satoshi, Irie and Tomitake were fast friends. Their name for the quartet is the "Soul Brothers" - thankfully, it's a more serious (and infinitely less horny-focused) group than in arcs like (ugh) Batsukowashi-hen. (Kei still becomes an honorary Soul Brother in some arcs, though)

While she's reasonably familiar with a gun and a bow, Shion's real weapon is her contacts: her stay at St. Lucia (and Rika-in-Gou levels of popularity while there) means she has a slew of St. Lucia-ites (with powerful fathers) who would bend over backward for her.

Akane and Satoko are the two most skilled individual fighters in Higurashi TEN - who wins in a fight between the two is generally decided by who screws up first, but this is usually Akane getting blindsided by a trap unless she's warned. (They fight in more fragments than you'd expect - Akane Kasai is the most dangerous person in Hinamizawa and Satoko knows it.)

Miyoko starts her loops at the same point every time - the morning after the festival in 1982. This is mostly to dodge the abuse from Tamae - the fact that people assume her changed personality is because she's escaped an abusive home is icing on the cake.

The official reason for the Clinic "studying" Hanyuu was that they were researching the effects of her horns' growth pressing on her brain and monitoring the brain tumor-like symptoms (hearing voices, delusions of being Oyashiro-sama reborn, etc.) that it caused; this was all a fabrication hiding the research done on Hanyuu as Queen Carrier. Satoshi was disgusted by this facade and eventually told the Furudes that Hanyuu's brain was fine, leading to them pulling Hanyuu out (and Satoko murdering them as a result).

Irie occasionally mediates the Games Club's punishment games, sometimes getting dragged into it himself. He's a stalwart protector defender of the young club members' honor, making whatever sacrifices he has to in order to make sure that they're not forced into perverted situations or outfits.

Rumiko may or may not have had feelings for Mion, which Mion subconsciously returned; Mion's quietly put two and two together in the months following her disappearance, and it's had a palpable effect on her relationship with Reina.

Ooishi lives in Kakiuchi City and is a part of its police department, and he's not the only former Hinamizawa resident on its force - there's a bright young detective named Natsumi Kimiyoshi who I've heard interesting stories about, though I don't know much about her...

While he's still capable of being the "Magician of Words", Kei's charisma is heavily tempered by the restrained, somewhat cold wall he's put up around his emotions for "everyone's own good".

After all that looping, Miyoko's trauma response to Teppei moving back in and forcing himself to be her caretaker is anger moreso than shutting down. More than a few loops have ended with Teppei killing her after she was too insolent (or too creepy) for him to put up with.

Yukie was a reporter who was extremely critical of the anti-dam protests, especially after the kidnapping occurred. At least some of the antipathy towards Akasaka is due to being Yukie's husband.

When the seeds of distrust aren't sown, Reina's empathy is one of her most powerful tools, making her able to stand up to just about anyone in Hinamizawa and reach out a hand to them. (Sometimes this leads to getting a baseball bat to the head, but hey, she tried.)

Hanyuu can hear Bernkastel at lower levels of Hinamizawa Syndrome than anyone else in the village, and seems to be cognizant of her presence even when she's at L1/L2. The exact details of Hanyuu and Bern's rapport are known only to them.

Miyoko and Hanyuu are closer to each other than they are to anyone else, but there's still a big ugly wall between them due to Hanyuu's quasi-divinity butting up against Miyoko's hatred of any and all gods. Tearing that wall down is an important part of Miyoko's character development.

Irie had (has?) Satoshi's blessing to try and win Satoko's heart; according to Satoshi, Satoko's not entirely against the idea of a relationship. Satoshi also made sure that Irie didn't cross any lines when going after her; after Satoshi disappeared, Irie ceased his attempts until Satoko herself encouraged him.

Everyone is wearing different outfits - the new ones are more or less the same pieces of clothing as the original "position" but with the color palette and general feel of the character filling the slot. For example, Reina's casual outfit starts as Keiichi's - a vest, undershirt, and shorts (and no hat) - but then is adjusted to fit Rena's style and is given a white, light blue, and purple palette. My attempts at mocking up Reina and Mion's designs are below.

[nuricurry]

Saint Seiya | Shura, PG-13; "see what's inside"

He still remembers what his father used to tell him about fear. “It’s better to be feared than to be loved. Love is weak. Love is fickle. Fear isn’t something that goes away.” He thinks his father probably has a point. After all, it wasn’t love that kept his mother around. It wasn’t love for his anger, love for how he would break things, love for the horrible things he said to her, or the bruises he left on her face and her arms. It was fear that kept his mother close, fear that stopped her from running away. It wasn’t that his mother loved his father enough to have his children. It was that she was too afraid to refuse him. It wasn’t that she loved Shura enough to stay behind, when she should have tried to get away. It was that she was afraid of what worse his father would do to him if she left. Fear was a powerful tool. It was a weapon with no shield, a toxin with no cure. It was the vorpal sword, the unbreakable steel. It had no equal, and it had no conqueror. Fear lived in the hearts of all men, and that was why it could never truly be erased.

