#also have thoughts on her connection to genji but that's less like

[wanjian]

i have like... some thoughts on kiriko, her abilities, and her connection to the fox spirit. i also think, while i do like the thought of her dyeing her hair, the idea of her hair slowly turning green as a manifestation of her power and tie with the fox spirit as a result is just way more fun imo?

i also have other thoughts, mostly regarding canon divergency and age because blizzard...... they don’t know what they’re doing with timelines, so in my canon she’ll be like 30 / around 30 because it makes the most sense to do so.

[docholligay]

What's your opinion on the Ow 2 redesigns, Tracer and Mercy in particular?

OH LORD HERE WE GO

So I salute their right to redesign the characters for the Second Coming, and its not particularly unexpected because, I mean, they want to build conversation and hype, and that's a way to build conversation and hype, I suppose.

So I DID see it coming, and I know me well enough to know that when I am terribly fond of something, I don't necessarily ENJOY the idea of change, so I've been sitting with this for a long while to get USED to it before I decide if the hate is legit or just me being a little pissbaby.

ANYWAY HERE'S THE CONCLUSIONS I'VE COME TO

In generalities, I don't even think most of the redesigns are BAD, I just think that they make everyone look a little more samey-same, less exaggerated, and more grounded. On THEORETICAL PAPER, I don't have a lot of trouble with it because it makes them look more like a cohesive team (Which is essentially the point of the fic I'm working on) but I do miss a bit of the uniqueness of the characters in the redesign and they all feel like they've been flattened a little bit. Everyone is a bit more POLISHED, but a bit less FUN. This works for me for characters like Pharah, who, because of how I see her, I could see picking something more streamlined, more together, more PROFESSIONAL, but for like, Human Representation of a Vegas Slot Machine Floor, Lena Oxton, it doesn't make as much sense.

Now on a personal level, let's get into it. I'll start with Pharah:

They darkened her skin a shade and removed her little gold bead hairthing, both of which I not only have no trouble with but out and out like. I have never cared for her silly little hairthings, and now I am at liberty to ignore them entirely, picking and choosing from canons at my pleasure. I'd have to see a better picture too, but I think her hair is longer, which I don't love, but we all know if it were up to me Pharah would have a haircut like this:

You know, sexy but also very officious, so perhaps we can't go by me.

As far as her uniform, the changes are fairly minimal

It’s basically just streamlining. The changes they made to Pharah were really minimal, which is good because I liked her the way she was, mostly, and they took away one of the things I didn’t care for, but also bad because making few changes to her seems to suggest to me that her involvement in the lore of the game will once again be minimized. But then again, who knows what they would do to her, perhaps it’s for the best. 

Winston, my poor bab, why do they treat you like this constantly? He gets hardly any change except they make his face less expressive??? Maybe in the game itself it won’t be so jarring. 

Mercy!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THIS GODDAMN HAIRCUT, I HATE IT SO FUCKING MUCH

a reminder of her full hair style before the redesign

She looks like a fucking soccer mom who’s complaining about Bath and Body works being sold out of individual hand sanitizers for their big sale of the year, and now how is she supposed to make gift baskets for Teacher Appreciation Week with the PTA? IT BEING UGLY ASIDE, the woman is a combat medic!! Why in god’s name would she have hair that she can’t pull back in any way, shape or form? Where does she find the time to keep something like that trimmed up?? Also, out of all the shit you changed, you couldn’t let her have a wrinkle or something? Give a bitch a break. 

As far as her actual uniform, I highly approve of putting her status as medic on her sleeve, well done, and I think the way in which they tried to make the halo thing “work” as an actual item that a human being might have a reason to wear is not totally ungraceful considering how patently ridiculous it is. 

AND NOW, MY GIRL

I went to the website and just gripped my chest. My heart! How I love her! 

So i actually really approve of how they changed her face:

They removed some ot the rim from her goggles to allow her to have more expressiveness, and actually removed most of her eyeliner! PRAISE AND FUCKING BLESS, I am forever begging for scraps at the “please let Tracer be more butch, as a treat!” table, and every once in a great while, i get it. I DO wish they had brought back her freckles, but somewhere along the second year I think it was, they dropped her little angel kisses and every time I commission anything of her I have to be lIke, “And could you please give her freckles? :)” 

A better view!! I’m love her!!

HER JACKET

HER JACKET

I HATE HER FUCKING JACKET

ALright I get that this one is actually integrated better with her CA, and that’s fine and fair, but my god it is so colorless and drab and sad???? I loved the way her old jacket paid tribute to her RAF career, and it was such a THING of hers that I feel like I have to go back and remind blizz they actually sold her fucking jacket AND her hoodie was based off it, so why are we removing it now?? This thing is dishwater-dull, some sad excuse for a moto-style jacket that just doesn’t fit her at all to me and OH MY GOD HOW MUCH DO I HATE THAT THE PATCH IS NOW JUST TRCR GOD I HATE THE TREND OF JUST FUCKING REMOVING ALL VOWELS FROM SHIT. 

Also, the clips??? WHY? If you weren’t going to connect them to anything, wjhy keep them? In the original, they clearly keep Tracer’s CA in place while she’s fucking around, and if they decided her new CA (Which is flattened and made into a more wearable thing--I approve) didn’t require that because it fit better or is integrated with the jacket or something WHY IN GOD’S NAME ARE THE CLIPS STILL THERE???

Anyway, MY Lena Oxton would not wear this, or she would, in the name of the team, but she would scowl as she put it on. 

I have no idea yet what they’ve done with DVa, so STAY TUNED. 

Small thoughts: I like that Genji gets to wear clothes! His reign of naked cyborg oppression has ended! I don’t like that they’ve removed McCree’s chaps look from the whole thing, so he looks less cowboyish. 

[overwatch-does-stuff]

Okay, it’s time for some deep nerdery to speculate about Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 has 30+ characters. That’s one hell of a large ensemble. If Blizzard had any brain cells, they would probably try and take a similar approach to how Marvel handled their large cast in Avengers: Infinity War.

Remember Infinity War? It functioned as a movie by keeping its groups of characters small (at most five people per group) but also by choosing ‘main characters’ that it focused most of its emotional energy on (most notably, Ironman, Dr. Strange, Vision, Thor, Thanos, and Gamora). The main characters were the ones with emotional arcs and therefore had the most screentime. The rest of the cast was quite static. Also, characters in different groups rarely, if ever got to interact with any characters outside of their group, with the rare exception of a quip or two.

My suspicion is that Overwatch 2 is going to do a VERY similar thing. This means that the roster of Overwatch heroes are going to be divided up into groups and assigned either main character or side character status.

So who’s going to be in each group? That I can’t tell you. As Marvel has shown, characters are grouped up not based on character compatibility, or even arc potential, but instead on what would best make the plot go forward. (For example, raise your hand if you predicted that Ironman, Spiderman, and Dr. Strange would team up with Starlord, Mantis, and Drax for the climax. No one? That’s what I thought.)

What I can predict, however, is whether each Overwatch hero is going to be given main character status or not. My predictions are going to be based on lore importance and current emotional arcs that have been set up the Overwatch continuity. Unfortunately, fan favoritism or previous screen time is not a good indicator (again, as shown in Infinity War.: raise your hand if you predicted that Captain F*cking America would have less than fifteen minutes screentime?) and therefore will not be counted in my evaluation.

NOTE: It is assumed that the plot of Overwatch 2 will be the plot that was introduced in the Zero Hour short, along with the gameplay trailer.

I’ll go tank/damage/support, alphabetically through each section.

D.va- Oh, poor D.va. Unfortunately, I think she’s just going to be a side character. Being so unconnected with the rest of the cast is a death sentence for plot importance. The only way I can see her being a major player is in an indirect way- if Blizzard decides to focus on the “Omnic From the Sea” they teased at in the short Shooting Star.

Orisa- Orisa is not so cleanly cut. Given that she was created to defeat Doomfist, she has potential to be the one who takes him down. They’re narrative and thematic rivals (an analysis of which could be a whole other post) which made me finally decide that she’ll be main character status. I know that seems like a cop-out, but given how Doomfist is the main face of villainy, her connection with him makes her important.

Reinhardt- I’m going to be massacred for this, but I don’t see any universe where Reinhardt is a main character. His character is static, his connection with old Overwatch is the most flimsy out of the oldies, and most of his backstory has already been explored. He’s going to be a side character, relegated to a mentor to Brigitte.

Roadhog- Nope. Side character. He and Junkrat fall into the same boat. Not being a part of Overwatch and having no connections to any characters in Overwatch makes more than passing screentime impossible.

Sigma- OUR BOY SIGMA is going to get no screentime, calling it right now. He’s going to be firmly relegated to side character status. Why? Although he might be a serious fan favorite, his lore and the conflict it introduces (the cosmic horror of the universe) doesn’t really apply to the rest of Overwatch. We know he’s affiliated with Talon, but more like a weapon than a character. He’s got serious redemption potential, but the arc would be very. . . simple. As soon as he gets to Overwatch the arc would be over. 

Winston- MAIN CHARACTER. Our mans is currently the driving force behind the majority of the plot (that isn’t whatever Talon’s doing). He’s the one who recalled Overwatch. Enough said. If he doesn’t get an arc about learning how to be a leader, I am going to be shocked.

Wrecking Ball- lol side character. Given how Blizzard hasn’t made any attempt to treat him more than a walking gimmick, he’s going to be such a side character that he might blend into the background.

Zarya- This is another character that makes me hesitate. At first glance, she’s in the same boat as D.va in that she has no personal connections with the lore or the main cast. HOWVER, she’s directly involved in the conflict of Overwatch 2 because she is currently fighting Omnics in Russia AND has been trying to track down Talon on her own for a while now. Plus, she also has a very juicy potential character arc: she’s racist towards Omnics. Her comic touched on the fact that she has the potential to outgrow her prejudice. This leads me to believe that Zarya is going to be one of the main characters, if a more minor one than the rest.

---

Ashe- Side character. Her connection to McCree ensures that she’ll get some juicy interactions, but not enough to be considered a main character. More than likely she’ll be contacted to help out with the plot conflict, but she’s not going to have any sort of arc or emotional connection with other characters beyond snarky one-liners.

Bastion- . . . I hate this, but I don’t trust Blizzard to give Bastion the relevance they deserve as a character. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bastion will be important to the plot of stopping the rogue Omnics, but I think Bastion themselves will be treated as a McGuffin. They’re mute and prone to acting naively, which is not conducive to character agency. I’m going treat McGuffin as a third category to my predictions.

Doomfist- literally the Thanos of this conflict. He’s going to be a main character, but I doubt he’ll get any character development, because that’s what Reaper is for.

Echo- Main character. It’s pretty much guaranteed by the fact that McCree sought her out in his animated short and that she was once the payload of Route 66. The Overwatch narrative also treats her as the “sPeCiAl OmNiC” that’s somehow more advanced/better/more sentient than the rest of the Omnic cast. As much as I think the role that they’re going to give her would be better suited for Bastion or Zenyatta, I just know that Blizzard is going to give her the full main character treatment. She’s going to be the magical bridge between Omnics and humans. Count me mad about it.

Genji- I love our ninja boy, and he’s an honorary mascot of the game, but as far as arcs go he just finished his. He’s finally found inner peace. That’s not a good sign for main-character-ism. However, he has tons and tons of connections to the rest of the cast and the lore. . . but I don’t think it’s enough. I think he’s going to end up as the character that other characters are able to bounce off of. Everybody knows him, so they’ll be talking to him a lot, but he isn’t going to drive the plot with his own struggles. He’s a side character. His brother, however. . .

Hanzo- As one of the two people in the Overwatch roster actively undergoing a serious life crisis, I suspect that Hanzo is going to be a main character. The fact that he and his goals are not connected to Talon or Overwatch is a detractor, but his emotional turmoil as established in the short Dragons is too important too ignore. His decisions, however reckless and hot-headed they will be, will significantly impact the plot. Why? Because his potential for redemption is such juicy story bait. Also, he could bring in an entire other faction, the Shimada Clan, into the plot, and that could be a game-changer.

Junkrat- Side character. The same reasoning for Roadhog applies here. He’s not connected in any way to the cast. The only potential mystery about him is the ‘treasure’ that’s been alluded to over and over again. If he has this story bait, why am I calling him a side character? Unfortunately, it’s because his ‘treasure’, whatever it is, is going to be a McGuffin. Junkrat’s going to be lucky if he avoids the same status.

McCree- A side character, but an important one. This decision was a difficult one. He’s got the lore and the connections to the other characters but not the internal character arc. He was an active player in unleashing Echo, but it’s also hinted at that he isn’t going to join the recalled Overwatch, instead striking out to do his own thing. That’s not conducive to being a major player in the story. However, his connections and conversations with other characters might, in the same way I’ve predicted Genji’s might, motivate other characters to drive the plot forward.

Mei- Side character. Nothing much else to say. Her focus on climate science isn’t going to be super relevant to the Omnic plot. She’s got only a very loose connection with other characters in the form of her Overwatch membership.

Pharah- I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, but she’s going to be a side character, calling it right now. She’s got so much potential because of her relationship with her mom, but that’s about it. Ana is her only connection to the rest of the cast. It’s important that they reconcile, but their reconciliation has nothing to do with any other plot point. It’s isolated. That’s not a good sign for her screen time, especially considering that she’s not looking for Ana and Ana is not looking for her.

Reaper- MAIN CHARACTER. You should have seen this coming. As the primary instigator of the plot (aka the reason Winston recalled Overwatch,) it should be meta-textually obvious why he’s going to have a lot of screentime. He’s directly responsible for a significant chunk of the unresolved lore conflict within old Overwatch. In order to resolve it, we’re going to be seeing him, a lot.

Soldier 76- Main character, for exactly the reasons listed above. As Reaper’s foil and the person who’s hunting him down, Soldier is going to be pretty important in concluding that unresolved conflict. It’s destiny. Like in a murder-soulmates kinda way.

Sombra- Tricky, tricky, tricky. . . it’s difficult to say. It all depends, I think, on the amount of emphasis Blizzard places on her conspiracy. If she’s the only character who knows exactly what’s going on, that could set her up to be very plot relevant. However, her relationship with other characters and to the rest of the Overwatch lore is shaky at best. I’m going to leave this one blank. There’s just too much we don’t know.

Symmetra- Here we have the other person in the Overwatch roster that is actively undergoing a serious life crisis that I alluded to. Symmetra might at first seem unrelated to everything- the lore, the characters, etc, but Blizzard has set up a surefire redemption arc for her that needs to be resolved. She is going to realize that Vishkar and Talon are connected, and she is going to make the decision to either go full villain (unlikely) or to turn over all the information she knows to Overwatch. Either way, she’s going to get involved, and she’s going to grow as a character. Main character material.

Torbjorn- Torbjorn, oh Torbjorn. Here’s a case that makes me upset. For all intents and purposes, he should be a main character. He’s the one who helped develop the Omnics, and he’s got an active character arc where he’s trying to undo the damage Omnics have caused. This ties him pretty damn directly to what we know of the plot of Overwatch 2. However, Blizzard lately has refused to treat him with respect, reducing him to a joke character because of his height and accent. Not only that, but they diminished his importance in the lore with the invention of Mina Liao and Echo. I could write and entire post about how the Mina Liao/Echo introduction was made to replace Torbjorn and Bastion’s importance in the potential plot, but all of three people would read it.

Tracer- As the literal face of Overwatch it’s pretty damn obvious that she’s going to be a main character. If you need a reminder, look at the London Calling comics and then the cover art for your copy of Overwatch.

Widowmaker- Widowmaker has literally zero character agency and only very very very loose connections with the lore/characters. HOWEVER, she does have the potential to be redeemed by death (I could make a whole other post on this) but it’s not enough to bring her into major character territory. Side character.

---

Ana- Side character. Given that she’s avoiding her potential emotional arc by avoiding Pharah and the rest of recalled Overwatch, she’s flat out of luck for main-character-ism. She’s going to be very important to Soldier 76 and Reaper but she won’t be the one instigating any plot points. Unfortunate.

Baptiste- Another tally for the side characters. The fact that it took him a year to even get voice interactions with the rest of the cast reflects this. His arc of leaving Talon is already done, the idea of Mauga being added to the game is history by now, and he has few connections with the current cast and plot. Big F, my dude.

Brigitte- With both her dad and her mentor being important former Overwatch members, it makes sense that she should be a main character, right? Right? Unfortunately, I think she falls into the same pitfalls as Reinhardt. Her backstory is already mostly explored and her dad is better at any plot-relevant mechanics that might be needed. She’ll help her dad, no doubt, but she’s a side character.

Lucio- I really want Lucio to be a main, really, I do, but he’s a side character. He suffers the same exact problem that D.va does. He has very little to involve him with the rest of the main caste. He’ll join Overwatch, sure, but I think it’ll be more of a decorative declaration than anything. His connection with Symmetra is his only saving grace, but even that just relegates him as a side character in her emotional arc.

Mercy- I think she’s going to be a side character, because all of her current content has her separated from everyone else and unsure about going back to recalled Overwatch. I don’t see the narrative following her inner emotional turmoil about this decision very much. She also doesn’t add anything to the potential plot.

Moira- Okay, Moira is tricky, so hear me out: her lore importance is off the CHARTS, and she’s a lot like Doomfist in the aspect that she is quite clearly villainous. She brainwashed Widowmaker. She turned Reaper into what he is today (physically, mind you,) and she probably has something to do with manipulating Sigma. But is being a villain enough? She’s not the one directly orchestrating Talon’s plan, like Doomfist is. And she’s not so directly connected to the fall of Overwatch like Reaper is. I hesitate to call her a main. Narratively, she’s going to get her comeuppance, but. . . (I’m going to leave this one blank.)

Zenyatta- The only true wild card on this list. Sure, I’ve left Sombra and Moira blank, but Zenny boy? He’s literally got nothing. There’s nothing to base predictions off of. No lore to speak of. We know that he mentored Genji. We know that he knew Mondatta. We know that he defends Omnics’ rights to exist. However, I doubt Blizzard has the nuance to tackle his perspective on the impending Omnic war in Overwatch 2. He could be a seriously major player if he was treated with the respect that his character deserves, though! He could potentially have an active role in trying to figure out what’s making the Omnic uprising occur and stopping it in its tracks! There is so much potential there! It’s all in Blizzard’s hands. It’s all about how Blizzard chooses to finally flesh out his character. . . IF they flesh out his character at all.

---

Total tally out of 32

Main characters: 11

Side characters: 17

Undecided: 3

McGuffin: 1 (poor Bastion)

And that’s the results! It’s important to note that I am far from infallible and that these are just my opinions/speculations on the future. Please please please argue with me in the tags/reblogs. That would make my day.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Justice Chapter 1: How?

This is a mini series (hahaha mini series... ok) about the MC in the ReWritten Series, now named Uesugi Yoko. What happens to her after she’s left in Japan by the Caesar Team and what challenges is she facing?

If you read, please leave me feedback! ^_^

Yoko Uesugi looked at her phone from the rumpled sheets in a black tank top and shorts. Tokyo was seven hours ahead of Rome so it would be midnight, ‘Caesar Time’. She’d cheekily texted ‘you up? >:P’, but got no response. He probably was awake, but Caesar was the worst texter and seemed to get worse the more she wanted to hear from him.

She imagined him still awake, smoking a cigar and drinking Champagne. In the Takamagahara he used to stay up all night long to work and sleep in the morning. Yoko still struggled to wake up in the morning and sleep at night, even now. Most of her studying she did at night by the light of a lamp, polishing her Japanese reading and script, studying history, and dragon genealogy. On the nightstand she had crossed off 35 assignments. But this was an accelerated pace she set for herself, not something required by the Japan branch. In fact, Anjou blithely told her that thanks to her performance on the mission, she could be excused from classes entirely.

