#devil theory OC

[dragonmarquise]

Super Indulgent Canon x OC Ship, Part 3: Rise and Sai

FINALLY the last one of these!! For the first BRC ship I started shipping in earnest, Rise with my own Devil Theory OC Sai! This can be summed up as, “Two people who didn’t like each other start fake dating in order to mess with each other, but then it eventually turns into real dating much to their surprise (and initial denial)”, lol

Like with the others, starting with the long series of events of them getting together. Which will also effectively be an outline for the fic I’m planning for them, if my other two posts are anything to judge me by. :P

Before we really get into it, a bit of a disclaimer, that hopefully I don’t need anyways? But still: This is NOT a “I can fix him/her” type of situation, nor a “I’ll fix myself for him/her”. There is no fixing! It’s moreso them realizing they get along better than either of them expected, once they get some things straightened out on both sides.

Also Sai goes through his own character arc of being a better person (or at least not as much of a jerk like with pre-Algo Devil Theory; accepts that what they did was wrong, not pretending to be a good person just to get people’s forgiveness, etc.) before getting together with Rise. I’ve mentioned that several times before in regards to my Devil Theory OCs anyways! :u

With that out of the way:

Before the events of the game, Rise managed to get permission from Devil Theory to hang out on Pyramid Island. Though only because 3 of the 4 DT members are her fans and follow her online.

The only one who doesn’t already know her is Sai, because he’s not really “into” social media. He also doubts her reputation as a writer, thinking she’s just faking it for views and fans online.

This is actually what makes Rise interested in Sai in the first place. It’s definitely not a crush, moreso her trying to puzzle out how the hell any writer in New Amsterdam could not already have heard about her! Not to mention him not believing she’s skilled at all. She does have a bit of an ego, sure, but she thinks it’s justified given her skills as a writer. She may not be All City material, though mostly because she doesn’t care for it as long as she has plenty of people still respecting her talents.

So anyways, in regards to Sai, she’s taking it as a challenge to convince him she’s a top writer, and make a Rise fan out of him!

Some of her attempts to impress him: Tricks and combos far more complicated than Sai would do, tagging difficult to reach graffiti spots around the island (and not get frustrated by the island’s layout like most others), and even convincing him to help her with an impromptu photo session, similar to her little “side-quest” in the actual game.

By the end of all this, Sai mentally acknowledges that Rise is a skilled writer, but externally he never admits it out loud, and is still very cold towards her. He’s not stupid, he can tell what she’s been doing, and he’s not going to start fanboying over her just because she wants him too.

Rise is frustrated, not to mention genuinely insulted, that Sai still isn’t lavishing praise and compliments on her, like her fans and most other writers would have by now. Not even one compliment? How dare you! At the least, she decides to leave him be (for now) and enjoy her time on Pyramid Island.

Then eventually the events of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk happen!! Rise joins BRC shortly after the whole Project Algo fight, and Sai joins sometime after that. He had originally only joined in order to get revenge against BRC for DT losing Pyramid Island. But they all got that sorted out through the power of friendship! Also no holds barred beatdowns between Sai and Red.

(The previous bullet point is a whole separate fic outline. Also yeah Red and Felix as separate characters! Long story short, that ends up happening due to Felix accidentally finding a mind that’s in need of both a cyberhead and body, while trying to put the Red cyberhead back together to use as his new mask. This is also a whole separate fic, but now I’m getting off topic. :P )

But yeah, Sai joins BRC and becomes a (slightly) nicer person because of the experience. He’s still friends with his DT homies though, just to be clear.

Also him and Red having sparring matches sometimes! Mix of martial arts and wrestling moves, and just in general fighting. Most of the rest of BRC are cool with this, and watch as if it’s an actual event. Bel and Cueball even like to act as MCs for these matches, lol

With Sai now part of BRC, Rise decides to try again with her attempts at converting Sai into one of her fans. Asking him to join her for graffiti sessions, one on one score battles, and even feigning interest in Sai by complimenting his own skills, both as a fighter and a writer.

Unfortunately for her, Sai is still not stupid and sees right through her. At first he’s content with just ignoring her, but eventually starts insulting her. She starts insulting him back, and the two of them are trading jabs and getting more and more frustrated with each other.

Tryce eventually steps in and tells them to knock it off. Either they sort out whatever issues are going on between them, or he’s kicking them both off the crew. The writers of BRC need to be able to work together to keep the crew on top, and they can’t do that if they’re wasting time fighting each other!

Things are quiet between them for a while, but Sai can tell Rise is probably planning something. And that turns out to be true when she approaches him with a proposal: fake dating! If Sai hangs around Rise as her “boyfriend”, he’ll see that he could benefit from associating with her.

Obviously no actual romance will be involved, they’ll just make other people think they’re an item, and then eventually “break up” but still be friends. Even after the fake break up, Sai’s reputation will skyrocket! Or so Rise claims. Not to her own level, but still. The way she sees it, what kind of writer would pass up the chance to have their skills acknowledged and respected by more people?

In truth, this is of course just another attempt to get him wrapped around her finger as yet another loyal fan. She fully acknowledges that, but only in her mind, of course she doesn’t want Sai to know that or he’ll refuse the idea.

To her genuine shock, Sai actually agrees to it! He says Rise has been (annoyingly) persistent, so he figures he could at least give her one chance with something like this. Plus getting more respect/rep from people would be nice, so why not?

Of course that’s not why he’s actually doing this. He’s only agreeing to this because he wants to mess with her and teach her a lesson about bugging him so much. He’s hopeful that this will finallyconvince her to leave him alone for good.

And so the fake dating commences!!

Sai at first considers acting like a gross pervert to chase off Rise, but decides that’s a low trick. Not to mention, harassment like that will just get him kicked out of the crew, since no amount of “I was pretending to be a pervert to make her leave me alone!” would justify it. So he tries to gross her out in a different way, with food!

At first he tries with Latino food, specifically a lot of the Puerto Rican dishes he makes for himself and his DT friends. Most people around New Amsterdam seem terrified of food that isn’t what they consider “normal”, from his experience at least. Too bad for him, that doesn’t work because Rise loves it!

Then Rise gives him a recipe to try and make for her, jollof rice. He makes two batches of it, one that follows the recipe and the other that he’s sabotaged to taste horrible. He meant to give the ruined one to Rise… but then gets them mixed up and gives her the good one by mistake, lol

He does like that Rise is enjoying the food after all, especially the compliments to his cooking skills, but of course he doesn’t admit to that out loud. :P

Then Sai tries rambling at her about video games and anime and manga, thinking she’ll just see it as nerdy crap and want to break things off with Sai to save her own reputation.

She doesn’t have as much interest in it as first, basically just politely listening but not actually paying attention while Sai rambles. But eventually she actually shows some interest, especially once he gets into stuff like sea monsters and ocean/water-themed things (like certain Pokemon and Digimon).

Sai is weirded out that she’s specifically interested in the ocean fantasy stuff, but is moreso just annoyed that his attempt to scare her away with “nerdy crap” didn’t work.

Meanwhile Rise is trying to impress him with her skills and reputation again. She tries to speak to Sai in Spanish, but he can tell she’s mixing up what she probably learned in school (i.e. Spanish with a Spaniard accent, since this is still Europe) plus whatever she managed to get Rave (who is half Dominican in my headcanons) to teach her.

Sai teases her about it, saying, “What, can’t even afford a bit of time with Duolingo or somethin’?” Rise is annoyed and embarrassed by that.

But, he does end up rambling a bit about Spanish, especially the differences between his own accent and others. Even ends up teaching her a few words!

She also shows off her social media, showing she’s got a huge following and tons of interactions on her posts. Sai pretends to not care, though he is genuinely shocked that she’s that popular after all, at least online.

Rise also mentions she sometimes does modeling work. The money she makes off her socials (mostly from fans giving her donations and stuff) is more than enough to live off of. So her modeling stuff is more of a part-time thing for her, she genuinely thinks it’s fun to get dressed up and have amazing photos taken of her. Not to mention the praise she gets for looking gorgeous!

Sai continues to act not-so-impressed and Rise gets annoyed by this. However, he ends up slipping that he admits it’s neat that she’s a model, “I guess”. Rise jumps on that opportunity and shows him a few of her photoshoots!

After a while of looking, Sai realizes, “Wait, shit, she’s actually kinda hot??”, but absolutely does his best to not show it all at. Too bad for him, he’s blushing and Rise has already noticed, hee hee. She tries to scratch him under his chin at this point to tease him over it, but he calls her out on it. Personal space much?! She has the good grace to at least apologize for it.

In another attempt to impress Sai using her status, she invites him to hang out for a night at an exclusive club in Mataan. Sai decides to ruin the evening by getting drunk, even though he actually hates drinking too much. They both get kicked out once drunk Sai starts a scene and gets into an argument with Rise.

Rise decides to just drag him back to the hideout (Sai is too drunk to give directions to where he lives, and he probably won’t tell her anyways) and hopefully sort things out tomorrow.

Unfortunately, during that trip to the hideout, Sai continues to insult her, and actually manages to hit a nerve without realizing it. He points out that, from his point of view, there really isn’t much to her besides status, reputation, fame, getting attention, being popular. Yeah, she’s got great skills as a write and she looks hot, he can (drunkenly) admit that much. But what else is there? Interests, hobbies, favorite things? To him, if you remove all the glamour and skills from Rise, there’s no one left, just a shallow person who cares about what others think of her and using that to her advantage!

This really pisses off Rise, but she tries to keep her temper under control. Once they’re at the hideout, she just leaves him on a couch to pass out.

The next day, Rise tries to get him to apologize for what he said while drunk. It takes him a bit to actually remember what he said, but once he remembers he defends himself.

He asks again, what else is there about Rise? He doesn’t even know about her hobbies and stuff like that, since Rise has been focused on only “sharing” her status and what other people think of her. If he only looks at her socials and how she’s been acting so far, she seems pretty damn shallow. Not to mention petty and egotistical.

Rise gets pissed off at this and tries to force an apology out of him, but Sai continues to refuse. He knows Rise has been trying to make him like her, but she needs to just accept that the way she’s been doing it isn’t going to work on him like it does with her fans. And if she’s still determined to “impress” him, then she either needs to change her tactics or just give up already.

Internally, Sai is hoping this is what finally gets her to leave him alone. He’s also a bit annoyed at himself for not trying something like this sooner.

But to his absolute shock, she does admit she probably did come off as “a bit” shallow. Especially compared to how Sai was at least willing to share with her things like his Spanish skills, his cooking, and even his hobbies with anime/manga games.

(Even though, at least for the latter two he mean to use them to chase her off, and Rise herself has suspicions that he probably meant it like that.)

Anyways, she does decide to share at least one interest she has with Sai, but makes him swear to never mention it in front of anyone else. That interest is marine biology! She starts off slowly, mainly going over facts about starfish. With encouragement and genuine interest from Sai, she starts rambling about other types of sea creatures.

She stops at one point and says if Sai wants to make fun of her for all of this, then he should get it out of the way now. Sai insists he’s not gonna do that. He thinks it’s neat that Rise knows this much about marine biology! He admits he probably won’t remember much of this afterwards, but he can tell Rise really enjoys talking about this kind of stuff.

Also, he says it’s only fair that he listen to her rambling, after she did the same with him and his anime/manga/game rambling. :P

Rise appreciates that he’s being nice/polite about this. She also tries to scratch him under the chin again, but he flinches in annoyance and she stops.

But they do end up having more talks like this! Sai rambling about and showing Rise his interests and hobbies, and Rise opening up more and doing the same with her own interests and hobbies.

Plus, they’re on better terms now! Sort of? They haven’t yet done the “fake break up” yet, but they’re starting to consider each other friends at minimum.

At one point, Rise jokingly bets to give Sai a kiss if he can beat Red in their next sparring match. He ends up surprised at himself when it actually motivates himself to beat Red after all!

Rise holds up her end of the bargain, even if she only meant it as a joke. To Sai’s surprise the kiss is on the lips, with Rise commenting, “What, ya thought you’d get just a peck on the cheek after going all out like that?”

She lets him kiss her back to make them “even”. He kisses her on the cheek, but she teases him about it since he did it so gently she barely felt it!

Other friendship-building activities going on between them:

Rise gets caught by the cops at one point, and Sai manages to save her. Later on he gets his skateboard broken while the two of them are fighting off cops and trying to get away. She buys him a new one as a thank you for last time! She also makes it clear that this is just a thank you gift, and isn’t expecting him to pay her back.

Sai helps her get to a hard-to-reach heaven spot, and Rise asks him to help her with her piece. They start having graffiti sessions every now and then afterwards!

They go see a horror movie together, mainly because each of them assumes the other will get scared, and they think it’d be funny to see it. Not only do neither of them get scared, but they end up just heckling the movie until they get kicked out for it, lol

Around this time each of them realizing how much they’re enjoying spending time with each other. And they both get worried it might be actual love. “No no no, this is just platonic love, right? Right??”

The two of them find themselves holding hands or sitting/standing closer to each other, when neither of them meant to. Also Sai is finally letting her scratch him under his chin, though he tells her not to look into it too much.

At another point, Sai offers to help Rise home after a long day. They almost have, gasp, “a moment” between the two of them, but stop each other at the last second.

Eventually they’re both getting frustrated by how things are going and decide to try and rip off the bandaid. Sai and Rise accuse each other of being “in love” and to just admit to it, but of course neither of them want to confess!!

Sai even leans in to almost kiss, sees Rise’s reaction to it, and points it out as proving his point! She denies it.

They have a huge argument about it, one trying to force the other to confess already, and they “break up” for real.

But of course, that’s only temporary, especially since they both end up feeling awful about how they handled it. They talk things out, apologize, and finally be honest about how they feel.

So then after that they’re officially dating, for real this time!

And now for lovey-dovey activities!~

Okay admittedly they’re only really lovey-dovey in private. The most they do in public is hand holding and quick hugs/kisses, otherwise they kinda act like “just friends” in front of the rest of the crew. Which confuses the crew because of how Rise made a big deal about the apparently “fake” dating, but yeah. :P

Also Sai sometimes effectively acts as Rise’s bodyguard. She sics him on anybody who annoys/threatens her, even if it’s their crewmates, lol

Sai sings for Rise! He mostly likes to sing ballads and salsa songs, both English and Spanish. He’s better at it than most people would expect. That being said, he hates singing in front of other people besides Rise, so he only does it in private when it’s just the two of them.

There’s also dancing! Not like cypher dances, but more like dancing together like with salsa or tango. They both find this a lot of fun, but this is another thing they only do in private (in this case they’d both hate to do this in front of other people).

Rise has a very deep love for homemade gifts, seeing them as something incredibly special and unique. She even cried a bit when Sai gave her a bracelet with seashell charms he made for her!

Sai finds out that Rise has a weakness for puns. He starts carrying around a notebook of pun jokes he can tell her. Rave and Shine (both being Rise’s friends in my headcanons) also contribute to the pun book, along with a few other BRC members who are made aware of it. Rise both loves and hates this.

Also she especially loves puns that can work in multiple languages when translated right. Sai has a field day with this using certain jokes in English and Spanish. Like, where do cats go when they die? Purrgatory in English, Purgatorio in Spanish, lol

Related to the last points, Rise sometimes snorts when she laughs! Inspired by one of @mechanical-magician 's headcanons for Rise, hee hee. Rise thinks it’s embarrassing, while Sai genuinely thinks it’s cute.

The two of them still ramble about their interests with each other, and even sometimes about general gossip/news/movies/shows/etc. Rise rambles about marine biology the most, but then she starts looking into other science stuff too just for the love of learning. Sai doesn’t always remember everything, but he still loves to listen to her being so passionate about something!

Sai willingly cooks for Rise now, and is even teaching her how to cook stuff too! Rise is the type to need very precise instructions and measurements while cooking (“The hell is ‘a pinch’ and ‘a dash’ supposed to mean?!”). But she’s been getting better at it!

Sai also starts teaching Rise fighting moves too. She now knows how to properly suplex people!

Rise is also learning more Spanish between Sai and Rave, and is getting a lot better at it. Especially since she practices by talking with them in Spanish.

Sai tries flirting with/giving compliments to Rise but keeps getting embarrassed by it. Mainly he feels like he’s not making it sound genuine, thus he thinks he’s being cringey. Rise asks him what about it makes it feel “less honest”, and Sai says it just sounds weird in English. So she tells him to do it in Spanish instead, and it works! Sai feels like he’s being more sincere with his love, and Rise gets flustered by it but genuinely enjoys it~

And of course Rise flirts/compliments him back too. Sai is not the kind of guy that’s used to getting compliments at all, so he’s even more easily flustered by it!

