#ever since you became leader you been more cooler

[theotherseapancakes]

Psssst. You mentioned no one cares about Philemon, but now I'm curious if you have any thoughts about his role in the games after he disappeared. And for sillies sake, does he have anything to do with the Dance games?

I have been waiting my entire life for this. Anon do you realize how verbose I'm going to get. DO YOU REALIZE? I hope you like read mores. Let me preface this with I am aware and have seen some popular theories, so I'm going to sidestep a lot of them and present one I've built since... well, I became a Persona fan as a teenager. MAJOR PERSONA SERIES SPOILERS LIKE THE ENTIRE THING OK? OK. yes even royal.

The P2 PSP additional scenario is so incredibly important and I think everyone missed the point of it. THE PERSONA 2 PSP ADDITIONAL TATSUYA SCENARIO!!!! It's beyond important, because it reveals to us Philemon can have more than one Avatar we know about, just like Nyarly. (Casual reminder he's like half the shopkeeps in P2. Time Count, anyone? Why was the Time Count so hot. Anyway.) Disclaimer: I'm just a casual fan who has played a LOT of Persona and SMT. I haven't gotten around to all of them, but I've played/finished both paths of 1, 2, 3 (and p3p) as well as 4 and 5. Didn't manage to get my hands on Golden but I've seen enough of it. (It's funny you ask about the dance games, they're the only ones I don't have right now! But my roommate does, and will be gone for a few months soon, perhaps I will take the time to start with p4DAN. I'm atrocious at rhythm games though so more than likely I'll find a video. Anyway.) WHAT is Philemon? If we can't define that, we can't talk about The Positivity Guy Ever.

So let's talk about Phil. He's a fascinating character. His Persona is just a form of Himself, But Cooler. And he seems to HAVE no set shape, not unlike Nyarlathotep. People have various theories about Shadows and their origins etc., but Phil is more like that vote of confidence in people. I think, personally, that after the end of Innocent Sin, Phil's been pretty weak. We see in Eternal Punishment he's fading pretty roughly, and has a hard time talking to the party. Presumably ending Nyarly might to some degree fix things when Deja-vu Boy goes home, but... the problem is, we don't know how fixed they truly ended up being, or the full depth of how much he could/did expend!

In fact, the first time we even see Phil without the dumb mask is when Tatsuya decks him. Pay close attention to that fact. To the mask motifs here. I want you to really soak in Phil's everything. He's a leader. A kind soul. He's the good of people. He wants to believe the best.

Anyway, most of these things overlook what I find really interesting as we've gotten more games worth of lore: he and Nyarly aren't the only eldritch entities walking around like that. Yes, Nyx is one too. Yes, it's probable she may even be their 'mom'. It's possible they all came from Nyx initially, but it's also possible (and should be considered) they too may have been outsiders at one point. We need to ask ourselves how far the human collective unsconsciousness can go. Is that sea infinite? Could it affect other worlds? Think about Aion in Devil Summoner Soul Hackers 2. Yes, I am asking you to think about Soul Hackers 2. Deal with it, I don't care. They're sister series. They share many things. SO! Did the shape of the human mind change a bunch of eldritch creatures and make them interact with us even more after Nyx smacked the moon a gazillion years ago? Is there multiple worlds? Weird bullshit? Just the two? Hmm. Well... I, personally, think so. I think he was touched by humanity just like Nyarlathotep, but in the other way. The reason I bring this up is two-fold. The first is Nodens. Now, we don't know much about the actual Nodens, unfortunately, just some speculation. Which is a shame. (If anyone has more info I'd love to have it, ngl. As a pagan this shit fascinates me.) But what we do get on him in Lovecraftian lore can provide us some intriguing possibilities about Phil's everything, which the games love to keep really rather vague. (And this is putting aside that his human Persona is based off the obviously bogus Jungian Spirit Guide, but we love an old guy in a mask anyway. He probably felt that was more 'friendly' for humans, hah.) I believe that Nodens, and Phil by extension, are just as responsible for nurturing and keeping the collective unconsciousness alive and positive. We see the butterfly symbol everywhere. We see it with Lavenza, too. "This is truly an unjust game." So was the bet Phil made with Nyarly, a game he rigged. Phil made the mistake of thinking the Crawling Chaos wouldn't cheat, a mistake he is never making again, I assume, if he can help it. Shit, you could view his boss fight in P2EP as him trying to train the EP crew to beat the snot out of Nyarly, even. But off topic. If Nyarly is basically the father of all Shadows, and they and Personas are the same coin, it makes me wonder a lot of things. The two have always been portrayed as simultaneously diametrically opposed, but also not? They have identical halls in P2. They have similar powers and talents... I think after Persona 3, Phil's remnants sank into the Collective Unconsciousness, to attempt to rehabilitate humanity from what it lost, from what he himself lost. I think Igor took over the room, because he took a backseat to recover. It would go a long, long way towards explaining why only SOME characters have the tier of the Wild Card, which is similar to the 'original' Persona power. (Having multiple.) He was took weak to remain in his Spirit Guide (Philemon) form, and had to abandon it to return to the depths as Nodens... So. Let me go back to Nodens and make some notes about design.

Nodens, as seen here, sort of resembles an iron maiden. It really brings to mind the idea of maybe Tatsuya or someone's humanoid form sleeping within it, doesn't it? Fitting for an aspect of Philemon! ... You probably can see where I'm going with this, but let me pull up some screens to finish the point:

That's right! It's Azathoth, Baby! I believe that unlike mythology, he's yet another aspect of Philemon. Eldritch positivity, in too much force, could be used for accidental bad, too. (Reasons Maruki is my favorite Law Hero, haha.) Let me explain. I think Philemon always existed in... let's call it parts. Azathoth is said to be a dreaming god in whom's universe we all just happen to be alive inside, right? "Dream of butterfly" (Philemon) "Or is life a dream? Don't wanna wake up. Cuz I'm happy here." That sure is thematic to what Maki goes through in Persona 1, and what Maruki's beloved suffers, isn't it? ISN'T IT. The "true reality" he creates... would help Maruki create in the additional Semester--would be something most humans would never pass the muster to even try to control. But we have seen Phil test a few people and find them worth passing before! However, that seems like ages ago. Why has he been so quiet? I think because he was spending time conserving his energy. He believed in humanity enough to give Makoto a push when it was needed in p3 (or femc, if you play her), but otherwise trusted Igor while he restored what needed it. But in Persona 5 Royal, he hand-picked Maruki, didn't he? At first, when I played Persona 5 Royal, I really thought it was some part of Nyarly, but I no longer believe this to be the case. The coloration and symbolism in the background (the golds, the whole garden of eden themes, the way his Palace was laid out), the whole sea of soul motifs in P3Re later... mmm. I have a lot of thoughts about this, but this post is already way too long for one simple ask. So let's wrap up by going one step further and looking finally at Nodens' dialogue to the party in the Extra Scenario in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP). The following is a transcript, you can find a video here:

Nodens: This is the memory of the lost child whom you all seek. Nodens: Memory occasionally brings about much distress and suffering, but it is absolutely vital to distinguish oneself from others and manufacture one's own psyche. Nodens: Ever since it began, life's memory has accumulated unbroken, passing through individual experiences and spanning several generations. Nodens: And so it has given shape to Kadath and the Collective Unconsciousness, thereby becoming a foundation for the next generation. Nodens: Even if the roots of the world are directed by fear and anxiety, never forget that the true essence of life is brimming with joy. Nodens: You must not stop seeking the answer for why life was born in a cosmos progressing towards absurdity and chaos. Nodens: Life brims with joy, bringing about balance in a universe predestined to heat death, and that allows the world to live a long time.

So to answer your question, I think he's taken a much subtler role. I think he's influencing people by pretending to be a Persona for Maruki, because he believes it will help them grow. I don't think he was intending a forever-control vice grip, but rather to prove a point. No matter what, the primordial chaos of humanity will rise up for chaotic good, lawful good, whatever "good" is needed. Azathoth is... interesting. Adam Kadmon is also interesting. But mostly I HIGHLY suspect we may see him again in Persona 6, or at least I'm hoping so. It's my personal pet theory by then he'll be less faded and come back to us in a new form of some kind. He's never had a set one, after all. Now for funsies about the dancing game, well, he's a positive guy, he wanted to just make sure everyone had their fitness regimen checked off. Obviously. (This is a joke.) Did the devs intend this? I'm honestly not sure? Like there's a lot of nods to older Personas in 5 and now 3RE especially, but it's definitely worth chewing on. I could go on and on about things I think he's connected to, but ultimately they have the final say lol. I'm just a crackpot conspiracy theorist on tumblr who really likes Philemon. He and the Room are my favorites. :) Ask me about attendants for additional dumb, sometime, I guess lol.

[raggedy-albert]

Ooh what are the headcanons you mentioned

ok i have so so many but we’ll start with my favorite albert ones

He is part Portuguese and part Brazilian

He has freckles and always is covered with dirt and a smattering of bruises. He’s a redhead with hair that sort of looks like a bird that’s spiky, thick, and always slicked back. He’s very buff and likes to show it off. He’s not short (most other newsies are just tall), but he has a compact vibe to him. His face is very expressive, especially his eyes brows. He has light brown eyes. His skin is a very light brown and his face is heart shaped.