But knowledge was power, and she needed power.

She made an effort not to bother Caesar. Her assignment in Tokyo was her business after all. He had nothing but full confidence in her ability to handle any difficulty that came her way. So it felt like she was doubting him when she suddenly wondered if what she was doing was going to end up well done in the end. 

And now she wondered if she was going to end up dead.

Months ago, she’d awakened at Cassell College after experiencing the destruction of Black Swan Bay. The disorienting change in circumstances was made all the worse when she was subsequently shipped off to Japan to perform a dangerous mission. She learned that the man who had run the human experimental labs at Black Swan continued the cruelty in Japan. Dr. Herzog set up two organizations from a single family group of hybrids, splitting families apart by their bloodline heritage either the stable ‘good’ genes of Hydra or the ‘trash’ violent genes of the Devil Clan.

He ran experiments on both groups and used violent means to dispose of the undesirable results. When he finished his research, he launched a campaign to eliminate the Devil Clan by framing them for wanting to resurrect ‘god’ that is, the Light King. In less than a week, hundreds of people were dead, thousands were injured. And those who survived had their lives torn apart.

Herzog was dead by her hand, but his legacy lingered in the ruins of the Hybrid families of Japan. Yoko’s assignment was to help heal the fracture between the Devil Clan and the Hydra. Herzog’s legacy in Japan was connected to Black Swan Bay and she knew him intimately. It wasn’t enough to just kill Herzog and call it justice. She wanted to dismantle Herzog’s entire deadly philosophy that caused the slaughter in the first place and undo his legacy in Japan down to the foundation.

However, what needed to be done was going to run her up against some very powerful people. She wanted Caesar’s advice, but he wasn’t answering. Yoko put her phone down and got up to get ready for the day.

Yoko Uesugi wasn’t her actual name. Her real name was Russian because that’s where she was conceived. Her dark hair and eyes appeared Asian, however, only her square jaw and longer nose spoke to some other mixed heritage. It was easier to just adopt a Japanese name rather than have them struggle with her Russian one.

The light was already on in the bathroom. A girl with long red hair brushed her teeth in the mirror and moved aside to let Yoko in. Erii was the one who gave Yoko her last name, fully adopting her as an Uesugi sister. Like Yoko, Erii was the result of Herzog’s experimentation and should have been killed by him. She was the chosen vessel for the Light King parasite, the so-called Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, who could fully assimilate the genes of the dragon into her own body at the cost of her mind. 

She was horribly unstable. The dragonblood in her body was eating away at her. Yoko was in a similar state and together they bonded over their shared illness. Thankfully, they both ended up sharing the cure of the Light King’s fetal blood that saved their lives, but even this was at a great cost. The resurrection of the Light King provoked the eruption of Mt. Fuji, devastating earthquakes, and a large tsunami that killed hundreds of people. Erii and Yoko got their lives back but the scars on Tokyo were still very apparent.

Erii wrote in her notebook and held it up. “Sakura-Kun got promoted. He’s a big man in College now.”

“That’s good news. Tell him I said congrats.” Yoko runs a brush through her hair and yawns. “Hope it doesn’t get a big head.”

Erii lifted up the paper again. “He says he doesn’t know how he’ll manage.”

“I can sympathize with that.” Yoko looks down at her brush.

As soon as Caesar Gattuso, Chu Zihang and Lu Mingfei left Japan, Yoko was approached by the Clan Chief, Nanami Sakurai who had been placed over the Hydra Executive Board by Chisei Gen before his disappearance. Yoko didn’t know Nanami very well other than a brief encounter where she’d furiously slapped Caesar in the face, not knowing it was him. The cold, murderous look in her eyes frightened Yoko into fleeing the elevator she was in.

But after the events in Japan, Nanami was very different. 

Nanami Sakurai had suffered from both sides of the War. Her relatives were members of the Devil Clan. Akira was less than ten years old when it was determined that his bloodline was dangerous and he was shipped off to the prison like schools for the violent. Kogure Sakurai was older, about fourteen when she was sent away. The two half siblings both died because they took Herzog’s poison and mutated. They were both killed by Chisei Gen.

Not only that, but two men she loved among Hydra died to the Devil Clan. The Kotaro of the Fuma Clan and Genichiro Ryoma.

Nanami took Yoko to an onsen and teahouse where they stayed for a week, talking and swapping stories. Yoko told Nanami the truth. The man who separated Kogure and Akira from her family was the same man who provided the poison that turned them into monsters and the same man who sent Chisei Gen to kill them. The man who did that was also the same man who drove Chime Gen to madness by converting him into Ruri Kazama. Ruri Kazama then killed Kotaru Fuma. This same man planted the Kanto Group in Hydra and induced them to rebel, an action that would lead to the death of Genichiro.

The men she loved in Hydra and her Devil Clan family were all victims of the same man who wanted to resurrect the ‘god’. Dr. Herzog.

Nanami Sakurai was silent and numb for a long time, her eyes dull. She didn’t speak again that night.

Once Yoko returned to her lodging in Genji Heavy Industries, she sent her a memo on how she thought the damage should be repaired. Yoko commented that it was important to listen to all the victims to get a full account of matters and collect evidence to document what happened first before making any decisions.

Kaguya the super computer had her core destroyed in the fighting and was still being rebuilt from a backup, but many of the records were held on personal devices and Nanami also sent out neutral representatives for witness testimony. 

Yoko had spoken to a man of the Inuyama family named Chance who gave her a glimpse of the violence during that horrible week. His family was all killed and their apartment block set on fire. The young children were all orphaned and institutionalized. But even that was only the tip of the bloody iceberg.

The Devil Clan controlled eleven of the eighteen yakuza gangs in Osaka, and the seven gangs loyal to Hydra had always been peaceful to them. But overnight the world changed. The gates of the Genji Heavy Industries building opened, black vans drove out in a convoy and the top members of the Hydra poured out. The moment they arrived in Osaka, the seven Hydra gangs launched an attack on the Devil Clan. Never before in history had a yakuza war been fought so efficiently. It was no less than Hitler's blitzkrieg of Poland. The Devil Clan gangs were crushed one after another before they could organize themselves. Seven of the eleven Devil Clan gangs declared their allegiance to the Hydra Yakuza, three of Devil Clan hold out gangs were beaten to death with bats, and the last one was disbanded. Overnight, Osaka became the Osaka of the Hydra

Not only Osaka, but also from the south to the north, all the gangs loyal to the Hydra family took action and spared no effort to attack the gangs loyal to the Devil clan. Either the Devil Clan members surrendered or their bodies were left on the street.

Hydra had almost all the information about the Devil clan, including the illegal transactions of the clan's gangs and government officials who had dealings with them. The police department received anonymous emails with evidence of the Devil Clan’s crimes, and as soon as the judge accepted the evidence, more than half of the Devil Clan members would be sentenced to prison. The officials who covered up for them received death threats. A prefectural assemblyman was suddenly lifted by a helicopter on the highway in his car, flying 500 meters in the air. The terrified prefectural assemblyman received a phone call in the air from Zuo Shang, an old-timer in the Hydra family, expressing his cordial greetings. Ten minutes later, the helicopter dropped off the senator's car in front of the prefectural assembly building, and by then the senator had become a member of the Hydra family. 

But the ‘ghosts’, the unstable hybrids, never even had the option to defect. Even though they had the blood of the Hydra family in their bodies, in order to escape, some of them used potions that forcibly purified their blood. In front of the Executive Board, which was created to kill people like them, they were just a bunch of desperate beasts. No matter how furiously they struggled, their hearts were pierced by explosive bullets filled with mercury. The aces that the Executive Board brought along with them were responsible for pouring the bodies of the ‘ghosts’ into the cement piles. The cement piles were driven into the bottom of the sea to form a neat array. The Maruyama Construction Institute, to which the Hydra family belonged, would build a shrine on that reclaimed land to commemorate the dead. 

The ghosts who did surrender would be imprisoned for life. During the Heian period, the Hydra family set up a black prison in the hollow of Mount Kobe to imprison the ghosts that appeared in the family. After the Meiji Restoration, the family was exposed to Western ideas and felt that the black prison was not humane enough, so they closed it, but suddenly the rusted iron gate had opened again. Very few ghosts surrendered however, preferring death to an eternal prison and that prison filled with their children.

Yoko had stood on the shore of the sea, looking over the rows of concrete piles under the waves, knowing that each one contained the body of a man or woman who had chosen not to be imprisoned forever and a great cold came over her. Right behind her, the people assigned as her escort and guard were the same ones who had ended these lives. Unless there was an investigation, it would be impossible to tell who was acting in good faith to repair the damage and restore the Japan branch to harmony and who would much rather let all the former Devils serve as a building’s foundation elements.

Thoughts of financial reparations and placement of orphans were suddenly overshadowed by the names of famous courts like Nuremberg and the Hague and Gacaca…

The suggestion of an investigation and trial of cruel members of the executive board went over as poorly as she expected. Where in Japan could she find impartial judges? Hydra owned everything, all the officials in the courts. No witness would ever testify openly in such a situation. Outside judges would have to be brought in. Who could be trusted with compiling such a roster? Who would be in charge of protecting them from corruption and intimidation?

The pushback was immediate. The Executive board were respected and highly regarded members of the Hydra. How could they be prosecuted for sparing no effort in stopping the Devil Clan from resurrecting god? Nanami didn’t tell anyone that this was all a plot of one man. They all still believed it was 100% the Devils’ fault and they all deserved to die. Tachibana was their respected and dearly departed leader who died saving his son at Tokyo Tower! Why were the guardians of Japan being held accountable for a war that the Devils began?

On the way home from shopping, Yoko was researching the Meiji Restoration when a bullet shattered the window. Despite there being a clear blue sky and it was broad daylight, there was no evidence to be found regarding who fired that bullet.  It was a warning shot. Only someone who was very high up in the Hydra rankings could have known where she was at that moment. The next bullet probably would not miss.

Yoko slipped on her shoes at the door and checked her phone one more time before stepping out into the hall of the Genji Heavy Industries building.

Caesar had still not texted her back.

[nitewrighter]

Yellow As the Sun

A Short ficlet Based on a Fic Title Prompt

Pre-Fall of Overwatch Era. Genji has recently had his prosthetics updated and says some... interesting things while on painkilers.

CW for drug mention

---

“Oh for--” Mercy frowned, scrolling through the tablet as she walked down the hall of Zurich’s medical ward, “Who in anesthesiology approved this compound for post-surgery?” 

“Well you insisted that the transition to the new prosthetics happen with as little damage to the patient’s remaining organic organs as possible,” said one of the Blackwatch Cyberneticists walking alongside her, “This compound is the safest for that.”

“Well, yes, but Mr. Shimada’s mental state is already delicate enough without these... side effects,” said Mercy.

“He’ll be fiiiine, dude was probably doing mountains of coke and god knows what else back with the Shimada clan,” said another Blackwatch cyberneticist. Mercy shot that cyberneticist a glare and the first cyberneticist made a cutting motion next to her neck and shook her head.

Mercy just huffed. “The new prosthetics are responding to basic reflexes?” she said, looking at the first Cyberneticist.

“Yep. They’ll probably need some further calibration as he recovers more from the surgery, but we have nervous connection.”

The three of them paused in front of the door. 

“We’ll leave you to it, Doctor Ziegler,” said the second cyberneticist. Mercy nodded as they headed down the hall and she opened the door.

She had to admit, she liked the new prosthetics--better than the old ones anyway. Taupe sarcofibers stretched across his torso and over the frames of his new prosthetic legs. More muscle-like movement, better shock absorption for how much he jumped around. It still was markedly different from organic flesh, certainly, but less jarring than the mass of black, white, and red metal and fibers and red and black wires which wracked his previous form. Lighter, too. They’d need him to go through the tedious process of going through different armors to protect the new prosthetics with the least amount of sacrifice to his movement, but the new prosthetics would be significantly lighter. 

Genji was awake already. Sitting up in bed, even. She knew the biotic feed running into his organic arm would keep the new organ grafts from damaging themselves. She had noted in previous observations that he seemed to metabolize and burn through sedatives far faster than most humans. Her gut told her that it was something to do with the dragon, but she feared recording such things in Genji’s medical records might make him more of a lab subject than he already was. 

 She saw Genji was staring at his hands and her stomach knotted. She knew that the transition between prosthetics was easy to make him feel even more disconnected from his body. She stepped forward, ready to say something comforting, but noticed something odd about the way he was moving his hands. His pupils were completely dilated and he was slowly trailing his hands up and down in front of himself, his expression not disgusted, but almost awed.

“Genji?” she spoke softly, not wanting to startle him.

“My hands have ghosts,” he said, waving his hands up and down.

Aaaand I’m firing that anesthesiologist, thought Mercy.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, smiling a little.

Genji blinked several times and looked up from his hands to her. His cybernetic jaw dropped. “Doctor Ziegler?” he said, eyes wide.

“Yes, Genji, it’s me, you may experience some disorientation with your current painkill--”

“You’re glowing,” Genji leaned dangerously far over the side of the bed towards her.

Mercy took a few steps forward and gently took him by his shoulders. “Your vision is also probably affected--strobing, doubles, more vivid colors, nothing too extreme-- but I assure you, it’s temporary,” she said, re-centering him on the bed so he didn’t fall out.

“You’re so strong,” Genji said in awe, his hand trailed up toward her hair, “And yellow...” he reached a hand up toward it.

Mercy managed to put her hand over his and bring it down before he could touch at her hair. “You’re also experiencing some loss of inhibitions,” she said, pulling away slightly.

“Mm,” Genji nodded. 

“So I’m just here to ask you if you’re in any pain and see how the prosthetics are treating you,” said Mercy, trying to get him to focus.

“Hmm,” Genji nodded.

“So are you in pain?” said Mercy.

“No,” said Genji.

“Good,” said Mercy, “And the prosthetics?”

Genji looked at his hands, then started slowly waving them up and down once more. He was quiet for a few beats before holding up his prosthetic hand and saying, “This one’s not real.”

“But does it work?” asked Mercy.

Genji curled and uncurled the fingers of his prosthetic hand, then suddenly loosely flailed it back and forth. “It doesn’t jiggle like the old one!” he said, eyes wide while still flailing his hand.

“The old one jiggled?” said Mercy.

Genji stopped flailing his hand and pointed to the thumb joint on his prosthetic hand. “Here,” he said, “But not anymore.” He paused, “Was it your idea?”

“Well, I had been hoping to update your prosthetics for a while,” said Mercy.

“You’re so smart,” Genji flopped back against his pillows, “...and you... you look like that? All the time?”

“Well, as I’ve said, you may be experiencing some blooming and strobing with your vision right n--”

“You’re like the sun,” Genji went on, “...But... if you could actually look at the sun. And the sun was beautiful. And the sun has eyes. Kuso, your eyes are huge.” 

Mercy snorted. While she was still miffed that the anesthesiologist would make Genji so disoriented, she had to admit, it was a bit of a relief to see him not obsessively brooding over the Shimada clan for once. The stream of compliments was, admittedly, disarming, but intel had said Genji had been more than a bit of a charmer back before losing his body... maybe his confusion was bringing that through. It had occurred to her that she had almost never seen him smiling until now.

“Well I think you should be getting some rest, Genji,” she said with a slight smile.

“You’re leaving?” there was a sadness in Genji’s voice.

“Well I have other patients to get t--” Mercy opened the door to find McCree standing outside.

“...Doc,” said McCree.

“McCree,” said Mercy, furrowing her brows, “Reyes sent you?”

“Well, just to check on Genji...” McCree stepped through the doorway.

“And I’m guessing I wasn’t supposed to still be in here,” said Mercy, arching an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” said McCree glancing down.

“Well as you can see, Genji’s doing fine,” said Mercy, flatly.

“Look, Reyes was just concerned because you pushed through really fast with this surgery without much oversight from him--” He paused and looked at Genji’s legs, “You got rid of the calf blades?”

“If Reyes had his way, we would have been waiting until Genji went through catastrophic prosthetic failure before we replaced them,” said Mercy, folding her arms, “And yes we got rid of the calf blades. They were awful.” 

“Well I mean, if it ain’t broke...” McCree started but made the wise choice of not finishing that sentence with Mercy glaring at him.

“Doctor Ziegler, McCree is here,” said Genji, who was slowly waving his hands around again.

“I can see that, Genji,” said Mercy.

“How you holdin’ up?” said McCree, smiling over at Genji.

Genji gave a thumbs up with his prosthetic hand and then pointed to it, “No jiggling,” he said proudly.

McCree noted the odd amount of relaxation in Genji’s expression and the ease with which he was slumped against the pillows.

“They got you on the good stuff, partner?” smirked McCree, arching an eyebrow at Genji’s I.V.

“Good stuff?” Genji repeated dreamily, looking at his hand again and turning it over.

“Yeah they got you on the good stuff,” said McCree.

Genji seemed to perk up at remembering something, “McCree--” he said in a loud whisper and motioned for McCree to come closer.

“Mm?” McCree leaned in a little

Genji motioned with his head at Angela. “Look,” he said quietly.

McCree glanced over at Mercy. “What?” he looked back at Genji, “The doc?”

Genji nodded.

“...what about her?” said McCree.

“She looks like that,” Genji gripped McCree’s shoulders and his voice dropped to a loud hoarse whisper, “All the time.” 

“Yeeeup, that’s sort of how people work, Genji,” said McCree, gently pulling Genji’s hands off of his shoulders.

“It’s amazing...” Genji said quietly.

“Yeah I’m just going to let you sleep this off,” said McCree, grinning as he pulled away.

“Mm-hm,” Genji nodded and glanced out the window, staring for a few seconds before saying, “The mountains are breathing.”

“They sure are,” said McCree, stepping towards the door, “Oh I’m going to give him so much shit for this later,” he whispered to Mercy.

“Good bye, McCree,” said Mercy flatly. 

McCree tipped his hat and headed out the door.

Mercy closed it behind him. 

“I need to get going too,” she said, looking back at Genji, “Try to get some sleep.”

“Doctor Ziegler?” Genji spoke up and she paused in the doorway.

“Thank you,” said Genji. He gave his prosthetic hand a demonstrative flail. “No jiggle.”

Mercy smiled. “Call me if you need anything,” she said.

Genji nodded and looked out the window again.

[triforceangel13]

Just A Phone Call Away Ch. 3 (A McHanzo Au)

Chapter 3: Sharing

The party was less exciting after that, Hanzo sticking to Jesse like glue to keep himself from falling into other messy situation. He was such a smooth talker that anytime something came up Jesse talked their way out of it.

The party dragged itself into the night and by the time it was over Hanzo was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

It was a good thing that he would be enjoying his old room back at his parents house where he could just unwind.

“I'm sorry you had to experience that whole thing...” Hanzo sighed as he stepped through the threshold of the front door to his parents home. The familiar setting him had him already starting to relax. He just needed to get to his room...

“Well you did say things would be a bit odd at times. Don't worry about it, I've actually seen worse than this,” Jesse responded, hoisting their suitcases higher onto his shoulders as he started to climb the stairs towards the bedrooms.

“Worse?” Hanzo asked but before Jesse could answer Reinhardt and Ana stepped in through the doorway behind them.

“Alright, we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I want you both well rested this evening. Jesse, you'll be with Hanzo in Hanzo's old-”

“He's staying with me? I had thought Jesse would be getting the guest bedroom. You know, the rule you had when Genji and I were teenagers? That one of couples sleeping in the same room before they're married,” Hanzo interjected.