They have pet names! Rise calls Sai “wolfboy”, it’s a joke from her calling him “the Big Bad Wolf” when they first met on Pyramid Island. Otherwise, Rise calls him “love” and Sai calls her “amor”. :3

Rise getting more into anime/manga thanks to Sai! But mostly she ends up focused on Pokemon and One Piece the most. Also anything else with mermaids, the ocean, etc. :P

She also gets into video games! Mostly she’s of course focused on ocean-themed/-focused games (Dredge, The Wind Waker, Abzu, Blue Ocean, etc). Sai like to watch her play these sometimes.

And then all the nerdery eventually leads to… cosplay. Rise gets cosplays made for her to wear at local cons, and she has Sai tag along as her personal photographer! Also Rise mostly dresses up as characters that Sai has admitted to having/had a crush on, which is her way of teasing him for it, lol

They do more photoshoots for Rise’s socials too!

Rise is trying to get Sai more “into” social media, to at least promote his own art and get more clients that way (he’s a freelance artist). It does work, and he thanks her for her help of course!

Rise is also trying to improve Sai’s wardrobe. He’s mostly a t-shirt + basic pants + hoodie kind of guy. Sai reluctantly goes along with it, but eventually appreciates the new styles she’s having him wear. It’s nothing too flashy, but still stuff that Sai thinks look cool on him too! She also bought him a really badass-looking leather jacket at some point, and he mostly wears that one for their date nights.

On that note, they usually split the bill for meal dates, unless it’s a fancier (and more expensive) place that Rise picked. In those cases, she covers the whole bill since she knows she has the money for it. Sai feels bad about it at first, but Rise insists it’s fine and he shouldn’t worry about it!

Also, Sai is still not quite wrapping his head around the fact that he has a rich/popular girlfriend now. He sees Rise as a wonderful, smart, and beautiful woman, with “rich” and “popular” being just extras on the side. Rise says it’s better that way, especially since she’s had past exes who were only with her for her money and/or rep. (including Faux, unfortunately)

OKAY THAT'S IT!! I think this is a lot longer than the posts I made for Vinyl x Nunchaku and Cueball and Bō. But tbh, it's mostly because I've been shipping Rise and Sai a decent amount longer than the other two, even if it's only maybe a handful of months difference. There's been more time for the ship to cook, y'know?

Anyways! Finally done with my self-indulgent ship ramblings! Will maybe-hopefully do more BRC headcanon posts as before, but otherwise I'm open to people sending in asks/replies with what they might like to see from me next. :D

[hotaruchoucho]

🦋 Akuneko Masterlist 🦋

Hi, I’m Molly! 🥹 or Hotaruchoucho! 🦋

Welcome to my Tumblr page! You can find various of writings from Akuneko translations to headcanons/theories to fics and manual!

Asks are open too!

Most likely Fennesz-focused on this blog

𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 𝜗𝜚 ࣪

Please scroll down to see everything~ ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Especially the Akuneko Manual!! 🥹🫶

Translations

Card Stories

Fennesz Oswald

Level 2 Butler Story: “A good sweating session with Arujisama”

Level 20 Butler Story: “A Growing Confidence”

Initial Card: “What I Can Do”

Initial Card: “A Comfortable Time”

Initial Card: “The one who chose to flight”

Black Tea Party: “The Guilty Heartbreaker”

Butler’s Valentine: “The Only Special One that Belongs to Me”

Strawberry Garden: “With all my Heart”

Butler’s Wedding: “Gentle Massage”

Butler’s Summer: “A Strong Body”

Episode 2, Winter Story: “Nightmare”

Butler’s Halloween: “A Little Change”

Butler’s Christmas: “A Healing Bath”

First Anniversary: “The Cowardly Little Brother”

Butler’s New Years: “The First Time Expression”

Rose Valentine: “I don’t want to let go.”

Butterfly Forest: “The Handmade Sweetness”

2023 Birthday: “The Handmade meal by my Most Precious.”

Black and White House: “The Lie that I’m not used to”

Honeymoon Knights: “To the You who’s most Gentle”

Large Flowers of the Festival Light: “Even Though it’s Something Important”

Butler’s Wonderland: “To be a Smart Butler”

Judgement of the Fallen Angel: “The Same Dream for the Both of Us”

Xmas Circus of Black Cats: “Super Strength Man’s Smile”

Second Anniversary: “The Magician’s Repentance”

Wine Valentine: “The Move Filled with Courage”

Sound of Blessing: “The You who’s just like The Gifted Flower”

2024 Birthday: “Where the Consciousness Goes”

Butler’s Wedding Party: “The Grand Love on the Ring Finger”

Make a Wish to the Black Rabbit “Near your Ear”

Butler’s Cruise Voice Drama: “As if like Real Lovers”

Dreams Grasp Within a Small Fist: “Overdid It”

Sanrio Halloween card voice drama: “Natural Instincts”

Third Anniversary: “The Story For Two”

Valentine’s Day with the Butler: “Special for Many Years to Come”

The Lost Boarders and the Angelic Light: “The Youth to Know You”

2025 Birthday: “Accumulating Memories”

Butlers on the Wedding Island “The Future Map for the Two” (To be translated)

Berrien Cliane

Episode 2, Winter Story: “The Witch’s Magic Potion”

2024 Birthday: “Experiencing Such Happiness”

Boschi Arenas

Butler’s Valentine: “When Today Ends”

Butler’s Summer: “I’ll Do Whatever It Takes”

Butler’s Halloween: “Taking a Bite at the Best Time”

Lamli Bennett

Butler’s Summer: “Having Arujisama All to Myself”

Lato Bacca

Butler’s Valentine: “I Won’t Let You Leave”

Dolltown: “Hatred Held in the Heart”

First Anniversary: “The First Trust”

Episode 2, Winter Story: “Keeping You Here With Me Forever”

Honeymoon Knights: ”Together Forever”

Shinonome Yuuhan

Honeymoon Knights: “A Sign of Profound Respect”

Butler’s Wonderland: “Greedy Cat”

Second Anniversary: “Things That Could Be Piled Up”

Kawakami Hanamaru

Second Anniversary: “Wandering god of Death”

Exploration Mini Stories

Muu & Boschi Exploration Mini Story

Beren & Boschi Exploration Mini Story

Fennesz & Lamli Exploration Mini Story

Fennesz & Lato & Muu Exploration Mini Story

Butler Memories

AkuStage

Welcome to the Butlers’ World Lyric Translation

Akuneko Tips & Manual

Tips

How to Level up Cards

How to get Dias as a Free-to-Play Player

FAQs

Manual

Intro to Akuneko Main Page

Drop Down Menu (Part One), (Part Two)

Three Bar Menu (Part One), (Part Two)

Right Side Bar Menu

Memory Album (Part One), (Part Two)

Ringing Bell Bar (Part One), (Part Two), (Part Three)

Meditation

Stretching & Walking

Mansion Exploration (Part One), (Part Two), (Part Three), (Part Four)

Limited Memories & Missions, Etc.

Story (Part One), (Part Two)

Closet (Part One), (Part Two)

Pray

Shop (Part One), (Part Two), (Part Three)

Collection (Part One), (Part Two)

Birthdays

Purchasing Dias/Subscriptions

Headcanons/Theories

(TBC)

Fanfic

(TBC)

Ocs

My Aruji and Butler OCs

[klayfruit]

look at my art boy

[bucketofindigo]

hmmm... what if... i made Bowlcut's eyea purple...

[deepest-dope]

does anybody know what happens if a pregnant lady eats a devil fruit? has it ever been said for sure? this is for an oc backstory to be clear, and if the answer isnt "the baby gets the devil fruit" thats fine because im okay with making this guy's backstory worse then it already is!

[marquisegallery]

This took me. So long. To finish. I had hoped to finish it sometime in February, but now here we are. :u

Anyways! Much like the Devil Theory headcanons post I did a long while ago, this is a headcanons post for DOT EXE! All frickin' 8 of them!! Suffice to say this is going to be incredibly long, so keep that in mind before you jump into the Read More. You have been warned!! :P

(Also much like with Devil Theory, some of this might be based on stuff in the game, but a lot of it will just be "I personally think this would be neat!!")

There are going to be very many sections here, so I'm splitting them up to keep things organized and easier to follow. :u

The Overall Crew:

First and foremost, names! Plus heights, because I finally decided on heights for the individual members now :P

2 = Twoson (172 cm / 5’ 8")

4 = Fourside (173 cm / 5’ 8")

5 = Cinco (186 cm / 6’ 1")

8 = 8-ball (192 cm / 6’ 4")

9 = Neun (182 cm / 6’)

10 = Jūrō (178 cm / 5’ 10")

14 = Quatorze (196 cm / 6’ 5")

And then the cue ball member is just… Cueball, lol. He is 190 cm / 6’ 3". I was originally going to make him more-or-less the median height of the crew, but changed my mind later.

I know the 10 and 14 members found in the code aren't "official" members, especially since they seem to be just extra palettes for a potential playable 8-ball. But you know what, I made characters out of them anyways!! :P

Starting off with DOT EXE in general:

As mentioned in the game, they’re a group of full-cyber writers and breakdancers!! They also have a bit of a reputation as hackers, though truthfully it’s only some of them, specifically 8-ball, Neun, and Cinco. They’re the ones who came up with the name too, they just wanted something computer-y. It was originally just the three of them, and the others joined over time. In order, Quatorze and Jūrō were asked by 8-ball to join, then Twoson and Fourside asked to join after they went full-cyber, and then Cueball was the last to join.

Their writer aliases/street names are of course based on the billiard number shown on their screen faces. Which person gets which number was originally based on the actual number of letters in their real given name, but that doesn’t apply to Cueball, Twoson, or Fourside.

They have a reputation of being pretentious and stuck-up assholes (though at least not violent assholes like Devil Theory). They basically look down on most other crews as noobs, about the only writers they respect are DJ Cyber, Felix, and eventually BRC in general after the end of the game.

Of the current big crews in New Amsterdam, they’ve been operating the longest (with varying number of members of course), for about 2 decades at this point! However, them being an actual “big name” crew has only really happened in the past couple of years. They mostly stick to their own territory in Millennium Mall.

On that note! They literally own the mall. All of it. They collect rent from the various stores and companies operating in the mall. They keep the rent super low for local businesses so they can afford to compete with the big brands (especially huge international ones) that set up shop here. Meanwhile, said big brands are charged like five times more in rent. Of course, they’re never actually told that’s the case! Those companies even assume it must be the same for everyone else in the mall. The way DOT EXE spin it to them is along the lines of, “C’mon, don’t you want the prestige of having a store in the one and only Millennium Mall?!” Basically I imagine the Millennium Mall is a huge deal in that way, hence why the big companies don’t suspect anything’s off. :P

So yeah, DOT EXE make money that way. Even after taking out whatever has to be used for proper maintenance of the mall itself, for the most part they end up with a lot more than any of them need (especially since, being full-cyber, they don’t have to worry about food and stuff, just electricity and occasional maintenance/repairs). A lot of the money is saved for emergencies and fun stuff (like hobbies), and then they donate the rest to local charities.

The local businesses are aware of DOT EXE being the owners of the mall, and honestly don’t mind them being writers either! DOT EXE are also more reliable than the police when it comes to asking for help with a problem. In the case of shoplifters in particular, DOT EXE don’t even really punish the thieves, they’ll pay for whatever was stolen and ask if they need additional help (like if they only stole because they didn’t have a job and need help, etc).

The crew hate that the police can intervene at the mall, especially with the helicopters and walking tanks, not to mention the police tube things. They’ve tried to complain to the local government about it, but have been shot down every time. Now they will at the least sabotage the tubes and turrets whenever they can.

The mall is so big that there’s basically a huge solar panel farm on top. Whatever electricity doesn’t get used up by the mall ends up redirected to other parts of New Amsterdam that need it.

There’s also a whole community greenhouse up there! A rather illegal one actually, with New Amsterdam (currently) having some very strict regulations on larger-scale gardens and such (given there’s only one tree in the actual game, and it’s been dug up from Old Amsterdam). DOT EXE do not give a fuck about that clearly, and keep it operational. Especially since it’s a great source of food for a lot of people! DOT EXE managed to hack the local government offices to give the mall’s greenhouse an “official exception”, so the police have to (very begrudgingly) leave it be. Half the crew like the greenhouse since it’s such a great benefit for others, and the other half like it because they know it annoys the cops.

Their hideout is a small part of the mall that’s been sort of sectioned off just for them. Basically behind some pulled-down grates, a bunch of the stores behind said grates have been converted into rooms for them, and is collectively their hideout! There is an actual part of the mall in the game that looks like this, see below:

The rooms of the hideout are as follows: a main meeting/living room area (which also has a disused kitchen, since they don’t need to eat), a main rec area with a ton of custom arcade cabinets and hacked game consoles, a storage room, and then 4 personal rooms for the members, shared between a few of them. One for Cinco and Neun, another for Twoson and Fourside, another for Jūrō and Quatorze, and the last for 8-ball and Cueball. Though since 8-ball was killed, it’s been Cueball’s room by himself.

So yeah, they all live there, whereas pretty much every other crew has their hideout but then individual members (usually) live elsewhere.

They actually aren’t all the same age as the Oldheads, it’s just a cover so people don’t try and figure out any personal info about them. Specific ages/age ranges will be mentioned in individual sections, but really only 8-ball, Neun, and Cinco are around the Oldheads’ ages. Quatorze and Jūrō are actually a good chunk older than them, while Cueball, Twoson, and Fourside are all much younger.

Cueball in particular will always hide his real age, since part of it is related to how he went full-cyber. He will lie to most people and saying he's around the same age as 8-ball, Neun, and Cinco. He hates the pity he gets from people otherwise (more on this later!!).

Twoson and Foruside don't lie about their ages when asked, but would just say they were inspired by 8-ball, Neun, and Cinco to go full-cyber to keep being good dancers and writers. Meanwhile, Quatorze and Jūrō are pretty honest about why they actually did it (again, more on this later!!).

Their voice, outfits, and billiard screens are also covers for their identities!

For the voice, the idea is that there's a "default" voice all the DOT EXE folks use in public, but they still have their own voices based on how they sound from before going full-cyber (Twoson and Fourside are technically exceptions to this, but yeah, more on that later). Their actual voices are only used when they’re going around as “civilians” rather than writers, or otherwise in private at their hideout.

The tracksuits are basically just their costumes, similar to the costumes the other crews wear. So they do wear clothes besides the tracksuits. Sure, they don't really need to, but they like to! Especially when they're not out doing writer stuff, makes it easier for the cops to not suspect something. Each of them has their own personal style, which will be noted in the individual sections!

The screen face can be changed to different images. When they're out and about as "civilians", they tend to change their screens to sort of robotic faces, kinda similar to what non-screen cyberheads have. Those specific faces will be shown in the individual characters’ sections, with their "DOT EXE face" on the left and their individual faces on the right.

Combined with the difference in clothing and voices, it does a good job of actually hiding who they are from the cops!

Note that Cueball is an exception on the voice and screen thing, but I’ll get into that more in his section!

They are all gamers to some degree, otherwise why else would they have a rec room with so many games? They each have their own favorite genres, but overall play a wide variety of them. They’ll play by themselves or with each other depending on the game. The whole crew can get pretty competitive about high scores too, especially on the arcade cabinets!

They also each have their own hobbies outside of gaming, but again, another thing to mention in their own sections.

They all have the capability to communicate wirelessly like computers and phones, i.e. send messages directly to one another instead of to their phones. However, they don’t do that anymore. Mainly because the one time they tried to use it more often, Twoson, Fourside, and Cueball spammed so many memes to Neun that it caused him to crash. Hence why they still rely on text and calls like full-flesh writers, though some of them still do direct wireless messages to one another sometimes. Basically equivalent to whispering to someone so other people don’t hear them.

As full-cyber people, they all have sensors all over their bodies which can act the same as nerves. Detecting damage/pain, temperature, pressure/being touched, and even textures to a degree. The only difference is that these can be turned on or off, or even set to varying “levels” of sensing in between. Usually they turn down the pain/temperature detecting part of the sensors while they’re out (especially while doing writer stuff; basically just detecting damage/temperature without causing actual pain to them). They only turn them fully back on once they’re safe at their hideout.