When he ran away from home after his brother died and after he started to become more angry and bigger, the Brooklyn newsies (they knew his brother, and it was the closest borough) took him in (which is where he met Spot, though he wasn’t leader of the Brookies yet. They weren’t really close though, they just knew that each other existed). The Brookies gave him a nickname (Red) and he became really close friends with someone, another newsie who was around his dead brother’s age. The newsie didn't have any friends but he had been with the Brooklyn newsies for a while, and Albert didn’t have any friends there so he thought it was a perfect match. The newsie would only call Al by his nickname, which he didn’t really like but the newsie told him it made him sound cooler, and he figured it was a way to disconnect from his past life. That newsie and him became brothers (“replacing” the brother he lost) but Albert didn’t realize how toxic and controlling he was. They went everywhere together and they sold together and were inseparable, but one day his “friend” got in trouble with the cops and was going to be sent to the Refuge so he blamed it all on Albert and got away with no punishment, while Albert got sent away instead. His short time there changed him, he has a few physical scars from the abuse (he hates others seeing them), but most of them are mental. He got extremely protective of others, which is where he first adopted the older brother mindset, but he also started getting nightmares as well as sleep issues and his mental health plummeted. He also became really jumpy, and he got much quieter, though before he was outgoing, loud, and rebellious. After he got out he always tries to give whatever extra food or little money he has to Specs to give to the kids he left behind, who he thinks about often. Ever since this, he swore off nicknames. He is still friends with a few of the Brookies, but he doesn’t like to see them too often since it’s hard for him because it reminds him of the newsies who betrayed him and his brother.

He’s actually pretty smart but didn’t get a school education since he started working so young. One of the Brooklyn newsies taught him the basics of how to read, which he used to tell the other newsies the headline or just to entertain himself. He’s sort of a smart dummy though, and it’s more street smarts than intelligence.

He used to mostly live at his house but ever since both of his brothers moved out his father became more violent due to there not being anyone to protect him anymore, he lives in the lodging house most of the time. Sometimes he randomly shows up late at night with bruises and doesn’t say anything about why. The other newsies just accept that he sometimes shows up and needs a place for the night. He has his own designated bed there (the bunk under Race’s).

Before his mom died, he wasn’t really close with her. He mostly spent time with his dad. Even if they didn’t really talk, they just got along and sat in comfortable silence together. It’s not like he disliked his mom or anything, they just weren’t close and it was sort of awkward whenever they would interact. After she died though, his dad completely changed. He got angry. It was like he had lost two parents, not one.

He talks loudly and slightly “off” because a) he’s hard of hearing, and b) he was born in Brooklyn, but switched to Manhattan at a relatively young age, so he talks in a combination of both. He also uses a lot of slang so he’s hard to understand (Race is the interpreter). Also his parents both had accents so…

[muzawrites]

Carrying On (Jay Park Mafia AU)

Summary: Its been said that in times of tragedy new relationships emerge and become stronger, when tragedy strikes we seek connection it is in our nature.  How does the loss of their father affect the relationship between Jay and his adopted sister, Amara. Does it strengthen it? Or does it reveal things which were once hidden?

AN:  This is the first story I’ve ever posted, constructive criticism is always welcome

Fifty-one.... fifty-two…. fifty-three…. fifty-four…. fifty-five… damn this is really not working. Why do they always make it seem like counting sheep helps you fall asleep? I checked the clock again- 12:05am. Sighing, I rolled over to the cooler side of my bed and let my mind wonder to the last 2 weeks, the worst 2 weeks of my life as far as I can remember. My adopted father and leader of the most powerful mafia clan in South Korea had passed away, leaving his only son Jae-beom (aka Jay) in charge of his empire.

I don’t remember too much from my childhood before I was adopted but from the snippets I do remember and what I’ve been told, it wasn’t good. I was found by Jay’s father going through garbage outside one of the restaurants the family owns at the age of 10, having been abandoned by my mother for being a mixed-race baby, I guess she couldn’t deal with having a half black half Korean child any longer. According Jay’s father I reminded him of the daughter he had lost a couple years prior when she and her mother (his wife/Jay’s mother) had falling ill and both passed away. In the back of my head I always felt like some sort of ‘replacement child’ for the daughter he had lost, even though he never made me feel like it, even Jay made me feel like his little sister even though it took a bit of time for him to get use to me as he was 16years old when I was “brought into the family” but over time we became very close, even naming me his co-right hand along with his best friend Simon. And of course he always took his role as the protective big brother a little too seriously with some of my boyfriends throughout high school and varsity. They would break up with me after a few weeks with either a broken nose or blackened eye.

I sighed and rolled over one more time before giving up and getting out of bed to make a cup of tea or something stronger to help me fall asleep. I threw a long silk robe over my sleep chemise to conserve some decency just in case one of the guards was roaming around. As I walked down the hall, I noticed Jay’s bedroom door slightly open with the light inside shining through. After softly knocked I pushed the door to find him sitting on the couch facing the fireplace with the coffee table filled with presumably work papers, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” he asked without turning around, his full attention on the fire before him. “Shouldn’t you?” I rebutted as I grabbed the empty whiskey glass in his hand, walked over to the mini bar in his room to get him a refill and me a glass of his strongest whiskey on the rocks. He was still wearing the black slacks and black dress shirt he wore earlier in the day with the tie thrown somewhere in the room and his top two buttons undone.

“Seems we both can’t fall asleep huh” he said, as I handed him his glass. He mumbled a soft thanks as I sat down next to him. “Seems like” I replied leaning into his shoulder and staring into the flames with him. For some time, nothing could be heard but the fire crackling and the occasional clinking of ice against glass as we took sips of our drinks. “So, what happens now?” I asked, finally breaking the silence. He sighed, running his hand over his face. “In a few days, we meet with the heads of the families underneath us to continue business as usual” he answered, gulped down the rest of his drink and placed the glass on the side table as to not jolt me from his shoulder. “Can’t believe he’s gone” I whispered.

“Neither can I” he responded, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the back of the couch. Jay had been prepped to be the leader of the family organisation since he turned 13 and now at the age of 32, he was more than ready to take over and I had no doubt he would do great things in this position but the fact of our father’s passing was still heavy in our hearts. I gulped down the rest of my drink as well and placed my glass on coffee table. I stretched out my back and neck, unconsciously pushing my chest out against the silk of my robe. Long gone were the days of the scrawny little girl who first joined the family; I had grown into a woman with curves in all the right places, soft caramel skin which glowed under the light of the fire. From the corner of my eye, I notice Jay intensely watching me, not being able to decipher the look like I usually would be able to I pushed it aside.

“Can I have a hug?” I asked, giving him my best puppy dog eyes and pout. He chuckled while getting up and opening his arms up for me. I quickly jumped into his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck before he could change his mind. He wrapped his arms around my waist a bit lower than they usually would be. For some reason this hug felt different from every other hug we’ve shared, but still felt warm, safe and like home. “I’ll never let anything or anyone hurt you” he suddenly confessed into my hair as he placed a soft kiss on the crown of my head, I looked up to find his dark brown eyes staring into mine. “And I will never leave your side” I replied, my statement making him smile. I don’t know what took over me but I suddenly found myself leaning up to kiss him. He didn’t respond at first but after a few seconds I felt his lips move against mine. This kiss was so much better than any I had ever experienced before. His lips were soft but firm, he tasted of the whiskey we had been drinking and a hint of something else, something uniquely him, he took full control of the kiss holding onto my waist a little tighter. Suddenly I felt like a bucket of cold water fell on me when I felt his tongue brushing against my lips and I came to my senses. I shouldn’t have kissed Jay… he was practically my older brother. I quickly ended the kiss, pushing myself away from him and loosening his grip on my waist in the process. “I’m sorry” I mumbled, avoiding his eyes, trying to get past him and back to my room and to hide under my covers from the embarrassment. “Amara wait” he said, calling me by my birth name instead of the name I was given when I came into the family. He was the only one who called me Amara as he knew I preferred that name a little bit more than my given name. He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me back into his embrace before I could even take 5 steps away from him. I couldn’t bare to look into his face because of the embarrassment. “That kiss wasn’t a mistake” he said softly. I looked up at him, surprised. “I’ve always felt more for you than any normal brother would or even should, I guess that’s why I have always been so protective over you. At first I thought it was because you had such a tough time growing up and I wanted to protect you from that and this hectic mafia life you had been brought into, but as we grew older I knew it was much more than that. That’s why I could never stand seeing you with those idiots you used to date, especially that piece of shit Bobby” he said. Bobby was the guy I had dated in my senior year of high school but he had broken up with me right after prom after I had given him my virginity, stating that the only reason he was with me was to sleep with the “Park Princess”. I remember crying for a week but after that he mysteriously went missing and his family left town not long after. I had always assumed he had left with his family.

“You’re mine. You’ve always been mine and I’m never letting you go” he declared, looking deep into my eyes before pulling me back into a slightly rough passionate kiss. Deep down I knew I felt the same way about him. I even had a full blown crush on Jay between the ages of 16-18 but after that I quickly pushed it aside thinking it was not only one sided but wrong as he was supposed to be my brother. I briefly thought back to my past boyfriends and realised they all had either personality or physical similarities to Jay but in my mind and heart they would never amount to him. I felt him walk backwards towards the couch without breaking our passionate embrace. He broke our kiss to sit down and signalled for me to straddle him. Before I did I untied the knot I had done on my robe, letting the soft silk fall off my skin, revealing the deep red chemise I was wearing underneath. “Fuck” I heard him whisper as I straddled his lap and continued kissing him, his hands returned to my waist, pulling me closer into him which cause my barely covered pussy to brush up against the quickly growing bulge in his pants, this action causing us both to groan into each other’s mouths.