“I'm not as such a stickler as your think,” Ana laughed. “Jesse will be staying with you. Your bed is big enough.”

Hanzo swallowed, nodding his head as he pushed a smile to his lips. He hadn't expected this. He had been hoping to be by himself but he knew deep down he shouldn't let it bother him. It would also be suspicious if he requested to have a bedroom all by himself when he and Jesse were supposed to have been together for a while.

“Don't stay up too late. And...try not to keep us up. Try to keep your little noises on the down low,” Reinhardt laughed.

“Dad!” Hanzo groaned, the smile falling and a huge blush covering his cheeks. Jesse laughed next to him, heading further up the stairs.

Hanzo quickly followed, closing the door behind them both to finally close them off from the embarrassment. “I am so sorry about that...I never thought they would say things like that in front of someone they didn't know...”

“It's fine,” Jesse said as he set the bags down. “You can relax Hanzo. Remember you can be yourself when you're alone with me.”

“Right right...” Hanzo sighed, opening his suitcase on the large bed and started to pull things out, including the paper of questions that he had collected when he had been looking for Jesse. They were with him as a reminder to ask him these questions before he continued the rest of this week with him or turned him to go free.

“So, I never asked. How did you find out about me?” Jesse asked as he eyed the paper on the bed, fingers nimbly undoing his tie, shortly followed by the buttons on his shirt. Tanned sculpted muscles started to peek out at Hanzo, forcing him to look away.

“Someone at the bar,” Hanzo admitted, glancing up only to look away again. “They thought I could use someone like you for the help with...well with my mess.”

“So much for anonymity,” Jesse sighed, pulling the shirt off of his shoulders and tossing it onto the chair nearby. He rolled his shoulders, catching Hanzo's eye once more and causing him to blush even further.

Noticing, Jesse smirked a bit. “Go ahead. You're allowed to look. This is part of what you paid for. No harm in looking.”

“Paid for?” Hanzo asked. “I didn't...I-”

“Relax. You can eye me up all you want, darling. It's when you want things to get more intimate is when you have to pay more.”

Hanzo shook his head. “I don't think that'll ever be happening. Not to say that you aren't attractive, you really are....I um.”

He had never, ever been this flustered before not even when he was with Ashe and he had gotten intimate with her.

“Easy there. Remember what I said, nothing happens unless you say so first. I'm going to go take a shower,” Jesse declared, patting his shoulder as he passed him to go to the bathroom connected to the bedroom.

Though even Jesse had to admit that it was rather cute to see someone as reserved looking as Hanzo get all embarrassed.

Perhaps he could tease him a little more.

As he started up the water, he tossed his pants to the side, tugging down his underwear just enough to have his bottom hanging out. Hanzo's eyes were on him, eyes following his hands as he dropped his underwear fully getting a view of his toned backside just before it was hidden away by the shower curtain.

Oh he was dipping into dangerous territory. It had been so long since he had been with someone and Jesse was definitely attractive.

All he needed to do was pay more money...

No. He could not do that. He had already paid more than enough of his life savings to get him here in the first place.

With a sigh he lifted the paper that had fallen out of his bag. So many questions he still had for him and here he was thinking of sleeping with him.

He was seriously a mess.

“Hey, can you bring me my shampoo?” Jesse asked. Hanzo quickly snatched it up from the bag, stepping into the room and passing it to him in the shower. His fingers brushed his which did not help the starting tightness in his pants.

He was glad that it wasn't that noticeable...yet.

“So um...Jesse. Can I ask you some questions?” Hanzo asked as he sat himself down on the toilet seat, watching the blurred shape through the curtain.

“Fire away,” Jesse called back, rinsing his hair.

“How did this all...start? The person at the bar told me about how you started off as a um...a male stripper and branched out from there?”

“Well of course. May as well take after the family business, am I right?” Jess asked, peeking his face out of the curtain. “My mom used to bring me to the strip club all the time. One day in my late teens I just picked it up and realized that I could extend it further than that to make some money. I needed a form of intimacy with no string attached as well. Things like that don't really bother me right about now.”

Hanzo gaped at how personal he had gotten but it quickly faded when Jesse started to laugh at what he said.

“I'm just messing with you,” he laughed. Hanzo finally genuinely smiled, tossing a towel at him which missed as he ducked back into the shower to finish his shower.

“You jerk,” Hanzo laughed.

“Hey, but I got you to smile. Any other questions,” he asked as he turned off the shower and grabbed the towel Hanzo tossed at him as Hanzo buried his face into the words on the page he had written to ask him.

“Well I was told that you, and I quote, that everyone has a chance to feel like they had the relationship of their dreams by being with you for a fair price. Now quite frankly I don't really believe that- Oh my...god...”

Jesse had stepped from the shower, dripping wet and didn't even bother to cover himself or be modest as he tossed his brunette locks of hair to dry them with the towel.

Hanzo's cheeks burst a bright red once more, covering his mouth with his hand as he gazed upon the man before him and shifted his legs.

He was making it exceedingly hard not to want to just give him the extra money just to have a roll on the bed.

He quickly turned away, clearing his throat. He could not know that he had been eyeing him up even though it was obvious.

“It's kind of a harsh thing to want to make people feel what they want. Like you would think that I would want to feel again what I had felt with Ashe before she had just out of the blew broke my heart into a million pieces. Do you honestly believe that?” “Well quite frankly yes I do.”

Hanzo whirled around, forgetting that he was naked once more but he was more than confused at what he had said.

“When you are ready to let go of the one who hurt you, I'm sure you would be thrilled to even have a taste of what you used to have, even for a moment,” Jesse said with a shrug, tucking the towel around his waist and stepping back into the bedroom.

Hanzo let out a sigh, tossing the pieces of paper into the garbage. “I'm going to shower...”

It was mostly to just clear his head but also to take care...of his problem that he had between his legs just from looking at him.

*

“How did she seem to you when you talked to her? Desperate?” Hanzo asked as they laid down in the bed next to one another. “Or happy?”

“Like a self absorbed woman who was willing to break up even a fake relationship,” Jesse sighed, running a hand tiredly down his face.

He had answered this question several times and each time he came up with another way to make Ashe sound bad. Even if this relationship they were portraying was fake he needed to get Hanzo out of the mind set of wanting her back.

Even he could see that she was no good for him.

“I'm serious,” Hanzo sighed in reply. That was a clear sign that it was going to take a lot more to get him to forget about her.

“Yes, miserable,” Jesse sighed heavily, turning over onto his side to look at the man next to him, propping his head on his hand. Hanzo gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Jesse really had to get his brain to focus on something else.

He didn't know what to do though without Hanzo's permission. He never really did this himself. He tended to keep himself out of other matters, simply playing his part. But there was just something about the other man that made him want to help.

He felt for some reason that he had to protect him.

“Hanzo, can I speak freely about something?” Jesse asked, a little hopeful that he would allow him to be a little more open rather than just the man that was pretending to be his lover of a several month or longer relationship.

“Sure, we're alone,” Hanzo said, turning to look at him.

Jesse hesitated, something he rarely did. The light that cast behind Hanzo gave him a soft glow with his hair having sat about his shoulders instead of pulled up.

“I really do think that you should forget about Ashe. Just to let her fall into the past and move forward. You could be holding yourself back from the one that could be waiting for you,” he finally said once he got his head clear.

Hanzo was silent a moment, taking in the words that Jesse spoke. He was right in a way. He really should just forget about the woman who broke his heart. She was no good for him and he should just move on.

But what if she was the one that he was meant to be with? What if the reason that they had broken apart was because it was something he had done in the past?

He wouldn't know until he dove deeper despite his better judgment.

“Just something to think about,” he added, turning himself over and closing his eyes to finally get to sleep.

He gazed at him a moment, these thoughts running a mile a minute still from what he had said. Jesse was right but how did he convince himself to think otherwise?

He laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling again. Part of him wished he hadn't come to this wedding at all and just stayed home.

I can no longer link previous chapters with the new “updates” from tumblr.

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[moonlit-tulip]

Umineko Post-Arc-4 Theorypost

Um. Wow. Okay. So I just finished Umineko’s fourth arc, and that was A Lot wow. Anyway, at this point I want to do an Umineko theorypost, inspired by my vague recollection that @itsbenedict (whose recommendation was what got me to start actively working through the game rather than just idly having it on my to-play-eventually pile) did one when he reached this point in the story. I figure it could be pretty fun to compare my notes from this point in the story with his, once I’ve gotten to the end and don’t need to worry about spoilers.

So here’s my theorypost, then. Below the break: major Umineko spoilers, as well as some incidental Higurashi spoilers.

Let’s start with the magic system, and let’s divide it into two broad categories: magic in the actual world, and magic in meta-space. The first sort includes summoning minions, reviving the dead, et cetera. The second sort includes being able to speak in red and blue, to cause something to cease to exist by arguing sufficiently persuasively for its nonexistence, to time-loop the island, et cetera.

Magic in the actual world seems pretty clearly at this point to run on a mix of imagination, deceptive scene-setting, and unreliable narration; but meta-space magic seems to run on less consistent rules. The time-looping seems like it ultimately boils down to unreliable narration as well, with the stories-in-bottles, and speaking in blue isn’t actually overtly magical (aside from the bit where it directly injures Beatrice, which is a similar sort of mystery to the red’s ability to render people or things nonexistent), but speaking in red seems pretty unambiguously magical in a fashion whose true explanation I haven’t yet figured out. I expect an explanation to eventually arise in the form of some sort of actually-authoritative source on the events emerging, but I’m not yet sure what form that source will take, because I’m not sure how a mundane source could be as trustworthy as the red seems to be.

Next up: the witch’s riddle. Clearly solvable, and I suspect that had I been cleverer I’d have been able to solve it based on the discussion in the third game and the knowledge that the solution is reachable through that discussion; but I haven’t, in fact, solved it myself. It seems likely that the solution involves Kuwadorian in some capacity, because “solving the riddle involves finding Kuwadorian” seems more likely than Eva having solved both of those mysteries independently (and she does need to have solved the Kuwadorian mystery, she couldn’t have lied about that, because if she’d gone “I was hiding in the extra hidden mansion deep in the forest, but I can’t show you where it is” she would have come across as even more suspicious to the investigators than she in fact did.) I lack clear hypotheses, beyond that.

One detail that struck me about the fourth game in particular is that there are a lot of weird weapons flying around. We’ve got the golden thread attested to by Gohda and Kumasawa and Kyrie, we’ve got whatever it was that pit-trapped everyone in the dining room, we’ve got whatever Kanon used to cut through the bars... and, of course, there are the Seven Stakes of Purgatory, which are somewhat less mysterious in that they could easily just be fancy mundane stakes, but are still indicative of the general trend of nonstandard weapons around the island, with no obvious leads on where exactly they came from. It’s very possible that all of these weapons are unrelated to one another, but it’s also occurred to me as a possibility that there may be some sort of designer of fancy custom weaponry, off of the island but contributing resources to one or more of the parties involved here. This is a pretty weak hypothesis as far as they go, like I only give it maybe 10% odds of actually being true, but I figure it’s still worth mentioning.

Moving on to specific characters:

Kinzo is dead. It’s unclear where his corpse has been being kept, but it has to have been refrigerated in some capacity in order to avoid either decomposing excessively or smelling up the house prior to its being burnt, so that limits the possibilities somewhat. Nanjo and Genji are definitely in on the his-being-dead part, and Krauss probably is as well. Nanjo, at least, is in on the his-corpse-being-preserved part as well, given that he never expresses confusion over finding the corpse in the boiler.

Battler’s theory that someone has taken on Kinzo’s name seems off in a similar fashion to his theory that someone had taken on Kanon’s name, even if it wasn’t explicitly denied like the other theory was; but in absence of any better ideas about what’s going on there I’m tentatively subscribing it for now.

My current top suspect for who’s acting in Kinzo’s place is Genji, because he’s the only one who evidence suggests that Kinzo genuinely trusted and who would be able to persuade others to accept him as acting as Kinzo without the siblings’ squabbles leading them to try to sabotage his authority. (Nanjo, although also trusted by Kinzo in some capacity, seems much more in-the-dark about parts like the mass-sacrifice stuff and less likely to be accepted as The New Kinzo by the siblings.)

This theory may or may not be hindered by the red truth that Genji isn’t a killer, because it’s unclear if that was a general comment or if it was made specifically about the Genji of the first game; but even assuming it holds across all four games, it seems plausibly loopholable by way of his having others do the killing for him. This would require some way of tricking or persuading Gohda and Kumasawa into reporting both him and Kinzo as separately present at the conference in the fourth game, and reporting him as having been killed; but that’s a problem that every other plausible candidate would have as well, since everyone not in the cousin room was (reportedly) at the conference, so it’s not a problem specific to Genji.

Nanjo remains a mystery thus far. There’s no way he’s unaware of Kinzo’s death, and I get general vibes of suspiciousness off of him in light of his knowing far more than he says about various important Kinzo-related secrets, but there are no specific incidents I feel any particular inclination to pin on him, just a general sense of “he’s plausibly an accomplice to some of the stuff going on”. He’s in a similar not-a-killer-but-maybe-only-in-the-context-of-the-first-game-it’s-unclear boat to Genji.

Kumasawa is also a mystery thus far. Her tendency to try to run from danger leaves open the possibility of her doing things in secret while nobody has eyes on her; but unlike Genji and Nanjo she lacks the degree of clear closeness to Kinzo that would mark her as particularly suspicious. She definitely has something more going on than is currently clear, especially in light of her connection to Virgilia (more on that later), but for the moment my thoughts about her are pretty fuzzy and vaguely-formed.

Gohda, by contrast, I’m relatively willing to trust as being basically who he’s presented as. Likes cooking, likes showing off, dislikes being in danger, prone to petty obnoxiousness against the other servants, but he’s not in Kinzo’s inner circle and he lacks any obvious motive for involvement in the murders. Maybe there are subtle cues of suspiciousness I’m missing, but for the time being, I’m inclined to class him as among the most straightforward and easy-to-understand of the characters.

Kanon and Shannon are in Kinzo’s inner circle at least somewhat, if less closely than Genji, and most likely know things they haven’t shared (even if I don’t know what things specifically). Moreso than any of the other servants, they’re actively working against the murders happening, and have clear motives for doing so with their respective romantic interest in Jessica and George. While they have some amount of motive for knocking off disapproving guardians in particular, none of the bunches of murders that happen resemble what such an attempt would look like, and so I’m pretty confident they’re not doing that and are instead relatively straightforwardly on the murder-is-bad-actually side of things.

Also, they have magic. I mean, not really, but they do things mysterious enough that they seem like they have magic, and with the fourth game’s proverbial spilling-ink-on-the-white-squares their magic can no longer be chalked up entirely to unreliable narration, because testimony of it managed to reach Battler through Kyrie’s call. Shannon spent most of her time shielding against threats invisible to everyone else, such that her seeming magic is relatively easy to dismiss; but Kanon, with his ability to cut through the various bars in their way using something that looks like a glowy red blade, is harder to explain. I’m stumped on that one for the time being, assuming the implausible custom-weapon-designer hypothesis is false.

Krauss knows things. Among the characters who Kinzo distrusted, I suspect him to be the best-informed, if still not actually all that well-informed relative to Kinzo’s inner circle, about Kinzo’s various machinations; he knows that the gold is real, he most likely knows about Kinzo’s death (and, if he doesn’t, he definitely at least heavily suspects), he knows that the servants are in on Kinzo’s plans, et cetera. That said, it’s not clear how much more beyond that he does or doesn’t know.

He’s one of the first to be killed in the first two arcs, and honestly has much less incentive for murder than any of his siblings given his being the current top contender for the succession, so I’m inclined to trust that he’s not one of the murderers.

I’m not all that confident in my read on Natsuhi, but for the moment, I’m inclined to take her as at least moderately suspicious. Unlikely to be the sole murderer in any of the games, but potentially one of the murderers. The first game, in particular, gives her a clear motive, with her fight with Krauss over the gold being followed with (a) his death and (b) her grab for power by way of visiting Kinzo’s study and then beginning to present herself as his successor. Supporting this is the detail that, in the third game, she was gouged with the Stake of Satan, which while not a super reliable metric of what’s up with her is definitely at least a tick in favor of anger being a thing that motivates her, which fits with Krauss being among the first twilight’s victims in the game wherein she was particularly angered.

Eva is, while probably not the sole murderer in the third game, most likely at least one of them. (Not the sole murderer for two reasons: first, Nanjo’s death while she was occupied shooting Battler; second, George and Hideyoshi’s deaths, which don’t line up either with her love for Hideyoshi (which is pretty unambiguously genuine) or her desire to make George her successor.) She had means (with Hideyoshi’s covering for her and making openings), she had motive (the gold she’d found), she was the sole survivor of the incident, and just generally all evidence suggests her culprithood.

Hideyoshi, assuming that the Eva-as-third-game-murderer hypothesis is correct, was her accomplice. More generally, despite his tendency to deescalate the sibling-fights, he’s pretty firmly in her corner when it comes to wanting the money and wanting George to be the successor. I’m thus inclined to mostly treat the pair of them as a unit, and assume that important information known by one is known by the other as well, although it’s not clear for the moment that either of them does know much in the way of important information, outside of the case where Eva managed to find the gold.

Rudolf has mostly not had much chance to show us what’s up with him, having died on the first twilight in three of the four games and not accomplished all that much prior to his death in the remaining one. Probably the most striking thing that happened with him was his confidence, in the first game, that he would be murdered that night, as he in fact was; while he framed it at the time just in terms of the inheritance dispute of the moment, it seems plausible, in light of Beatrice’s story about his making some play six years ago that involved Battler in some capacity and ultimately led to all the murders happening, that that play of his was the true reason he was worried. Sadly, I have very little idea what he actually did back then, beyond “probably something, unless Beatrice was lying about something important having happened then, which I can’t totally write off as a possibility”.

Kyrie is the most overtly prone to Plotting of the bunch, but nonetheless seems pretty non-suspicious for the time being; when she’s not killed on the first twilight, she seems pretty genuine about turning her Plotting skills towards not dying, rather than infighting. Furthermore, she lacks any obvious motive for any of the murders that happen while she’s alive, and plenty of motive for making Rudolf’s murder in particular not happen. Thus I’m inclined to trust her.

Rosa is the single most suspicious person in the whole cast. In the second game, when she’s the one leading the survivors, she tosses around so much suspicion and paranoia-building that she comes across as deliberately sabotaging them. In the third game, she’s the one non-Eva person who’s found the gold, making her an obvious suspect there too, albeit less so than in the second given her death. I don’t think she’s the sole murderer of the second game, given that it ends with her being chomped by demons rather than escaping with the gold the way she’s trying to do, but she’s definitely among the more significant suspects. Oh, and let’s also toss in her history with Beatrice onto the reasons-to-suspect-her pile for good measure, because her “but I killed you!” rant just before her death in the third game didn’t make it seem like she was being entirely truthful about her “she fell off a cliff in a manner that I was moderately at fault for” story during the siblings’ conference, and thus she may well have a history of murder.

Jessica is another of the characters who I haven’t got a great read on. She likes Kanon, she’s rebellious towards but ultimately loves her parents, she gets Very Angry when people she cares about are murdered, and... that’s about all I’ve got. She seems pretty safe on the not-being-a-murderer front, but my sense of what’s actually going on with her is nongreat.