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8-ball, Cinco, and Neun in general:

They are basically the only ones that went full-cyber to be able to dance better for the most part, though they also did it to be able to get better as writers. None of them were particularly good at either of those before then, though they all clearly wanted to improve at it.

All three of them met and became friends via a transhumanism forum online, hence them going full-cyber together. The actual process is finished up around their 30s or 40s, and they're in their 60s by the time of the game.

Cinco is from Honduras and Neun is from Germany (or so he claims...). Meanwhile 8-ball was born and raised in New Amsterdam, though his father (who he shares with Cueball) had long since moved away to somewhere in the United States.

Both Neun and Cinco did writer stuff in their respective home cities, but 8-ball talked to them a lot about the writer scene in New Amsterdam, especially a lot of the big name writers at the time. That influenced all of them to want to get better at being writers, no matter what.

Once Neun and Cinco moved to New Amsterdam, 8-ball and them formed DOT EXE! They were all full-cyber by then, and practiced together to improve their skills, eventually becoming fairly big names like the other crews.

All three of them act (or acted in 8-ball’s case) as the IT people for the whole mall.

Them getting into hacking and computer stuff mostly started after they all went full-cyber, especially since all their augmentations made it a hell of a lot easier to do.

All three of them love rhythm games, but also have other genres they particularly like. They had rhythm game competitions between the three of them, and even with 8-ball gone, Neun and Cinco still do that from time to time.

On that note, yeah, in my ideas/AU/whatever you want to call it, 8-ball’s death is very much permanent. See this post with some further details on why that is, in particular how, just because his mind’s been digitized, doesn’t mean it’d be any easier to recover.

8-ball specifically:

8-ball refers to Cueball as his bro in the game, and I like to think they’re actual brothers and not just brothers-in-a-friend-way. For my headcanons, they’re actually half-brothers, but refer to each other as brothers anyways. 8-ball is the older of the two!

He’s a bit egotistical. Just a bit.

Kind of a daredevil too, compared to the others. He was like that before going full-cyber, but then after the conversion, being “effectively” invincible just made him more reckless. Dangerous stunts! Tagging more and more high up heaven spots! Getting heat up just to be able to fight the police! So on and so forth.

He is the one who designed the team’s graffiti in-universe, hence why their small tag is more related to him that the team overall. Like I said, bit of an ego on this guy!

He is the one who managed to get ownership of the whole mall, and then just splits the management and collected rent with the others. He actually managed to win ownership of the mall in a (very) risky game of poker. And he didn’t just made that up to sound cool, Cinco and Neun were actually there to witness it!

For his normal fashion style as a civilian, basically he just focuses on looking “cool”, in particular with cool jackets. This usually means jean jackets or leather biker jackets. Also tends to wear jean pants, and shirts with cool designs on them. Which is often stuff like sharks, wolves, dragons, volcanoes, lighting bolts, tornadoes, etc. Also cool shoes of course!

For his personal favorite video game genre, he likes playing shooters, but moreso arcade style shooters and SHMUPs instead of FPSs. Still kinda ironic, given what happened to him…

Real name Frederik Visser. He mainly got into transhumanism just because he thought it was cool, and eventually took it seriously and ended up on the forum where he met Neun and Cinco.

Cinco specifically:

From Cueball’s point of view, he’s the fun uncle!

Fluent in Spanish, speaks it with a Honduran accent. Sometimes uses Spanish words when talking casually, usually terms of endearment for others. Or insults/swears, because he finds it more satisfying to do so in Spanish, lol

Knows a ton of jokes, including puns, in several languages.

A charming guy, very outgoing and friendly with just about everyone!

Also a “he has your back when you need it” kind of pal to DOT EXE in general, but especially 8-ball and Neun. After 8-ball died, he got a bit more protective of Cueball too.

For his fashion style, he likes wearing patterned button-down shirts and sports shorts. For the shirts, of course that includes what’s called Hawaiian shirts, but really anything that has some sort of fancy/detailed patterned will catch his eye. Also tends to wear sandals/flipflops, or crocs.

He really likes racing games, also sports games in general!

Cinco was a bit of a jock type before going full-cyber on that note, playing a lot of sports back then too. He tried to get into various professional sports but never got very far. He’s good at whatever he plays, but evidently just not one of the best for it. Also doesn’t help that he never tried focusing on one particular sport at a time, to the point where he stretched himself thin after a while.

Occasionally plays basketball with the Franks, he’s actually good pals with them because of it!

Likes sports and muscle cars, though mostly driving them and not the maintenance part. He may or may not participate in drag races using stolen cars. Not that it’s hard to steal a car in New Amsterdam, there’s a lot of rich people with “smart” cars who don’t change the default passwords…

Real name César Hugo Raúl Garcia-Flores. On both sides of his family there’s histories of genetic illnesses, and after a certain point he was starting to show some early signs of them. This of course started affecting his health, and with his focus on sports and also wanting to get better as a writer/dancer, he ended up on the transhumanism forum to hopefully find a way to handle all that.

He genuinely didn’t intended to go full-cyber, just wanted to look into “less intensive” cybernetics. However, becoming friends with 8-ball and Neun and going over what they were planning themselves basically led Cinco to decide, “You know what? Might as well go all the way with this myself!”

A note on his full name, if people ask about it: he’ll say his parents couldn’t decide between the two middle names, and just gave him both. Meanwhile, neither parent was backing down about giving him one family name or the other, so they decided to just hyphenate it. But then they had an argument over the order (Garcia-Flores or Flores-Garcia), so they flipped a coin on it… that all being said, Cinco always says this like it’s another joke, so no one’s entirely sure if it’s the real story or not.

He had a boyfriend before going full-cyber. They broke up because of him hiding the fact he was planning to go full-cyber at all. Then again, them breaking up over that was inevitable anyways, because said boyfriend was the type of person to see cybernetics (especially full-cyber stuff) as something unnatural and disgusting. By the time of the game, Cinco has long since gotten over it (for the most part).

May or may not end up dating Escher, hee hee

Neun specifically:

From Cueball’s point of view, he’s basically the stern uncle lol

Has a bit of a “neutral” accent when speaking in his actual voice. It’s clear he’s hiding whatever his “real” accent is supposed to be, but no one knows what he naturally sounds like, not even 8-ball and Cinco. His voice gets shockingly deep when he’s angry, which is very rare.

Fluent in German and Spanish, having grown up speaking both languages. Claims to be from Germany. Though, he’s only ever spoken Spanish with Cinco in private “for some reason”...

… The reason being that he’s actually Argentinian (of German descent, hence him learning that language) and very much has the accent when speaking Spanish. Cinco clocked him as such when listening to him speak Spanish one time. Neun doesn’t want people to know that about him, so he’s sworn Cinco to never speak of it to anyone, even 8-ball. More on why later...

When in public, he basically puts up a front and acts the same kind of “dudebro” kind of way the rest of the members act. Outside of that, overall he’s a very serious and kinda cold guy, but he does genuinely care about his friends (and eventually the rest of the crew, though it took him a while to get there).

Between him, 8-ball, and Cinco, Neun is basically the “friend in charge of the one collective brain cell” kind of guy. It’s also why he’s second-in-command of DOT EXE, becoming the leader once 8-ball is killed.

Also the crew’s accountant, mostly in charge of sorting out collecting rent from the businesses in the mall. He gives a lot of leeway for local businesses if they’re late on rent, but gives no such mercy to the bigger brands in the mall.

Likes to stay organized. He will pick up after the others if they leave a mess, but will also complain and berate them while doing so.

Not exactly a fan of jokes or pranks. He dislikes puns in particular and finds them genuinely annoying (not in a “Damn it, I wish I thought of that myself!!” kind of way). He makes an exception for Cinco’s jokes, but mostly out of politeness as a friend. And even then it’s not like Neun will laugh, he’ll just politely stay quiet and shake his head.

For his normal fashion outside of the tracksuits, well, Neun can be described as looking like a stereotypical nerd. This means collar shirts and khaki pants, lol

Neun likes playing RPGs and strategy games, though he’s very old school and picky about what he plays. If it doesn’t have some sort of hard mode, at the very least a hard mode that can be modded in, he won’t bother with it. Just as an example, he likes playing Pokemon games but only with modded super hard modes and with Smogon-style strategies and team builds.

Claims his real name is Sebastian Jäger. He was originally just on the transhumanism forum out of curiosity, not really taking it seriously. However, at one point he had a mid-life crisis related to mortality, especially after having to deal with a string of family deaths around the same time. With him wanting to be a better writer and breakdancer, at that point he felt like he had limited time to even live at all, let alone enough time to improve at either of those.

Hence why he started being more active on the forum and looking into full-cyber conversion in particular, and that eventually led to him becoming friends with 8-ball and Cinco. He’ll never admit to this though.

He’ll also never admit that he accidentally crossed the wrong people on his journey to both go full-cyber and move to New Amsterdam. He’s convinced they’re still looking for him, even if the chances are incredibly slim. Thus why he’s hiding at least part of his origins...

His actual real name is Sebastián Montero, but again, he’s basically in hiding right now. "Jäger" was apparently the family name of an ancestor of his.

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Quatorze and Jūrō in general:

Quatorze is French, and Jūrō is of Japanese descent, both born and raised in France. Both can of course speak French, with their real speaking voices having a Parisian French accent. Jūrō is also fluent in Japanese.

They were both big time writers in their youth, with stories about them being what inspired 8-ball to become a writer in the first place! Then him talking about them to Cinco and Neun is what collectively pushed all three of them to want to get better at being writers.

They are a married couple and still consider themselves married as wife and husband, even after going full-cyber together (technically they are considered legally dead and thus no longer married, but screw the laws man).

On that note, surprise, Quatorze is actually a woman! Thanks to the default voice for the crew and the tracksuits, everyone just assumes she’s a man without hearing her real voice. That’s intentional, I’ll get into it a bit more in her specific section.

They are very, very loving to each other. Think Gomez and Morticia Addams, just without a morbid humor angle. Jūrō basically praises and is encouraging of everything Quatorze does, and Quatorze love to compliment him for anything he does too. Though sometimes it does get on her nerves, and he apologizes when she asks him to dial it back a bit. But also they have the mushiest pet names for each other.

They are both willing to kill and be killed for the sake of their spouse, but of course each of them would prefer that the other not going that far.

They see 8-ball, Cinco, and Neun as their peers. Meanwhile, both of them dote on Cueball, Twoson, and Fourside like their actual kids/grandkids. Cueball finds it annoying but secretly likes it, meanwhile Twoson and Fourside outright call them Granny and Granpy respectively.

Real names Marie-Madeleine Lucille Perrault, and Maximilien Théodore Perrault, respectively. Their backstory of how they went full-cyber is connected, so I’ll just go over it here: Tragically, in their 70s, Quatorze got cancer at some point, a kind that was unfortunately very hard to treat. She had the option to go full-cyber instead of continuing risky treatment just to potentially die due to being weakened by said treatment. And her husband Jūrō also went full-cyber to be able to stay with her!

Unfortunately, their kids were not happy with that. For some of them, there was confusion about how inheritance would work (eventually finding out that Quatorze and Jūrō would be considered legally dead anyways, so it was “fine”). For others, it’s moreso that they had already accepted that their mom will die, only for her to choose to keep living in the most “selfish” and “unnatural” way possible.

Suffice to say, Quatorze and Jūrō have not spoken to their kids since then, and they haven’t seen their grandkids since then either. They’re more torn up about not seeing their grandkids (they weren’t exactly happy with their kids fighting over inheritance and criticizing their parents’ decision on how to keep living). For the most part they’ve come to accept they’ll never see them again, but Jūrō is secretly holding onto hope they might see their grandkids again someday…

After the two of them went full-cyber, sometime later 8-ball reached out to them, having heard about what happened to them. He was basically like, "Hey you guys were big inspirations to us as writers! Wanna join our new full-cyber crew??" (at that point it was just him, Cinco, and Neun). They responded, "Well, we're not sure how to spend our retirement now, so sure! :)" So by the time of the game’s events, they’re in their 80s.

Quatorze specifically:

She’s basically the team mom! Very caring towards everyone in the crew, but also more than willing to put her foot down to get them to behave when needed.

Before going full-cyber, she was an actress. Her pretending to be a man when out and about as a writer is mainly to hide her identity. She was fairly famous at her peak, so even with her being “legally” dead, she doesn’t want people to find and bother her, especially not any overzealous fans. She does look back on her past work with fondness though, some of her favorite roles was getting to play as hammy, over-the-top villains in cartoons, animated movies, and live action movies.

Though as an actress, her pretending to be a man while in public as DOT EXE (including using the default voice the same as the others) is also just another role for her. She finds it a lot of fun!

She knits, as well as crocheting, weaving, and other crafts involving threads and such. She will knit you a sweater/scarf/hat if you ask politely!

For her civilian fashion, she likes wearing sweaters and long skirts. Sometimes she wears sundresses with a nice sunhat during the summer months, even if it’s not really necessary as a full-cyber person. She has fancier dresses she wears for date nights with Jūrō.

Her favorite kinds of video games are puzzle games and ‘slow’ platformers, mainly things along the lines of Klonoa, Kirby, Mario, and Banjo-Kazooie.

Jūrō specifically:

He’s basically the team dad! Very supportive of his crew mates. He leaves being the “stern parent” to Quatorze though, especially since Jūrō tends to be too soft on someone if they messed up or started issues with the rest of the crew. It was the same when they were full-flesh with their kids and grandkids, he’s mainly just afraid of seeming too “mean”.

Unfortunately he can’t do dad jokes, but at least Cinco has that covered, lol

He worked as an accountant, but didn’t like the work very much. He was able to be a stay-at-home dad once Quartorze’s acting career really took off!

He likes to garden, and he’s the one that works the most on the mall’s greenhouse.

For his civilian fashion, usually wears nice pants (like the kind for suits) + long button-down shirts. Also wears sweater vests that his wife makes for him! He has full suits and waistcoats for date nights with Quatorze.

His favorite kinds of video games are life sim games, such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley (“If only growing plants were this easy in real life!”). He also likes idle games, especially ones that don’t demand his attention too much.

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Twoson and Fourside in general:

Yes, their names are references to the Earthbound towns of the same name. They picked out their own billiard numbers to specifically make that reference, lol

Twoson is agender (they/he) and Fourside is nonbinary (also they/he). Note that they were like this long before going full-cyber, since some people may assume it happened because of the transition.

For their voices, they actually only use their real voices when they’re alone together in private, and no one else knows what they “really” sound like. When out as civilians or in private with their crewmates, they use different synthesized voices from the one used for DOT EXE. Their specific synthesized voices will be noted in their individual sections.

For their civilian screen faces, these two will actually change them to express certain emotions, usually with very anime-esque stuff (eye shines, exaggerated evil grins, etc). Other members will just keep their faces static and express themselves through their voice and hand/body movement.

They are both pranksters, they love to cause mischief and mayhem! Not even their own crewmates are safe.

They get along with Cueball in a sort of sibling way. Sometimes getting along great, other times being at each others’ throats (i.e. Cueball vs. Twoson and Fourside, the two of them are deep friends and have never really fought each other).

Jūrō has taught both of them Japanese. He insisted on it after hearing them talk (or rather, trying to talk) in Japanese once, they were really horrible at it before his lessons. They both also know a bit of Spanish from Cinco.

Between the two of them, they have a huge anime and manga collection! I will mention some of their individual favorite genres for that in their respective sections.

They make video games! Just as a hobby, so all the games they make are free. Said games are mostly in the form of super hard ROM Hacks, or weird/eccentric/trippy games (think along the lines of Yume Nikki, OFF, Hylics, Space Funeral, Goblet Grotto, LSD Dream Emulator, etc.). Neither of them can code very well, so they usually convince/force Cueball into helping them with their various projects. What they provide for said projects themselves is mostly the ideas (both of them), music (Twoson specifically), and art assets (Fourside specifically).

Suffice to say, the games they make are not ones that any of the other DOT EXE members normally play. Neun has played some of the ROM hacks they’ve made for RPGs though, mostly because of the ridiculous challenges they put in.

They both have similar tastes in music, usually stuff that is fairly “eccentric” compared to mainstream music. Basically along the lines of Caravan Palace, Will Wood, Lemon Demon, Jack Stauber, GHOST and Pals, Vane, and R.I.P.. Also enjoy a lot of Vocaloid and Synthysizer V songs, especially the more creepy and macabre stuff.