His lips left mine and started trailing down my neck, finding that sweet spot that made me grind into him just a little harder. My fingers made quick work unbuttoning his shirt and slowly ran down his strong chest lightly brushing over his nipples, this action causing him to groan and dig his fingers- which had moved from my waist to my ass- deeper into my soft but firm flesh. His lips quickly returned to mine as his hands started trailing up, dragging my chemise with them. We briefly separated so he could pull the material over my head before returning to the kiss. “Hold on tight” he muttered, as he got up without breaking our kiss, my legs wrapped securely around his waist. He softly placed me onto his bed as he broke apart from my lips to remove the rest of his shirt. “Fuck you’re perfect” he groaned, his voice laced with lust. “Those fuckers didn’t deserve you” he muttered as he returned to kissing my neck, this time also grabbing onto my boobs and playing with my nipple with his one hand whilst the other trailed down the side of my body and returned to my legs around his waist, I felt nothing but him at that moment, the soft heated touch of his hands running down my body, the smell of his rich expensive cologne, his soft lips on my nipple driving me crazy. At that moment all my thoughts were consumed by him. “Have you ever wondered what happened to that piece of shit Bobby” he said looking into my eyes with a dark look I had only seen a handful of times. “I killed him” he said, now kissing and sucking my left nipples whilst his right hand continued to play with the other.  “What!” pulling his hair causing him to look up at me, “Not only did he have the audacity to touch what’s mine, but he hurt you as well…he had to pay for that” he declared kissing me once again. As dark and twisted as it seems, his confession turned me on even more.

His kisses left my lips once again as he kissed my body further and further down. His fingers made quick work of the cute thong I had been wearing, tearing it off my body “Hey! That was one of my favourites” I complained before moaning as his fingers brushed up against my clit, “I’ll buy you a million more, get you whatever you want and I’ll do whatever you want” he said, looking deep into my eyes. “Well right now, I want you to stop teasing and eat me out” I said grabbing onto his hair, pushing him down towards where I needed him most, “Your wish is my command, my Queen” he said seductively before attaching his lips to my clit. Him calling me his Queen and the feeling of his thick fingers entering me as he sucked my clit made me cum instantly. “Jay!” I screamed his name as I experienced a high like never before. As I came down from it, he pulled his fingers out of me and licked them clean whilst looking me dead in the eye. “You taste so good babygirl I could be down there forever” he said. I quickly sat up and pushed him back and kissed him, tasting myself on his lips sent my body into overdrive as I quickly unbuckled his pants. He chuckled at the rushed movements and pushed me back as he got up to remove his pants.

 As he did this, I got a full proper look at his body; firm, muscular, covered in tattoos and all mine. I truly was the luckiest girl in the world at that moment. As he pulled down his briefs, I got my first proper look at him, he was long, thick and veiny. His tip was an angry red colour dripping beads of pre-cum. He’s gorgeous, I thought. I reached out to feel him, barely able to wrap my hand around him. He felt hot and heavy in my hand. I slowly started to stroke him, and he let out the sexiest groan I had ever heard causing me to look up at him. His eyes were dark with lust and passion. “Baby, you better stop if you don’t want this to end too early” he groaned, taking my hand away from him and leaning into another kiss. He laid me down and once again started kissing my neck. At the back of my mind I wondered if it would hurt; Jay was definitely much more blessed than any other man I had been with.

“Don’t worry baby I’ll go slow” he said positioning himself between my legs as if reading my mind.

“At first” I replied with a sexy smirk on my face as I grabbed him and pumped him a few times before lining him up with my entrance.  “I love you” he said as he slowly entered me. He felt so big that it kind of hurt but I didn’t want him to stop. The pleasure outweighed the pain. “Fuck baby, I love you too” I moaned as he finally bottomed out. “Shit baby you feel so good” he groaned as he started moving at a slow and steady pace. I grabbed his face and pulled him down into another kiss, missing the feel of his lips on me. In this moment I felt complete I knew that we were meant to be, I knew that he was fully mine and as I his. “Fuck baby harder” I moaned as he moved one of my legs to rest on his shoulder. He granted my wish as he started moving faster and harder, hitting a spot in me that made my brain go all fuzzy. I became a moaning mess underneath him as he did what he pleased with my body. “Shit baby, I’m so close” I groaned against his lips. At that moment he pulled out of me and before I could protest he flipped me over onto my stomach and pulled my hips up into a perfectly arched position, he quickly re-entered me, now feeling even deeper than he was before. The sounds that were coming out my mouth didn’t sound like me but at that moment in time I didn’t care because all my body and mind were focused on Jay and the pleasure he was giving me. My mind briefly drifted, the thought of him impregnating me at the moment and how beautiful our baby would be warming me up even more. This thought quickly got pushed aside as I felt him grab my hair and pull me up till my back met his chest. “Fuck baby you feel so good and so fucken tight” he groaned into my ear as I turned my head to kiss him. “I want to feel you cum on me” he groaned as his fingers attached themselves to my clit sending me into the most mind-blowing orgasm I’ve ever experienced in my life. My walls tightened so much around him that he came not a second later. He continued pumping into me, drawing out our highs as much as possible. “Fuck” he sighed in content. “I’m never going to get enough of you” he said pulling me into another kiss.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing” I said clenching my inner walls around his still hard member. He groaned, flipping us over till I was on top of him with his dick deep inside me.

“No, not a bad thing at all” he smirked as I slowly started moving, “You’re mine forever” he said, sitting up and kissing me once again. We continued to make love until the sun slowly started peaking through the curtains. “I love you” he whispered into my hair as I lay in his arms, “And I love you” I replied as I turned my head to give him one last kiss before we fell asleep.

At the back of our minds, we both knew we would probably face a lot of heat and probably negative attention if our relationship was to be exposed with most saying it’s wrong. However, I knew that no matter what Jay would never leave me nor I him.

The End

[rosieroxy117]

All seven dorms x Fem!Reader | The beginning...

This is a series that will be divided into different parts because of how long it is, and because it will be based of what happens in Twisted Wonderland. (Events not included)

But I will not be making chapters about chapter 6 and 7 until they are released, so I know what happens for the overblots :>

I’ll be adding my OC’s, I will most probably make art of them and add the pictures of them in the story as it progresses.

I'll also be adding in my AU where there are a few female students in NRC that arrive the same year as Yuu and there is two dorm leaders of each dorm. One female, one male.

I originally posted this on Wattpad because of a request but it was more like an OC x All seven dorms. So I decided to upload the reader insert on tumblr.

But I will keep that part that stipulates that

(Y/n) is very tall- taller then Malleaus even-

I don’t think there is anything more to say so have fun reading!~

_______________________________

(Y/n) sighed dreamily as she stared at her screen filled with the twisted wonderland cast.

"Oh how I wish you's were real... Or how magic actually existed! That would be so cool!" (Y/n) giggled as her (h/c) hair shimmered in the light.

(Y/n)’s eyes suddenly became droopy as a sudden drowsiness overcome her.

'Why am I....... Feeling tired all of a sudden....' Were her last thoughts before falling unconscious.

Welcome (Y/n) (L/n)..

To the villains world....

(Y/n) opened her eyes slowly, hearing nothing but static, feeling pain in her head as well.

She slowly blinked noticing how the atmosphere had changed.

'Where am I?' (Y/n) thought as she looked around, she was in a hall, somewhere that looked oddly familiar.

To her side was a big brown door, the door was probably twice the size of herself.

'I wonder if I'll be able to find anyone in there- wait...' (Y/n) thought as she furrowed her brows.

'Is this some sort of isekai!?- COOL! IVEALWAYSWANTEDTOBEINONE!' She thought as she stood up from the ground with stars in her eyes.

'Wait- back on to the subject at hand... I don't actually know where I am...' She sweat dropped as she looked around.

She shrugged then decided to open the big ass door.

A few heads turned her way as she took in the appearance of the new room.

There was a fountain right in the back with people behind it. And there was a large mirror above the fountain.

There were also a bunch of chairs before the fountain, a vast majority of cloaked humanoid figures sat on them.

But what caught her attention the most was a male in a school uniform and a familiar raccoon cat like monster in the center of the room.

"(Y/n)?" The male asked dumbfoundedly as he let go of the cat.

"Yuu? What are you doing here?" (Y/n) asked but then finally processed the whole situation.

The mirror...

The cloaks...

The raccoon cat like monster....

This was Twisted Wonderland, and she had seemed to be in it along with one of her childhood friends Yuu.

Her eyes then glistened as she then ran towards Yuu.

"O MY GOSH THIS IS SO COOL!" She jumped up and down with a happy grin.

Her hoodie had fallen down because of her jumping revealing her (e/c) eyes and (h/c) hair.

"Wait.. Do you know where we are?" Yuu asked hopefully.

"Yeah! It's that game I was talking about long ago!" (Y/n) huffed as she stopped jumping up and down.

"Fngaaah, this girl is so tal- WAIT HOW IS THERE A GIRL HERE!?" Grims jaw dropped.

"MAGIK!" (Y/n) cheered with jazz hands while Yuu sweat dropped.

"Sorry to ruin this little reunion you's seem to be having... Can we get along with the ceremony?.." The headmaster asked as he eyed them suspiciously.

"Um... I don't even know what we are supposed to be doing..." Yuu said while rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Youstandinfrontofthemirrorandthenit'llaskyouforyournameandyoutellityournameIt'sprettysimpleyaknow." (Y/n) said making Yuu confused.

"wha?- I want to go home, I have an important match tomorrow...” Yuu said.

"Huh.... You do.... Oh well!~" (Y/n) cheered.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH WELL!?" Yuu shouted back making (Y/n) giggle.

"We are in a world of magiiiiiic~~~~ So that means this place is so much cooler then our world!" (Y/n) whispered with stars in her eyes.

"Nope, I'm going home." Yuu said as he held his kendo stick(sword?) beginning to walk out.

Grim then used his flames to creat a scene so all eyes were on him, which was quite successful as Yuu stopped moving to turn around.