George is also probably not one of the murderers, but he’s at least not a complete write-off as a suspect in the way that Jessica is, given his level of martial-arts competence and his determination to fight Literally Everyone if they try to get between him and Shannon. Still, in practice there’s no evidence that anyone actually tripped over his Fight Everyone plan in that regard, and he doesn’t strike me as the type to preemptively do murders before being challenged, so I’m inclined to write him off on the basis of his lacking a motive.

Battler... has some interesting backstory stuff going on, with the reveal of his possibly being not the original Battler at all. For the time being, I’m inclined to continue trusting him as the Central Viewpoint Character Whose Observations Define The Boundaries Of Which Mysteries Need Explaining, since that role kind of inherently precludes his having seen the murders happen; but if Gameboard!Battler and Meta!Battler turn out to be more divergent than I currently believe them to be then I’ll have to revise that assessment.

Maria is, of the cousins, by far the most suspicious, and the only one who I genuinely think might be one of the murderers in some of the games. She has all these spells made for murder-related purposes, she explicitly has plans to kill the witch possessing Rosa (who is, of course, really Rosa herself), she’s allied with Beatrice, et cetera. Lots of points of suspicion. One particularly suspicious incident is Rosa’s death in the third game, given the two of them having been alone together; I’d be pretty non-shocked by her being the murderer there.

And then we come to Beatrice herself, who is by far the most mysterious member of the cast. According to Rosa’s testimony, she killed someone who looked just like the Beatrice of the portrait during her childhood, long before the events of the game; Captain Kawabata’s story about deliveries to Kuwadorian suddenly halting about thirty years ago (eighteen years prior to the main plot) seem to corroborate this. And yet Beatrice is able to show herself directly to Battler near the end of the fourth game, suggesting that an identical-looking person is alive and furthermore is one of the no-more-than-seventeen people on the island. If we suppose that she’s not secretly one of the seventeen previously-named non-Kinzo characters, then one of them has to be dead as well, which isn’t nearly as plausible as Kinzo’s death because Battler meets all of them at one point or another, so we’ve got to assume furthermore that this person who looks identical to the old dead Beatrice is furthermore actually identical with one of the seventeen.

In terms of pure physical resemblance, Eva is the obvious suspect; they have similar haircuts, and both Beatrice’s dress and Beatrice’s suit conveniently cover up the arm where Eva has the conspicuous tattoo. Their voices differ, as do their manners of speaking, but nonetheless that physical resemblance raises her slightly above the others on my suspicion pile. Her being dead at the time of her would-be interaction with Battler would ordinarily be a significant problem, except that Beatrice explicitly states in red that she’s dead at the time she kills Battler at the end of the fourth game, making it no more of a problem for Eva (being also-dead-at-that-time) than it would be for any of the other possible suspects.

(I have no idea how that particular murder happened, incidentally.)

My other, weirder suspect for Beatrice’s identity is Kumasawa. She’s old enough that I have no idea how she’d pull off the disguise, but she’s good enough at flitting around offscreen that she’s got plenty of opportunity to set scenarios up, and furthermore she’s old enough to possibly be the dead-eighteen-years-ago Beatrice’s implausible identical twin. Honestly I rank this one somewhat higher than I rank the Eva possibility, because while the physical-appearance issue is admittedly tricky, the identical-twin possibility explains some stuff relatively neatly. Under this hypothesis, she’d presumably be exaggerating her age somewhat in her Kumasawa persona, which could potentially explain part of the gap in how-she’d-pull-off-the-disguise. The main challenge to this hypothesis is that she was the third subject of the same ambiguous declaration-in-red of non-killer-ness that Genji and Nanjo were subject to, which in light of Beatrice being confirmed in red to kill Battler at the end of the fourth game means that she can be Beatrice only if that declaration was restricted in scope to the first game only.

So that’s all the humans on the island. I’m going to refrain from talking much about the characters in the Ange flashforward, because for the time being they seem relatively unimportant to the main events of the game; they reveal a bunch of interesting information, with the hundred-million-yen packages they received-but-didn’t-take and with Ange’s exploration of magic having significantly improved my understanding of the rules at play there and so forth, but they don’t have any more direct involvement than that as far as I can tell. Eva’s mysterious resurrection-and-subsequent-death might be another mystery for the pile, or might be just more of the same magic-of-unreliable-narration that drove the rest of the scene in which it took place.

Next up, the various more-inherently-magical figures:

EVA, MARIA, ANGE, and Goldsmith are respectively Eva, Maria, Ange, and Kinzo. Not much more needs to be said here, I think.

Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are respectively Rika and Takano from Higurashi, except not really; they’re clearly related, but Bernkastel is somewhat less straightforwardly benevolent than Rika, and Lambdadelta is pretty different in a few ways from Takano (less creepy, more tsundere, more of a personal rival to Bernkastel where Takano’s relation to Rika was more impersonal, actually has magic beyond High Willpower). I’m not entirely clear on the precise relation there, and mostly it’s tangential to their role here, which is as more-powerful witches who occasionally interfere with Beatrice’s gameboard. They seem to exist exclusively in meta-space, with no direct involvement in the murders.

Sakutaro is a stuffed lion animated with magic (specifically the imagination-based version) in a mostly pretty self-explanatory fashion. The one big interesting thing there is that, judging by the way Beatrice choked on an attempted bit of red text when ANGE was forcing her out of the Golden Land, it seems like Rosa probably made a new vessel for him some time after killing the original (or before, I suppose, although that seems less likely); I’m not sure yet how that’s going to become significant, but I’m pretty sure it is.

Virgilia and Ronove have an interesting link to respectively Kumasawa and Genji. I’m not yet sure of the nature of that link, beyond that Virgilia has made a nonzero number of mackerel comments and was originally Kumasawa before waking up in the third game and that Ronove shares a name with Genji and directly alludes to himself as sort of magical parallel of his; but there’s definitely a link there. Given my preexisting suspicion of both Kumasawa and Genji, it seems relatively reasonable to think that the link might be more literal than it appears onscreen to be and they’re actually just the same people, although it’s also possible that something more complicated is going on with them.

Gaap... I’m honestly not sure what’s going on with her. Anthropomorphic personification of the pit-trap weapon, whatever that weapon happens to be? That’s the best I’ve got for her. The Chiester Sisters and the Seven Sisters of Purgatory are in a similar boat in that regard, respectively for the mysterious gold-thread weapon and the Seven Stakes of Purgatory. And then I’ve got even less idea what’s going on with the goats; I suppose if I wanted to force them into the same mold as the others I could argue that they’re anthropomorphic personifications of ordinarily mundane guns and clubs and so forth, but that seems like much more of a stretch than it was for the more-fantastical weapons, given the fashion in which they directly threaten people during the fourth game such that testimony of their doing so reaches Battler, so I haven’t really got any idea what’s going on with them.

So that’s the characters covered. For the most part, I lack any hypotheses on the individual locked rooms or on the fourth game’s mysterious testimonies, beyond the broad comments I’ve already made in my setting and character analyses; while I’ve got my various hypotheses on who did some of the murders, I’m sufficiently fuzzy on how most of them were done that I don’t have much to say on them that wasn’t already said by Battler at the end of the fourth game. As such, I think I’ll leave this post off here for now, and hope I haven’t forgotten to mention anything too important.

[scaip]

If K project was settled in Westeros, in which house/organization would the clans be?

This is, as most of my fandom posts, a recollection of random thoughts glued together. Gotta use this as an excuse to talk about ASOIAF, my burning passion.

Now, not every clan will 100% meet the picture every house and place in Westeros may carry. K Project is settled in a modern, capitalist Japan AU, with a strong technological advancement. Westeros is based on medieval society from western Europe, with Great Britain as its main source of inspiration, though other places from the continent draw similarities (Dorne with Spain, northern Africa, and the Middle East, Highgarden with France, etc). The premises of both settlements are VERY, VERY different, based on different histories and different continents.

All westerosi houses draw their characteristics from the environment of settlement, relationships with their neighboring houses and territories, the narratives of their historical members. There is a lot of diversity there, so, in some cases, the clans will have more than a house of alignment. Westerosi noble houses date to hundreds or thousands of years, while the Clans of K Project can have more than six decades (in the case of the Tokijikuin) to few years (most of the others). 

The themes of each clan could fit more than one organization but I only choose one for each clan, for simplicity’s sake. The rest is below due to length

Silver Clan: Hakumaito/White Rice Party - The Citadel/ Order of Maesters

Academy - knowledge - abnegation - independence - community.

Gold Clan: Tokijikuin/Timeless Palace - House Hightower

This one was tricky. The Silver Clan is formed by three people, five if you add Hieda and Kukuri by the end of K. All characters have diverse backgrounds, though we can agree they all share orphan issues or the situation of losing people dear to them. In Adolf’s case, since he only refers to having his sister, I suppose their parents either died or never where truly close.

Unlike other Clans, I believe Hakumaito becomes a proper clan towards the second season. Ashinaka, the School Island becomes their domain. Weismann works as a teacher there, while Neko and Hieda attend as students (x).

So, I ended up choosing the Order of Maesters, the core of intellectualism and academic pursuits in westerosi society. While the Order is seen as a place to dump second sons and a where the poor may manage to make a living if they study, it still remains as The Place to search for information and knowledge. In K-verse, Ashinaka Gakuen is a school settled by the gold clan, and a rather elitist one, for what we see from Hieda’s point of view. From the parody manga of Gakuen K and its otome game, it seems there is a university too, placed in the island.

Westerosi maesters are supposed to leave behind their personal histories and families once they finish their studies and start working for noble houses. They cannot marry either. A life of abnegation in service of others. The parallel here comes from Adolf’s way of life, first as the Silver King to live in relative isolation in a giant ship, then, as a teacher in a school. Teaching is a service to the community. Leaving aside ship-tease and the fact GoRA won’t give us canon pairings, we can only guess Adolf’s relationship with Kuroh will go from a platonic one to that of lovers. The story won’t give us that. Kuroh also behaves life a figure of abnegation: low profile, taking care of house duties, looking after Neko, Weissmann and later, Hieda. Obviously, this is not strictly played: Kuroh keeps relationships with people from Ichigen’s old town and visits it. But Shiro and Neko’s past relationships are not brought up.

I find it rather funny the characters oddly resemble archetypes of the Faith of the Seven. Shiro/Adolf would be a mix of The Father, The Crone, and The Smith. Kuroh has traits of The Mother, The Warrior (d'oh), and the Smith too. Neko would be the Maiden, shared by Kukuri who also has traits of The Mother. And, oddly enough, I feel like everybody minus Kukuri, represent aspects of The Stranger, as outcasts and because they are not what they seem at first sight (Kuroh may be a zig-zagged version of this).

As I said above, teaching is a service to the community. Adolf shares his vast knowledge to kids and seems like an informal and relaxed teacher. There is his personal close relationship with Daikaku, the Gold King, too, just like The Citadel owes a lot to Oldtown and House Hightower (I will later elaborate on that). In fact, I think it is a given that Adolf is allowed to work as a teacher and in that particular school because of his relationship with Daikaku.

I won’t elaborate much on Neko and Hieda, as the latter personal history starts to develop after the end of season two, once he regains control of his body, while Neko has lots of personal issues, and, well, The Citadel is base on patriarchal and misogynistic rules of medieval Europe, so, traditionally, there wouldn’t be places for Kukuri and her there. Kukuri’s character never gets much development, so I will leave her aside too.

Prosperity - Wealthiness - Knowledge - Welfare -

Red Clan: Homra - House Targaryen

The Gold Clan rules Japan from the background, moving strings. They keep The Masquerade of K Project going on (with an ambiguous grade of success, ‘cuz lets be honest: people randomly sprouting powers out of no-where seems too vox populi), internal and external affairs, the economy, education, health, and scientific developments. Tokijikuin patronage the pursuit of education and knowledge, Ashinaka Gakuen, considered an elitist academy in-universe, is settled and run by the Golds. They keep good connections, information networks as they are into every branch of government.

Then we have House Hightower from Westeros, one of the wealthiest vassal houses, with a rich port, who keep Oldtown in their domain and patronage its studies, also have close relationships with The Faith of The Seven (as they adapted well to the Andal invasion), and until Baelor The Blessed’s reign, remained as the Core of the Faith. In fact, during Aegon’s contest, Oldtown would have been the capital of the kingdom, hadn’t the Targaryens chose to establish it in King’s Landing. The domains of House Hightower are cosmopolite and influential to the rest of the realm… and other continents too.

While House Hightower remains more-or-less neutral during the books’ events, (there is this ambiguous curse concerning their interactions with the Targaryens) we can’t deny their influences on westerosi society and Essos as a whole. They have their own armed forces at their disposition, unlike the Gold Clan: while they move strings undergrounds, it appears security issues are divided between Toujijikuin and Scepter 4, with the latter gaining prominence on normal police and armies when Kokujoji died.

Kokujoji also kept personal relationships with Ichigen Miwa and Weissman/Shirou, receiving assistance from the former and giving it to the latter, similar to House Hightower influences on both Oldtown and The Faith.

Fire-themed - violent temperaments - intuitive - spontaneous.

Also, as someone pointed in TV Tropes:

The red clan has a bad reputation on both of their forms, though I believe Homra’s perception is biased from the actions of Genji Kagutsu, the previous red king, and the shape his clan took: Purgatory House. Purgatory House was an organization akin to Yakuza, Homra is more of a friendly gang. The fall of Genji’s sword of Damocles created a great crater, and we know the physical state of a Damocles’ sword reflects the inner state of its owner. Kagutsu was presented as a violent monster, however, we don’t fully know what his mental condition was. But we know Mikoto’s. He was suffering a crippling depression since he was 15, as shown in Kingdom of Red, when Izumo meets him. Mikoto’s mental illness never was properly treated, and we know how he ended.

Now, we have the infamous House Targaryen. They also carry a theme of mental illness, though as this clever analysis shows, it is not entirely deserved.

What fuels the special? That might very well be various forms of episodic, high-functioning, trance- or dream-like madness with resulting access to alternative thought-patterns. This can even be present in the brilliant Targaryens… which could explain why the wheels fall off so much on those who can’t keep their grips on their entries and exits into and from their individual forms of this as they go along. The general belief about Targaryens is that it’s hard to tell the difference between the great and the mad ones since madness and greatness are so close to each other. 

“(…) madness and greatness are so close to each other”

Blue Clan: Scepter Four - House Arryn

Mikoto wasn’t crazy, just mentally ill. Anna had to grow up rather isolated due to her strain abilities. But we must remember we are using descriptions from an early medieval-based westerosi society. No clinical psychology and psychiatry there.

A flashback from Mikoto, during the creation of Kagutsu’s crater, shows him using sports clothes with a number 10 on his back, meaning he was that good a whatever sport he played during his school years. He seems to have been able to fluently speak English as a foreign language only with a high school level education. Mikoto could also tell who Reisi was without introductions the first time both met one another. Mikoto leaves me with an impression of “what could have been”: his depression stopped him, but I truly believe he had lots of potentials and could have been amazing at what he tried.

Then is Anna. Her strain powers involve dream-walking, peeking into the memories and thoughts of others, visions of the future (dragon dreams parallel, people), finding people and objects (do you remember how she tried to use her marbles on a map to find Tatara’s killer?), flying (once she awakened as a king) and somehow reproducing tortures performed on her towards others (remember that scene from KoR when she escapes Homra in desperation). She already had a strong affinity with the Dresden Slate as a child. Heck, I find lots of similarities between Daenerys and her.

There is also the state of their clans: feared and respected while Mikoto was in charge, though he had to work towards it with the help of his friends. But once they went to attack an enemy group, Homura would most likely win. Weak and scattered once Mikoto died, but strong again after Anna became the red queen. Similar to the state of Daenerys when Khal Drogo died: in danger, surrounded by enemies, but some dormant knowledge helping her move on.

Anna had an epiphany/lucid dream in Missing Kings, meeting the already dead Tatara and Mikoto, with the previous king telling Anna the ‘Red’ is hers now. Izumo’s words to her already implied Anna becoming a king as something both were aware of. From the prologue of Kingdom of Red, we learn the Slate started to call her once Mikoto died. At the end of her dream-state, she says Homra’s motto, links with the Slate and awakens as the new Red King, with her own Damocles’ sword.

At the end of AGoT, from Daenerys’ verbal exchange with Mirri Maz Duur, her affinity to the dragon eggs (feeling them warmth), the apparition of the red comet, we see her having an instinctual grasping of what was going on, about lost valyrian magic, and gets in a trance-like state.

“(…)the fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE?”

We already know the rest of the story: Daenerys walked into the funerary pyre with the dragon eggs, spent a whole night there, and her people found her the next morning with the first hatched dragons in more than a century.

There are similarities in their backgrounds as well. Both were orphans in charge of people who couldn’t properly deal with the situations. For Daenerys, she depended on another freaking child for a living. Viserys was an asshole who reaped what he sowed, but growing up as a lonely child without adults to rely on and a little sister to take care of, as exiles, in another country, leaves people scarred for life. For Anna, her aunt Honami wasn’t aware of what was truly going on with the 'medical treatment’ Anna was receiving and had Honami been fully aware of everything, without Homra’s help, and adult and a child can’t go against institutions. Both Daenerys and Anna also won more agency after becoming part of a bigger group, though, for Anna’s case, it was harder as she was only a child and still had to go through a period of 'isolation’ during the months Izumo is absent and Homra temporarily disbands, before awakening as a king the Red Clan reunites again.

Blue themed - honor before reason

(zig-zagged)

- elitism - military activities -  pride - discipline -

Green Clan: Jungle - Not entirely sure

  Why am I not placing Scepter 4 on House Stark, the obvious contrast to Homra’s red and House Targaryen’s fire? Well, that’s because House Stark is directly inspired by the history, territory, and people from where northern England meets Scotland. In-universe, House Stark rules over the biggest and most rural land in Westeros, are duty and honor-bound, however, the  House Stark is on the roughish scale of nobility. They are hard, modest and melancholic. Heck, “stark” is the word for the name of the house. There is the famous wildness of some members, in-universe called Wolf-Blood. They keep old customs, follow the old gods, descend from the lines of the First Men. House Stark reflects Scotland and northern rural England, so considering the refinement and modernity Scepter 4 portrays, it doesn’t match the rough and rural image the North of Westeros has within.  While Reisi’s animal may be the wolf, Stark’s animal are the direwolfs. Remember, their colors are grey and white, there is no blue in the sigil.

Second, because Eddard Stark, our picture honor-bounded nobleman, was fostered as a child in the Eyre by lord Jon Arryn. House Arryn moto is “As high as honor”. The Vale has a militaristic, knightly culture and gave the realm most of their best knights. Jon Arryn orchestrated Robert’s Rebellion against the Iron Throne, uniting the North, the Stormlands, Westerlands, and Riverlands, later became Hand of the King and essentially run the government of Westeros. In fact, historically, House Arryn had strong ties with House Targaryen: Kingsward members, Hands of the King, marriages with Targaryen princess, even Arryn queens.

Scepter 4, for me, matches House Arryn better than House Stark. A disciplined warrior elite. I believe their blue oni theme matches House Arryn well. Scepter 4 works closely to the Gold Clan, regulates strain activities, has executive functions and give off a hell of a sophisticated vibe. Good is not always soft or nice, and the heads of the clan can show it too, as they are not above using shady means, such as Reisi’s attempt to kidnap the millionaire that keep getting in his way in Files of Blue, Saruhiko drugging the high school student in season one in order to get the information he needed or Seri blatantly proposing plans that disregarded Mikoto’s human rights for the greater good.