On that note, they’ve definitely hijacked the mall’s sound systems to play their favorite songs as pranks on people more than once.

They both really like horror games. With poorly made ones, they only play them to riff on them and make fun of their game design. They may or may not have a YouTube channel dedicated to this. They may or may not also do streams as vTubers on that note…

Honestly they like horror content in general. Movies, novels, games, anime, manga, comics, TV shows, art… they’d probably get along great with Daishō!

Real names are Beau Driessen and Robin Zaal respectively. Like with Quatorze and Jūrō, Twoson and Fourside’s backstories are connected. Twoson was severely injured in what was ruled an “accident”, to the point of only having two options: go full-cyber, or just stay bedridden for the rest of their life. Meanwhile, Fourside went full-cyber in order to bury their old identity, after having taken care of the people who caused the “accident”. Both of them going full-cyber happened in their late 20s, they're both about 35 now.

They were both writers before going full-cyber, and the “accident” was caused by some rivals they had to deal with. After the conversion, they heard about DOT EXE as a full-cyber crew, and decided to join up with them.

They are very protective of one another. Fourside in particular will get very vicious against anyone who tries to hurt Twoson, even if it’s another DOT EXE member.

They’re also the type to use insults to show affection to each other, “You nerd!”, “You’re such a dork!”, etc. Towards anyone else, it’s genuine insults.

Twoson specifically:

The voice they use when going around as a civilian is an androgynous synthesized voice that’s a bit on the higher side.

Twoson is the nicer of the two, for what it’s worth, but still tends to be obnoxious at times. They also like to be fakely sweet sometimes, especially when trying to get a favor out of someone else.

For fashion, Twoson likes wearing a jean vest covered in a ton of buttons. They also like to wear skirts over cargo capris, tie-dye shirts, chokers/collars, and headbands which have been modified to fit over their head.

They like to do craft stuff sometimes, like origami, needle felting, papercraft, and clay sculptures. They also make the buttons and tie-dye shirts that both themself and Fourside wear.

They make music! The best way to describe it is very weird and also sometimes creepy. Basically ranging from quirky digital/midi music, to dreamy but still unnerving drones and tones, to Silent Hill 1 industrial scary noises.

Besides horror video games, they really like dating sims and visual novels. They have a whole menagerie of what they call their fictional spouses.

Twoson likes the magical girl genre in particular for anime and manga. They actually really hate shows like Puella Magi Madoka Magica that try to subvert the genre or otherwise do an intentionally “edgy” take on it. A lot of magical girl series already have dark themes anyways!

Fourside specifically:

The voice they use when going around as a civilian is an androgynous synthesized voice that’s a bit on the lower side.

Fourside is the meaner of the two, for what it’s worth. They’re more quick to genuinely insult people and use a lot of sarcasm. However, they will be respectful when it counts, usually only for other DOT EXE members.

For fashion, Fourside also likes wearing a jean vest with tons of buttons and tie-dye shirts, like Twoson does. They also wear a skirt over skinny jeans, lots of bracelets, and beanies that Quatorze has made for them.

On that note, Quatorze made some of the thread/string bracelets that Fourside wears, and she showed them how to make bracelets on their own too. So the rest are the ones Fourside made! You can tell which ones were from when they first started out, and which ones are more recent and thus better quality. They’ve also made some of the collars/chokers that Twoson wears.

Fourside does digital art in the form of 3D models and complex MS Paint stuff. They mainly do this just to make weird stuff and put it out their for people to enjoy. A lot of it is very abstract and weird, with a sort of “old-school Internet” vibe a la ENA/Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou/Disillusion ST/Hylics/etc.

Besides horror video games, they really love beat ‘em ups and fighting games! Do not challenge them to some of the big ones (Street Fighter, Tekken, Smash Bros, etc.) unless you want to lose.

Fourside has no particular favorite genre for anime/manga, but tends to like series that end up categorized as shōnen. Also really enjoys superhero tokusatsu shows and movies (i.e. stuff like Super Sentai/Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, etc).

Cueball

He’s the lovable goofball basically. Lots of joking around and teasing people, especially his friends! That’s basically how he shows affection a lot of the time.

Though he’s also fiercely loyal to his friends and crew. Mostly because despite being friendly and outgoing, he doesn’t exactly have a lot of friends outside of DOT EXE. Eventually that changes once he joins BRC, but he still cares about and hangs out with his old crewmates.

He’s from the United States, and 8-ball helped him with moving to New Amsterdam.

He loves cats! Before he went full-cyber, he was very allergic to cats and wasn’t allowed to have any because of that. After going full-cyber, he eventually realized he didn’t have to worry about allergies anymore. And so he set out to adopt ALL the cats, lol. It got bad enough to be a hoarding situation, and the rest of DOT EXE at the time (8-ball, Cinco, and Neun, this being before any of the other and Cueball himself joining) had to step in for an intervention. They got the cats rehomed or put in adoption centers/cat shelters, and Cueball decided to just volunteer at those shelters to help out. A much better situation for everyone involved, especially the cats!

Cueball owns a ton of blankets and pillows, and likes to make his own pillow forts and stuff in his room for Extra Comfort. Also sometimes throws them in a clothes dryer to make them warm. With the thing about body sensors for full-cyber people I mentioned earlier, Cueball is of course the one that takes full advantage of the sensors whenever he can!

Quatorze has made whole blankets for Cueball. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he does appreciate those blankets, they’re very comfy.

His favorite kinds of video games are action, action-adventure, and search action (a.k.a “Metroidvania”).

Cueball hates his real voice for the most part, and he’s the only one who will keep using the default DOT EXE voice even when alone with the rest of the crew. They do know what he sounded like before he used that default voice (he only started using it all the time after he joined DOT EXE), but it’s been so long that most of them have forgotten it by now.

When it comes to fashion, Cueball’s “style” is more about comfort than anything else. Hoodies! Sweatpants! Sweaters! Oversized t-shirts! Comfy socks! Super comfy sneakers! Sometimes various winter hats if he can find any that will fit over his head lol. He has a ton of stuff that Quartoze has made for him, though he feels embarrassed to actually wear them outside of the hideout.

As mentioned previously, he doesn’t bother changing his screen face to a different one from his billiards face. Though he will change the red triangle in the middle to different emojis or reaction images/gifs for expressions. Or otherwise to mess with people.

So Cueball is the only one who doesn't bother with the voice changing nor face changing. The only thing different is his clothes. If a cop suspects he's the same Cueball from DOT EXE, he basically goes, "Oh? You think I look like a criminal just because I'm full-cyber too? Prejudice much?!" and that actually gets them to back down most of the time lol

He used to do programming and other computer related tasks (including messing with servers and hardware) as a job after going full-cyber and before eventually joining DOT EXE. He’s still good at those things too! But at least now he keeps up with those more as a hobby, which he honestly prefers. He thus tends to refuse to help with the IT stuff for the mall, he’s sick of doing that kind of thing for work.

He wanted in on the crew mostly because he was sick of feeling “left behind” by everyone else whenever they’d go out to do writer stuff. By the time he joined, Quatorze, Jūrō, Twoson, and Fourside had already become part of the crew.

He’s the only DOT EXE member with no prior experience as a writer (especially before going full-cyber), and so he’s had to put in a lot of practice with the rest of the crew. Due to his lack of skills, he was only really allowed to join because his older brother 8-ball let him join, and even then only after Cueball begged him about it a lot.

On that note, and as mentioned in 8-ball’s section, Cueball and 8-ball are specifically half-brothers. They cared about each other, and 8-ball very much tried to help out his little brother whenever he could. Back when the two of them were still full-flesh, they weren’t too close, but at least kept in touch via email and sometimes actual postcards despite the age difference between them. Mostly 8-ball wanted to be sure Cueball had another adult he could turn to if he was in trouble, because he knows how their dad is.

After moving to New Amsterdam, they did get a little closer as brothers. Cueball has a lot of admiration for his older brother because of his writer activities, though sometimes Cueball would be annoyed or even hate 8-ball for (in his eyes) “babying” him when 8-ball was just trying to keep him safe. Eventually, sometime after 8-ball died, Cueball mostly just regrets not really knowing 8-ball that well in the end.

Cueball starts trying to get into rhythm games after 8-ball’s death, and he even tries to join in on the rhythm game competitions with Cinco and Neun. He’s getting pretty good at it!

He does a lot of pranks with Twoson and Fourside. Also prank wars between the three of them! Neun makes a point to have plans outside of New Amsterdam for the weeks surrounding April Fools Day, while the rest of the crew just roll with it.

Besides Twoson and Fourside, Cueball gets along fairly well with Cinco, Jūrō, and Quatorze. For the last one, he has accidentally called her mom once, and he had her swear to never tell anyone else what happened.

He’s dating Bō! Cueball is really big on physical touch as a show of affection. He is thus incredibly cuddly and big on handholding and hugs! He also cuts back on the jokes and teasing just for Bō (for the most part).

He used to do a lot of cooking and baking before he went full-cyber. Once he started dating Bō, he actually go back into cooking to be able to cook stuff for his boyfriend! He still remembers all of the recipes he tried out, plus reads up on new ones to try. Unfortunately, due to of course having no sense of taste now, he has to either use recipes that don’t need tasting in between steps, stick with recipes that he already knows Bō likes, or otherwise make sure Bō is around for taste-testing.

Bō is the only one who knows what Cueball’s real voice sounds like, and even then Cueball only uses it when they’re alone together in private.

Real name Ernesto Alberto Visser. Cueball got Covid when he was about 15. The resulting long Covid was bad enough that, in his early 20s, he decided to just go full-cyber instead of continuing to suffer. His older brother 8-ball helped him out with that. At first it was just helping him move to New Amsterdam to get better medical treatment (and to get away from their dad and Cueball’s mom for that matter) once Cueball turned 18. Eventually that lead to helping Cueball with going full-cyber once the treatments proved ineffective. He did so sometime after 8-ball, Neun, and Cinco went full-cyber themselves. Cueball is about 43 during the time of the game.

Cueball originally had plans to become a chef or at least a baker, but when he got sick, part of the problems from his Covid infection was that his sense of taste got completely messed up. He was originally going to do programming as a hobby thing. But once he went full-cyber, he did programming as a full time job since he didn’t have anything else going for him, until eventually joining DOT EXE many years later.

Because of why he went full-cyber, he is distrustful of doctors (due to both the quack doctors his parents forced him to see to pretend that his Covid symptoms “weren’t that bad”, and the actual doctors later on who knew how serious his condition was but couldn’t do much for him anyways). He insists on accompanying his full-flesh friends to their doctor appointments to make sure they’re safe!!

[stressed-flinx]

Devil but an EX Devil's theory member from Bomb Rush Cyberfunk! She joined up with her bestie to form the Purgatoric Preacherz, a Crew that prioritizes tagging real hard to reach spots. There was no way she would stay with a crew that narcs to the cops tbh.

I'm trying to get at least one set of ref sheets done for most my goobers before Art Fight hits oops. My eventual goal is to make three sets of ref sheets based off of JSR JSRF and of course Bomb Rush for both Angel and Devil. The worms have gotten to me I swear-

[cjhartley]

i have decided to just start calling cjscisci world egg theory* for now as a placeholder. lets hear it for 🍳 or 🥚 idk which . whatever

*not actually a trans joke but that also works . real connor oc fans remember my giant treatise abt eggs and the spirit and ghosts as basically the more mature form of a human and soul and the body as the egg and etc. and basically its just a big thing i wrote while high and then it changed the course of cj scisci story 4ever bc thats when i added in dilly and liza and ronnie (who ik i said i got rid of and i might still get rid of them but they were made with dilly originally) who were from a different half finished concept i had going on . but anyways they got transplanted and then abbie and sanctity got transplanted as well

[x-lee-cya]

egagsjeheh YES.

Episode concept I’ve had for the last few days-

“A devilish dream”

Basically the idea was “if cuphead has nightmares about the devil, does the devil have nightmares about him?”

The episode is basically the devil feeling he’s lost his touch in his fearful ways because he can’t even catch a mediocre child. So a board of executive misdeeds come to him for strategic planning.

Each cup represents a deadly sin, but because it’s a kids program, there’s a child-friendly version.

(I’m very proud of the designs)

The episode ends with ego telling the devil that if he can’t do it, then someone “higher up” would do a better job. That’s the encouragement it takes for the devil to wake with a new sense of pridefulness.

[dragonmarquise]

Super Indulgent Canon x OC Ship, Part 2: Cueball and Bō

Time for the second indulgent ship post!! Nerd x jock gay pairing, except the jock is also a nerd, lol

Before I get too deep in the weeds, shout out to @mechanical-magician’s ship of Pluto (one of their own Devil Theory OCs) with CUE.mp4 (their version of the cue ball DOT EXE guy). That was the inspiration for me to do the same with my own OCs, hence this post.

Admittedly at first I was like, “Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work with my guys,” but then I went down a thinking rabbit hole and realized, “Wait, this could work actually??”, and now here we are! \o/

Okay so first let’s start off with the setup of how they got together! This should be a lot shorter than what I have for Vinyl and Nunchaku. Though only because they don’t know of each other before the game happens, lol

So after the events of the game, there’s a meeting at the BRC hideout for Reasons (there’s a whole fic for that, but just assume it’s a bunch of the city’s crews meeting on friendly terms). By this point Sai had left/been kicked out of Devil Theory and joined BRC. The rest of DT are there for the meeting, but also to check on Sai and catch up with him (they’re still friends with him even after he joined a new crew).

At some point, Cueball and Bō get to talking, and they end up bonding over shared interests in computers. Bō has an IT job and likes to work with computers/programming as a hobby too, while Cueball used to have a software job before eventually quitting and then doing it as a hobby too. The stuff they talk about goes over everyone else’s heads, lol

Though admittedly Bō is surprised that Cueball is being so friendly with him. Given, y’know, he’s still in DT and what they did to earn their bad reputation. Cueball says that the way he sees it, DT already got their karma in the form of being almost killed by Faux. Not to mention FUTURISM and pretty much the rest of New Amsterdam’s writers are breathing down DT’s neck to keep out of major trouble from now on. So Cueball just doesn’t think there’s any need to pile on more animosity on top of that. Besides, he thinks Bō is a pretty nice guy when he’s not “in character” as a member of DT!

Bō doesn’t quite believe Cueball about that, but after hanging out at the BRC hideout until the end of the day, he ends up accepting that Cueball was being genuine. Not to mention, he really enjoys have someone to talk to about computer stuff in real life like this!

From then on, they’re friends! Well, neither of them say they’re friends out loud, but it’s pretty obvious to everyone else. They play games online sometimes, chat via text, Cueball lets Bō vent to him about Bō’s job every now and then, if Bō visits the hideout like before Cueball immediately zeroes in on him so they can hang out together, etc.

Obviously as writers they’re still competing against each other, but their friendship stuff is “off the clock”, so to speak. Everyone else is cool with it as long as they’re not like, talking about crew secrets or something. :P

After a while, Bō develops a crush on Cueball because of how well they’re getting along. That being said, he doesn’t want to make things awkward. Plus, Bō has had relationship/dating issues in the past, and hereallydoesn’t feel like trying his luck right now.

Meanwhile, Cueball is completely oblivious, though mostly because he can’t understand why anyone would want to genuinely date himself. That is to say, Cueball has also had problems with dating in the past. Mostly people not looking past him being full-cyber and treating him like a robot… or otherwise, they have a robot fetish and are only interested in Cueball because of that.

It got to the point where now he’s given up on finding love. If asked about it, he says it’d be nice but he’s not interested at all.

Bō has actually asked at one point, and finds the answer saddening but at the same time respecting Cueball’s feelings and keeping (or trying to keep) his own feelings hidden.

At one point, Cueball is sent to Pyramid Island to help with throwing up more graffiti for BRC’s rep. He actually tries to “friendly” fight Bō, like actual punches and kicks and stuff. Bō has been telling him about how he and the rest of DT learned to fight mostly from watching martial arts movies and wrestling shows, so that’s where Cueball got the idea to try it out. Bō refuses to engage, mostly because he’s worried that he might hurt Cueball badly. To which Cueball responds, “WTF dude! I’m made of tougher stuff than you think!!”