"Then I could take his place!" Grim cheered. The students began to whisper and laugh at Grim.

"What do you think your doing!?" Crowley shouted.

"Unlike that dumb human, I can actually use magic! So let me in the school instead!" Grim grinned.

"Dumb!?" Yuu growled angrily at Grim who waved him off.

"I can show more proof that I'm very capable at magic as well!" Grim said as he began to use more of his flames to ignite the room.

The students were all yelling from how their cloaks were burning or how the fire hurt.

"What the!" Yuu shouted as he watched Grim use his flames.

While (Y/n) was just watching in innocent delight.

From what (Y/n) knew, Riddle was supposed to come over and stop Grim. Just a few seconds after she thought of that Riddle stood up and began walking towards the cat.

(Y/n) just watched in awe as he made his way over to the cat, glared at Grim as he shot fire at Riddle.

Unexpectedly, Yuu ran over to Riddle and tackled him to the ground.

(Y/n) snorted before starting to laugh at Yuu, making him look back at (Y/n) with a dumbfounded look.

Yuu just shook his head then looked back at Riddle.

"Are you okay?" Yuu asked as Riddle just blinked a few times before turning angry.

"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOUR TALKING TO!?" Riddle shouted before pushing Yuu off of him.

Riddle then stood up but just stared in slight surprise as the cat was now eating tuna.

(Y/n) giggled as she was crouched beside Grim while petting him.

Yuu got up and just stared at her with an angry look.

"You could've done that long ago!" Yuu shouted as (Y/n) just looked up at the with a blank face.

"But that would've been boring... Plus I knew you were going to tackle Riddle so I didn't do anything." (Y/n) giggled.

"WAIT SO YOU KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!?" Riddle asked furiously as (Y/n) stood up and dusted her cloak off.

"Ye- oh my gosh your shorter then I imagined." (Y/n) said as she stared down at Riddle who just stared up at her with a red face. (From anger)

"Awe! So cute! Your always so angry but your still cute!" (Y/n)’s eyes glistened.

Riddle blushed (but it wasn't noticeable).

"I AM NOT CUT- WAIT! Who's that cat!? Because Laws of the Queen of Hearts : number-"

"Number 23 'One shall never bring a cat into festivals'." (Y/n) cut Riddle off with a mocking tone.

Everyone just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Your such a weirdo- how do you even know that?" Yuu asked.

"Who do you think I am! Even a idiot would know that rule-" (Y/n) gasped dramatically.

Riddle scoffed as they continued to bicker, he made his way towards Grim who was now sleeping and pulled his pen out.

"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!-"

"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" (Y/n) and Riddle said at the same time, a collar appeared around Grims neck as everyone stared at (Y/n) with a weird look.

"Don't even ask! I know everything and anything!- well not really but I do at the same time!" (Y/n) cheered as Yuu sweat dropped.

"Wha-" "Can you at least not say what I'm going to say every single minute?.." Riddle squinted his eyes at (Y/n).

Riddle then walked towards Yuu and pointed his pen at Yuu.

"And you! The audacity of the likes of you to insult me! That is the same as insulting the Queen of Hearts herself! I shall have your head if you ever were to insult me again!" Riddle glared at Yuu making him gulp.

"Understood?.." Riddle said, Yuu nodded frantically.

Riddle then walked back to his spot by the Dorm leaders while Yuu slowly made his way behind (Y/n).

"Why didn't you get in trouble?" Yuu sulked.

"Because I'm just cool that way." (Y/n) stated proudly.....

"Sir, you mentioned before that you had no magic. But does your fiend have magic?.." Crowley asked.

"Nope, at least I don't think I have em. Unless this is a isekai and i now have powers- that would be so cool!" (Y/n) gleamed as Crowley sweat dropped.

"Then I'm afraid the both of you will be sent back home. Come to the mirror and picture your homes." Crowley said as the two of them walked towards the mirror.

(Y/n) walked confidently since she already knew that they wouldn't be able to return.

They stopped in front of the mirror and pictured their home......

"O mirror of darkness... Guide these ones back to where they belong!" Crowley said.

.

.

"Hmmm... Nothing happened." (Y/n) said.

"Because it is nowhere to be found young one." The mirror replied.

"Huh?" Crowley asked dumbfoundedly.

"That can't be true! We were both picturing it!- why isn't it working (Y/n)!?" Yuu asked in disbelief.

"Erm, no one actually knows at the moment." Yuri said nonchalantly.

"And where exactly are you two from?..." Crowley asked inquisitively.

"From Japan!" The both of them said.

"Japan? Ive never heard of a place such as Japan... I am of course well aware that come from every corners of this world. You two aren't lying are you two?" Crowley asked.

"If no one knows about Japan then we'll go back by oursel-"

"It's helpless... We can't return." (Y/n) said, Yuu froze in place when he heard (Y/n) say that.

"What do you mean!?" Yuu asked with wide eyes.

"Well- it's not that we can't actually leave it's just that I don't know how to leave yet. Hell we could be stuck here forever because of that." (Y/n) said.

"Why you seem a little happy about that don't you.." Crowley said.

"It's because where we are from it's quite boring. Although I'm going to miss my figurines and games.." (Y/n) cried.

(Y/n) sighed then looked to the side to see that Yuu had left.

"Wait- where is Yuu?.." (Y/n) asked with a dumbfounded look, she then looked back at the big ass doors to see them slightly open.

(Y/n) began rushing towards where she had thought Yuu would've gone to. She didn't have to go too far as he had came back.

"Did you find your way home?." Crowley asked as he walked over.

"No..." Yuu said as he dropped his sword (His kendo stick, thing-)

"Have you tried contacting a friend?" Yuus eyes lit up at that and he hurriedly tried to call someone.

"I have no signal..." Yuu grumbled.

"Have we truly transported worlds?..." Yuu said as he looked down.

"Yea, duhhh. That's what I've been TRYING to tell you this whole time!" (Y/n) said.

"But your a bit too calm.." Crowley said inquisitively.

"It's because I know what's happening, I know what's going to happen as well." (Y/n) said.

"Are you telling the truth?.." Crowley asked.

"Yeah, just can't tell you what does happen because that would cause the butterfly effect." (Y/n) cheered.

Crowley nodded then put his hand up to his chin in thought.

"There is a vacant building that was once used for a dormitory! I could lend it to the two of you if you two want!" Crowley said.

"Oh how gracious I am!" Crowley laughed.

"It's the best place we have for the moment Yuu. Gonna have to say yes." (Y/n) said.

Yuu only nodded with a sigh.

.

"Honestly! How did the opening ceremony end up like that!" Riddle said as he walked with Cater and Trey on his sides.

"Now now, everything was settled in the right?" Trey answered.

"Well it could've been settled if that girl had done something sooner as well!" Riddle huffed making Trey chuckle.

"She was pretty cute yeah? She looked really nice too!" Cater cheered with a grin.

"We should hurry! All the first years are at the welcome party!" Cater said again.

"Thank you, but is everything ready? Is the venue prepared according the Queens of Hearts rules? Are the roses painted sequently in red and white?" Riddle asked.

"Natura-" Cater had been cut off by a student hopping towards their way, they wore a very large top hat while gold fluffy bunny ears sticked out of it.

They just eye the figure for a little while as they passed them seemingly going the same way as them.

"Okaaaay.... As I was saying! Everything is ready!" Cater said with a raised brow.

"Very well, let us head to the dorm. If any trouble occurs, you'll be losing your heads as well. Got it?" Riddle said.

"Yes prefect!" Cater and Trey said in unison.....

"What a charming.... building?..." Yuu said as he stared at the rundown building.

"It is isn't!" Crowley said, the three then entered the building.

"Could use a little lady's touch..." (Y/n) sweat dropped as she looked around at all the old paintings, spiderwebs, and broken furniture in the hall....

Don’t worry- there will be more parts sooner or later ;))))))

PEACE OUT!-

[oikawaplssteponme]

PREVIOUSLY • MASTERLIST

pairing: (prince) Sawamura Daichi x (princess) fem! reader

warnings: none

word count: 1.6k words

synopsis: A childhood lover, a perfect picture, a thoughtful risk, a dashing spark, a resurfaced fling, a beautiful mystery, and an unlikely charmer. With so many flowers in the garden, which do you pick?

a/n: hello loves! i hope you all are doing well :)) reminder that the taglist is still open, just send an ask or leave a comment to be added <3 id love to hear your thoughts and please reblog!! tags have been weird lately so id really appreciate the reblogs :) !

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ: ☾

Nervous

“Good morning Your Grace! Rise and shine!” Anita came bursting into your room. She opened up your bedroom curtains, revealing the burning sunshine. You grabbed one of your pillows and buried your head under it.

“Oh gosh what time is it…” you groaned.

“Time to start getting ready. I’ll have your breakfast brought in momentarily.” Anita left your room just as quickly as she entered it. You removed the pillow from your head and sat up.

“Oh good you’re up.” Your mother, the queen, entered your room, followed by Anita and your breakfast tray.

“Thank you.”

“Eat up sweetheart. You’ll need your energy for today!” said your mother.

“Why must the ball be so late today?” You asked, “and why have you woken me up so early…”

“It’s the Midnight Ball Y/N! It’s tradition whenever the kingdom of Karasuno comes to visit,” she explained. You nodded.

The Prince of Karasuno would be next on your agenda. You had heard nothing but nice things about him. He was known to be responsible, kind, level headed, everything a future king would need to be.

“Your gown for tonight is getting finished up at the tailor’s. I’ll be picking it up in about an hour or so,” explained Anita.

“I’ll join you,” you said as you took a sip from your tea. Your mother shook her head.