The first time he learned that he was capable of causing fear was the day he finally stood up to his father. It is all a blur to him now. There was a fight, he thinks, though there was always a fight. His father yelling. His mother sobbing. The thick, meaty sound of flesh hitting flesh. He sees his hands, his face, he sees the blood, and that’s all he sees, until he lifts his head, and catches sight of his mother’s face. He sees the fear in her eyes, and that’s all he remembers. That’s all he has to explain why he was taken away, why leaves home, and becomes part of Sanctuary. He’s eight when he begins his training. A late bloomer, some of the instructors call him, as if he was always meant to be where he was, he just took longer than others to get to the same place. That’s a nice thought; better than what he thinks is the reality, that he is here only because he had nowhere else to go. In Sanctuary, he’s taught about Athena. He learns that she is a force of peace, of goodness. That she encourages trust and faith, she does not ask for fear. He likes to hear about Athena. He likes to learn about a goddess who offers hope, someone who rules out of love, rather than a desire for control. (Maybe, he thinks to himself, that is what his father would have been like, if he knew how to love, instead of how to invoke fear.) Training for him comes easy. It’s patterns. It’s structure. It’s the same thing every day. It’s secure. After spending the first several years of his life in constant chaos, the confines of rituals come as nothing short of a relief. He wakes up at the same time every morning, he eats his meals, attends his classes, does his chores, all on a cycle, it becomes familiar, safe, and he relishes in that. Developing his skills fall into that same pattern; it’s a process that builds upon itself. Each day he gets stronger, and each day he learns more. It takes time, but there’s a linear progression, there’s a predictable trajectory, and it’s seeing those changes that motivates him. It also helped that Aiolos always encouraged him too. Aiolos is older than him, more experienced, more confident. Aiolos is loved in Sanctuary, admired, and Shura is no exception. Aiolos has an easy smile, a warm laugh, Aiolos is someone who is easy to love, because there is nothing about Aiolos that isn’t loveable. When Aiolos earns his cloth, he’s humble, but proud. He thanks Pope Shion for deeming him worthy. He thanks Athena for allowing him the chance to serve her, even though her new incarnation is not yet born. He thanks his teachers for guiding him on his journey. Later, he thanks Shura for believing in him, and for the gift he brings him after the ceremony is over, and the crowds have dispersed. He is fifteen when he first thinks he understands love. He is young and naive and punch-drunk, when Aiolos places a hand on his shoulder and calls him his friend, when he says that he looked for him in the crowd after he earned his cloth, hoping to find Shura there with a smile on his face. He thinks he knows what it means to love someone in that moment, because he loves Aiolos’ smile and he wants to protect his laugh, and he dreams of the life where the two of them can be saints together, where he can learn more about love. It isn’t until Shura earns his own cloth, it isn’t until he learns the weight of the duty that comes with being a saint of Athena, that he realizes that sometimes, loving someone is what leads to fear. ”He betrayed us. He betrayed Athena.” He doesn’t want to believe it, because he loves him. He chases Aiolos down with a weight pressing down in his chest because he doesn’t want to be proven wrong. He loves Aiolos, and it’s that love that makes him hesitate, when he finally confronts him, and sees him with that baby cradled in his arms. Aiolos’ body lies at the bottom of a ravine and he is the one that put him there because of his fear. His fear that if he stopped and asked Aiolos to explain, he would learn that his love was misplaced, that love alone was not enough to keep even Aiolos from failing

in his duty. He learns to fear himself after Aiolos. Though, perhaps he always feared part of himself. He thinks back to his childhood, to the last day he can remember seeing his father. The day with the blood, the day that his mother looked at him with fear in her eyes. She must have known what he was, before even he did. It doesn’t matter, he decides in time. His father had a point. Fear is better than love. With fear, he knows what to expect. With fear, there’s no surprise when it hurts, when it backfires, when it stings. “Anyone ever tell you that you think too hard about the stupidest shit?” Deathmask is blunt, crass, and unpleasant. But he’s honest, and Shura can respect that. At least, as much as he can respect anything about Deathmask. Their methods are too different, their standards too opposite. But he is a gold saint all the same, he earned his place the same as Shura, and so he doesn’t challenge him, nor does he refuse his company when it’s imposed upon him. Deathmask buys them alcohol, and by that, he means that Deathmask steals liquor from the bar in the small town just beyond Sanctuary’s borders. Deathmask has long legs and broad shoulders and he hasn't looked a day under nineteen since he hit his first growth spurt at eleven; when he was fifteen he could pass for a solid twenty-three if he tried. So he doesn't have to steal the beer, he could just buy it. But that means having money, at least enough money to buy beer and weed, and Deathmask, who is a weed-smoking shitlord, never has enough money to ever buy anything 'and weed' at the same time. He has his priorities, and they include going to Athens to get a bunch of weed, then stealing cheap vodka before returning to Sanctuary, and harassing Shura in his temple.