During this, Cueball starts to suspect Bō is hiding something and says as much. Bō assumes Cueball knows about his crush and freaks out, trying to outright run away!

They have a bit of a tumble, and after that they talk things out. It turns out Cueball just thinks Bō wants to officially be friends with him! Bō is kinda dumbfounded by this (especially since they’ve basically been acting like friends before now anyways??) but just rolls with it. Sure, officially friends!

Bō is still awful at actually hiding his crush, and Cueball eventually notices… but then is in denial about it for a long while until Mesh convinces him to just go for it.

Some context, I imagine Mesh as the type to end up being friends with everyone, and him and Cueball end up being particularly good friends. Mostly because Cueball is a painfully lonely guy outside of DOT EXE and BRC. He doesn’t even have any online/long-distance friends.

Anyways, Cueball still can’t imagine anyone having a crush on him, so he’s worried he’s just overthinking things despite Mesh’s encouragement. So then he decides to really overthink things by coming up with an elaborate(?) plan to see whether or not he and Bō are compatible!!

The plan is to have Bō help Cueball get upgraded so he can listen in on police signals without detection (i.e. to avoid what happened to Eight Ball). Bō agrees, and thus they work together on it. The focus is mainly on upgrading Cueball’s software, though eventually they also have to upgrade some of the internal hardware that Cueball uses.

Cueball himself keeps an eye on how Bō reacts to/handles the problems they run into, and also how well they get along during this project. Cueball is surprised to find himself having fun working with Bō on this. Especially since, upgrading himself like this was something Cueball had been meaning to do after the events of the game. He’s just been putting it off because he dreaded the idea of doing all this work by himself.

During their work, Bō still has a crush on Cueball, but he’s not up for confessing it. Meanwhile, Cueball is realizing he’s starting to fall for Bō too. This makes him paranoid that he’s going to screw things up and scare away Bō, but he’s doing his best to try and keep things under control (mainly, making sure he doesn’t panic externally).

At one point, Bō manages to sneak some full-cyber internal parts from his job. They’re for the upgrades they need for Cueball’s hardware I mentioned earlier. Essentially, they had hit a block where the software is doing the best it can, it’s just the hardware that’s limiting how well it can actually work.

Externally, Cueball says he’s impressed that Bō would go that far for “a friend”, and Bō tells him it’s nothing (Bō is blushing while saying this, but Cueball politely pretends not to notice, lol). Internally, Cueball thinks this might as well be a marriage proposal for Bō to risk his own job like this.

After further changes, they finish the upgrades! They proceed with field testing, making sure it’s actually working as intended. So far it does seem to be working fine, with Cueball even managing to change a signal or two without the cops even noticing (basically confusing the cops with garbled messages, Bō warns him not to push his luck too much).

However, Cueball eventually finds a signal he can’t read nor change. To Bō’s confusion, this mystery signal starts annoying Cueball enough to try and force his way to access the signal. Bō tries to stop him, but feedback from the weird signal causes Cueball to get knocked out (and some of the hardware in his head gets fried too; he later describes it as the signal somehow “fighting back” against him).

(The mystery signal will be resolved in a separate fan fic thingamajig, this is the Cueball x Bō post :P )

Anyways, Cueball is rushed back to the BRC hideout where Bō tries to fix him. Eventually Cueball wakes up, but Bō is pissed and demands to know why Cueball would push himself like that. Cueball starts off by saying that though they worked together, overall Bō did most of the work, especially with figuring out how to get past the problems they were having He didn’t want it to look like Bō’s work still had its flaws, even if they already made it pretty far.

Oh also Cueball admits he loves Bō, and didn’t want him to be disappointed that there was one more problem with what he was working on.

Bō thinks it over (with Cueball getting nervous from the silence) until he eventually says two things:

One, he makes Cueball promise to never try something like that again, especially since he thought Cueball had outright died from what happened.

Second, he finally confesses he loves Cueball back!!

Afterwards, they get Cueball fixed up, including replacing the hardware components that got fried. Cueball thanks Bō by helping him cause some at his workplace, basically hacking certain systems to cause havoc and allowing Bō to have a “good” reason to leave.

Long story short he was the only person in his department really doing any work, and he even got pulled around to work on other teams. The higher-ups were aware of how much Bō was being overworked, but instead of fixing things, they insisted on keeping Bō around as a “critical employee”. They wouldn’t even let him quit, refusing any reason Bō tried to come up with, especially since they asked for proof like signed doctor’s forms and stuff like that.

It wasn’t until the hacking that Bō finally had something that his bosses couldn’t ignore! Especially since he also warned them about security flaws in their systems (which is how he directed Cueball to attack them), so he quits on the grounds that the company is “clearly willing to put their employees in danger”.

So then Bō and Cueball start dating after that, huzzah!!

With all that establishment done, now it’s time for their lovey-dovey activities!~

The biggest hobby they share besides computer stuff is video games! Trying out both multiplayer stuff they can play together, as well as one person playing a game he hasn’t played before but the other has. For example, Bō playing through Super Mario 64 and Cueball helping him with it if he gets stuck.

On the note of SM64 in particular: Bō thought the murder piano was from a ROM hack. He freaked out once he learned that wasn’t the case after getting too close to it. It didn’t help that the level already has a creepy atmosphere before getting to the room with the piano! Anyways, he handed the controller back to Cueball and had him finish the rest of Big Boo’s Haunt, loool

Kinda like what happens with Nunchaku and Vinyl, Bō ends up getting Cueball into anime! Cueball enjoys the usual shonen/popular animes, but he also gets more invested in mech series than Bō did (since Bō mostly just collected the cool figures without watching their origin shows much). On the bright side, Cueball chatting with Bō about certain mech series, especially about their themes and story arcs, gets Bō more genuinely interested in them too!

In the opposite direction: Cueball gets Bō interested in Western sci-fi/fantasy stuff! Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the like. Most of the actual stories are kind of hit or miss with Bō, though he ends up at least interested in the worldbuilding and lore for a lot of them.

Eventually Bō gets invited to DOT EXE’s D&D nights alongside Cueball. The DOT EXE D&D games are another headcanon from @mechanical-magician, it’s such a fun idea!

Bō ends up saving Cueball a lot during these games. Which is a good thing, Cueball normally has lousy luck and has his character die within the first few sessions of a campaign. After a while of this, he starts referring to Bō as his good luck charm for D&D. :3

Cueball teases Bō and plays small pranks on him, very harmless silly stuff compared to the pranks he’d do for other people. Basically making sure they both have fun with it!

Bō also tries to do the same sort of thing back to Cueball. Not really in terms of pranks, but definitely the teasing. He’s found he can make Cueball pretty flustered with enough flirty compliments too, hee hee.

They are the boyfriends who can do maintenance on each other!~ Cueball helping repair/check Bō’s cybernetic legs when needed, and Bō making sure Cueball’s internals and code are running fine.

One time Cueball joked, while his torso was open because Bō was replacing some hardware components in there, “Y’know, I bet some people would find this super romantic.” Considering what was happening is more equivalent to a vivisection/surgery than anything else, Bō isn’t sure he wants to meet whoever thinks this type of thing is “romantic”, lol

Cueball can’t eat of course, but like I mentioned at the end of my big DOT EXE post, he does know how to cook! So then that means cooking for Bō a lot, including for date nights. He also quickly learns about Bō’s preferences: favorite foods and dishes, disliked flavors and textures, etc.

So once they start dating after the events of the game, the topic of their ages comes up at some point. Bō is 31 and Cueball is 43 (with Cueball having gone full-cyber at some point in his early 20s). Admittedly, Bō was expecting Cueball to be younger than himself by a few years.

Bō actually has a preference for older men anyways, but admits his relationship with Cueball is a bit different than what he’s used to. Which is, the older man being more experienced with relationships and stuff. Meanwhile this is Cueball’s first (genuine) romantic relationship and he has no idea what to do at the beginning. And a couple more times later on in their relationship too. :P

On that last note! Cueball sometimes ends up overthinking things in regards to his relationship with Bō, since he sometimes gets scared he might screw things up. Where to go for dates, how long is it appropriate to hold hands, how many compliments a day is too little or too much, etc.

Related to that, Cueball becomes afraid he might love Bō too much. Since he’s never fallen in love before, he had no idea what feelings/actions/statements/thoughts are normal, and which ones might be a sign of like, codependency, or otherwise being overly creepy/obsessed. Again, he sometimes gets terrified of the idea of messing up his relationship, especially to the point where Bō ends up hating him. Cueball’s worst nightmare right there!!

He gets a handle on it eventually. It helps that Bō will take time to reassure him that these kinds of feelings are normal. Not to mention Bō making it clear whenever something is genuinely weird/creepy, and talking it out with Cueball to make sure he understands.

Full-cyber bodies can still feel sensations (touch, temperature, texture, etc.) thanks to advanced sensors throughout their bodies. Cueball is really big on physical touch as a show of affection since it’s a big sensation he can still experience after going full-cyber. This is especially important to him since he’s touch-starved, something he realizes while dating Bō. He is thus incredibly cuddly and big on handholding and hugs!

Bō admits he’s never had a boyfriend who was this physically affectionate, but he also says he prefers it this way. It’s because of this that Bō finds out he is also touch-starved. This encourages Cueball to give Bō hugs and cuddles as much as possible. :D

Cueball loves the feeling of certain textures, and Bō’s hair and stubble gets added to that list. Running his fingers through Bō’s hair, rubbing his hands and even his head against Bō’s stubble, etc. Bō doesn’t mind, especially since most of the time it’s like a nice massage.

When sleeping, Cueball is the big spoon. Mostly for practicality, since Cueball’s charging cables come out of the backside of his body (specifically the base of his head, the base of his neck, and the base of his spine). Though even if that weren’t the case, the two of them would probably end up spooning this way out of comfort/their own preferences anyways.

Cueball tends to wrap both his arms and legs around Bō while sleeping too, lol

You might be wondering how kissing works between these two. Really it’s just Bō kissing him on his screen face. When Cueball kisses him back, he also plays a little “smooch.mp3” sound effect. :P

At some point once they’re living together, they adopt some cats because of Cueball’s love of cats. He wanted to get 5, but Bō talked him down to 3, lol

Their names are Pumpkin, Sapphire, and Clover! All of them black cats, and each of them named by the color of their eyes (orange, blue, and green respectively). They are very cute. :3

Because of why Cueball went full-cyber (long story short, he got severely sick, and the doctors he saw either insisted it wasn’t that bad, or just couldn’t do much to help him), he is distrustful of doctors. He worries for Bō’s health and makes sure he’s eating good food, checking his temperature and pulse regularly, etc. Also insists on accompanying Bō to any doctor appointments to make sure he’s safe!!

Bō appreciates the concern, but finds Cueball pretty overbearing with this. He eventually convinces Cueball to reign it back a bit and assures him he’ll be fine, and will let Cueball know if he starts to feel sick.

From my big DOT EXE post, I headcanon that the voice we hear in game for DOT EXE is actually a “default” voice to hide their identities. They can switch to other voices, and each member can of course switch back to a digitized version of their original voice from before going full-cyber. Bō is the only one who knows what Cueball’s real voice sounds like, and even then Cueball only uses it when they’re alone together in private.

Cueball finds Bō very physically attractive, which is something that Bō isn’t quite used to (i.e. doesn’t get a lot of compliments on being good-looking, even from past boyfriends). Not that he minds!

Bō in turn does find Cueball genuinely handsome. Cueball has a hard time believing it at first (“I mean, I don’t even have a face??”), but learns to accept the compliments later on.

It turns out that in private, Cueball is also a bit of a pervert. Just a bit! Not that Bō minds that either, as long as Cueball keeps it private. Cueball is grossed out by the idea of being “too affectionate” in public anyways, if you know what I mean :P

Okay I think that’s it for now!! I think I ended up writing about the same as what I did for Nunchaku and Vinyl. At least it feels like it. :u

One more big indulgent post left, hopefully I can get that done soon. ;o;

[goldenanomaly]

Such a rotten girl... (I am ALL IN on Apple Girlington Darkener btw. read more if you're interested)

BASICALLY this is Toby's improvised Touhou OC named Apple Girlington. She's the "personification of an apple." Here's her theme and lore. The personification of an inanimate object Sounds a lot like a Darkener yeah? I'm not the first person to imagine that she may be in Deltarune, but here's some reasons as to why I think she may be: 1. Kris has a very prominent connection to apples, which may tie into the "deal with the devil" theory, but other than that it's kinda random. Kris is coooonstantly associated with apples, they have apple scented shampoo, they smell like apples, there's that story from the Spamton Sweepstakes involving the apple. Toby even has nostalgiac memories of apple shampoo.

2. Toby recieved lots of fanart of Apple Girlington, with this one seemingly becoming the most popular design. The same day he uploaded her theme, though, he received this fanart of her, but commented that her skin color was "too normal" and said he'd prefer her with a "really freaky zombie yellow" skintone. If we take a look at Kris, well...yeah. These lines of dialogue make a lot more sense now lol. (I don't think Kris is a zombie by the way, but this *is* interesting.)

3. Okay, sure, but what is she? Well, I think we have a couple options. The most obvious is that she's the apple scented shampoo from the bathroom. (I was initially hesitant on this, but we do know that the Chapter 3 Dark World *will* take inspiration from the bathroom.)

She may also be a rotten apple or something, maybe in Asgore's fridge if we get a Dark World in his flower shop? Maybe she could even have a worm inside her or something lmao.

4. What purpose would she serve? Well, I'm not sure, but I think she'd be an interesting way to explore many aspects of Kris that they probably won't be discussing on their own. Also...c'mon. How cool would it be to have a Touhou inspired character in the game series that's inspired by Touhou? Maybe Kris, Susie, and Ralsei could dress up like Touhou characters! (Kris would be Reimu of course, just like Frisk in this art by Temmie Chang.)

Aaanyways I think she'd be cool!! Would love to see this happen, or at least be referenced. She doesn't even have to get a battle (though that would be preferable lol). I swear, if we get an apple shampoo Darkener and its NOT her I'm gonna flip 😭

Guess we'll find out on June 4th!

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Jasper's Servitor/Thoughtform Resource Post

last updated: December 23, 2024

Please note: The biggest difference between a servitor and thoughtform is the level of sentience (or perceived sentience). A servitor is not sentient, while a thoughtform is. Determine it as you will.

Also, a disclaimer! Even if I don't find a source particularly helpful, you might get more out of it than I did! I just like to categorize and sub-categorize things.

Tumblr Posts I Find Helpful

How to Make a Servitor by viadescioism: A rather straightforward guide on servitor creation.

Creating a Thoughtform by windvexer: A decently lengthy guide on thoughtform creation.

When Creating Thoughtforms by witchesalleyway: A little reminder about picking the shapes of your thoughtforms.

Technowitchcraft - Thoughtforms by aceswitch: A post with the idea of using a USB drive as the "body" of a servitor/thoughtform to allow for future edits.

Egregore by trustmepink: An extremely short post defining what an egregore is. Great for being introduced to the word and concept, though there's not much meat in the post and the sources/helpful links are a bit questionable.

Sigils: Scribbles to Forget or Spirits to Remember by witchofsouthernlight: While not about servitor creation, this is about reusing sigils for specific goals and how those can be spirits in an animist perspective. A really neat post overall and useful here because of the way that servitors are often tied to sigils.

Entity Creation Worksheet by jasper-pagan-witch: Adapted from Creating Magickal Entities, but altered to a decent extent so it's more helpful to me personally.

Servitor Design Template by ritual-and-chaos: Adapted from Servitor Magick, extremely straightforward with an explanation. A great alternative to my adaptation of the template from Creating Magickal Entities.

Chaos Magic: Servitors, Thoughtforms, and Godforms by trollkunnig: Incredibly in-depth and detailed when it comes to servitor creation, but since OP deactivated, the links in reference to the godform parts are broken. Damn the loss of information on the Internet!!!

Destroying Your Thoughtforms: by viadescioism: A fairly detailed (if a little wall-of-text-y) post on the destruction of the thoughtform, with a guide in case you didn't build a kill switch/phrase into your thoughtform to begin with.

Thoughtforms: Theory & Ethics by spiritvexer: A good companion post to the thoughtform destruction one above, giving a few alternatives to total destruction for the thoughtforms when you no longer need them.

Thoughts on Thoughtforms by spellsandwoo-woostuff: An insightful read into another approach to thoughtforms as OCs or writing muses given life rather than spells given sentience.