Remember the tale of lady Alyssa Arryn not crying even when her husband and children were killed in front of her? I think about Reisi repressing his pain due to Mikoto’s death. Icy and proud. A prodigious mind, that essentially ends up as head of the country by the end of the season of K, but has to fight his way too. There are elements of frigidity and pride too.

The Arryns have been close to the Targaryen Dynasty, while also dealing with their own issues. Similar to how Scepter 4 closely works with the Timeless Palace, unlike other clans. The blue clan limits itself with the regulation and use on force on individuals who possess special abilities, but still, need authorization from the Gold King to act on some aspects. Obviously, had the Arryns rebelled against the Iron Throne, things would have end ugly for them, with or without dragons. Reisi can be rebellious towards the gold king, challenge him a bit, but that’s because K project is settled on a modern world. Different rules.

Intelligence and wit come to mind too: the Eyrie is a complex castle elevated over a mountain, inexpugnable and sophisticated as hell if we consider it was built over a mountain in the ancient westerosi world, with medieval technology. The freaking cells of the Eyre castle invoke psychological torture, as prisoners may fall from them due to the diagonal floor. Scepter 4 may be an organization for the greater good, but it doesn’t mean they will be nice.

Falcons (the animals of House Arryn) are symbols of boldness, courage, and victory. Tell me if that doesn’t match the Scepter 4, marching forward towards what they want, always ready for whatever emergency may appear, attentive and watching over.

There is a lunar theme too. The Eyrie remains high in the sky. Blue and white. The Moon Doors. Lunar symbolism references renewal and purity. Remember Scepter 4’s motto:

“We of Scepter 4 carry out duties of the sword. Forgiving of neither war in the sanctuary, nor chaos in the world. We will advance with sword in hand, for our cause is pure!”

The moon also symbolizes shadow and opposition, contrast. Scepter 4 is a military organization that doesn’t appear in the eyes of official society, working underground, in the shadows. There is that short story after the Gold King’s death, with Reisi intimidating the prime minister. The moon also represents feminity, with the implication of cleverness, grace, elegance the blue clan represents in contrast with the reds. Heck, remember how House Arryn had to deal with the mountain clans as arch-enemies for thousands of years? Clans as a ragtag bunch of misfits, followers of rude customs, working as gangs, in contrast with the discipline and pomp of another organization. Don’t you see in this a similarity with how Scepter 4 perceives Homra? Similar to how English nobility historically viewed Scottish clans and society.

There is both snow and ice in the imagery of House Arryn as it is settled in The Vale. Mountains, hills. While Scepter 4 has an affinity with the element of water, in contrast to Homra’s fire, I choose House Arryn to match Scepter 4 due to its history of chivalry, warriors and cold-blood. There is an ambition too as an element of the house, and, while we know Reisi is a terribly ambitious guy, that trait shouldn’t overshadow his clan as a whole.

This is a tricky one. I have troubles placing Jungle on a freaking medieval house, as they benefit from modern technology, since the majority of the clan work as an anonymous mass waiting for orders and depending on modern technology, more akin to mercenaries, but not mercenaries in the ancient sense of the word.

I have serious troubles with this, so, you are all invited to write your own thoughts on this.

Grey Clan: Cathedral - The Faith of the Seven

Devotion - abnegation - integrity -

Colorless clan - The Faith of the Seven

This was tricky too. We don’t know much of Cathedral, and Japanese media tends to mix protestant, Anglican and Catholic elements for the aestheticTM. While, judging from Seigo’s attire, he probably was a protestant priest, there is a lack of info concerning his personal story, let’s not speak about the whole clan. We know Cathedral was second in importance to the Gold Clan during the 90’s, all the clansmen perished during the creation of Kagutsu’s crater, and there is this flexible Christian theme surrounding them.

Since in Westeros the Faith of the Seven (from here on, it’ll be addressed as The Faith) is analogous to Christianity spreading over previous forms of beliefs, with the introduction of the Andal mass migration towards the continent. Septons and septas are analogous to priests and nuns who take vows of celibacy, though, in K, I suspect Cathedral held a non-catholic approach. We will never know, as the plot will always be abstract (that’s why we like it) and Seigo is a secondary character. 

I think the Colourless Clan would represent other aspects of The Faith, focusing on The Stranger (Ichigen, Kuroh, Yukari), The Krone (Ichigen), and The Father mixed with The Warrior (all three), The Maiden (Kuroh, I suppose Yukari too?), The Mother (Kuroh again, Ichigen too). For all, the Colourless King is considering the weakest of all those chosen by the Slate and a “joker”. The colourless clan led by Ichigen was composed of way different people, though there this misfit theme on its members: Kuroh’s backstory is very tragic, Yukari’s doesn’t seem to have a nice one either (the only thing we know about him is a heartbreak in the past) and Ichigen appears to never have married and later won clairvoyance powers as he was chosen as a King by the Dresden Slate. He carried on his martial school, has wisdom he shared to a selected few and a hermit lifestyle, though he closely collaborated with Daikaku Kokujoji himself.The original members of the Colourless Clan are walking deconstructions: Kuroh has this proper samurai image, yet behaves as a housewive towards Hakumaito and enjoys the activities. Yukari is a sword ace, but carries an ambiguous feminine image (there are in-universe discussions about him, such as Saru referring to him as gay, but the post-credit story has him flirting with two girls. Chaotic bi? flexible? simply metrosexual? we will never know. Ugh, I like him) yet has wisdom and is good at mentoring others (when he bothers to), but there is this morally gray streak about him. Heck, Nagare called him a “Breast”. And Ichigen, as I said above, acts like a reserved hermit, yet aids the Gold Clan, which carries on an underground Japanese government.For the anonymous Colourless King we have in the first season of K, I don’t really have many words. The character was an easily manipulated chaotic evil individual, who later got a sad backstory by losing their remaining sense of self by the use of their particular ability. Another aspect of The Strange, maybe? The whole colorless clan, presented as a joker in k-universe, could fit some degrees of The Stranger theme.

[icecreambeach]

Prompt: An unexpected hug, McHanzo.

This was fun! Trying something with more conventional OW tropes, turned into something I really did not predict. Unexpected hugs and more! Tried not to spend too much time on it cuz you KNOW I’ll turn it into a monster if I don’t. :] thank you mataglap for my first prompt!!! 

People more or less take one look at Hanzo and assume he doesn’t want to be touched. Everyone in Gibraltar is worldly enough to know that, culturally, it just isn’t a big thing, and Hanzo is nothing if not a traditionalist. That and the forty foot wall of spikes that is his general personality make it an unspoken assumption that anyone who might think of patting him on the shoulder, or rubbing his back, or playfully touching him in any way should expect to leave the encounter without a hand. Even Reinhardt, who treats everyone from small musicians to floating robots like members of the same bizarrely-close football team, followed suit from their very first encounter. Everyone gives Hanzo a wide berth and he does nothing to contradict them – if anything, he seems proud to be singular, to be afforded the kind of wordless barrier often associated with passing royalty. He wears his physical isolation with a raised chin and guards his alone time like a precious commodity. Exposed tattoo like a warning: beware of dragons.

Which is why Jesse, despite fucking Hanzo every night for going on two months now, doesn’t so much as stand within five feet of the man in public. It’s definitely not for lack of wanting – even looking at Hanzo puts all kind of romantic impulse in the gunslinger’s fingers. But Jesse’s been through too many haphazard ‘relationships’ to screw this one up now – not when their connection seems so tenuous already, not when his heart is so far out on a limb. His rapid-fire approach to everything cannot be allowed to burn through this tender gift he’s been lucky enough to receive in this, a relatively late part of his probably-short life, when so much else has already been turned to ash.

That, and he’s not even sure Hanzo wants people to know they’re together. Everything the archer does is well-thought-out, purposeful. Even when he walks, he never wavers or stumbles. It’s one of the things Jesse loves most about him, but it also means that if he’s not making eyes or asking outright, then he probably wants Jesse to follow suit. He’s amorous enough when they’re alone – if a little rough and to-the-point. Jesse can deal with the lack of touch the rest of the time.

Except that he really, really can’t. He’s been a hugger since he was little and physical affection was a missed commodity during his bounty hunting days. In Overwatch, everyone’s a soldier, and that implies a certain closeness inimitable in the outside world. Jesse could easily be labeled as ‘handsy’ when it comes to his fellow teammates (especially the old guard) and no one seems to mind. Far from it – they practically encourage him. Lena is always throwing her arm around his waist, Angela is always giggling under his bear hugs, Genji actually holds his hand now and again, Lucio gets a big kick out of linking their arms like a gentleman, and he’s smacked Reinhardt’s ass so many times, he hardly realizes he’s doing it anymore (though he can barely withstand the reciprocation). His magnanimous lack of personal boundaries is so famous that every time he falls asleep on the rec room couch, he usually winds up waking to someone else resting on his shoulder, or in his lap, or, like Hana did that one time, snoring atop his chest, using his pecs as pillows.

The burning fact that Hanzo is the only one willfully left out of this touch-circle is how Jesse winds up burning his and everyone else’s breakfasts one steel-gray morning. Earlier, the archer heard someone knocking at Jesse’s door and basically hid in the bathroom while Angela poked her head in to remind Jesse that it was his turn to cook. He was out of there as soon as she left, not a touch nor word exchanged. Not even a look. Since leaving his dorm, it’s all Jesse’s been able to think about, and now he’s snarling down at a cast iron pan full of burnt bacon.

He scoops it up, dumps its contents into the trash and then lets it slam back down on the burner.

Lena, used to the gunslinger’s short-lived bursts of temper, sidles up to his side and rubs his arm. “Oy, it’s alright. There’s more bacon in the fridge.”

“You mind taking over? Sorry, I just,” he sighs, rubs his barrel-chest through his white tee, “Not feeling myself this morning.”

“Sure. Go and sit, lad. Let Auntie Lena handle this. You like beans, right?”

“Love ‘em,” Jesse sighs, seating himself beside Genji. More people trickle in, but Jesse keeps his head in his hands.

“You look like you had another late night,” Genji remarks, that usual coy, leading tone. “Thought Angela said to ‘take it easy’ with the hard stuff.”

Jesse glares, rubbing his trapezius. “What’re you, her enforcer?”

“Yes,” trills Angela, ruffling Genji’s hair as she passes him on the way to the coffee maker. “Genji is my enforcer.”

Genji, with his visor lowered, is even more insufferable with the doctor around. But he gestures kindly at Jesse, wordlessly asking him to turn around and face the ovens. “Let me show you something Zenyatta showed me.”

Too tired not to trust him, Jesse straddles the table bench and lets Genji sink his hands into his shoulders. The relief is instantaneous – nothing like a dexterous pair of metal hands to ease out the tension – but, if he’s being honest, it’s not very deep. Jesse’s back has got more knots than a bondage party.

“Ah, you should try it like this!” Jesse hears Reinhardt behind him, then a larger hand is clasped at the back of his neck, working its side muscles. “This is what they do in the spas in Berlin!”

“Ow,” says Jesse, though he’s leaning into Reinhardt’s hand.

“If you want a really good massage, you should let Lucio try,” says Lena, half-turning as she cracks fresh eggs. “He’s got a healing touch!”

“Why, thank you, Lena,” says Lucio, also from behind Jesse. “Scoot over, Genji. See, man, it’s the lower back you gotta focus on, that’s where it allllllll happens…”

Jesse laughs low in his throat as now three men all address his mess of muscles. He lowers his head, obviously in ecstasy. Glowing at the attention. A neat little buzz leaks into his bloodstream, renders him light-headed. “Y’all're gonna kill me.”

“Such great teamwork,” laughs Mei from somewhere to his right.

“Hey, I better be next,” says Hana from somewhere to his left, cracking open one of her carbonated tea drinks. “You know how sore I get playing games?”

“Perhaps we should look into a full-time masseuse,” drawls Angela, drinking her coffee near Lena. “Or maybe Winston could design one.”

“Robotics are not my forte,” says Winston, somewhere near the pantry – Jesse assumes he’s building his own breakfast, “And it seems like… you’ve… got it all figured out…”

His drifting off doesn’t register until Jesse glances up at Angela and Lena’s semi-stunned faces, both focused somewhere over his head. Already in a daze from the endorphins, he raises a brow, but doesn’t truly notice something’s off until all three pairs of hands leave his body at once. He doesn’t even get the chance to open his mouth – two hands, feels like Genji, return to knead hard into his neck, making him issue an involuntary groan and tip his head forward again. Typical Shimada – incapable of sharing.

Angela continues, totally unperturbed. “Anyway, it would probably be an unwise allocation of resources. We still have to repair the security drones, don’t we?”

“Actually, those are all done,” Winston says, cheerful. “Torbjorn finished them last night.”

“Where is that man? Sleeping in?” Reinhardt joins Angela in Jesse’s line of sight, also getting more coffee. His gigantic mug is shaped like a very cute lion. “Another one staying up all night?”

Genji’s hands on Jesse’s back lower from his neck to his shoulder blades, working in seamless, soothing patterns. Lingering on the toughest spots. Jesse will owe him big after this, and he says so – or, he thinks he does. It’s getting hard to focus.

“You are one to talk,” Angela hums, holding her mug like it doesn’t have a handle, pinky out. “I heard you hammering away with Brigitte into the wee hours of the morning.”

“And how would you know,” laughs Reinhardt, “If you were not also awake to hear us?”

Genji’s hands work down to Jesse’s sides, folding and squeezing over his love handles. Okay, getting a little handsy there, Genj…

Lena, stuck in the middle, looks back and forth between them, pretends to move the pans like they’re about to fight. Angela smirks: “I’ve been caught.”

“I think we’ve all got a few more late nights ahead of us,” says Winston, who seats himself on a stool fit with wheels – the bench tables don’t quite agree with his physique. “But it shouldn’t be for much longer. Now that Athena’s running at full capacity, we don’t even…”

Jesse kind of blurs out after that. Genji is digging his thumbs into Jesse’s lower back in a way that’s making him have to hold in the groans. He actually lifts up his right hand to bite the knuckles as the ninja shoves his own knuckles against the bunched muscle just above Jesse’s glutes. God, he’ll get Genji whatever he wants after this. He hasn’t been touched like that in ages.

Except that his groin is starting to pay attention, and that just ain’t right. Genji’s hands are smoothing up and down his back now, slow and absorbing, with considerable affection. It’s enough to pump something warm and syrupy throughout the gunslinger’s muscles, down to the tips of his toes and back up again.But it does seem like he’s finally finishing up. Good, that was getting a little –

Then his hands circle around to the front and he hugs Jesse, head on his shoulder, warm and secure – possessive, even. Rubbing his jaw into his neck.

“Alright, now,” Jesse grunts, “That’s a bridge too far, there, Gen–”

Then he turns his head and stops just centimeters short of Hanzo’s lips. Hanzo, head over Jesse’s shoulder, smiles and pushes his forehead into his neck. Now that the stupor is passing, Jesse can smell his fresh shower, feel the warmth of his firm arms, sense the embarrassment that urges the archer to give Jesse one final squeeze before standing up and sitting proper at the table.

Everyone eats, everyone talks, but Jesse spends the entire time hyper-focusing on the touch of his thigh against Hanzo’s beneath the table and avoiding Genji’s annoyingly smug glances.

- - -

“Hey, c’mere, you.”

Hanzo turns with a raised brow as his wrist is seized and pulled. Jesse tugs, and he allows himself to be tugged, until their chests are pressed together just outside the mess hall.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, yourself,” Jesse hums, his eyes dancing with energy. “Feel like I just had one-too-many shots of espresso. Baby – where’d you get hands like that? You got dragons in your fingers, too?”

Hanzo chuckles, strokes Jesse’s beard. “Maybe.”

“I mean it, Hanzo, that was something else. Is that…” He suddenly looks down at his arms around him, “Is this okay?” He glances to the side, where the others are filing out of the mess hall at their leisure.

“Of course,” Hanzo mutters, assessing Jesse’s shoulders with more rubbing hands.

“It’s just you – I know you don’t – wait, why you been so stand-offish then?”

“I had thought… you did not initiate anything in front of the others. I assumed you wished to be discrete.”

“Well, shit, I thought you wanted that! You didn’t initiate anything, either. And you ran outta here this morning like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar.”

“You are the one who is always…” Hanzo sets his jaw, raises a brow. “You always have your hands on everyone else.”

“Again – I thought you wanted me to keep my hands to myself.”

“I thought you would…”

“What? Just do whatever the hell I want?” Jesse chuckles, looks at Hanzo like he’s ludicrous. “I wanna give you what you need, Han. I ain’t gonna start pawing at you if you don’t say so. Y’seem to like your space.”

“I do,” Hanzo strokes up from his shoulders to his jaw, “I also like when you invade my space.”

“Lord have mercy,” Jesse groans, halfway to scooping Hanzo up entirely, “You’re a goddamn heart-breaker. Always surprising me.”

Hanzo only chuckles, not quite knowing what to say to that. There are many things he doesn’t understand about Jesse, apparently – he’d assumed, all this time, that the gunslinger did not want his open affections, and that he preferred his status as a flirtatious yet independent loner. That they were better off keeping to their own respective status quo. He’d never been one for public displays of physical affection (or even private ones, for that matter), but something about Jesse makes him want to try new things. To take a few steps beyond the boundaries he’s known for so long.

“So, what? You saw me getting a back rub and got too jealous to resist?”

Hanzo scoffs, thumbs Jesse’s nose. “Am I to stand by and watch you be manhandled by my brother and two others?”

Now it’s Jesse’s turn to chuckle, pulling Hanzo fully into his chest for a proper embrace. Gliding his natural right hand across the shaved hair at the back of Hanzo’s head, holding tight around his waist with his metal arm. Breathing him in.

Hanzo splays his hands across Jesse’s back, breathes back. “Thank you.”

“For what? Being wrong all this time?”

Hanzo reaches up, re-adjusts with both arms around Jesse’s neck. “For trying.”

Jesse holds Hanzo around his middle, smiling against his head. Finally feeling him in his entirety; meeting him where he’s at.

[segadores-y-soldados]

The Immortal Soldier?

Or “Is Jack Morrison semi-‘Reaperized’?”

Disclaimer: I don’t fully believe this idea myself.  However, I’m writing it down because it’s haunting me (ba-dum-tssh), and because I think it’s worth putting out in the open.  A lot of it relies on other hypothesis - which may or may not be true - and thinly-connected context clues, so again, I don’t know if this idea even really has solid ground to stand on? But anyways. TL, DR: post-fall Jack Morrison is basically “Retribution era” Gabriel Reyes, possibly with wraithy powers and all.  However, he may not realize he has those powers, or he may be missing a “step” in that “unlocks” them (e.g. Moira’s involvement).  Different types of circumstantial evidence can be interpreted as pointing towards Jack being very “hard to kill.”

This idea relies on the concepts I put forth in the first half of “Long Reasons Not to Trust Moira in Retribution.”  A quick recap:

1. Hypothesis/semi-confirmed?: Gabriel Reyes gained some sort of “Reaper” powers and his “Reaper” medical condition from SEP.

The basis for this is drawn from a few things.  The first - his “Soldier ID: 24″ folder is found in Moira’s present-day Genetics lab in Oasis.  The second - no one in “Retribution” (aka McCree, Genji, and Moira) are surprised by Gabriel’s “in game” powers (Wraith, Shadow Step, Death Blossom), and the trailer for the event shows Gabriel using Death Blossom freely.

The third - Reaper’s “Soldier: 24″ skin has no change in abilities (i.e. none of the effects or voicelines are altered (see things like Witch Mercy, Cultist Zen, Dragon Sym, etc)) and appears to represent Gabriel during his “experimental state” in SEP.