“You have much to prepare for here, darling. Anita can take care of it herself.”

“I’ll only be gone for an hour or two. I promise I’ll be back in time,” you insisted.

“Very well… I’ll make sure your ride is prepared.” Your mother patted the top of your head before leaving your room. You looked at Anita, sighing.

“I suppose this is how things will be for a while. A ball every week, a new dress to try on, and someone new to see.”

“You’ll certainly never be bored, Your Highness. I’ll set out your garments for this morning’s trip and meet you outside.” Anita flashed you a bright smile before heading over to your closet, picking out a simple, light pink dress. She laid it on the chair of your vanity before leaving.

You finished your breakfast and got yourself ready then went to meet Anita outside.

“Ready to go, Your Majesty?” she asked. You smiled.

“Anita you know you can call me Y/N, and yes.”

The ride into town was smooth. It was an exceptionally beautiful day, birds chirping, the sun shining. You waved to whoever you saw as people eagerly noticed your arrival.

You arrived at the tailors right on time. It was a dainty shop, filled with endless piles of fabric and designs to fuel anyone's imagination.

“Good morning Your Royal Highness! Here to pick up your gown for tonight’s ball?” asked Mari, the shop owner.

“The Princess is also in need of one final fitting before we can take the gown back to the castle with us,” explained Anita. Mari nodded.

“Yes yes of course! Right this way my darling!”

She led you and Anita to where the mannequin stood, wearing the dress.

“Wow…”

It was an extravagant gown, black as the midnight sky. The sunlight peeking in from the windows bounced off of the small crystals, making it sparkle. It lastly had a matching cape, since the ball would take place at night.

“Mari you never disappoint, it is truly gorgeous,” you said.

“Oh thank you Princess. Here, let's get you laced up.”

The dress fit you perfectly as expected. It’s sweetheart neckline and floral detail looked stunning on you. Mari packaged up your dress as you waited with Anita.

“We actually have one last stop before we can head back,” she explained.

“Where?” you asked. Anita smiled.

“It seems that your prince has a gift for you.”

You and Anita walked along the streets of town until reaching the flower shop. You breathed in the scents of gardenias and lilies.

“Pick up for Y/N L/N,” explained Anita to the front desk attendant. They scurried off to the back cooler and brought out the biggest arrangement of flowers you had ever seen.

“Oh wow…”

It was a mix of orange and black roses, with a small card peaking out.

‘Until tonight Princess… -D.S.’

“D.S.?” you questioned. Anita chuckled.

“It’s from Prince Sawamura Daichi, Your Majesty.”

“He certainly knows how to make a girl smile,” you whispered.

“He’s perfect…” gushed Anita. You chuckled.

“We’ll see about that…”

~

As the day drew on, you found yourself back at home. You were finally getting ready for the ball, that started in just a few hours. You showered and wrapped yourself up in your silk robe. You walked into your room, where Anita was laying out your dress.

“Anita what do you know about Sawamura Daichi?” you asked. She chuckled nervously.

“Well I don’t know too much...but I know that he is a great leader with a kind heart. He puts others before himself and is devoted to helping others. Anyone would be lucky to have a heart like his.”

“It seems like you know more than you think,” you teased. Anita shook her head.

“Oh my apologies. Here, let's get you laced up.”

Anita cinched you up into your gown. She did your makeup and clipped on your cape.

“Stunning as always,” she smiled.

“Thank you. Shall we go?”

The garden was marvelously decorated with lights and lanterns. There was a grand fountain in the middle of it all, the floor a checkered pattern . The full moon shined above you, making the moonlight bounce off of your gown. You greeted people as they approached you, keeping one eye out for the Prince.

“Excuse me, You Grace?”

You turned around to see a man smiling at you with grey hair.

“Yes?”

“Princess Y/N L/N, I am pleased to introduce you to the marvelous, chivalrous, most handsome-”

“That’s enough Sugawara…”

“Oh right...Prince Sawamura Daichi, Your Majesty.” He moved out of the way, allowing the prince to step forward.

“My apologies, he tends to get carried away,” smiled Daichi. You chuckled.

“I actually liked your introduction,” you teased.

“I’m glad. Would you care to dance?” Sawamura pointed to the dance floor. You nodded.

“I would love to.”

You took his hand and he guided you to the floor, He bowed before you, then placed his hand onto your waist and held up your other hand.

“Thank you for the flowers,” you said. Daichi smiled.

“I’m glad they found you well. I wasn’t sure which flowers were your favorite so I decided to play it safe with roses.”

“I do love roses.”

“Do you have a favorite flower?”

“Not particularly. I love the assortment bouquets, that way I get a little of everything,” you explained.

“I see.”

Daichi spun you around the floor, keeping you close to you. His eyes almost as dark as the midnight sky, you could’ve fallen into them. As your hand rested on his bicep, you could tell just how strong he was. His strong build but gentle smile warmed your heart.

You watched as what looked to be a sweat droplet glided down the side of his forehead. You chuckled.

“Are you nervous?” you asked. Sawamura tilted his head.

“Nervous? What makes you say that?”

“It looks like you’re sweating.”

Daichi patted his forehead with the back of his hand. He smiled.

“That’s not sweat princess, that’s rain.”

The two of you looked up at the sky, seeing the clouds rolling over you. You closed your eyes, starting to feel the soft water trickle down upon you.

“Everyone inside!” shouted the king. People began to rush over to the doors, hiding under the walkway.

“Y/N, darling, you’re gonna get sick!” insisted your mother. As you soon became drenched by the rain, you looked to Daichi, who held onto your hand.

“I have a dance to finish,” you smiled. Daichi grinned, placing his hand back onto your waist and once again, guided you along the dance floor.

It was just the two of you, dazzling under the stormy moonlight. As lightning struck and thunder boomed, you kept your eyes on Sawamura. How he made you laugh, calling you reckless for proposing this idea. Even as the floor became even more slippery, you and Daichi didn’t stop. Soon, the orchestra came back, playing for you. Drums sounding along with the sound of thunder, causing goosebumps on your skin.

The two of you caught your breath, panting as water droplets dripped down your lips. You wrapped your arms around his neck, keeping you balanced. Without realizing it, yours and Sawamura’s foreheads were pressed against each other. Daichi locked eyes with you, placing his hand under your chin.

“I think it’s safe to say that you took my breath away.”

~

The two of you went inside the palace a short time later. Anita brought you both towels to dry yourselves off.

You now sat with the prince on the grand staircase. The two of you talked about all kinds of things. He told you about Karasuno, you told him about what there was to do around your kingdom. He listened happily to every word you had to say.

“You’ll have to show me around soon, I didn’t get to explore much today,” he said. You nodded.

“I would love to do that.”

“Excuse me, Your Highness, we must be going.”

You looked over to the man who entered with the prince earlier. You sighed, almost wishing he didn't have to leave.

“Very well, just one moment please.”

Daichi stood up from the steps. He helped you up as well.

“It was such a pleasure meeting you Y/N. I wish we didn’t have to part so soon,” he smiled.

“As do I. I hope you have safe travels, and the next time you’re here I will happily show you around.” Daichi smiled.

“I would love that.”

He carefully took your hand, kissing the top of it. He took his soaked suit jack and draped it over his shoulder before joining Sugawara. You sighed.

“He really is perfect.”

•

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[thevindicativevordan]

Metallo

I wanted to talk about one of my favorite DC villains, a guy who I’ve always thought was incredibly cool. A guy who I’ve thought makes a really awesome contrast for Superman. A guy who has never been in stories that have utilized his potential in my eyes:

Let’s talk about Metallo.

Metallo’s Background

He’s one of Superman’s oldest Rogues, and also one of the Rogues who has gone through the most revamps. The Golden Age Superman fought a guy called Metalo aka George Grant who created a suit of armor made out of the strongest metal on Earth (something that would resurface in the Grant Morrison revamp during the New 52) and a super strength serum that made him Superman’s physical equal. In an odd way he was an evil proto-Iron Man/Post Crisis Lex Luthor:

The John Corben take wouldn’t show up until the 1950s, created by Robert Bernstein and Al Plastino. This was the foundation for the modern conception of Metallo:

Right off the bat Corben was positioned as an Anti-Superman, predating Bizarro who wouldn’t show up until later. Corben worked as a journalist to cover up his real activities as a murderer and thief. An accident that nearly killed him and crippled his human body, forced him to accept a deal with a scientist to transfer his mind to a new artificial body. The scientist transferred his mind into an android body covered in synthetic bulletproof skin, gifting Corben with super strength. The synthetic skin idea would be used in Byrne’s revamp and the DCAU incarnation. He was initially powered by uranium, but was told he would need Kryptonite to fuel himself permanently. Corben would also act as a romantic rival for Clark via wooing Lois with his pretense of being Superman’s secret identity.

Ultimately John Corben would die in his debut issue, after mistaking a museum prop for the actual Kryptonite he needed to power himself. I often wonder if the character might have been better off if he had not been killed off in his debut, similarly to how the Joker was saved from dying in his debut by editorial. There were many intriguing ideas present in Corben’s creation: He was a romantic rival for Clark Kent, he used his journalism in a similar if villainous way as Superman did, and he was powered by the very thing that could kill Superman while still possessing enough raw strength to stand on equal terms with the Man of Steel. If they had kept him around, fleshed him out more, might Metallo have enjoyed more long term respect?

 Regardless, Corben’s death paved the way for the third Metallo: His brother Roger Corben.