Basics of Servitor Creation and Implementation by majokkid: Part of majokkid's Magi Praxis series, this goes over the basic steps of servitor creation in a way that is straightforward, easy to understand, and works well even beyond magical girl-aligned practices.

Easy Ways to Charge Energyforms by windvexer: Goes over a bunch of different energy feeding and charging methods for servitors and provides resources for making this shit easier. And gods know we need to make this shit easier.

Books And Websites I Find Helpful

Condensed Chaos: An Introduction To Chaos Magic by Phil Hine: While this is a chaos magic 101 type book, it has an incredibly robust chapter on servitor/thoughtform creation. It also has the benefit of talking about chaos magic more broadly to give you more context for servitor/thoughtform creation. You can find my initial thoughts on it here. APPLICABLE PAGES: 106 to 125, under the chapter name "Chaos Servitors"

The Forty Servants, The Four Devils, and The Grimoire of The Forty Servants by Tommie Kelly: Two pre-made servitor systems that are incredibly in-depth and, in my opinion, quite fun to use. There's a little bit of plug-and-play applicable here.

Magickal Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity by Damon Brand: It is effective, straight to the point, and actionable. But interestingly, it's incredibly combative towards chaos magic, which is where servitor/thoughtform creation sprung up to begin with. You can find my initial thoughts about it here.

Tumblr Posts I Find Less Helpful

Creating a Servitor and Creating a Thoughtform by witchy-oates: These guides aren't bad, but they really seem to focus on the fear that a servitor will spontaneously develop sentience, which I generally disagree with.

Is Your Spirit A Thoughtform? by elysiumconjures: A lengthy questionnaire and list of red flags that an entity you're interacting with might be a thoughtform. Personally I found it frustrating to read, but the list can at least guide beginners who are still learning discernment techniques to figure out what to look for.

On Telling The Difference Between A Thoughtform And A "Real" Spirit by creature-wizard: The counter-post to the above one, though you kind of need to see both perspectives to fully appreciate creature-wizard's wonderful counterpoints.

Distinguishing Imaginary Friends, Thoughtforms, and Spirits by spiritconnect: Another post about deciphering whether what you're talking to is a thoughtform or some other kind of entity.

A Short Guide to Thoughtforms by thewitchofbucktown: Longer than it promises, and I personally don't feel like referring to all deities as thoughtforms is something that works with my understanding of things at this time, but not a bad post considering it was written 11 years ago. Plus, OP hasn't deactivated, which is really hard to find in servitor/thoughtform resources.

Servitors: A Basic Guide to Artificial Entities by tinyrosemarysparrows: While this is a very detailed guide with some interesting and unique approaches to servitor creation, the author dropping back to "destroy if it even blinks wrong" (not that much of an exaggeration) makes me hesitant to recommend it fully, hence its placement down here. The post even says you can reprogram servitors but still recommends immediate destruction for every little thing, so…it's not really how I roll.

Books And Websites I Find Less Helpful

Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation by David Michael Cunningham, Taylor Ellwood, and T Amanda R Wagener: I hated this book so much. Out of everything in here, I found only four things that were actionable and that I could use. Every single author here was pretentious as fuck and took forever to make their damn point. This could have been an email. You can read more of my complaints here. The three parts that I found most interesting can be read in these Tumblr posts of mine: Servitors as Links; Energy Store-House Entities (ESHEs); and Servitor Biographies.

Protection & Reversal Magick: A Witch's Defense Manual by Jason Miller: I can't fucking believe I'm putting a Jason Miller book here. And look, I can't say this entire book is helpful because I haven't yet finished it, but the section on artificial spirits created for magical offense and defense? Probably one of the best sections on servitors/thoughtforms I've read in a non-dedicated book in a while. Just be aware that his tone of speech is deeply annoying, and this book of his leans more Hekatean. But because I have not finished reading this book, I cannot recommend this book fully. APPLICABLE PAGES: 119 to 146, under the chapter name "Spirit Guardians and Servitors"

Hands-On Chaos Magic: Reality Manipulation through the Ovayki Current by Andrieh Vitimus: I hated this book. I hate this book. I will hate this book. It's deeply frustrating and there's only so many times I can keep writing "stop citing a white woman on hoodoo" in the book itself before I just start eating the pages. That, and many similar problems, are why I do not find this book helpful on the whole despite how in-depth it goes in its three chapters on servitor creation. The author also refers heavily back to Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine, so that's required reading before you even pick this up. Personally, I'm just not impressed. APPLICABLE PAGES: 287 to 339, under the chapter names "Creating Entities with Energy and Information", "Giving Form to Concepts and Ideas", and "Advanced Practicum on Entity Creation"

Jasper's Miscellaneous Bullshit

Jasper's Energyform Zine by jasper-pagan-witch: I suffered for two months to write this damn thing and by the gods I shall shill it.

Jasper's Guide To Energyforms by jasper-pagan-witch: A little glossary of how I, personally, use the terms you've seen speckled throughout this post.

The Modal Commander Servitor by jasper-pagan-witch: A Magic: The Gathering Commander format approach to creating a kickass servitor that can change and adapt as easily as swapping out cards.

Atronachs, Ash Guardians, and Quick Notes on the Less Common Atronachs on @the-college-of-whispers: Want a quick look at how Jasper from 3 years ago approached the idea of elemental Daedra as entities, both created and summoned? These three posts are for you.

@jasper-and-the-forty-servants: Remember how I was talking about the plug-and-play part of the Forty Servants above? Yeah, that's what I do over on this blog. My favorite two are, hands down, Falco Spara, Pactweaver as the Protector and Dina, Soul Steeper as the Healer.

GOFLOWOLFOG and Fotamecus: Two servitors/egregores that I and people close to me have had incredible experiences with. Hell yeah to both of them.

Mesperyian: Tumblr's very own Greek goddess egregore. An excellent study in the power of multiple people taking something and running with it. (Her original story can be found here, by the way!)

[factual-fantasy]

28 Asks, thank you! :} 🚑🧡

@glitchhayden418

I haven't gone into detail about my symptoms, how its effected my life and what tests I've had done because that's obviously all very personal.. but yeah, there's some ideas about what could be wrong. But I don't think anyone knows with 100% certainty what it is. If the leading theory turns out to be correct, I'm staring down a life long condition and will have to put in constant effort every day to be comfortable.

If its NOT that, well. I guess that route is not fabulous either. But I'm hoping its not the first option.

I say "sick" just to be vague, I don't think we know what's wrong yet or what to properly call it. I WISH I could just call 911 and could be whisked off to be cured of this horrible thing. But dozens of appointments have told me its not going to be that easy. 😔

I don't see why I would need a manager to help with my blog.. I can manage it just fine! :0 And I don't get as many asks as people might think I do..

Discord however... wellll.. 😅

@ramiel-hourglass

Huh? <:0 I'm not making another goober- at least I have no plans to right now.. I WANTED to make one for the 30k celebration but I couldn't really come up with anything that felt right.. plus rn I'm pretty content with the fam as we are! :)

Also thank you! I hope you have a wonderful day too! :)))

@multifandomgummybear

SCREAMMMSSSS THANK YOU SO MCUH!!!! :DDD 💞💞💞💞

@fandomcenteral (Big number post)

Thank you!! :DD And aww! Cute kitty!! :}}}

@wolfie-777

XD Man what has he been up to-

@1nksp1ll

AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 😭😭💞💞💞💞

@neo-metalscottic (Face paint post) (Ratchet call out post)

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD And FRRRR I'm shocked that no one else ever notices or points it out. You'd think at least Optimus would know/notice...

For Starscream's brothers, that will all depend on what they're like in other continuities. (Which is where I'll get most of my ideas for them from)

Do they typically look the same in other shows/comics? Are they usually called clones or his brothers? Do their alt mods look the same in most transformers adaptions? It'll all just depend,

Now for Pretaking, I'll have to rewatch that part of the show and remember all the consequences that all had. Maybe I'll bring some back? Maybe I'll revive none? Maybe I'll revive ALL of them? I wont be able to decide until I see all the details for myself 😅

Ratchet will give me a scan in the big scanner do-hickey and I'll server him Energon cubes on a plate 😌

@for-my-hyperfixations

Thank you so much!! :DD And of course you may!! :}}}}

@beryl-shade

I don't play Fortnite or know much about it, so I've never considered making an OC for it.. <:(

(Referencing this post)

Imma play devils advocate here and say that Ratchet DOES have a decent excuse.... if their stockpile of Energon is low, he of all bots can afford to cut back a little.. 😔

But this does NOT mean that he is less valuable than the other bots 👁️👁️👁️ Ratchet you better be taking notes

@digi-tor (Referencing this post)

XD Thank you! :)))

Paid requests is something I might look into.. but for now I'm just trying to get my Ko-fi and Patreon set up 😔

@v0idish-t3ars (Referencing this post)

I have tried to get good sleep this past week but its just really hard with this stuffy nose and sore throat 💀

(Referencing this post)

XD Do you know how hard it is to sleep with a sore throat and stuffy nose? As for Ratchet... 👁️

I've seen him.. 💀 Man what are they doin to FNAF now-a-days.. things are getting weird-

(Referencing this post) @briandraws

XDD I sure do! Well enough to see that Ratchet hasn't refueled 👁️

(Referencing this post)

XDD To be fair he's got a bit of an excuse, Energon is hard to come by.. 😔

(Referencing this post)

I haven't gotten much sleep these past few days, and I doubt I could scare Ratchet into actually refueling XDD💀💀

@badlyblurry (Referencing this post)

RATCHET EAT FOOD RN OR IM GONNA WRITE ANGST ABOUT IT🫵🫵🫵(YOU DON'T WANT THAT CURSE RATCHET)

(Referencing this post)

AUHDAFHJ LIKE ACTALLY THO 🤣🤣🤣

@aboutchicken298

RATCHETT LES GOOOOOOOO 🗣️🗣️😭💞💞💞

@caronaro-flipaclip

Thank you! I hope the same for you! :))

I've thought about watching rescue bots.. since people keep suggesting it to me and because its set in the same continuity as Prime.. but MAN do the tones just seem way off.

Prime feels like a very mature adaption of transformers. It talks about war and death and disease.. desperation, starvation.. showing dead bodies and brutal (robotic) gore and bodily horror. There's not any silly episodes about having to rescue a cat from a tree or real heavy focus on the casual lives of the 3 kids. Prime feels very serious and rooted in realty basically.

But then I look at rescue bots and,,, I just cant imagine it carrying the same vibe. 3(?) transformers completely out and the open and working with humans.? A very kiddie type art style..? Idk, I just don't think its gonna feel attached to the original tfp at all. (Please politely correct me if I'm wrong-)

(WAHAGG THABK YU SO MUCH!!! 😭😭💞💞💞) I'm answering this ask a bit late- but yes this is what I intend on doing :)

I'm trying to get a Patreon and Ko-fi set up. I plan to post exclusive WIPs and sketches, drawings days before I post them to tumblr, and anything else I can think of <XD I'm even seriously considering posting Octonauts artwork to my Patreon to weed out a lot of the kids who aren't willing to listen and trace/repost all my artwork.

I don't want to pay wall too much though,, I keep thinking about those people who have told me how much my art means to them. I would hate for them to not be able to see it anymore..

But at the same time, money is tight <:( I'll keep thinking about all that even after my Patreon and Ko-fi are up and running.

(Link in ask)

I've seen fanart for it here and there, but never listened to the soundtrack. :0 Thank you for the link! :))

AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDDD

[shiorihyugawrites]

The Devil's Bride

Aurora Jaeger, Eren's long-lost childhood friend, was taken from him when they were children. After years of suffering under Marleyan control, Aurora is reunited with Eren while he’s undercover in Marley, igniting a bond neither of them expected. Despite her gentle nature, Aurora breaks her vow of pacifism to save Eren’s life, solidifying their deep connection. Secretly married before the Raid on Liberio, Aurora is swept into Eren's world of chaos and destruction. As the Scouts learn of her existence, tensions rise on the airship home. Mikasa’s heart shatters, and Levi demands answers. And Eren will stop at nothing to protect the only light left in his dark world—his bride, Aurora.

In this journey of love, loyalty, and war, Aurora must reconcile her innocent heart with the brutal reality of the man she loves, while Eren faces the truth of what he’s become. (Eren x OC)

Chapter Forty Five

Over the next few weeks, the laboratory became a second home for Aurora and Hange. The two of them spent hours experimenting, testing, and refining different formulas, often losing themselves so completely in their work that time seemed to slip away unnoticed. The wooden floors were stained with soot and the acrid scent of burned herbs lingered in the air, a testament to the countless trials and errors they had endured.

Aurora had never thought she would be involved in something like this. Her hands, once used to mixing herbal remedies meant to heal, were now crafting something designed to destroy. It left an uneasy feeling in her chest, but she knew it was necessary. If she could help give Paradis an advantage—if it meant protecting the people she loved—then she would see this through.

Hange, on the other hand, was completely in her element. She was like a woman possessed, scribbling down observations at a rapid pace, her excitement spilling over into rapid-fire theories and calculations that made Aurora’s head spin.

“This is brilliant!” Hange exclaimed one evening, holding up a small glass vial filled with an amber-colored liquid. She shook it slightly, watching as the substance inside shimmered under the dim light. “This blend is even more reactive than the last one! And when paired with an accelerant, it could create a controlled explosion strong enough to take out a Titan’s nape without the need for Thunder Spears!”

Aurora sighed, leaning against the counter as she kneaded her temples. “I still can’t believe this all started from my morning sickness remedies.”

Hange grinned. “Hey, necessity is the mother of invention, right? Who knew your knowledge of plants would end up giving us this kind of breakthrough?”

Aurora shook her head, exhaling a slow breath. “I just hope it actually works when it matters.”

“Oh, it will work,” Hange assured her. “I’ve already drawn up plans to integrate the new weapon into our combat gear. Levi’s been very interested—he even suggested adding a mechanism to launch the incendiary capsules mid-air for better precision.”

Aurora raised an eyebrow. “Captain? Interested in new technology? That’s a first.”

Hange smirked. “I know, right? But he sees the potential in it. This could save lives, Aurora.”

Aurora nodded, but before she could respond, the sound of heavy boots approaching made them both turn.

Eren stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable. His green eyes flickered between Aurora and Hange before settling on his wife.

“You’re overexerting yourself,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Aurora rolled her eyes. “Eren, I’m fine.”

He didn’t look convinced. “You’ve been in here for hours every day. You barely rest. You’re seven months pregnant, Aurora. You shouldn’t be exhausting yourself like this.”

Hange snorted. “Oh, please. If anything, she’s the least exhausted person in this room. I’m the one running on fumes.”

Eren shot her an unimpressed look before returning his attention to Aurora. “You need to take it easy.”

Aurora sighed, stepping forward and placing her hands on his chest, feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing. “I promise, I’m okay,” she said softly. “I know you’re worried, but I wouldn’t push myself if I didn’t think I could handle it.”

Eren’s jaw tightened. He reached down, resting a protective hand over her growing belly. “I just don’t want anything happening to you,” he murmured. “Or to our child.”

Aurora smiled gently, placing her own hand over his. “Nothing will.”

Hange watched the exchange with an amused expression before deciding to interject. “Eren, you should be proud of your wife,” she said, grinning. “She’s absolutely brilliant. It’s a shame she never had the chance to go to medical school—she would’ve made an outstanding doctor.”

Eren’s gaze softened slightly as he looked at Aurora. “I know,” he admitted. “She’s always been brilliant.”

Aurora felt her face warm at his words, but she quickly waved them off with a small laugh. “I don’t know about brilliant,” she muttered. “I just like learning.”

Hange scoffed. “You’re being way too modest. The way you analyze and understand plants—how you instinctively know how to mix compounds—it’s not something just anyone can do. If you had been born in a different world, where things were… better, you probably would’ve been a renowned doctor or scientist by now.”

Aurora’s smile faltered slightly at the thought. What would her life have been like if she had been born somewhere else? Somewhere that hadn’t been at war? If she had never been taken as a slave? If she had never been forced to survive through sheer will alone?

Would she have gone to school? Would she have studied medicine, just like Hange said? Would she have spent her days healing instead of fighting?

Eren seemed to sense her thoughts. He reached up, brushing a strand of platinum hair away from her face, his fingers lingering against her cheek. “You’re more than this war,” he said quietly. “You always have been.”

Aurora swallowed past the lump in her throat, nodding. “I know.”