The fourth - the wording on Reaper’s hero profile is “intentional,” specifically the parts about Reaper being around for “decades.”

(More under the cut)

However, as I argued in “Long Reasons,” this did not necessarily mean that Gabriel was “healthy” or even immortal.

2. Hypothesis: though Gabriel Reyes had some level of “Reaper” powers/condition from SEP, he was not completely immune to being hurt or getting scars.  However, Gabriel might not have been aging correctly either.

This is taken from the idea that Gabriel’s appearance has small changes over the course of thirty years but that it does not change nearly as intensely as his similiarly-aged friends.

Gabriel does accumulate scars, and possibly some wrinkles.  However, unlike Ana, who is only two years older than him and gains wrinkles and grey-to-white hair, Gabriel appears to age relatively less significantly.

This is semi-confirmed by an interaction in “Retribution” between Gabriel and McCree:

McCree: Did you even consider what was gonna happen before you pulled the trigger?

Reyes: I made a decision - I’ll deal with the consequences.

McCree: What, like gettin’ the four of us killed?

Reyes: That’s not going to happen.

McCree believes that Gabriel can die during the events of “Retribution.”  And Gabriel probably can die.

“Hard to kill” =/= “immortal”

Gabriel’s pre-fall “Reaper powers/condition” make him “hard to kill”, but he can still be wounded, still accumulate scars, and still probably die.

This appears to be in direct contrast with:

3. Hypothesis: Post-Fall “Reaper” has become effectively immortal.

Reaper can still feel pain.  We know this.  He appears to even struggle with healing injuries sometimes.

(Personally, I think he’s faking this scene in “Infiltration,” because he wants to create a opportunity for Sombra to blackmail Katya.  But for the sake of discussion, let’s say he’s possibly genuinely in pain here.)

However, Reaper is able to take the full force of the Tesla Cannon without dying.  He 1v1s a new Volskaya mech in “Infiltration” without serious side effects.

In “Old Soldiers,” the sleep dart doesn’t affect Reaper at all, and while the sleep dart isn’t lethal, it does indicate - along with the events of “Recall” and “Infiltration” - that “Reaper” might now be much more immune to damage than he was pre-Fall.

One of Reaper’s respawn lines in the game says:

This is my curse...

Which seems to imply that his curse is being unable to die.

This goes along with the idea that Reaper in the present-day is working with Moira for a “cure” for his condition.

And that this may be the basis for their current working relatioship - Moira gets to continue her research on Gabriel, and Gabriel “eventually” gets a cure from it.

This is related to:

4. Hypothesis/semi-confirmed: before the fall, Gabriel recruited Moira specifically to help him try to solve his “pre-fall Reaper condition” before it got “worse” (and uh, we know that didn’t happen).

“She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch.  And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew - McCree, Genji - they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other.  Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” - Michael Chu, 3:47 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=227)

Moira is already conducting research on Gabriel at the time of “Retribution.”  This is indicated by her Biotic Grasp and Fade - which were “created” by Moira when she repurposed parts of Gabriel’s biodata for her own artificial means.  Moira has a couple of interactions in “Retribution” which imply that she thinks certain “changes” may be occurring in Gabriel (though he himself does not reveal if these “changes” are actually happening, or if he is aware of them happening at the time).

However, what appears to be implied by the timeline of Overwatch is that Gabriel’s medical transformation into “post-fall Reaper” (not his actual persona or motivations, but his physical state of being) needed more than just Moira’s experiments to “unlock”:

It needed something much bigger to induce the full “Reaper” potential in him.

Reaper, upon respawning:  That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

Different types of stressors and trauma may activate or deactivate the phenotypical expression of genes - this occurs in real life, and, since Blizzard is using stuff like “enhancements”, “nanobiology”, and “hard light technology” as “firm science fiction” elements to explain more “magical” plot devices (e.g. immortality, resurrection, teleporters, talking gorillas, etc), it’s possible that they’re using this concept (albeit very loosely) to explain Gabriel’s final medical transformation into “Reaper”.

This aligns with Reaper’s own explanation for what happened to him (although I’m leaning more and more towards this moment as being a “mixed truth” than a genuine explanation from him):

Setting aside the debate on if Reaper actually blames Soldier: 76 or not, he tells Ana that his “suffering” transformed him into “this thing”.  We know that Gabriel is “the same” from “Retribution” to “Uprising,” leaving only one (known) major event that he could be referencing here: the explosion of the Swiss Base, which he and Jack were caught in.

We don’t know the “exact ratio” of “SEP experimenting” to “Moira experimenting” to “explosion” that creates the “perfect mixture” to result in post-fall Reaper, so yes, one of these things could be more “impactful” on his condition than the others.  But the explosion having a significant impact on transforming him from “hard to kill” to “effectively immortal” aligns with a lot of the pieces that we already know or have clues about.

Now -

The reason I bring this all up -

Is because Jack Morrison has become very similar to pre-fall Gabriel Reyes in personality.

Soldier: 76: I don’t play by the rules anymore.

Soldier: 76:  You ain't seen me angry.

Soldier: 76:  I didn't start this war... But I'm damn well gonna finish it.

Also stuff like: 

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel.  Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now.  Someone has to be the one to get things done.

Soldier: 76:  I'm just doing my job. Soldier: 76:  Save the medals, I've had my fill. Soldier: 76, killing an enemy Reaper:  Someone had to do it.

---

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.  I thought you had the stomach for it.  Looks like I was wrong.

Soldier: 76: Think you can do my job, do you... Winston: Someone has to.

Winston: Someone's going to put a stop to your illegal activities. Soldier: 76: You're one to talk! You and your friends are breaking the law, same as me.

Soldier: 76, killing an enemy Winston: Your hesitation is your weakness.

But Soldier: 76 also has a number of...interesting lines.

Lines that I initially thought were just “flavor text” - you know, stuff that gives us an indication of his personality, his motivations, his ideas, etc.

But can also be interpreted...differently.

Ana: Seems like neither of us like being dead very much. Soldier: 76: Old soldiers are hard to kill.

Soldier: 76: Old soldiers never die... And they don't fade away... 

Soldier: 76: Aren't you supposed to be dead? Reaper: Didn't take.

Soldier: 76: One of these days someone is gonna to put an end to you. Reaper: I invite them to try.

(The last one is interesting because Reaper appears to imply that “trying to end him” is effectively impossible.)

Because, I mean...read another way -

It sounds a lot like Soldier: 76 is talking about himself, either directly, as in the interaction with Ana, or more indirectly, as in the interactions with Reaper.

Again.  I get it.  Like I said, I don’t fully believe this myself.

But let me try and walk through some of the steps here:

1. Pre-explosion Jack Morrison ages “normally.”

Or at least, he ages about the same as Reinhardt, Ana, and Torbjörn.

“Golden Era” Jack Morrison

“Retribution” Jack

“Uprising” Jack

His hair is fading from blonde to white, he’s accumulating wrinkles, etc.  He is, however, missing two major “features” on his face that define him as “post-Fall Soldier: 76″:

His scars.

However -

Gabriel’s “pre-fall Reaper” condition never prevented him from gaining scars.

And though it is “flavor text”, Soldier: 76 has a voiceline for his Daredevil and Stunt Rider skins that says:

Bones heal, pain is temporary; scars look good.

Which is a modified version of a quote from Evel Knievel.

2. Post-explosion Jack might not be aging correctly.

Ana: For a man of your years, you're looking pretty good, Jack. Soldier: 76: Well, all that stuff they pumped into me has to be good for something.

Prior to “Retribution,” I took this interaction to be - well - just a cute little discussion between Ana and Soldier: 76, but when it was revealed that Jack was the youngest member of the original Strike Team, this interaction...made me pause.

Why would Ana say that to someone who is likely 5-10 years younger than her?

At the time of Recall, Jack Morrison could be between the ages of 48 to 55-56-ish.  We know he is younger than Gabriel when he enlists in the U.S. military and joins SEP, which automatically makes him younger than Ana and Reinhardt.  He is likely younger than Torbjörn (as Torb is only one year younger than Gabriel), which makes him the youngest member of the original team.

And look, I love Jack and think he’s a great character and attractive for having gone through a lifetime of war and fighting.

But let’s not kid ourselves.

If this man is 48, that’s a hard 48.

If he’s in his early-to-mid-50′s, sure, that might be more...understandable.  But even then, you have characters like Reinhardt (who Ana also compliments), Mercy, Moira, Doomfist, Hanzo - all of whom are aging “gracefully” (if you want to call it that) for being in their late 30′s to late 40′s (or Reinhardt in his 60′s).

I mean, if Jack is 48, that means he’s the same age as her:

And Moira has very few of the changes Jack has.

(Please, I’m not looking for a discussion on character designs here.  If you want that conversation, there’s plenty of other posts or people to discuss with.) “But Jack lived a stressful life!  And he survived an explosion!  Of course he’s aged more heavily - that takes a toll.”

Which is -

Different types of stressors and trauma may activate or deactivate the phenotypical expression of genes

Precisely my point.

I’ve seen a lot of people make the hypothesis that Jack Morrison may have had a different type of supersoldier “enhancement” injection serum than Gabriel Reyes.  And that’s logically a very good argument - after all, Jack never shows signs of being “wraithy”.  He doesn’t teleport, he gets hurt, he doesn’t have any sort of “lifedrain” ability, etc.

But we also don’t know if any of that - the serum, the “non-wraithy” stuff - is true or not.

Because when Ana remarks about his age and appearance, Jack credits the injections for “being good” for that.

And when Ana herself comments that Jack is “so hardheaded that [he] wouldn’t know how to die” and that Jack is “lucky to be alive”, Jack himself comments with:

(Ostensibly, he’s quoting Gabriel here, who was once Jack’s “old boss”)

Again, it appears that Jack is merely copying Gabriel’s pre-fall personality, or “evolving” into being a renegade and rogue-like character, just like Gabriel was during “Retribution.”

But it is intriguing that Jack credits the SEP injections with his...current “hard-to-kill-ness” and his seemingly “good” appearance.

3. Jack survives a lot of stuff.

Canonically, Jack survives: 1) the Swiss Base explosion, 2) fighting the Helix guards at Watchpoint: Grand Mesa, 3) fighting Los Muertos members in “Hero,” 4) a grenade thrown by a Los Muertos member in “Hero”, 5) a literal shotgun blast to his lower back (?), and then 6) a fistfight with Reaper.

Yes, he gets hurt.

But “hard to kill” =/= “immortal”.

Soldier: 76: Old soldiers are hard to kill.

“Ana heals him in ‘Old Soldiers,’ though!”

You’re right, she absolutely does.  And based on gameplay, Soldier heals himself by his Biotic Fields.

But we also see him literally “walk off” a grenade blast in “Hero.”  And he appears to survive the Swiss Base explosion with only scars. 

And while he never appears to use “wraithy” powers like pre-fall Gabriel, it might be that Jack isn’t fully aware of what’s happening to him.

Gabriel has had “decades” to explore his “Reaper condition.”  He may have even had help “training” his abilities in SEP.  Jack, on the other hand, probably went through the program thinking he was just “another supersoldier” and not a...ghost soldier...fighter...warrior person like Gabriel (or whatever SEP wanted to describe them as - “ravagers”, maybe?).

After all, Jack’s own description of SEP is very brief in “Uprising.”  Initially, he seems to indicate that the program “tried everything” in a desperate bid to end the war - including likely conducting experiments like the kind that produced pre-fall “Reaper” - but that other things (“politics, mismanagement, egos”) seemed to be the downfall of SEP and other U.S. military endeavours, thus pushing Gabriel and Jack to agree to join Overwatch together.

And in “Retribution”, we know that Gabriel appears to think that Jack can die.

Hence Gabriel’s whole motivation for trying to “get a jump start” on Talon by getting intel from Antonio.

Gabriel believed that an explosion could severely hurt Jack -

Or do worse to him.

And yet -

Not only does that not actually happen, Jack appears...almost... stronger than before, emerging “from the ashes” six years later as “Soldier: 76″, equipped with the Tactical Visor and a new, updated version of the Heavy Pulse Rifle.

4. In “another life,” Jack is “immortal.”

“Junkenstein’s Revenge” occupies a very...odd space in the Overwatch universe.  It is, arguably, the only “canon AU” made by the developers themselves.  By that I mean - not only is the “story itself” canon to the world of Overwatch, as a story that Reinhardt is literally telling his friends during one Halloween:

But the events that occur within the story have obvious and clear parallels to the “canon world of Overwatch.”

Each of the main characters - both the “heroes” and the “villains” in both years - correspond to “real characters” in Overwatch.  Moreover, all the “roles” that they play in the story have “canon costumes”/skins (with only Reinhardt and Genji currently missing theirs).

For example:

Mercy, who is dressed as a witch at the Halloween party, is the witch in the story:

Torbjörn is a Viking, Ana is a “pirate alchemist,” McCree is a vampire/demon hunter (Van Helsing, to be exact), Junkrat is the scientist, Roadhog is the monster, etc etc.

The story gets expanded in Year 2, where Widowmaker, Zenyatta, Genji, and Torbjörn all become playable, and it “canonizes” the Huntress and Cultist skins for Widowmaker and Zenyatta as being their “in-story roles”.  Genji, who we don’t see up-close, will likely get a “demon wanderer” skin to match Hanzo’s in a future event.

But there is a character who doesn’t match his “canon costume” with his “Junkenstein role”:

And before people are like, “That’s just his Daredevil skin!” - I know.  I’m aware of that.

However, I also know that they seriously considered making “Old Jack in his Daredevil outfit” a real thing for him:

Of those seven pieces of concept art (I’m counting both Reins as one), five of those eventually became fully-fledged skins.  Reinhardt’s will likely show up in a future event.

However, they got to the point where they actually made a mock-up of “Old Jack in his Daredevil costume.”

And yet.

They chose this.

Yes, I do believe the Immortal skin is an homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  After all, “Junkenstein’s Revenge” as a whole references a number of horror stories or Halloween ideas - everything from the Headless Horseman to Van Helsing to “Frankenstein” itself.

But if the Soldier skin is a reference to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, why call it “Immortal?”  Why not call it “Zombie” or “Ghoul” or something?

As I said earlier, “Junkenstein’s Revenge” has a lot of parallels to the canon world of Overwatch, and the story around each of the “roles” has connections to their “canon versions”.

For example:

Ana: What reason brings you to travel so far from home? Hanzo: I was banished from my home for taking my brother's life. I can never return.

Ana: I once met a man who could summon a dragon as you do. Hanzo: Impossible. Only my clan possesses the skill. My brother could, but he is dead.

McCree: What's home like for you, Archer? Hanzo: A village, high atop a hill. There are cherry blossoms in the spring. I miss it dearly.

Soldier: 76: A soldier, an alchemist, an archer and an oddity. A motley group we have assembled here. Ana: Just as it has always been. You attract strange companions. 

Hanzo: I sense that you and the Soldier have history together. Ana: Indeed. And much of it unhappy.  Or Ana: This is not our first battle together. And not the last. Unless he does something foolish.

Interestingly, many characters often break the fourth wall (or at least attempt to hit it):

Reinhardt, if some of the heroes start dying:  The heroes' defense was not enough, as one of their numbers fell. If only they had a shield to stand behind. Reinhardt: Oh, how the heroes lamented their need for a shield, realizing too late they had taken for granted its protection.

McCree: You're not bad with a bow, but don't you think it's a little old fashioned? Hanzo: Perhaps there is still a future for anachronisms.

McCree: You seem awful familiar. You sure we haven't met before? Soldier: Maybe in another life.

While all the characters have lines and interactions pointing to their “canon versions”, Soldier in particular has many - almost all of his interactions refer to his “canon story” or refer to his “canon relationships.”

Soldier: It's time to finish this fight, old friend. Ana: Let us hope we have the strength to see it through

Ana: If we survive the night, this should be our last battle. Soldier: No, I cannot rest until we have justice! (for what...or for whom?)

Hanzo: What sort of monster do you think the Reaper is? Soldier: The worst kind there is - a wicked man. McCree: So, where are you from? Soldier: I don't stay in one place for too long, came from a town called Bloomington, Indiana

Soldier: In my younger days I'd have hardly broken a sweat, but those days are over.

Related to that is the subplot that the “Junkenstein version” of the “Reaper” knew Soldier and the Alchemist at one point in time:

Once a man, the Reaper retained no trace of his former self.

Rumor said that the Reaper had betrayed his former comrades, and was thusly cursed. (eliminated by Ana) The Alchemist slew the Reaper, feeling a moment of sadness for the man she had once known. (eliminated by Soldier: 76) The Soldier struck down the Reaper, and hoped that it would be for the last time.

However, Soldier expresses an...interesting sentiment when he kills Reaper in “Junkenstein’s Revenge”:

Soldier, eliminates Reaper: At last, the Reaper's curse is lifted.

From both “the canon story of Overwatch” and “Junkenstein’s Revenge,” we see that Soldier: 76 in “both modes” considers it his duty to both fight the Reaper and free him from his “curse.”  In “both modes,” this means killing him.

I’ve seen a lot of the fan idea that “the Immortal Soldier” is a human thrall or some sort of vampire (based predominantly on Reaper’s second Halloween skin, “Dracula”).  While it isn’t a bad idea (and I enjoy it, personally), that’s not actually “canon” to the story of Junkenstein’s Revenge.

In fact, Soldier’s “story” in Junkenstein’s Revenge is almost identical to his “canon story”:

McCree: You don't seem like someone who'd put his faith in alchemy. Soldier: You have to believe in something. May as well be the thing that keeps you alive. McCree: You ask me, you pump something full of these chemicals, electricity and whatnot, that's not a man - that's a monster. Soldier: Maybe so, or maybe they're not as different as you'd think.

In the “Junkenstein’s Revenge universe”, the Immortal Soldier is alive because he himself has been through some sort of alchemical experiment.  McCree’s lines about “[pumping] something full of these chemicals, electricity, and whatnot” is very similiar to not only this:

Ana: For a man of your years, you're looking pretty good, Jack. Soldier: 76: Well, all that stuff they pumped into me has to be good for something.

But also incredibly similiar to this:

“That’s not a man - that’s a monster.”

And Soldier’s remark?

“Maybe so, or maybe they’re not as different as you’d think.”

In fact, now that Moira is part of the game, I’m super interested in seeing how they evolve the Halloween event for the third year, or if we’ll get some sort of new “canon AU-style” story that incorporates her and Brigitte into the event.  Moira very much fulfills the “canon role” of the “Witch” in the world of Overwatch, moreso than Mercy does, and the fact that Moira canonically hold the power of “Reaper’s cure” over Reaper does imply that certain aspects of the Reaper subplot in “Junkenstein’s Revenge” have parallels to the canon story.  It will be exciting to see how Moira is integrated into future Halloween events.

I’m also very interested to see how characters like the Soldier and Alchemist “evolve” in their roles in relation to Moira.

But that’s for the future.

For now, Soldier in “Junkenstein’s Revenge” is...semi-immortal.  Much like the other heroes - demons, vampires, cultist...monk...robots... - the Immortal Soldier can still die, and he can still get hurt.  But the implication that he doesn’t age correctly, or won’t “die of natural causes” is...telling.

Like I said, I’m not sure how much I actually believe the idea as a whole.  But I do think there are odd bits and pieces that point to it being plausible, or something that could become a plot-point later in Overwatch’s story.  Jack being “hard to kill” has worked out as “convenient plot armor” when the story calls for him to get injured or fight someone, but it could evolve into something more...complex.  Again, the fact that Moira is seemingly in the process of making a “cure” for Gabriel’s “post-fall Reaper condition” could have a lot of impacts on Gabriel’s decision-making, his motivations, and those who are affected by them -

Jack, in particular.