Roger likewise had a lot of interesting ideas that would eventually get folded into the modern Metallo. He was not a petty thief, but had a personal vendetta with Superman over the death of his brother. Superman accidentally caused the very accident that crippled Roger, adding to the man’s feud. Roger was also a leader within the Skull organization, rather than the small time criminal his brother was. This Metallo’s design would form the basis for the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank revamp during Secret Origin, and I suspect the Johns conception of Metallo as a member of a wider organization and whose transformation was caused by Superman has it’s roots here.

Sadly the take on a more fleshed out Metallo would not last. The Roger Corben version of Metallo would meet his end with the rest of the Pre-Crisis Superman Rogues Gallery in the seminal Alan Moore story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Enter John Byrne:

During his Post-Crisis revamp of the Supermythos, Byrne returned to the John Corben take of a petty thief injured in an accident, who is rebuilt by a mad scientist Professor Vale. Byrne added his own twist though, with the scientist believing Superman to be the first scout in a full blown Kryptonian takeover of Earth, and specifically crafted Metallo to be an Anti-Superman weapon powered by Kryptonite. Metallo was to be humanity’s defense against the threat of Superman, an idea that would be revisited in Johns’ and Morrison’s revamps. Unfortunately petty thieves don’t make for great heroes, and Metallo killed Vale, ultimately coming into conflict with Superman not over any desire to protect humanity, but to simply eliminate a thorn in his side.

This incarnation of Metallo has basically served as the basis for his appearance in outside media, with a design that blatantly draws on the popular Terminator films.

This version of Metallo would also acquire a variety of powers thanks to making a deal with Neron that included the ability to transform parts of his body into weapons, transfer his consciousness into any technological or mechanical device, and manipulate his size:

Personally I’ve always loved that powerset upgrade, and think it’s crucial it sticks. It let him kick the shit out of Superman AND Batman in Loeb Superman/Batman, which basically solidified for me that this dude was a badass you didn’t want to mess with. Shame he’s never come close to matching that initial impression since.

The DCAU mostly used the Byrne revamp’s take, but they did change a few aspects which would end up carrying over to the mainline version. Most important was the replacing of Vale with Lex Luthor as the mind behind Metallo’s creation, something that would be incorporated in both Johns and Morrison’s later revamps.

One aspect that they introduced that didn’t carry over, that was still utilized to great effectiveness in the show, was that Corbyn’s transformation had robbed him of most physical sensation. He couldn’t taste, smell, touch, all the little things that made us human, and that drove him nuts. Ultimately he would learn that Lex was responsible for what happened to him, and he would swear a grudge against both Lex and Superman. Malcom McDowell was a fantastic choice to play Metallo, and is still the guy I “hear” when I read Metallo’s dialogue.

Now we come to the guy who crafted the next big revamp of Metallo: Geoff Johns.

This version of Metallo incorporated a ton of aspects from the multiple revamps that had preceded it, in much the same way Secret Origin did to Superman as a whole, while also adding a few new twists that I consider essential to the character now.

Like the DCAU, Luthor was the one who transformed Corben into Metallo. Like the Roger Corben take, this John Corben was accidentally crippled in a fight with Superman that gave him a personal vendetta against the Man of Steel.  Similar to Byrne, this Metallo was created to be an Anti-Superman weapon. Corben and Lois had had a brief romantic relationship, similar to the original debut of Corben. Johns even incorporated some of the Golden Age Metallo by having Corben suit up in a mech suit made of “Metallo”, the strongest metal on Earth to fight Superman before the accident. Johns also added a key bit of lore that I love, that Corben served as a soldier under General Sam Lane, and became the man’s surrogate son, the child he always wanted as opposed to Lois and Lucy. Here Corben is motivated to fight Kal-El by a mix of xenophobia, need to impress his father figure, desire to impress Lois, and a simple dose of blood lust.

The last major revamp came from Grant Morrison during the New 52:

Morrison kept a lot of the Johns revamp: Corben was a soldier serving under Sam Lane, he had a brief romantic relationship with Lois, he was distrustful of Superman’s heroics, and his transformation into Metallo was connected to Lex. However Corben was a much more sympathetic figure under Morrison than under Johns, genuinely believing Superman to be a threat, he volunteered to be merged with the Metal-0 superweapon (another callback to the original Metalo) to defend humanity, but Brainiac hijacked his cybernetics and turned him into a weapon. 

While Metallo would get another visual revamp for Rebirth, posted in the first image, Corben has more or less stayed within the confines that Byrne/Johns/Morrison established.

How I would use Metallo

I said earlier that Metallo is a guy I loved that I’ve never thought has lived up to his potential. He’s a villain with a lot of cool ideas, he’s a villain who has been continuously used by a lot of my favorite writers, but he’s never lived up to the Anti-Superman characterization that’s baked into him. Too often he’s just been a glorified henchman, or a petty thug, rarely if ever challenging Superman except in the most basic physical sense. I think that’s a great disservice to the ability of the character to be a much more important Rogue. That writers so often refuse to focus on him or any of the Rogues beyond Lex also hasn’t done him any favors. Instead of creating countless new OCs that are tossed aside by the next writer, someone needs to come on board with a passion for revamping the classics.

A lot of Superman’s Rogues suck not because they aren’t cool or don’t bring any interesting ideas, but because the ideas don’t do a good job in contrasting with Superman’s attributes. Metallo is a great example of this, look at all the interesting ideas creators have crafted around him, yet none of them have really been able to push those ideas as a way to explore and contrast Superman, so we get basic “Metallo tries to kill Superman, fails, Superman sends him back to jail” stories. That’s a failure of creativity in my eyes. I think that by choosing from some of the revamps listed above, a better, cooler, more interesting Metallo can be crafted.

The basics as established by Byrne/Johns/Morrison are great! The essential ideas that should be incorporated from all of the revamps listed above are:

1. Corben needs to have a military background as in Johns/Morrison. The petty thief origin is too dull, there’s nothing really to be mined there from a characterization standpoint. As a soldier Corben can serve as an interesting critique and contrast of Superman as an icon of America. The “American Way” has always been a dicey add-on to the original “Truth and Justice” motto. Often it’s been used to cast Superman as an obedient stooge of the government, as he was in The Dark Knight Returns, a characterization that has dogged him ever since. I think Corben can serve as an interesting character to explore Superman’s relationship with the American military-industrial complex. I would have Corben be what said complex wants Superman to be, at least in the beginning: A human WMD they can aim and fire, who will always follow orders no matter how reprehensible they are, who has a firm “America First” mindset. That way you can contrast the mainline Superman, and show that Superman is not that while also establishing what “The American Way” means in his eyes. Or you can have Superman drop that aspect of his motto in-universe, out of disgust for how his government perverts it. Either option is fine with me, I didn’t mind when Superman renounced his American citizenship.

2. If Lois often has to end up working with Clark’s exes, whether it’s Lana, Diana, or whoever, I think it’s only fair that Clark has to end up facing down an ex from Lois’ past. It’s important to show that Lois had a life before Clark showed up, and I think Corben is a good way to explore some of that. He’s the possessive ex-boyfriend who doesn’t respect Lois’ personal space and is convinced he can “win her back” via sheer determination. You can also compare and contrast the way Clark courted Lois, did Clark occasionally make the same pigheaded assumptions as Corben did? Corben debuted as a romantic rival for Superman, and I think that aspect still has merit. I also like his status as Sam’s surrogate son, it adds for some nice tension with Clark’s father-in-law that the guy he actually wanted to marry Lois was transformed into a weapon to kill the guy who ended up being his son-in-law. 

3. Corben is a true believer in the threat Superman poses, and is willing to take on the transformation into Metallo to protect humanity. It’s xenophobia yes, but with all the Evil Superman stories going around, it’s hard not to sympathize at least a little bit with Corben’s viewpoint, which tie into a deeper attribute of Corben’s I think needs to be brought up: Corben should be a sympathetic villain. I wouldn’t make him a bloodthirsty psycho, Superman has plenty of those. Corben should have villainous valor, willing to tackle on whatever threats to humanity are out there, whether Superman or others. I would make Corben instead someone who has the genuine desire to protect humanity, but lacks Superman’s concern for collateral damage. In that way you could contrast the two’s brand of “heroics”, Superman’s loyalty to humanity as a whole over one nation, and concern with protecting lives first and foremost, Corben’s desire to protect humanity’s future for the “greater good” even if it costs a few lives in the here and now and loyalty to America above all else. 

4. I like the idea of Superman being inadvertently responsible for the accident that cripples Corben and mandates his transformation. It adds to his sympathy, helps justify why Superman might continue to believe Corben could find redemption (he wants Corben to change and also wants to find a way to earn Corben’s forgiveness one day), and provides a good personal reason for why Corben would hate Superman, blaming Supes for his current state. I would also have him blame Sam and Lex as well, but he would subdue those resentments for as long as he remained working for the military. Only after he finally snaps would he target those two.

5. Finally I would keep the ability to shapeshift his body into weapons, and to manipulate technology. I would have Corben emulating Adam Jensen from Deus Ex, able to “hack” tech around him for his own purpose, armed with a variety of weapons that make him a huge threat not just to Superman but to everyone. Finally I would get rid of the Kryptonite heart. I’m tired of every battle with Metallo going the same way: He shows up, blasts Superman with kryptonite radiation, Superman lies on the ground gasping in pain, Metallo stands around gloating like a moron instead of finishing Supes off, Supes beats him by tricking him or by someone else intervening. I want to see Metallo as an Anti-Superman weapon realized beyond jus the Kryptonite. How about incorporating the DCAU version’s lack of feeling, so that Metallo doesn’t feel pain from Superman’s blows or his powers? How about giving him an internal temperature controller, so he can’t be melted by heat vision or frozen by arctic breath? How about an invisibility cloak that hides him from Superman’s vision, sound mufflers that let him sneak up on Supes even with his hearing, basically go WILD with his Anti-Superman status, let us see a real fight between someone who can counter each of Superman’s powers! You have Kryptonite Man and Lex for the villains who mainly make use of Kryptonite against Superman, I think Metallo should go in a different direction. Morrison making it so that “Metal-0″ was already powerful enough to hurt Superman is all the justification you need as to why he still poses a threat in my opinion.