Hange clapped her hands together, breaking the heavy moment. “Well! Enough of that,” she said cheerfully. “Eren, why don’t you take your wife out of here for a while? She’s been locked in this lab long enough.”

Eren didn’t need to be told twice. He nodded, slipping an arm around Aurora’s waist. “Come on,” he said. “You’re taking a break.”

Aurora groaned. “But we’re so close to—”

“No,” Eren cut her off firmly. “You’re done for today.”

Hange winked at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep working. Go spend time with your husband.”

Aurora sighed in defeat. “Fine. But I expect a full report on everything when I get back.”

Hange saluted playfully. “Yes, ma’am.”

Eren led Aurora out of the lab, his grip on her firm but gentle. As they stepped outside, the cool night air wrapped around them, a stark contrast to the heat and intensity of the lab. Aurora exhaled slowly, letting herself relax for the first time in hours.

Eren pulled her closer, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “You really are brilliant,” he murmured. “And you’re mine.”

Aurora smiled, leaning into him. “Always.”

As they walked away from the lab, Aurora couldn’t help but think about how much had changed. How much she had changed. She wasn’t just a survivor anymore. She was building something—creating something that could help protect the people she loved.

And that? That was worth every ounce of effort.

As the golden hues of the setting sun painted the sky in soft streaks of pink and orange, They walked side by side through the quiet outskirts of the camp. The air was crisp with the lingering scent of the sea, and a gentle breeze rustled through the sparse trees, carrying with it the distant sounds of life—Jaegerists finishing their drills, soldiers settling in for the night, the faint crackle of fires being lit.

But here, away from it all, it was peaceful. Almost eerily so.

Aurora sighed, her fingers laced with Eren’s as they strolled at an unhurried pace. She glanced around, taking in the vast openness of the land, the way the sky stretched endlessly above them, the faint silhouette of the mountains in the distance. It reminded her of something—of before.

She tightened her grip on Eren’s hand as a wave of nostalgia washed over her. “Do you remember the cabin?” she asked softly, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

Eren didn’t answer immediately, but she felt his thumb brush over the back of her hand, a subtle acknowledgment. His gaze remained fixed on the horizon, but his expression had shifted, darkened slightly with the weight of memory.

“Of course I remember,” he murmured at last, his voice low. “I think about it all the time.”

Aurora smiled faintly, though it was tinged with sadness. “It feels like a lifetime ago.”

Eren exhaled heavily through his nose. “It was the only time we were really free,” he admitted. “Even if it was temporary.”

She nodded, knowing he was right. For those few months in Marley, when it had just been the two of them, when she had spent her days tending to their little home while he prepared for the inevitable war—those had been some of the happiest days of her life. It was a simple existence, one where they weren’t soldiers, or enemies, or threats to the world. They were just Eren and Aurora, two people in love, living under the same roof, waking up in each other’s arms every morning without the shadow of death hanging over them.

She missed that. She ached for it.

And yet, she knew the cruel truth. They would never have that again. Not while the world still saw them as monsters.

Aurora’s free hand drifted to her stomach, feeling the steady pulse of life beneath her fingertips. The child growing inside her—their child—was the reason she couldn’t afford to lose hope. The reason she had to believe that there was still a future worth fighting for. But how could they ever have peace when the world wanted them dead?

Eren must have sensed her turmoil because he finally turned to look at her, his green eyes searching hers in the dimming light. “You’re thinking too much,” he observed, his tone softer than usual.

Aurora huffed a quiet laugh. “Can you blame me?”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. She could see it in his face—the same war waging inside of him, the same want for something better. He had spent so much of his life fighting for freedom, but no matter how hard he fought, true freedom always remained just out of reach.

Eren tugged on her hand, pulling her to a stop. He turned to face her fully, his expression unreadable, his gaze intense in the fading sunlight. “I’ll make sure you and our child have that life again,” he said, and there was no hesitation in his voice, no room for doubt. “I don’t care what it takes.”

Aurora’s chest tightened. “Eren—”

“I mean it,” he cut her off, his grip on her tightening slightly. “I don’t give a damn what the rest of the world thinks. I don’t care how many enemies we have to face. I will carve out a future where you’re safe. Where our child grows up without knowing war.”

Aurora swallowed hard, her throat thick with emotion. She wanted to believe him. She did believe him. But at what cost?

Eren had already sacrificed so much. How much more would he have to lose?

She reached up, her fingers brushing against his cheek, her touch gentle, grounding. “I don’t need you to carry everything on your own,” she whispered. “You don’t have to bear the weight of the world alone, Eren. I’m here. I will always be here.”

His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening with something she couldn’t quite place. “You and our baby are the only things that matter to me,” he said, his voice raw. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

Aurora’s eyes stung. She hated that he felt like he had to do this alone. Hated that the burden of their future was something he believed only he could bear. She leaned in, pressing her forehead against his, closing her eyes as she breathed him in.

“We’ll protect each other,” she murmured. “Always.”

Eren’s arms wrapped around her, his hands splaying against her back as he pulled her close, holding her like she was the only thing keeping him tethered to the earth.

For a long moment, they stood there in the golden glow of twilight, wrapped in each other’s warmth, the rest of the world fading into silence.

Aurora wished she could stay like this forever.

But reality was cruel.

And peace was a fleeting dream.

However, the quiet moment between Eren and Aurora was suddenly interrupted by the soft sound of little feet rushing across the dirt path.

Aurora turned at the familiar sound, her heart immediately warming as she caught sight of Noah, his small figure running toward them with boundless energy. His cheeks were rosy from the cool evening air, and his blue eyes sparkled with excitement as he flung himself into Aurora’s arms.

"Aurora!" Noah cried out, his tiny arms wrapping tightly around her waist.

She let out a soft laugh, holding him close. "Noah, what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I saw you!" he said brightly, pulling back just enough to look up at her. "I wanted to say hi!"

Eren watched the exchange, his expression unreadable at first. But as Noah turned and grinned up at him, the little boy’s excitement unwavering, Eren felt something shift in his chest. He wasn’t used to this kind of unguarded warmth, this kind of innocence. Noah had seen nothing but death and destruction, yet he still had the capacity to smile.

Without thinking, Eren crouched down and ruffled the boy’s unruly hair, much to Noah’s delight. "You’re getting faster," he noted, his voice less gruff than usual.

Noah puffed up his chest with pride. "Reiner plays tag with us every day. He says I’m the fastest one!"

Aurora chuckled. "Oh, does he now?"

Noah nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh! He’s over there with the others!"

Aurora and Eren followed the direction of Noah’s pointing finger and spotted Reiner just a little ways off. The blond warrior was sprawled on the ground, his arms pinned down as a group of laughing children dogpiled him with merciless enthusiasm. His face was a mixture of feigned defeat and genuine amusement as they climbed all over him, their giggles echoing through the air.

Eren exhaled through his nose, watching the scene with narrowed eyes. He didn’t know if he would ever truly forgive Reiner. The damage between them ran too deep, too raw. The weight of past betrayals and unhealed wounds was something that couldn’t simply be erased, no matter how much time passed.

But for all of Reiner’s sins, for all of the blood that stained his hands, Eren could see that he was trying.

Reiner wasn’t the same soldier who had once terrorized Paradis, who had broken through their walls and shattered countless lives. He was a man trying desperately to atone, trying to find purpose in a world that had long since cast him aside. And in these children, in Noah, he had found something worth living for.

Eren wasn’t sure if it changed anything. But at the very least, he could admit that Reiner’s presence here had been useful. He was a strong fighter, a valuable asset in battle. And more than that, he had somehow become… softer. Less burdened by the crushing weight of guilt that had once left him on the brink of self-destruction.

Aurora noticed the way Eren’s gaze lingered on Reiner, the way his expression remained impassive but thoughtful. She placed a hand on his arm, drawing his attention back to her.

"He’s different now," she murmured, sensing the conflict within him. "I don’t think he’ll ever be able to make up for what he’s done, but… he’s trying."

Eren didn’t respond right away. He simply looked at her, at the way she held Noah so gently, at the way she still had the capacity to forgive, to see the good in people even after everything they had been through.

"You trust him?" Eren finally asked, his tone unreadable.

Aurora hesitated, then nodded. "I do. He saved my life. He didn’t have to, but he did."

Eren let out a quiet breath, his jaw tightening slightly. He wasn’t sure if he could ever bring himself to say the same. But maybe, just maybe, he could accept it.

Noah, oblivious to the tension between them, tugged at Aurora’s sleeve. "Come play with us! Reiner said I could be his helper today!"

Aurora smiled down at him, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "You’re Reiner’s helper, huh? That sounds very important."

Noah beamed. "It is! I have to make sure all the other kids don’t cheat!"

Eren scoffed lightly, shaking his head. "Sounds like a tough job."

Noah nodded seriously. "It is! But I’m good at it!"

Aurora glanced back at Reiner, who was now laughing as one of the children attempted to wrestle him into submission. He looked lighter than she had ever seen him before, as if, for the first time in years, he wasn’t drowning under the weight of his own guilt.

Maybe Reiner really had found something worth holding on to.

But suddenly, the peace of the evening was shattered in an instant. A deafening explosion erupted in the distance, sending a tremor through the ground beneath them. The sky lit up with a sudden burst of orange and red, smoke billowing from the direction of Hange’s lab.

Eren’s instincts kicked in immediately. He grabbed Aurora and Noah without hesitation, shielding them behind his body as he scanned the area, his senses sharp and ready for any sign of an attack. His heart pounded with rage, already calculating how quickly he could shift if necessary.

Aurora clutched Noah tightly, her breath catching in her throat. Her first thought was an attack—Marley? Had they somehow gotten through their defenses unnoticed? But then, as the dust settled, she saw movement.

A familiar figure stumbled out of the smoking remains of the lab, coughing and waving their arms like a lunatic.

Hange.

Eren let out a sharp exhale, his grip on Aurora and Noah relaxing slightly. "That crazy woman…" he muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

Aurora, however, was still tense with concern until she heard Hange’s unhinged laughter echoing across the field. The scientist’s wild eyes darted around until they landed on Aurora, and then, with a triumphant scream, she raised her soot-covered hands in victory.

"WE’VE DONE IT, AURORA!"

Aurora blinked in confusion, her heart still racing from the explosion. "What—what do you mean we’ve done it?! You just blew up half your lab!"

Hange ignored the statement entirely, stumbling forward with manic excitement, her glasses slightly askew and her coat covered in soot and scorch marks. "It works! It actually works!" She grabbed Aurora’s hands and shook them wildly, practically vibrating with energy. "The compound! The formula! The plant-based ignition system we developed—it’s perfect!"

Eren narrowed his eyes. "You mean the weapon you two have been obsessing over for weeks?"

"Not obsessing—perfecting!" Hange corrected, pushing her glasses up her nose as her grin widened. "And we just proved it can take down a titan faster than a thunderspear! This changes everything!"

Aurora’s concern melted into excitement as her mind processed the implications. "You finally got it to ignite instantly? Even faster than our test runs?"

"Exactly!" Hange nodded so quickly that her glasses nearly slipped off again. "I tweaked the ratios a bit, adjusted the volatile properties of the herbs, and BOOM—literally! The reaction time is near-instantaneous! The moment it makes contact with an open wound, it spreads like wildfire, incinerating everything in its path!"

Noah, who had been gripping Aurora’s arm in fear, peeked up at her with wide eyes. "Miss Hange is scary…" he whispered.

Aurora let out a small laugh, rubbing his back soothingly. "She’s just excited, sweetie."

Eren, however, was still on high alert. "So what you’re saying is, you’ve created a weapon that could incinerate titans on contact."

"Yes! And not just titans!" Hange’s eyes glowed with scientific glee. "Any enemy, really. It’s like wildfire but even more potent. With enough of this, we could turn the tide of battle before Marley even steps foot on this island!"

Aurora’s mind was racing now. This wasn’t just a discovery—this was a game changer. A weapon designed not just from the remnants of Paradis’ existing arsenal, but from her own research, her own knowledge of plants and herbal chemistry. This was something new, something no enemy would expect.

But then a new thought hit her, one that sent a chill down her spine. "Hange… if this weapon is as powerful as you say, and we start using it in battle… what’s stopping Marley from trying to steal it?"

Hange’s grin faltered slightly, her expression turning more serious. "That’s why we have to be careful. This can’t fall into the wrong hands. If they get their hands on it, they’ll find a way to use it against us. That’s why we need to keep this as controlled as possible until we’re ready."

Eren folded his arms, still wary. "And what’s stopping you from blowing yourself up before we even get the chance to use it?"

Hange waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, don’t be so dramatic. I know what I’m doing. Besides, the explosion was minor compared to what it could have been! Just a little… excitement in the final stages of testing."

Aurora sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You’re going to give me a heart attack before this baby is even born."

Hange clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, come on! This is history in the making, Aurora! Your research—your work—this is what’s going to keep Paradis from falling!"

Eren let out a slow breath, his eyes shifting to Aurora, then to Noah, who was still gripping onto her for dear life. "If it works, it works," he admitted, his voice low and steady. "But if it backfires, if it risks the lives of the people we’re trying to protect…"

"It won’t," Hange assured him, her manic excitement dimming into something more controlled, more resolute. "I wouldn’t risk it unless I was sure. We’re in a fight for survival, Eren. And every weapon we can get our hands on counts."

Eren stared at her for a long moment, then finally nodded. "Fine. But we’re testing it under controlled conditions from now on. No more surprise explosions."

Hange pouted. "You’re no fun."

Aurora shook her head with a tired smile, brushing soot off Hange’s sleeve. "You’re going to give all of us gray hairs before this war is over."

"Ah, but wouldn’t that be worth it if we win?" Hange grinned, adjusting her coat. "Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have more fine-tuning to do! Science waits for no one!"

With that, she spun on her heel and rushed back toward her half-destroyed lab, muttering calculations under her breath as she went.

Aurora let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, looking down at Noah, who was still peeking up at her cautiously.

"She’s crazy," Noah whispered.

Aurora laughed softly, ruffling his hair. "Yeah, but she’s our crazy."

Eren exhaled through his nose, shaking his head before looking at Aurora. "You really trust that lunatic with your research?"

Aurora smiled, resting a hand on her belly. "She may be a lunatic, but she’s a genius. And if this weapon can help protect our home, then I trust her."

Eren didn’t respond immediately, his sharp green eyes flickering between Aurora and the remnants of the smoking lab in the distance. Finally, he reached out, taking her hand in his.

"Then let’s make sure it never falls into the wrong hands."

…

The next day, the morning sun cast a golden glow over the open field where the demonstration was set to take place. The air was crisp, the tension palpable. Soldiers stood in tight formations, eyes locked onto the platform where Aurora and Hange were setting up.

Eren stood beside Levi, his arms crossed as he surveyed the field. Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, and Sasha were nearby, each of them eager yet skeptical. Historia and Porco stood together at the edge of the crowd, the queen poised and observant while Porco had his arms folded, analyzing everything. Reiner and Pieck lingered toward the back, still unsure of how they fit into Paradis’ growing military force, but willing to see just what these two had created.

Aurora adjusted the straps on her light leather gloves as she glanced at Hange, who was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Are you ready?" Hange asked, her voice barely containing the glee she felt.

Aurora gave a small nod, her icy blue eyes scanning the eager faces before her. "I hope so. We’ve worked hard on this, and I want them to understand just how much this will change things."

Hange stepped forward, arms spread wide. "Ladies and gentlemen! Soldiers of Paradis! Today, we present to you a weapon unlike anything the world has ever seen! A weapon that will turn the tide of war in our favor, a tool that will make Marley tremble!"

The murmurs grew louder among the Jaegerists. Some were skeptical, others intrigued. They had seen what thunderspears could do. What could possibly be better than that?

Levi, standing near Eren, sighed. "Just get on with it, Four-Eyes. We don’t have all day."

Hange grinned. "Patience, Captain! Now, allow me to introduce to you… Inferno Blades!"

Aurora stepped forward, holding up a small, compact object wrapped in dark metal casing. It fit easily into the palm of her hand, no larger than a throwing knife, but the weight of it was significant.

Jean squinted. "That’s it? That tiny thing? How the hell is that supposed to be more powerful than a thunderspear?"

Hange smirked. "Oh, just watch."

She gestured to the field where large wooden dummies had been set up, representing enemy titans. Aurora pulled one of the Inferno Blades from a pouch at her side, lifted her arm, and hurled it at one of the dummies.