Jack is the only other known character who has gone through the same “Soldier Enhancement Program” as Gabriel.  He’s one of the main characters guiding Gabriel’s motivations at the time of “Retribution.”  He’s the only other known character to have survived the same “Swiss Base explosion” as Gabriel, who became the fully-fledged “Reaper” (e.g. effectively immortal) after that.  The same event left Jack with what appears to be only scars, but otherwise, he continues to fight very well.  Post-fall Jack has a number of personality and motivational comparisons to “Retribution-era” Gabriel, including a desire for enacting “retribution” on those who wronged Overwatch and a seemingly “hard-to-kill” physiology.  And in a “canon AU” story, Jack’s role is that of an “immortal soldier,” who may have some...similarities with the “monsters” in the story that he isn’t totally sharing with his comrades.

We know Jack’s canon goal is to find the conspiracy that brought down Overwatch, and implement retributive justice against them.

But is that his only goal?

We will have to see.

[dabbledrabbleprose]

Blackwatch Week:  [ DAY 1 ] PLAN A / PLAN B

Read on AO3!

*****

The first time Moira saw the dragon, she was sure it was a trick. It had to be a hardlight projection, some ridiculous effect that the cyborg was using for dramatic flair. It was clearly an intimidation tactic, though she considered the loss to his stealth a cost that outweighed any benefit he must gain. She disregarded it as simple theatrics and put it out of her mind.

It was months before she gave the green dragon a second thought. The cyborg had been infiltrating a facility in Monaco when he overextended himself and let himself get shot. He managed to complete the mission and retreated to the safehouse before he activated a distress signal. When Moira arrived, he lay on the floor of the warehouse, unconscious and bleeding, with the little green dragon standing protectively over him.

No…that wasn’t possible. The hardlight projection should have dissipated with loss of consciousness, or at least dropped into an idle state. Instead, this construct was actively trying to protect the cyborg, baring its fangs at Moira as she approached.

It hissed.

Moira stopped. So did the dragon.

It cocked its head, regarding her…warily? No. Impossible. Hardlight constructs were nothing more than programs and machinations of technology, no more intelligent than a hologram or a marble sculpture. Any emotion it showed was false, a mere facsimile of life.

However, hardlight constructs also could not produce sound, whereas this…apparition had clearly voiced an audible hiss. Definitely impossible for a hardlight construct, which could only mean that this was something entirely different.

Fascinating.

So, the first order of business would be to determine what this little creature actually was. Was it alive? A mechanical projection? Part of the cyborg’s cybernetics? Intelligent or automated?

Moira crouched beside the cyborg’s fallen form and more closely examined the dragon. It was translucent and seemed somewhat incomplete, as if its back half were only partially constructed, or as if it were made of glass and somehow broken.

“What are you, little thing?” She asked softly and cautiously extended her left hand.

The dragon made a piteous whine and dropped its head to nuzzle at the cyborg’s cheek, but skirted away from her fingers.

“Come now,” she cooed, as if the thing were one of her rabbits, and tried to inch closer. “No need for that. Come here, little thing. Just let me–”

She tried to snatch her hand out and grab the creature, but it dissipated into sparkling motes of emerald light before her fingers could connect. Damn. She looked around, but the dragon seemed to have entirely disappeared, which created a whole new line of exciting questions. She would absolutely need to question the cyborg about it.

Ah. The cyborg.

She turned her attention to him, still bleeding and unconscious.

“I suppose that means I’ll have to fix you up,” she sighed, and began the far less interesting task of tending to his wounds.

 *****

 The cyborg did not regain consciousness until after extraction, and Moira did not have a chance to speak to him alone until at least a week later. In that time, she had reviewed any Blackwatch surveillance footage with the green dragon and poured over what little of the cyborg’s file was unclassified for her clearance level. From the scant evidence she’d managed to gather, she’d developed a wide range of hypotheses as to what the little dragon could be, but she was nowhere close to reaching any sort of conclusion. She needed to speak to the cyborg and then get her hands on the creature herself. Once she’d given it a physical examination, she would start with a nanite scan or a bioelectrical scan, and then continue with diagnostics until she’d determined what exactly it was. After that, well…the list of tests she wanted to run on the creature was as long as her arm, depending on what it ended up being.

Was it alive? If so, where did it obtain nutrients or energy? Could it reproduce? Feel pain? Was it intelligent? What exactly was its connection to the cyborg? If they were connected, could they be separated? There was so much she wanted to know! She hadn’t had something attract her curiosity like this in years!

She had a thousand questions by the time she was able to corner the cyborg. He had just returned from the Zurich headquarters after Zeigler had demanded to examine his injuries herself. Hah. As if Zeigler’s medicine was somehow better than her own. If anything, Moira was the one more qualified to treat the cybernetic freak of nature. Pillock.

She found him in one of the practice rooms, setting up some sort of training routine that involved climbing, jumping, and a great deal of slashing at training bots with a sword.

How primitive.

“Genji,” she said idly, striding toward him. She needed to remind herself to call him by his name, as he’d been quite antagonistic the last time she’d called him cyborg. “A word, if you would.”

He glanced at her and looked for a moment as if he’d ignore her and continue his training, but then reluctantly sheathed his blade and approached her.

“Dr. O’Deorain,” he said. “I have been told that you are responsible for saving me back in Monaco.”

Oh, brilliant! If he felt indebted toward her, she may have an easier time getting him to comply with her wishes. Although, she noted, he hadn’t exactly thanked her, just stated that he knew she had assisted him.

“Indeed,” she said idly. “You got yourself into quite a state. I was fortunate to be able to aid you in time. That’s actually what I came to speak to you about.”

“I am fine,” he said, a little sharply and started to turn away. “You do not need to continue to concern yourself about me.”

Hah. How quaint.

“Actually, I wanted to ask about your little green companion,” she said before he could return to his training.

The cyborg stopped cold and looked over his shoulder at her.

“…What about her?”

Her? Well, that was something. The creature had a gender, but was that because she was a living female creature? Or was she a genderless construct that the cyborg had assigned a gender to out of sentiment?

“She was standing over you when I came to help you, as if she was protecting you,” Moira said cautiously, gauging his reaction. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I wondered if you might tell me more about her.”

“She…” he trailed off and put a hand to his chest. “She was protecting me?”

Moira had to work to prevent herself from tapping a finger impatiently.

“Indeed. What is she, I wonder?”

“I suppose she is a guardian of sorts,” the cyborg said slowly. “She and her kind are the defenders of the Shimada Clan.”

Moira’s eyes lit up. “There are others like her?”

He gave her a wary look. “…Yes.” He gave her no more than that single word, but Moira wasn’t deterred.

“How did you come by her?” She asked, trying to probe for more information.

“The same way everyone else in the Shimada bloodline gets their spirit dragons,” he said cautiously, but did not expound upon the process. “The same way we have for centuries.”

The Shimada bloodline? Spirit Dragons? Centuries? The length of time implied that either the dragons (Dragons! Plural!) were either a recent technological development and the Shimada Clan lied about how long they’ve been around to entertain an air of mysticism, or that the so-called “Spirit Dragons” really were some sort of being not created by any modern technology. Could it be possible? Spirit dragons tied to a genetic marker within a bloodline? She had been interested before, but the possibility of a unique and unheard of genetic property made this the most remarkable case she’d had the fortune of stumbling across in years. Could the gene be duplicated? Could other people be given dragons? Could the dragons be duplicated? Replicated? What happened if their partner…host? Were they parasites? What happened if their host died, did the dragon die or did it go elsewhere? What happened to the host if the dragon died? Could it even be killed? What would that do to the host?

She was getting ahead of herself. All she had were the vague statements of a moody cyborg. For all she knew, the creature may be nothing more than a dramatic technological construct and all this talk of spirts was nonsense.

She had to know.

“Is it possible to see her outside of battle?” Moira asked and reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. “I would like to examine her. Perhaps if I took a blood sample from you, I could help you better understand–”

The cyborg pulled violently away from her grasp and put a hand on his blade.

“Do not touch me! I will give you nothing!” He shouted. “I am not one of your experiments, and my dragon is not some lab rat for you to dissect! If you try such a thing again, I will cut your heart from your chest!” He returned to his training and refused to acknowledge Moira’s presence any further.

She never got anything more out of him. Any attempt to broach the subject with the cyborg was met with open hostility.

Only  a few months later, everything went to hell and she was forced to flee from Blackwatch or else face prosecution from Overwatch’s more respected leadership. She found sanctuary in Oasis where she could pursue her research at her leisure, free from the bounds of legality. Engrossed in her own projects, it was years before she thought of the green dragon again.

“Hanzo Shimada,” Akande said, and the surname caught Moira’s attention. “With his skills and resources, he could be a valuable asset to Talon.”

Moira looked closely at the hologram Akande had on display and her eyes fell upon the blue dragon tattoo trailing down his arm.

Shimada, hm? How interesting.

Well, if the cyborg had refused her experiments all those years ago…then there was always Plan B.

[valkyrieonlinex]

SHIPPING INFO // answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. don’t reblog.

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?: Gency was my first ship and still my otp but McMercy is very much tying with it now (Mercykill is my aesthetic ship though)

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: Not nsfw

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: Uhh I havent really thought about it? My two main ships are with muses within two years of her

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: Kinda, I have to rp with someone a while and feel if our muses have a connection.  Just because I ship Gency and McMercy for example doesnt mean i will automatically ship with every genji or every mccree

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: Heavy petting and under the clothes touching

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?: I ship with a Hanzo, @txelonedragon was actually the first person i ever shipped with

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: Id prefer it if we rpd a while and broached it after feeling chemistry

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: When it feels right

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: What?

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: Yes

WHAT IS ( ARE ) YOUR FAVORITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: Outside of Gency and McMercy, I ship MercyKill purely aesthetically, life and death and all that.

R76 is otp, um, McGenji is good, McHanzo, Zarmei is cool umm Spyderbyte is also nifty.  LEMILY

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: RP and make me catch feels

TAGGED BY:  @dustysixshooter​

TAGGING: steal it

[overwatchworks]

The Boy With the Emerald Hair:

McCree head-canon Chapter 4, Part 1. Introducing, one (1) green ninja boy.

Jesse stepped out of the apartment that had been rented for his mission’s purposes into the cool morning air, taking a deep breath and unable to help the smile on his face. He really liked Japan so far; the people were friendly, the scenery held beauty he never thought could be in anything but movies, and the food was incredible. It had taken a little over a year for Jesse to get to this point; the language being a pain to become fluent in, then he had to learn everything he needed about the mission itself, but he had worked hard to get here. 

Gabe had given him a full rundown of what needed to happen; Jesse was to be his man on the inside, looking for information and ways to get inside the Shimada clan, a criminal organization that Blackwatch had been trying to shut down for years. He was given images of the compound, maps, internal structures, escape routes, all to be memorized and laid out in his head. Guard shifts, people they worked with, business deals, how many servants they employed, who had recently been switched out or killed, all in Jesse’s knowledge. 

He was also given pictures of the current leader of the clan, the group of elders that ran it with the leader, and the Shimada heirs. Jesse had quickly taken the last two into memory, the brothers both sharing dark umber eyes, smooth, pale skin, and silky raven black hair. 

Hanzo Shimada had a cool, calculating look to him, power and confidence radiating off his posture, lordly in appearance. His hair was long, almost always pulled back into a low, loose ponytail, and none of his pictures showed the man with a smile on his face. He was still handsome as all hell, but his younger brother took a more friendly air. 

Genji Shimada just looked happier, was just as gorgeous as his brother, and was always sporting a cocky little half smirk that quirked the right side of his plump lips up. His hair was short and choppy, spiked up towards the back and normally held back from his forehead with a headband, and many of the pictures of him consisted of him staring at the camera knowingly with a charming smile and a peace sign thrown up. These men were powerful, and it looked like they damn well knew it. 

From the files Jesse had read on them, Genji preferred to flaunt the family’s name and money, often seen going out to bars, clubs, and a particular arcade with a large group of friends. Jesse had quickly labeled him as a playboy-a rich kid with his looks and social status, it was obvious-and he hoped that was how he could get his information. Hanzo was hardly ever seen out of the Shimada compound, the older brother too busy with work and taking the clan over to have time for much else, apparently. There was no chance of finding him, much less getting information from him. Jesse figured those sharp, dangerous eyes would see right through him in a heartbeat anyways. 

Reyes had told him to keep an eye out for anything, and Jesse had been put through special training just for this mission as well, resistance to torture if he was by any chance caught in the act, then some conversational training in a business setting, as well as plenty of combat scenario practice. These people were not to be underestimated, even if it was just for a scout out mission. On the whole, the process for this had taken about a year and four months, but Reyes had trusted Jesse with this, and he had been more than willing to do what he could, excited to go to Japan on his own. The cowboy hadn’t been disappointed so far, and he had already gathered some valuable intel in the three weeks that he had been in Hanamura. 

Jesse walked down the street to his favourite sushi place for some breakfast, sitting in his usual spot and striking up friendly conversation with the pretty waitress. To everyone else, Jesse was just a regular American tourist that was taking an extended vacation in Hanamura, enjoying one of Japan’s finest cities just like anyone else who came through. He was supposed to frequent the same places, give his real name, make it seem as believable as possible, and Jesse was damn good at it.

(‘--’ means they’re speaking in Japanese.)

‘Ah, good morning Mr. McCree! How are you today?’ Kyoko asked, as bubbly as ever, putting a smile on Jesse’s face as he tipped his hat back.

‘I’m doing just fine today, ma’am, how about yourself?’ He replied smoothly, all charm, causing a little blush to raise on the woman’s cheeks.

‘It’s always a pleasure to serve my favourite customer! Now, would you like your usual coffee this morning?’ Kyoko chimed, Jesse not even needing a menu to know what he wanted.

‘Please. You know what? I’ll just take all the usual, Miss Kyoko, thank you kindly.’ He told her with a wink, and the woman giggled as she bobbed her head.

‘Okay! I’ll have it right out for you!’

Jesse watched her as she went back into the kitchen with a little bounce to her step, and he wondered how nice it would be if he was just a regular guy actually living here for a little while. He had never really gotten “regular” in his life, and Jesse at times felt somewhat bitter at the prospect that life had cheated him out of a nice, normal place in it. Other times, he couldn’t see himself anywhere but where he was, because he knew that he was made for trouble and adventure, and a regular life would honestly just bore him. 

Jesse’s food came quickly, and he ate in a contemplative silence, talking to Kyoko as usual when he was done, and giving her a little wave as he left. He spent the day at the park, wandering around and buying a few snacks before his stomach forced him to get some real food mid-afternoon. Figuring he should check up on the Shimada compound, Jesse decided to go to the Rikimaru for a late lunch, eyeing the massive wooden gates and clan symbol on them as he went inside the ramen shop. 

The cowboy was served by an omnic, and he made sure to be just as friendly to them as anyone else. He knew these omnics were different than the ones he fought. The E-54’s were broken, something in them corrupted, but these? They were just like people, trying to get along in life like everyone else, though things were a lot harder for them because of the Crisis. Jesse knew a thing or two about hardships, so he made sure he didn’t add to someone else’s as best he could. 

He ordered a spicy ramen bowl, craving something with some heat, and he wasn’t disappointed. The meal was delicious, and the cowboy made some small talk with the omnic cook as he ate, getting kind and happy responses from them in return. When Jesse left, he felt his day had gone pretty good, and he figured he would try his luck and mess around in the arcade a bit, just to have some fun. 

He opened the door and stepped in just as another person walked out backwards, a shock of emerald green hair registering right before they smacked into one another.

“Woah there!” Jesse exclaimed, the man he ran into turning to glare up at him as his friends laughed around them.

‘Hey, watch it--’ The man cut short, raising a brow as he very blatantly gave Jesse a long once over, umber eyes softening and narrowing when they reached Jesse’s, his tongue running over his teeth through a salacious grin.

‘Sorry.’ He said in a voice that sounded more sultry that apologetic as he swaggered past, Jesse fully able to appreciate his amazing ass and the beautifully intricate jade dragon tattoo spiraling up his arm as he went with his friends, hips swinging in those too tight jeans. 

Jesse blinked when the group rounded a corner and disappeared, and he whistled lowly, trying to place that beautiful and oddly familiar face. The arcade was forgotten as the cowboy went back to his apartment, searching through his files cross-legged on his bed and staring with furrowed brows at the picture of Genji Shimada. 

Jesse ran a hand through his hair, letting out a stunned breath as he connected it to the man he had just seen. He had green hair and makeup on at the arcade, which had made it difficult for Jesse to recognize him, but there was no mistaking that grin. Jesse chuckled to himself, going out to the little balcony he had and pulling out a cigarette, lighting up and taking a long drag as he watched the sun set.

“Nice ta meet’cha, Genji.” He murmured, blue-grey smoke rising from his lips before he blew it out in a steady stream.

--

Jesse went back to the arcade the next night, actually going in and playing a few games while he waited for Genji to show up again. He wasn’t too bad, considering he had never played any video games before in his life, but the precision aiming games came naturally to him. 

In the middle of his third try at the little space shooter game, the arcade door was flung open, boisterous laughter and loud voices filling the air as Genji and his friends walked in. It was dark enough in the corner Jesse was sitting in for the group to go past him without noticing, and he grinned a bit as he continued playing, though he was more focused on listening in now. The group of them went to a fighter game, all gathering around Genji as the man sat down to play, an air of unhealthy confidence radiating off of him as he slipped a few coins into the machine.

‘How high do you think he’ll make it this time, huh?’ One of the girls asked, her hair long and silky, tumbling down her back, wearing an outfit that was short and tight, everything about her wanting attention.

‘Can’t be higher than last time. That was his best score yet.’ Another was saying, leaning over the game as he took a swig of the drink he was holding.

‘No way, Genji’s always getting better scores, don’t you ever pay attention? You’re so dumb!’ Another woman with a bleached ombre in her hair chuckled, crossing her arms under her practically bare chest and leaning in closer to Genji, her dark eyes trained on him and dancing with want. 

Jesse discreetly watched the bunch of them, seeing similarities in the way they dressed, all high end, expensive fashion, tight fitting clothes, hair and makeup bright and eye catching, each of them unreasonably handsome or beautiful. So Genji was a shallow kid too, more focused on appearance than anything. They acted and talked the same too, all trying to gain Genji’s attention in some way, jabbing at one another and complimenting the leader of the group generously with both words and sleazy touches that none of them seemed to mind or find out of place.

‘Don’t bicker while I’m trying to play, you’ll screw me up.’ Genji bit out, eyes never leaving the screen as his hands worked the buttons in practiced movements, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he focused. 

Jesse’s eyes lingered on his face for another moment before he stood and went over to a vending machine closer to them, grabbing a soda and leaning against the wall to enjoy it. The Japanese sodas always came in strange flavours, but Jesse liked all the variety, though the lime was still his favourite. After the can was empty, Jesse went to throw it out, and when the group stayed focused on Genji playing games, he got bored and went to a claw machine. 

He had honestly been wanting one of the weird octopus onion things for a while, so he figured he would give it a shot tonight. Jesse slipped two coins into the machine, then maneuvered the claw to where he wanted, eyes narrowed in concentration as he thumbed the button to make it descend. The cowboy smiled as it came back up with an onion, squatting down when the plush was dropped into the slot and taking up his prize.