I’ll go over the basic arc I’d want to see him undergo and the kinds of stories I think he’s positioned to tell in another post.

[otomegamesandme]

A Lily in A Sea of Red

Fandom: Piofiore: Fated Memories

Pairing: Leo/Lili

Rating: T

Warnings: Mild references to violence

A/N: This is more a character study then anything, and I'm still sad there isn't more fanfic for them. I might write more, but for now here's this. Also on AO3 if you'd prefer to read it there: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32233639

News spread quickly among the Falzones. It was necessary. If the members didn’t keep on top of things, it could be the difference between lost turf wars, lost members, lost Falzone bosses. Efficiency had gone up since the last boss’s passing, leaving Dante the newest leader in tragedy’s wake.

This time the whispers were of a young woman. Soft and saintly, an aura only someone of the Church could have. It was unknown why she was staying at the mansion, other than Dante’s claim Yang’s gang was after her. It was for this reason Leo was placed to guard her. The idea made him nervous.

He was a skilled shot, had to be so he didn’t get killed. Hand to hand combat was a little harder, since he was smaller than most the men he’d find himself against. Protecting someone inside the mansion, though, was something he convinced himself he could do.

The first time he met her she’d been filled with nerves, and so had he. She’d held her hands together in a formation like prayer, and he noted it was to stop her hands from shaking. He knew her name, but when he heard her say it, the sound was peace in spring.

“Liliana Adornato.”

After the first meeting he’d mouthed her name in bed, wondering if he’d ever capture such a feeling again.

The two fell into a routine, it was easy to. Being around her was a break from the chaos he was used to. Having meals together, snacks together, conversations together, were so different than what he was used to. Although this was his family, and he owed his life to the Falzones, he couldn’t help the loneliness that crept up on the worst of days. He was aware of his failings, and although he wished nothing more than to prove his worth, he still felt like a child stumbling over each step.

With Liliana, he felt weightless. Perhaps it was under false pretenses, he was a killer after all, and the sunshine he showed was as artificial as the moon reflecting the sun, it brought her comfort. At some point, during those first weeks, he’d nearly forgotten who he was as well.

The first time there’d been an attack on Lilliana, it’d been outside as she had visited the church again for the first time. The Lao-Shu had been waiting and watching. It was something that didn’t feel natural to them. What they wanted, they took, and what they wanted was always beneficial to them. Leo couldn’t pinpoint where Lilliana fit into it all.

He’d taken her hand and ran, because his duty wasn’t to fight it was to protect. Her hand trembled in his, but there was a gleam in her eyes that spoke of her determination to survive. He hadn’t had time to process the way that struck him, as the two zipped through side streets.

Afterwards, when they’d made it to the Falzone mansion, Liliana had asked if it would be alright to have tea together. Her nerves were shook and he was a master at lightening the mood. The two spoke for hours, until her eyes were heavy lidded. Before they’d parted ways, she placed a hand on his shoulder, smile lazy in her exhaustion.

“You can call me Lili.”

He didn’t know how a simple sentence could make him so tongue tied, “Are you certain?”

“Yes. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Despite the violence which had broken her naivety, she still considered him a friend. If Leo guessed, she still considered everyone here as someone she’d grown to care about in some way. The surprise of it all made a smile bloom across his face, “We are.”

It didn’t take long for Leo to wish for them to grow into something more.

The will of the family was put before anything. And Dante Falzone represented this will. Leo was only meant to be her guard, and it was obvious to Leo Lili meant something to him. If Dante wished it, who was Leo to go against it. He was given the gift of a family and in return he offered his loyalty. And besides, Lilli only saw him as a good friend. And as a boy.

He was sunshine beaming through rainclouds, offering her joy on the worst of days. When things in the city got worse, when a new drug started circulating through town, when people died in front of her eyes, when she was caught between the feud of three mafia families, he was there. He offered conversation and distractions and laughs. On the days it was too hard for her to leave bed, he offered comfort.

His hands would comb through her hair as she cried out the shock in silence. The reactions became less severe, and she had mastered the art of masking her horror long ago. But in these moments alone, she broke. Except Leo couldn’t bare to leave her alone.

As the weather became cooler and autumn entered it’s late stages, Leo had gotten permission to take her to shop for warm clothes. Everything she had was so thin, and while she insisted she hadn’t minded, she also hadn’t left the manor in a while. Dante had wanted things to calm, and there’d been a lull in violence for the moment.

After a lot of insistence, Leo got permission, and the two headed into town. Lilli’s eyes always filled with melancholy whenever she went out now. The city had changed, from a place of vibrancy to one of lifelessness.

“Things will get better soon, I promise.”

Lili startled at his words, looking as though she’d just woken from a daydream, “I know they will.”

She’d been praying for weeks now, for this very thing. Sometimes when he’d gone to her room to remind her of dinner, he’d hear her whispers. He never could interrupt her prayers, so he’d listen to the muffled words, and offer a prayer with her. For her. It was the only thing he felt he could do.

Now, he offered his arm, feeling oddly bold in doing so, “Come on, let’s make the most of the day.”

When they returned, they were greeted by news of Nicola’s betrayal.

Broken morale followed in the week after, then a quiet anger underneath. The oppressive atmosphere that once existed outside had leaked into the Falzone household, electrifying the air. Any reprieve they had was encased in suspicion of everyone else. If their leader’s right-hand man was a traitor, then it was possible anyone else could be, too.

“Maybe it’s foolish of me, but I think there’s a reason he did it,” Lili stared at her tea, the opaque liquid reflecting her face back to her. Her hands were clasped in her lap, nails biting skin. Leo wanted to take them in his and rub away the nail marks left behind.

He glanced at the table instead, mirroring her actions, “I want to believe so, too. Everyone knows they’ve been best friends ever since they were children. It’s hard to believe he would do this without a reason.”

“I can’t help but feel this is my fault,” the line struck Leo. He rushed to protest, but she was faster, “All of the events happening here have been the result of my existence in some way. Maybe I bring tragedy.”

“Lili…” He felt her pain like his own. For all the years he’d been part of the Falzone family, he hadn’t been one to stand out. He wasn’t as strong, as quick, as coordinated as those around him. Sometimes he wondered if he’d been better, would old members still be alive. The sentiment Lili shared was one he resonated with.

She gave a choked laugh, “I’m sorry, Leo. I know you try so hard to cheer me up. I just can’t help but worry—”

Tears pricked her eyes, and Leo went to her without thought. His hands cupped her cheeks, and her eyes widened. Carefully, he wiped them away, cradling her face in his hands. She looked so small, when he saw her like this.

“You are a gift not a tragedy,” his voice was one he could hardly recognize. Underneath, he felt all the things he’d wished for, encompassed in a single phrase, “This is not your fault. The three families have been warring for years, it was bound to come to this eventually.”

Lili’s hands came to rest over his. A part of him expected her to pull them away, but instead her fingers traced along his skin, as if not comprehending. Her eyes were still wide, but her tears had stopped, and in that moment it was the only thing that mattered.

“We’ll be happy again, Lili.”

“We will be.”

Neither of them had strength in those words, but there was determination in their blood. A spark was back in Lili’s eyes and Leo smiled in relief. Lightly, softly, he ghosted a kiss across her forehead before he pulled away. He was aware he shouldn’t have, but the soft blush on Lili’s cheeks kept bay any regret.

His job was to protect her, and he’d long decided it included her heart and spirit as well.

[arofili]

Three Houses of the Edain Edit Series: Appendix B

Continued from Appendix A. This section will contain information on the House of Hador.

~~~

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Appendix A: House of Bëor Appendix B: House of Hador (you are here!) Appendix C: House of Haleth, Drúedain