The moment the small device made contact with the wooden target, it erupted into flames. The fire spread instantly, devouring the dummy in seconds. Soldiers gasped as the flames climbed higher, turning the makeshift titan into a pile of smoldering ash.

But the real shock came when the fire didn’t stop. The ground around it ignited as well, creeping like a hungry beast toward the other dummies.

Sasha’s mouth fell open. "Holy shit."

Armin’s eyes widened. "It spreads. It’s like wildfire but controlled. How… how did you do this?"

Aurora, wiping her hands on her pants, explained. "The compound is made from a blend of highly flammable plants found here in Paradis. The outer casing keeps it contained until impact, and the moment it ruptures, oxygen fuels the reaction, igniting it instantly. Unlike thunderspears, there’s no delay, no need to pull a trigger or scramble away before the explosion hits. You can carry multiple at a time and throw them in quick succession."

Eren’s green eyes gleamed with approval. He had seen Aurora work tirelessly for weeks, but this… this was something else entirely. "And how many can a soldier carry at once?"

Hange clapped her hands together. "That’s the best part! Due to the small size, a single soldier can carry up to thirty at a time without being weighed down!"

There was a collective murmur of astonishment from the Jaegerists.

Jean whistled. "Damn. That’s… that’s actually really impressive."

Mikasa, ever the quiet observer, spoke next. "How does it affect titans? Does it kill them outright?"

Aurora exchanged a look with Hange before nodding. "Yes. We tested it on a captured pure titan last night. The fire spread from the initial impact point and consumed the titan in seconds. The regenerative properties of their bodies couldn’t keep up with the rapid burning."

Levi let out a low hum, his sharp eyes calculating. "Efficient. That means less reliance on blades or spears."

Porco, who had remained quiet, now stepped forward. "So what happens if Marley gets their hands on this? You’ve basically created something that can wipe out armies."

Pieck, standing beside him, nodded. "If we can use it, so can they."

Aurora sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "That’s why we’ve kept the formula classified. Only Hange and I know the exact ratios. If we do use it against Marley, we have to ensure they never get close enough to recover any samples."

Historia, ever the voice of reason, added, "And we have to be careful not to use it on areas we plan to reclaim. The fire is powerful, but it could destroy our own resources if we aren’t strategic."

Hange beamed. "Exactly! Controlled use, precise targeting—this isn’t just a weapon, it’s a tactical advantage!"

The Jaegerists murmured amongst themselves, eyes alight with interest and anticipation.

Eren, who had been silent for most of the discussion, finally stepped forward. "Then let’s make sure we use it wisely."

Aurora turned to him, her fingers brushing against his. There was something fierce in his gaze, something determined.

Eren met her eyes. "You did this. You changed the game."

She swallowed the lump in her throat, her hand instinctively resting on her stomach. "I just want us to have a fighting chance."

Eren gave a slow nod before turning back to the crowd. "From today forward, every soldier will be trained in handling Inferno Blades. We’re going to burn our enemies to the ground before they even have the chance to strike."

One of the recruits sighed. "Great. More training."

The soldiers erupted into cheers. Some clapped Aurora on the back, others gave approving nods. 

Aurora let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Hange wrapped an arm around her shoulder, grinning like a madwoman. "We just made history."

Aurora smiled. "Yeah… I guess we did."

Reiner and Pieck lingered near the back, watching the scene unfold. The flames still crackled in the distance, remnants of the Inferno Blades’ devastation, their glow casting long shadows as the sun began its slow descent.

Reiner’s golden eyes flickered from the fire to Aurora, standing beside Eren. He had underestimated her. He had thought of her as just Eren Jaeger’s devoted wife, someone fragile, someone who wouldn’t last long in the harsh reality of war. But after everything he had seen, he knew he had been wrong.

“She’s… impressive,” Pieck murmured, arms crossed as she studied Aurora’s figure. Her long platinum hair was pulled back in a loose braid, stray strands framing her sharp yet delicate features. Even now, carrying the weight of their future in her belly, she stood tall, unwavering, speaking confidently as she explained the weapon’s mechanics to Historia.

Reiner exhaled slowly. “Yeah. She is.”

Pieck tilted her head, her dark eyes gleaming with curiosity. “Did you ever expect this from her?”

Reiner shook his head. “Not at all.”

He had thought she would break under the pressure of this war, that she would cower in the shadows of Eren’s brutality. Instead, she had adapted, survived, and now she was changing the game in ways none of them had anticipated.

Pieck leaned slightly towards him, lowering her voice so that only he could hear. “She’s a bigger asset than I realized. And not just because of her connection to Eren.”

Reiner followed her gaze, watching as Aurora spoke to Levi. She wasn’t just Eren’s shadow, nor was she merely some queen figure like Historia. Aurora was an entirely different force altogether, one that neither Marley nor Paradis had prepared for.

“She’s valuable,” Pieck continued, her voice unreadable. “More than we thought.”

Reiner frowned, suddenly uneasy with the way Pieck was analyzing her. “She’s not just some tool to be used.”

Pieck smirked. “No, of course not. But tell me this—if you were still back in Marley, and we learned about someone like her working with Paradis, what do you think Magath and the higher-ups would say?”

Reiner clenched his jaw. He knew exactly what they would say. A woman with royal blood, a deep connection to Eren Jaeger, and a brilliant scientific mind? She would have been a prime target for exploitation, for forced cooperation.

Pieck’s expression softened, as if reading his thoughts. “Good thing we’re not with Marley anymore.”

Reiner exhaled through his nose, watching as Aurora ran a tired hand down her stomach, Eren immediately shifting closer, his palm resting protectively over hers. That small, unconscious action was enough to make Reiner understand just how fiercely Eren would guard her.

There was no taking Aurora away from Eren. Not without tearing apart the world itself.

“You think she realizes how important she is?” Reiner asked.

Pieck hummed in thought. ��I think she knows. But I don’t think she cares about power or influence the way others do. She just wants to survive this war… wants to protect what she has.”

Reiner scoffed lightly. “Yeah, well, so did we once.”

Pieck let out a low, humorless chuckle. “And look where that got us.”

The weight of their past, the choices that had led them here, hung between them like an unspoken curse.

Reiner shifted his gaze back to Aurora. Despite everything, she was still standing, still fighting, and she was doing it all while carrying the next generation inside her.

Eren might be the one people feared, but Aurora was the one who was shaping their survival.

And that, Reiner realized, made her even more dangerous.

…

That evening, the war room was filled with a heavy tension that seemed to press down on everyone inside. A large map of Paradis and its surrounding waters was spread across the table, red markers placed at critical locations, symbolizing the anticipated points of attack. Lanterns flickered against the walls, casting long shadows over the gathered group.

Eren stood at the head of the table, his expression unreadable as he listened to Reiner and Pieck relay the information they had gathered. Everyone was there—Levi, Hange, Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Historia, Porco, and the most seasoned Jaegerists. Even Aurora, though she sat quietly near Historia, her hands resting protectively over her stomach.

Reiner’s voice was grim as he leaned over the table, pointing to the coastline where Marley’s fleet was expected to arrive. “Marley and the Global Allied Forces won’t hold back. They’re coming with everything they have—ships, airships, weaponry, and their entire army. They intend to wipe Paradis off the face of the earth.”

Pieck nodded, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “This isn’t going to be like Liberio. That was an ambush, a surprise attack. This time, they know what they’re coming into. And they’re planning for it.”

Armin’s fingers traced over the routes marked on the map, his brows furrowed. “And what about the titans? How many should we expect?”

Pieck exhaled, her dark eyes flickering toward Reiner before answering. “Zeke will be the only shifter. They don’t have any other titans left. We took out all the other shifters when we raided Liberio.” She hesitated. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t have to worry about titans. Zeke still has his spinal fluid, and if he manages to spread it among the soldiers… we could be looking at another disaster.”

Jean scowled, crossing his arms. “Great. So we’re fighting off an entire army and potentially another titan outbreak at the same time.”

Eren was silent through most of the discussion, standing with his hands braced against the table. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm but laced with an unsettling certainty. “It doesn’t matter how many ships or how many soldiers they send. Once I find Zeke and make contact, it’s over.”

The room went still.

Armin swallowed hard. “Eren…”

“I will activate the Founder's power,” Eren continued, cutting off any protests before they could form. “And I will flatten everything outside of Paradis.”

There was a heaviness to his words that made Aurora’s stomach twist, though she didn’t interrupt. Everyone already knew this was coming, but hearing him say it so plainly sent a chill through the room.

Pieck, Reiner, and Porco, who had remained quiet up until now, suddenly tensed.

“Wait,” Pieck said sharply. “You’re really going to destroy the entire world? Just like that?”

Eren’s gaze flicked up to meet hers, unblinking. “It’s the only way.”

Reiner’s fists clenched. “Then what about the Eldians in Marley? In the internment zones? They’re innocent. They’ve already suffered enough.”

Porco stepped forward, his golden eyes blazing with emotion. “Eren, if you go through with this, you’ll be killing millions of our people, too. Not just the ones who hate us. What about the ones who have nothing to do with this war? The children? The ones who aren’t even old enough to understand what’s happening?”

Eren stared at them, his expression unreadable, but after a long silence, he finally spoke. “I’ll spare the internment zones.”

Reiner, Pieck, and Porco all exchanged glances, as if they could hardly believe what they were hearing.

“That’s the best I can do,” Eren said flatly. “But the rest of the world has to go.”

Hange, who had been unusually quiet during the discussion, pinched the bridge of her nose. “So that’s it? Just mass genocide on a global scale?”

Eren didn’t react. “If we don’t do this, they’ll destroy us first.”

Historia, who had remained mostly silent, placed a hand on Aurora’s shoulder as if to silently ground her. “And what about Aurora?” she asked, her tone firm but gentle. “What about your child, Eren? You’re going to war in eight weeks, and she’ll be full term by then.”

Eren’s eyes darkened slightly at the mention of Aurora, and his grip on the edge of the table tightened. “She’s not going anywhere near the battlefield.”

Aurora inhaled sharply, already knowing where this was going.

“You’ll stay in the capital,” Eren said, turning toward her fully. “Mitras. In the palace. You’ll be safe there.”

Aurora shook her head, immediately rejecting the idea. “Eren, I’m not leaving you. Not when—”

“You will.” His voice was low, commanding, but there was an almost desperate edge to it. “You’ll stay in Mitras under guard. I’ll have Historia and some of the Jaegerists watch over you.”

Historia nodded. “Of course, I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe.”

Aurora’s fingers dug into the fabric of her dress. She hated this. She hated the idea of being so far from him while he was out there, facing death. But as she looked around the room, at the hardened expressions of everyone present, she realized there was no winning this argument.

Eren wasn’t asking. He was telling her.

Levi, who had been watching the entire exchange, exhaled sharply. “Smartest thing you’ve said all night, Jaeger.”

Eren ignored him, keeping his eyes locked onto Aurora. “Please,” he said, his voice quieter now. “Stay in Mitras. For me.”

Aurora’s shoulders sagged. She wasn’t happy about this, but she knew he was right. She was too far along in her pregnancy to be anywhere near the battlefield. And if Marley knew she had royal blood, she’d be a target.

After a long moment, she nodded. “Alright.”

Eren’s hand found hers beneath the table, his fingers squeezing gently.

Armin cleared his throat, bringing the room back to focus. “Then we have eight weeks to prepare. We need every soldier trained with the Inferno Blades. We’ll need to reinforce our defenses along the coast. And we need a strategy in place to make sure we get Eren and Zeke into contact.”

Hange nodded. “I’ll keep refining the weapon. And we’ll need to work out supply lines to make sure we don’t run out before the fight even begins.”

Levi crossed his arms. “Then let’s stop wasting time and get to work.”

The weight of what lay ahead settled over them, but there was no turning back now.

In eight weeks, the war that would decide the fate of the world would begin.

~

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[classygreydove]

tobirama fic recs

4 wonderful tobirama-centric fics! (most of my bookmarks w tobirama are quite popular in the fandom. but maybe one of these will be a new favorite of yours) +1 self-promo lol

Some are gen and some are ship fics, so check pairings!

And all the fire's at your fingertips by PandaFlower - COMPLETE, 10k

T, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Gen; Tobirama & Kagami, Many enemy OCs, Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Hikaku, Kagami's Mom, Tobirama hates childnappers more than anything, Canon-Typical Violence, child kidnapping with rescue

Tobirama is elbow deep in a stealth mission in Wind Country when he runs into a shinobi squad toting a stolen Uchiha child. Tobirama disapproves.

[dove's notes: very cute. if someone told me this fic was the one that popularized the hc tobirama is good with/protective of kids, i'd believe them]

2. gravity of tempered grace by SilverStudios4140 - ONGOING, 170k

NR, No Archive Warnings Apply, Gen, M/M; Hashirama & Tobirama, Tobirama/Izuna, Tobirama & Izuna, Uzumaki Mito, Senju Clan, Uzumaki ocs, Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Clan, Hatake ocs, Time Travel Fix-It, Warring States Period (Naruto), Shinobi Politics (Naruto), Worldbuilding, BAMF Senju Tobirama, Good Sibling Hashirama, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Senju Tobirama-centric, Uchiha Izuna-centric, Canon-Typical Violence, Shinobi Culture (Naruto), Chakra Theory (Naruto), Physics, Minor HashiMito, Slow Burn

Even at the moment of the hiraishin's conception, Tobirama knew the dangers of meddling with the very threads that make up the fabric of existence. He knew that repeated usage only made it easier to traverse between the dimensions because the user became physically more susceptible to slipping through the cracks. But knowing something is possible theoretically is very different from experiencing it for himself.

[dove's notes: founder's era worldbuilding is fun! and the tobiizu dynamics just have so much chemistry.]

3. turn in such inhumanity by simkjrs - COMPLETE, 237k

T, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Gen, Tobirama & Izuna, Hashirama & Tobirama, Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna, Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Warring States Period (Naruto), Soul Bond, Soulmates, Platonic Soulmates, Uchiha Izuna Lives, aroace tobirama, aroace izuna, queer-platonic relationship

“You believe this chakra-merging was an accident?” “It would be far more intelligent to bond with someone who is aware of and has consented to the procedure, so I can only surmise they were unable to choose the target,” says Tobirama. “Assuming the other individual is not so hare-brained as to purposefully bind themselves to an unknown stranger, targeting me was most likely unintentional.”

Unfortunately for Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna is hare-brained enough to do exactly that.

----

The story of how Uchiha Izuna's outstanding idea to perform a forbidden technique eventually leads to the resolution of a centuries-long feud, from Tobirama's point of view. Readable on its own, but it is a counterpart to Wyrvel's Let the Devil In.

[dove's notes: love love love this work/series. So much so that I made two music playlists for it. ace tobirama and queer-platonic relationships and worldbuilding and secret frienships/soulmates and identity intrigue?? just wonderful]

4. A Soft Green Glow by Sharkseye, COMPLETE, 12k

M, No Archive Warnings Apply, Gen, M/M, Tobirama & Izuna, Izuna & Madara, Tobirama/Izuna, Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna, Uchiha Madara, Altered Mental States due to blood loss, Pre-Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon

Returning from an ambush that killed his entire team and near fatally wounded him, Izuna finds himself followed by an enemy far more dangerous than the ones he left behind. Even if he makes it back to Uchiha lands, he'll be killed long before help can arrive. That is, if the blood loss doesn't get him first.

[dove's notes: i like the characterization of tobirama and izuna, overall well-written]

+1 shameless self-promo: Red Moon, Blue Waters by classygreydove - COMPLETE, 1k

G, No Warnings Apply, Gen; Hashirama & Tobirama, Madara & Izuna, canon compliant, warring states period, pov tobirama, pov madara

Hashirama’s mouth held its beaming smile for a second longer, before dropping into a grim twist. “Did you notice—?” Tobirama inclined his head. “I did.”

[marquisegallery]

I made these in a different style than my normal stuff since I wanted this to be like. The "generic" version of Devil Theory Dude and DOT EXE Guy, rather than any of my specific Devil Theory OCs and my personal version of Cueball. If that makes sense?? I hope that makes sense.

(Not to say I don't ship my version of Cueball with one of my Devil Theory OCs, because I do, but that's fan content for another time :P )

Anyways I think Devil Theory Dude and DOT EXE Guy should hug and smooch, thank you for coming to my TED talk \o/