‘Not bad, considering those machines are rigged.’ A voice spoke up from behind him, Jesse turning with a raised brow to Genji and his friends watching him. The green haired man grinned, his hands on his hips as his eyes once more dipped down Jesse’s form before slowly dragging back up to the cowboy’s face. His tattoo was proudly exposed, glimmering in the arcade lighting and making the dragon on it look like it was weaving its way around his right arm.

‘You’re the one that ran into me yesterday, aren’t you?’ He stated in a teasing tone, and Jesse huffed a laugh at that.

‘Glad to see you remember me, sweetheart.’ He greeted, wishing he hadn’t left his hat in the apartment so he could tip it to the group.

‘Mm, I always remember the pretty ones. Your Japanese is good, I’m surprised. Normally tourists just laugh with blank looks and say we sound cute.’ Genji snickered, his group of friends laughing along with him at their apparent inside joke, Jesse smiling amiably.

‘Well, when you want to live in a place for a while, I figure you should know the language.’ Jesse replied, Genji arching a brow, and the cowboy noticed the little bit of red eyeliner that was framing his bottom lashes. It looked ridiculously good, just like the rest of him.

‘Oh, so you live here? Does that mean I’ll be seeing more of you around then?’ The Shimada purred, and Jesse seized the opportunity where it was presented.

‘You know, it might just, depending if you want to see me again, that is.’ He told him, lowering his voice a bit and giving Genji a wink, making him giggle.

‘Perhaps, if we...Bump into one another again. I wouldn’t mind.’ Genji hummed as he walked past, punctuating the “bump” by jutting his hip out and tapping it against Jesse’s as he went past, throwing a coquettish grin over his shoulder as he ascended the steps to the upper levels of the arcade. Jesse just smiled, taking his prize and leaving the place with a last glance at Genji, noticing the eyes of the girl that had been particularly interested in him glaring at the cowboy venomously. 

He paid her no mind, walking back to his apartment at a leisurely pace and enjoying a cigarette, the light at the end of it flaring with each deep pull in he took. Jesse stubbed it out before entering his housing, dropping the short butt of it outside the door as he stepped through it, kicking off his boots as he went to his bed. The onion he had won was set on his pillow, and he grabbed his tablet and comm to give his daily check up to Reyes.

“Heya boss. Guess who I met at the arcade tonight?” Jesse started, a smirk crossing his features as Gabe sighed into the comm.

“Huh, lemme guess...Lord Shimada himself, maybe? I hear he likes games.” Was the response, the commander’s tone dripping with sarcasm, Jesse flopping back on the bed and staring at the vague patterns on the ceiling his eyes picked out.

“Yeah right. Genji’s an interestin’ fella, I’ll tell ya that much. He’s got a bunch’a bitchy, fancy ass friends, an’ he ain’t too different from ‘em, ‘least as far as I’ve seen. He’s real pretty too.”

“Just a friendly reminder, this isn’t a honeypot kid. Might want to remember that fact, yeah?” Reyes told him with a hint of teasing in his tone, making Jesse roll his eyes.

“Yeah yeah, I know that Jefe! Relax, I got this under control.”

“Oh do you now?”

“Shut up, I know what I’m doin’!”

“Uh-huh.“

“Ya-huh. I’ll call ya again tomorrow, when I’ve got some fresh, shiny new intel, thank ya very much.” Jesse scoffed, Gabe laughing across the line before he answered.

“Alright kid. Stay safe.”

Jesse turned off the comm and placed it back in the bedside drawer, then typed out a report to send to the commander before he settled down for the night and got ready for bed. Having his own sleeping schedule was a blessing that Jesse was absolutely taking advantage of, and as he got into bed, he took the onion and stared at it for a moment.

“I wonder if Genji likes ya lil’ fellas...” He murmured to its cute, smiling face, toying with one of its weird leaf tentacle things as he thought. The mission was not a honeypot, obviously, but that didn’t mean Jesse couldn’t have a bit of fun while trying to get the information he needed.

“I’ll ask him tomorrow.” Jesse decided out loud, giving the plush a little pat before rolling over and closing his eyes with a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

~~

[brotheryanny]

A Lyrical Analysis of Mafumafu’s Oborodzuki

These are my thoughts on Mafumafu’s Oborodzuki (in essay format no less), nothing here is the definitive truth or reason behind the writing, it’s just how I understand it. It’s a beautiful song, and Mafumafu himself said he put a lot of thought into writing it, so here (it’s long orz i got carried away)  ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧

Let me know what you thought, if there’s anything you agree/disagree with, if I got facts wrong etc. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ enjoy!

The core storyline of Mafumafu’s song, Oborodzuki, follows a prostitute, and is set, presumably by the caged backdrop and red theme in the MV, in the Yukaku (Red Light District) of Yoshiwara.

The title, Oborodzuki means by itself ‘Hazy Moon’, but I’d like to associate it with the character, Oborodzukiyo (Hazy Moon Night) from The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th Century. In Chapter 8 Genji forces himself on the married Oborodzukiyo, the beautiful daughter of the Minister of the Right. The affair results in Oborodzukiyo eventually falling in love with Genji, and unable to love her husband, the Crown Prince and living a life of guilt. So, in the recurring lines 霞む、私は朧月, Growing dimmer, I am the Hazy Moon (I am Oborodzuki), I think she may be relating to this character.

The song begins with 馴れ初めを知らぬまま、薄紅点した宵時雨 translating roughly to ‘Not knowing how love is to begin, I apply thin red (onto my face) in the late-night rain’. It firstly shows naivety and that she is still young, but she and her emotions are hidden away by makeup, and the dark, and the falling rain. This is followed by 朔日に洗われて、真白になれたら; she wishes to be washed by (the light of) the first moon, and become pure white, and 今は不香の花でありたい, to just be a fragrant flower, suggesting that she believes that she’s been dirtied (by customers). 幼き日々は貴方の傍、悠々夢の果て is quite straightforward; this song is directed at someone she spent her childhood with, but those days are at the end of a leisurely dream -and it is as if she relives those memories of when she was pure even though they are long gone. Additionally, the verse  華やかな景観に　当てられ世人は列なる、愛しみは幾匁　花は一匁 “Mankind are naturally drawn to brilliant landscapes (refering to herself), Emotions are worth several mace (an old currency used in East Asia), A flower is worth one” show her devotion to her childhood friend. On top of that,  花一匁  is a children’s game, involving singing and teams. Her emotions, in particular sorrow and love, are expensive and cannot be bought easily (and are reserved for her true love) but her body (a flower -as she is nature’s brilliant landscape) can be bought comparatively very cheaply. She will remain loyal to her love, and the money metaphor merely links back to her services as a courtesan.

For the first chorus, the instrumental and vocal line changes in character. A strong 今宵は誰がために踊るのでしょう, ‘Who will I dance for tonight?’, is a contrast from the previous, as if she is waking from the dream, coming into her harsh reality. While dancing is usually something done for joy, there’s the uncertainty of not knowing who she’ll be performing for (typical for a courtesan in Yoshiwara). In the next chorus, the uncomfortable imagery of 知らぬ吐息浴び、軋む帷 roughly ‘Bathed in the breath of someone I don’t know, the curtains creak (closed)’ produces feelings of anxiety. She refers to them in 顔の無い人影 literally ‘shadows of people without faces’, giving an atmosphere of fear but perhaps apathy to those who visit. 

The Red Thread of Fate, 赤い糸, plays a key role in the narrative. 手繰り寄せる朱殷の糸口よ、貴方に続けと願う- ‘The crimson thread-end that draws us together, I wish for it to continue’. In the cut between two lines (before 今宵は誰がために踊るのでしょう) we see a glimpse of the tangled string, but the end is tied onto her index finger. In Asian culture it is believed to symbolise destined lovers; and no matter how tangled or knotted the string might get, it will never break. Whoever she dances with each night, her ‘soulmate’ will always be the same, or so she prays.

Temari, decorative balls made from intricate embroidery, are typically gifted to children, and symbolise deep bonds and loyalty. So when Oborodzuki’s temari falls from her wrists, plunging into the darkness in the line 袖口の手毬は転ぶ、暗がりの方へ it feels like a bad omen. It causes her to feel vulnerable and lonely; ねぇ お願い ひとりにしないで ‘Hey, please, don’t leave me alone’ but 雲間に消える ‘disappearing into the clouds’ -both she and her words are lost in the clouds and the instrumental thins out -If she is the Hazy Moon, her light has been covered over by the sweeping black clouds, and inevitably she is left alone in the night sky.

The last verse, 愛しい愛しいよと木霊した、日々は想うほどに遥か ‘‘I love you, I love you,’ echoes, growing more distant the more I think about it day by day’ makes her efforts sound hopeless, however with 冷めぬ心に霏霏と六の花 芽吹きと共に 、あの人のもとへ、 帰ろう she is determined to return to his side, and instrumental growing stronger, the melody for あの人のもとへ、 帰ろう ‘I will return, to that person’s side’ changes from what we’ve already heard before, showing determination and willingness to confront.

The character of the last chorus also differs from the previous choruses. With 遊里に咲く雪月花 she describes herself as ‘The Red Light District’s blooming beauty of nature’, rather than singing about the strangers she meets. And this time, 霞む私は朧月 seems, to me, accepting of her position as a courtesan. Even though this may sound like it contradicts the revelation before, she believes this path will ensue. She pleads for the red thread to bring them together again, but knows that 千切れぬ明日に契りなどない ‘I cannot change (lit. cut into a thousand pieces) tomorrow, and I cannot make any vows (presumably wedding vows, like how Oborodzukiyo couldn’t live her married life happily)’ and the song ends with 薄月の色, the colour of the pale moon -the colour she once wished she were. If she is the Hazy Moon, then this last line could be interpreted as her emotions of wanting to reunite with the man -But we can question; what exactly is the colour of a hazy moon?

I personally see this song as Oborodzuki’s journey of thought, at first, wishing to find her lost love, and despising her current condition, having to perform to and sleep with faceless men night on night. When she drops her temari, she realises that she’s lost her connection with him, and is begging the unbreaking red thread to bring them together again -her heart refuses to be frozen and she is determined to win him back, supposedly as a prostitute, as she has nothing left to give. She cannot change destiny, so she will continue with her daily turmoil and hope they will meet again there. In the MV, the moon comes into view momentarily then slips back into the clouds, back to how they were earlier in the song. And there she will wait.

[demialwrites]

Kitty Kompanion Ch 6

Back! Genji messaged you.

You sent back ten crying emojis.

:) <3 There, there, he replied. Btw, I made an appointment with Angela. I want to hear this from her myself. She is obliging us with an appointment immediately, My Lovely Glowing Mate.

You met him at the landing pad with a hand on your belly and an ache in both your feet. Which was probably only going to get worse as time went on. Genji arrived with another stuffed animal, but he wrapped his arms around your body first. You gave him your tightest hug, pressing his armour into the thick, rubbery synthetic skin underneath.

"I'm sorry," you told him.

"Me, too," he said. "Sorry that you are lonely."

He asked how you were doing, you mentioned your hurting feet, and he insisted on carrying you to the appointment. In your lap were his face plates and a new stuffed gecko.

"Honey, I love you. But bring me food next time," you requested politely. "Angela is on my case for not gaining enough weight."

You waved your cell phone to add emphasis. You had been chatting with her several times a day, any time you needed. Then you tucked the phone back into your bra.

"What are you eating?"

"Don't tell Winston, but," you lowered your voice to a whisper, "I'm stealing his peanut butter."

"Is that it?"

You could not hide from Genji's disappointed frown.

"It's the only thing my stomach will accept," you admittedly quietly.

He sighed out of his nose.

"Then what do want me to bring you?"

"Umm...chocolate?"

Genji rumbled in frustration. "You cannot just eat peanut butter and chocolate."

This time the doctor had lines between her brows while she took your measurements and readings. She was professional. You lay again on the exam table to receive the scan. She brought over a holopad that had an image of the scan. Two vaguely-baby shaped blotches appeared on the screen.

"Here is what I know," she said. She pointed to the larger mass. "Child one is healthy, the older child. A girl. Child two," she said, pointing to the second mass, "is smaller, less developed by two or three weeks. Seems to be a boy. Its tail has not receded yet."

You immediately looked to Genji. "Do you think?"

"Yes," he said, turning to Angela. "Does the boy have cat ears?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask about this before I jumped to conclusions. As for the ears...it's hard to tell. We might be able to tell when you're further along."

"Hanzo will be pleased to hear this," Genji said.

"I thought he didn't like the idea of my 'brats' having his tiger power," you said.

"He didn't, but he is also one of those from the clan who believes the power is being diluted. That every new generation of marrying outside the family, there is less of a chance of it being passed on." Genji lowered his chin and the volume of his voice. "There is a small history of inbreeding in my family."

You recoiled in shock. "Oh. Shit."

"Well, there is nothing wrong with this family," Angela cut in. "That I can assure you! I'll make sure of it."

"Yes, because you noticed a whole second kitten inside her belly," Genji said sarcastically, without any real bite.

"We were gossiping! Stress relief is important..." Angela waved her hands dismissively. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get some coffee so I can look over the data."

Angela left the two of you alone in the exam room. You found yourself just staring at each other.

"Are you alright?" Genji asked.

You sighed and gazed down at your bulging stomach with knotted brows. Two babies?

"No. This is crazy."

"I know," he said. He worked his fingers in between yours and held your hand. "But I will be here."

You intended to mask your true feelings when you looked back at him, but he knew you better by now. You never wanted to see Genji unhappy, that downward curve of his mouth, but you couldn't lie, either.

"Tell me what's on your mind."

"It feels like you're never here. But," you were quick to add, "I know why you need to go away. It just sucks, is all. I miss you."

"Why didn't you tell me this was upsetting you?"

"I don't want to bother you. You're busy as it is, supporting me and working."

"It is not a bother," Genji said, gently shaking your hand, "You know I can call you during longer missions. That is what the secure channels are for."

"Okay," was all you said. The issue seemed to be have been settled. Now was a good time to change the subject. "So...you gonna tell Hanzo?"

"Yes, after I put you down for your nap."

He tightened his grip on the hand he held so you couldn't smack him. You just made angry noises at him.

"He may be doubly angry for double the kittens."

"God, I hope not. I'm too pregnant to care about his feelings right now."

"Don't you worry about that," he said.

"But that's all I got. Time!"

"What else do you do?"

"A lot of nothing," you admitted.

"Nothing? No wonder you get lonely. Can't you aide Winston?"

"He said he doesn't need anything."

"What about Angela?"

"I don't want to bother her more than I am now."

"It's not a bother. Head back to our room, and I will meet you there."

He has known her longer than you, so you trusted his judgement and continued on. Half an hour later, you rolled over in bed to find a waiting notification on your phone. It was Genji, asking if he could come back a bit later. He was going to tell Hanzo the news in person. He promised he wasn't leaving for two more days.

Okay, but you're not leaving this bed when you come back, you replied.

"That's impressive!" exclaimed Hanzo, bro-punching Genji in the shoulder.

It was the only friendly physical contact he'd had from Hanzo in years, so the cyborg dodged it. He froze mid-dodge, fearing he made the atmosphere awkward and expecting Hanzo to hit him for real this time. Genji started to laugh, pointing at Hanzo with both pointer fingers. He went with it, with a smile that would melt the most frigid ice cap. His dark brown eyes sparkled between two sets of black eyelashes. Genji was proud in this moment to be the brother of an extremely attractive and capable man that Hanzo grew up to be. The emotion that expanded in his chest threatened to spill forth as tears. He blinked and wet his eyelashes with them, unable to wipe them away beneath his mask.

Thinking quickly, he said, "Why don't we celebrate?"

To Genji's never-ending amazement, his brother agreed. Their options were few. As agents of the illegal Overwatch, they had to keep a low profile at all times, so going out was out of the question. Genji excitedly messaged you that he and Hanzo were going to spend some time on the roof of the watchpoint, sharing a cheap bottle of something dark-coloured that Genji stole from McCree (he would apologize later and replace it with something better).

After Hanzo spat out a vehement insult at McCree for his taste in whiskey, the brothers traded remember-when's, laughing, for a good, long while. They had been meaning to watch the stars as well, but the clouds only allowed them occasional peeks.

"Did you find out if either of your kittens will have the power of the tiger?"

"No."

Hanzo's hand swung up to whap Genji on the back of the head, but the cyborg blocked it with his forearm. He was faster.

"You know that would be important," Hanzo stated.

Genji rotated his arm and grabbed Hanzo's wrist.

"The kittens are healthy," Genji said. "That is what is important."

Hanzo ripped his arm from Genji's grasp and brooded for a few moments.

"I hope your kittens have a better future than we did," Hanzo concluded somberly.

Genji had to agree.

In the meantime, Angela had some concerning advice for you regarding your pregnancy. You ended up going to sleep before Genji go back. You woke up to his happy face. You were reluctant to tell Genji the advice, so you let him chatter to you about his night with his brother. How they had connected in the way he had longed for. He was only ever more excited when he spoke of what he wanted to show and teach his kittens.

"But I must not come on too strong, in case he gets scared away," Genji concluded.

"So you're going to approach him cautiously, like you would a cat?"

Genji let the silence stretch before answering, while you grinned obnoxiously.

"That isn't funny."

"It is," you insisted, still showing teeth, "You just don't think so."

Genji sighed at you. "You are lucky I love you."

You changed the subject. Tentatively explained that Angela said she didn't know why the second baby appeared. And until she understood better what happened, she advised that it was best that you and he refrain from vaginal sex. To avoid adding a third. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that has happened to Overwatch agents.

Your words were met with dead silence. Oh, shit.

[technotranquility-archive]

@greenscarvesandredhair | x

Emily relaxed into the feeling, forehead thumping against his shoulder. Hugs were nice. This was nice.

“Has anyone told you that you have a really ominous way of delivering neutral and good news?” Emily said, voice teasing and muffled against his shoulder. Their first meeting had been just as ominous- with him standing outside her door like he was there to deliver condolences. This was almost, but not nearly as ominous looking or sounding.

“Seriously, were it anyone but you, I would be worrying more.” She laughed, pulling away finally. She hadn’t seen anything on the news, which was one of her more primary sources of information when her texts went unanswered and calls went to voicemail. Not unusual, but when coupled with news reports she tended to assume the worst. The lack of broader news coverage meant that her unheeded requests for contact were simply mundane matters- dead battery or poor timing, time zones or just exhaustion. All valid and common reasons.

“Well, since you’re here, why don’t you sit a while and tell me news of the others. What warranted a trip out to reassure me? Did Lena and Genji do something silly again and sprain her ankle? Or am I getting a call later tonight about staying at Winson’s for another week? ”

hugs were nice. it was also the main reason why he started to wear some cloth around her torso too, make sure that emily didn’t hurt her head against his shoulder. especially given that his wear and tear does give some minor shock hazards.

「 ༀ - i am quite aware of that, yes. which is why i attempt to get the core of it out as soon as possible, in order to avoid any confusion. and given how serene people take me as, they often forgive the odd atmosphere. 」

a small chuckle on his part in return as he let her go. he could only imagine the kind of stress that she would get under when lena was out to war. the monk had given some advice and techniques to help for the stress, and it seemed to be working for the most part. thank the iris.

「 ༀ - i would be more than happy to, my friend.  the lack of communication is less the problem as more the situation. her group is currently in a place that they want to keep completly silent about. and then a non-connected situation broke out near where lena told you we went, so i imagined that you may be somewhat worried.

...and given the fact that our next movement involves an area where omnics are illegal, i was relieved from the mission, and thought it would be nice to re-assure a friend.」