“Don’t be jealous because you’re incapable of thinking at all, Deathmask.” Aphrodite joins them sometimes. If there’s alcohol, always, but if there’s not, sometimes. He seems more fickle about company, more selective with his time. Deathmask likes to fill the days with anything that catches his interest, while Aphrodite curates his diversions. How the three of them became...whatever they were, he still doesn’t know. It just became routine at some point, it just became part of the fabric of his day. Like his training, like his chores, like his guilt, spending time with them was a habit now, it was something that he does without thinking about it. Not that all habits are healthy. He trains his body until it bleeds. Until the muscles of his shoulder are torn and the bone dislocated. He hones his weapon to be razor-sharp, and he does not care about the cost. He only notices that it’s strange when someone else points it out to him, when he’s bent over Deathmask’s back, and Aphrodite presses his lips to the maligned blade of his shoulder that is pressed taut against his skin. “Why do you do this to yourself?” Aphrodite asks later, as they’re lying on their backs, and the room smells like sweat and sex. He doesn’t know what encourages him to be honest. Perhaps it’s the pot, or the booze, or the sex. Perhaps it’s the need to get the words out of his mouth, because he’s afraid if he keeps them inside they’ll start to rot where they’re lodged behind his teeth. “Because I am afraid of what will happen if I don’t.” Neither says anything for some time after that, not until Deathmask can no longer bear the silence, and mutters, “That’s fucked up.” He notices it after a while, how after his moment of honestly the way Deathmask seems to be afraid to touch him at times. How when they walk beside one another and their knuckles bump, the backs of their hands brush, his hand will hover, not touching him, but lingering, almost as if waiting for some sign to do more. He will touch Shura’s back when he walks behind him, alerting him to his intention to pass by, but it will be just a quick skirting of his fingers over the collar of his shirt. Not touching him directly. Not establishing full contact. He doesn’t say anything about it, at least not to Deathmask. What he does is speak to Aphrodite, in hushed tones late at night, when the two of them are standing together on watch, looking out from the highest peak of Sanctuary to the valley of buildings below. The flickering of torches in windows and along rocky trails are like a mirror reflecting the sky above, and it’s a quiet time, a peaceful time, where there is nothing but the two of them and the soft, warm Greek wind blowing their voices out into the ether. “He’s an idiot,” Aphrodite says simply, as if there is no other explanation needed. As if that excuses everything. And, maybe to him, it does. He has low expectations of Deathmask’s emotional intelligence, and therefore can’t be disappointed if he never meets them, and can be pleasantly surprised if he surpasses them. It’s a method of self-preservation that he never quite mastered. “He’s afraid of me,” Shura corrects him. Aphrodite says nothing, he just lifts a hand upwards, slender, deft fingers tucking a stray strand of pale hair behind his ear. He isn’t looking at Shura, he’s looking at those hundreds of star-torches, he’s making constellations of the lights in Sanctuary’s windows, and avoiding Shura’s eyes. “Are you afraid of me too?” “No.” It isn’t said in a rush. It isn’t fired out of his mouth like a bullet, he doesn’t say it quickly just to prove that it’s true. His voice, that low, melodic timbre, is quiet, the sound soft but clear. It always feels as if he is whispering into Shura’s ear even when he’s several feet away, and right then is no different. Except he does step forward, he moved in close, and it’s Shura that those pianist fingers of his touch next. He slips his hand between his back and the waistband of his pants, then turns it around and moves it up, into his shirt, following the column of his spine.

Shura can’t help but shiver, gasp, from both the touch, but also the cool wind that blows against his skin, sneaking in between the gaps in his clothes that Aphrodite makes. His nails, long, filed smooth but still sharp, dig into the meat of his shoulder blade, and then Aphrodite’s chin is on his shoulder, and his lips against his ear. “I’m not afraid of you,” he says again, “The only thing that could ever frighten me would be you realizing what I am actually afraid of.” “What is that?” he asks softly, because he needs to know. Aphrodite only smiles before kissing him, and never answers his question.