~~~

HOUSE OF HADOR

Note: With regard to name translations, I took inspiration from this article; specifically, I used some of the suggestions for name meanings of the early Hadorians and assigned them to elements in my Taliska glossary (see Appendix A).

~~~

Marach ft. Marach, Legen (OC), Malach Aradan, Imlach It is canon that while they were the third House to enter Beleriand, Marach’s people were originally in the lead; also canon is the attitude of the Green-elves toward them and Marach’s decision to remain in Estolad even though his son led many of his people further west. Since Imlach’s son Amlach is still in Estolad during the time of dissent, it is highly probable (though not explicitly stated afaik) that Imlach remained with his father. Everything else is headcanon. Also, Marach is trans because I said so <3

Imlach ft. Imlach, Amar (OC), Amlach The basic structure of this story is canon: Malach remained in Estolad; Amlach was a dissenter who was impersonated and became an elf-friend in his anger at the deception, entering into Maedhros’ service. I added a lot of details to flesh out the story, especially Amlach’s confusing night in the forest. I think Sauron (or one of his servants) stranded him in the woods and stole his likeness, though I doubt Amlach ever really figured out exactly what happened.

Malach Aradan ft. Malach Aradan, Zimrahin Meldis, Adanel, Magor Malach did enter Fingolfin’s service, and the basic details of his familial relationship are canon. Much of the rest of this is headcanon, however.

Magor ft. Magor, Amathal (OC), Hathol, Thevril (OC), Hador Lórindol We don’t know much about Magor or Hathol; the only canonical detail here is that Magor did move his people away from Hithlum and served no elf lord (though we don’t have details on why). Everything else is headcanon.

Hador Lórindol ft. Hador Lórindol, Gildis, Glóredhel, Galdor of Dor-lómin, Gundor This is mostly canon, though it has been embellished, and everything about Gildis other than her name is headcanon. Gundor’s life is also mostly headcanon, though the manner of his death is canon; I’ll go into his story soon.

Gundor ft. Gundor, Angreneth (OC), Indor, Padrion (OC), Aerin, Peleg We don’t know anything about Gundor other than the manner of his death; we also don’t know how Aerin is related to Húrin, so I decided to expand on both of those unknowns with the same story. Aerin’s father is said to be Indor, who is elsewhere said to be the father of Peleg (who was himself the father of Tuor in an early draft), so I made him the son of Gundor. Since Peleg obviously can’t be Tuor’s father anymore, I killed him off at the Nírnaeth...just like Huor, oops. I think Brodda took Aerin to wife before Morwen disappeared, but I couldn’t figure out how to word that concisely, so I left it kind of vague/misleading in the caption. Oh well.

Galdor of Dor-lómin ft. Galdor of Dor-lómin, Hareth, Húrin Thalion, Huor This is mostly canon, though it has been embellished to give Hareth a bit of personality. Ylmir is the Sindarin name for Ulmo, used by Tuor in his song “The Horns of Ylmir.”

Húrin Thalion ft. Húrin Thalion, Morwen Eledhwen, Túrin Turambar, Beleg Cúthalion, Urwen Lalaith, Niënor Níniel Boy howdy this is a long one! It’s almost entirely canon, though I’ve added some embellishments here and there. Beleg is included because he and Túrin were definitely married (at least by elven standards); I’ll go more into that, and the details of Túrin’s time with the Gaurwaith, in a future edit, but for now I settled just using the gayest possible language. Same deal for his time in Nargothrond.

Huor ft. Huor, Rían, Tuor Eladar We don’t know that Galdor took an arrow specifically to the eye, but I thought it would be poetic if both he and Huor died in the same manner so I added that detail to the canon that Galdor was killed by an arrow. The rest of this is pretty much all canon, with some embellishments. Tuor’s story will continue in another edit.

Tuor Eladar ft. Tuor Eladar, Idril Celebrindal, Eärendil Ardamírë The meat of this story is canon, but I’ve added in some of my headcanons as well. I definitely embellished Annael’s departure from Mithrim to show my perspective on his decision to leave Tuor behind (I really do think he thought Tuor was dead or as good as it, and that as a leader he had the responsibility to keep the rest of his people safe). I’m a little foggy on why Tuor was already so obsessed with Gondolin when he met Gelmir and Arminas, because why would the Sindar of Mithrim be so excited about a Noldorin city? I guess maybe they had friends from way back when who went with Turgon? Or maybe they just wished they could be “safe” like the Gondolindrim were, idk. I was kind of vague there. Ylmir is the Sindarin name for Ulmo; Yssion is a Sindarin name for Ossë (the other one is Gaerys, which I think sounds cooler but isn’t as close to a literal Sindarization as Yssion). The bit about Voronwë teaching Tuor Quenya on the road is headcanon, but I think it makes a lot of sense. Telpevontál is my Quenya translation of Celebrindal. I skimmed and skipped a lot of Tuor’s time in Gondolin, since I went over that in another edit. “The Horns of Ylmir” is a real song that Tolkien wrote (Adele McAllister has a cover of it); I added the bit about it triggering Idril’s foresight, though the song is absolutely foreshadowing no matter how you look at it. Eärendil did canonically get married the same year that Tuor and Idril left for Valinor; we don’t have much info on that otherwise, so I made it as bittersweet as possible. The bit about the Elessar is a lot of convoluted headcanon in my attempt to make sense of its 3 bajillion different origin stories. The name Ardamírë is prophetic because, you know, the whole Silmaril thing, but I liked the idea that Idril made the connection with the Elessar before the Silmaril came into the picture. All we know about Idril and Tuor’s fates in canon is that people ~believe~ they made it to Aman and that Tuor was counted as an elf, but that last bit never sat right with me since elsewhere it’s very clearly stated that the Gift of Men is not something that can be refused or taken away. The alternate legend is my own headcanon for what happened to them (I also think they had more peredhil kiddos); in my mind, the Valar let Tuor live the rest of his days in Valinor (all 500 years of them, I just think it’s poetic and connected to his grandson Elros’ fate) before he died peacefully and willingly, able to get closure with Idril before he went.

Storytellers ft. Eltas, Dírhaval Eltas is a character from the Book of Lost Tales, who tells Eriol the “Tale of Turambar.” Supposedly, he once lived in Hísilómë (Hithlum) and came to Tol Eressëa and the Cottage of Lost Play by the Straight Road. That story does not add up at all when you look at it through the lens of Tolkien’s later Legendarium, so I took the name and his origins in Hithlum and crafted an entirely different story for him. Dírhaval is canonically the poet who wrote the Narn i Chîn Húrin; he only wrote that one poem because he was killed at the Third Kinslaying before he could finish any of the other Great Tales like Narn i Leithian (The Lay of Leithian; from his Tolkien Gateway article I think that’s what he was working on after CoH? but I’m not totally sure. But Tolkien never finished the Leithian either, so I think it’s poetic to have Dírhaval do the same). Andvír was one of his sources in canon, I added in the others (Eltas, Nellas, Celebrimbor, Glírhuin), though it was conceivable (and canon, in Nellas’ case) that they knew Túrin enough to report his story (though we don’t know anything in canon about Nellas’ fate). These name translations are my own; I thought “sitting man” worked as a meaning for Dírhaval since I imagine that storytellers like him were known as folk who sat around a lot writing or telling tales.

Servants of Morwen ft. Morwen Eledhwen, Gethron, Grithnir, Ragnir the Blind, Sador Labadal Morwen sending her servants to talk to the elves is headcanon, and so is Gethron knowing some Sindarin, though I think that makes sense considering he did canonically travel across Beleriand and was the one who spoke to Thingol when they arrived in Doriath. We don’t know anything in canon about Ragnir except that he was blind. Sador’s story is canon, though I have added some embellishments here and there. Aside from Sador and Morwen, these name translations are all my own and extremely dubious, but I did my best.

Companions of Húrin ft. Húrin Thalion, Asgon, Ragnir the Outlaw, Dringoth (OC), Dimaethor (OC), Negenor (OC), Tondir (OC), Haedirn (OC), Orthelron (OC) This edit tells the beginning part of “The Wanderings of Húrin,” an unfinished manuscript that was cut from the final published Silmarillion. Húrin’s role in this tale is canon up through his departure from Brethil (that was where Tolkien left off); the way that he left his companions a final time is my headcanon. Asgon and Ragnir are the only names of his companions we know from canon; Asgon’s role as a former outlaw who had known Túrin when he returned to Dor-lómin and started a rebellion is canon, and Ragnir’s pessimism (asking to go home) and his relative youth is also from canon. Everything else about these outlaws is my headcanon, including my reasons for why they weren’t present at the Nírnaeth where literally all the able-bodied men of the House of Hador had perished (except for Húrin). Húrin did go to Nargothrond after Brethil, but I made up everything past that point. We know that there were some Edain at the Havens of Sirion (and presumably there were Men present in the War of Wrath that Elros mingled with before becoming their King), so I thought this could be a way for the remnant of the Haladin (and some of the House of Hador) to get there. I’ll go over the rest of “The Wanderings of Húrin” in future edits, when we get to the relevant Haladin characters.

Gaurwaith ft. Neithan, Beleg Cúthalion, Forweg, Andróg, Andvír, Algund, Ulrad, Orleg, Blodren This is largely a canon-compliant overview of Túrin’s life among the outlaws. The stories of Forweg and Andróg (and Beleg and Túrin/Neithan) are canon (though I did take that extra step and marry off Túrin and Beleg). Orleg’s story is canon, though it’s one that I had overlooked on my various readthroughs of Túrin’s Silm chapter & CoH. Algund and Ulrad’s stories are presented in a slightly tweaked/condensed form; Andvír’s origins as the son of Andróg (??? when did he have a son and why is it never mentioned in the main story???) are canon but (as expressed in parentheses) rather baffling, so I didn’t really emphasize him. Blodren is a character who isn’t in the later drafts of this story; he was an Easterling who was tortured by Morgoth because he “withstood Uldor the Accursed,” and eventually turned into a spy for Morgoth. (As with all Easterling names, his etymology is entirely made up.) He “served Túrin faithfully for two years” before fulfilling the role later taken up by Mîm and betraying the Gaurwaith to the orcs. He was killed by a “chance arrow in the dark” during the battle. I altered his story so that he wasn’t personally tortured by Morgoth and thus did not turn; since he was an Easterling and the rest of the Gaurwaith were Edain, I decided they probably treated him poorly, and threw in a bit of a friendship with Mîm as a nod to how Mîm took over his role. Also, I think Easterlings having pre-existing relationships with dwarves is a cool concept—especially since Bór’s people and Azaghâl’s people both served under Maedhros at the Nírnaeth, and could possibly have had the chance to interact!

~~~

CONTINUED IN APPENDIX C

[foularcadebanana]

The Guide to being a fun-er and cooler uncle by Jiang Cheng (or how to become more like Wei Wuxian)

Finally I have finished writing the fic for the last prompt of the Untamed Fall Fest 2020. Day 31-Wei Wuxian. I know I’m late, but this fic was huge and the idea was a big one. I still haven’t done one for the Day 1 prompt and the idea I have is similar but at the same time very different for that one. 

Thank you so much @fytheuntamed for arranging this amazing fest. I had so much fun participating in this and writing so many different fics. I feel like writing a fic every day for a month had really helped me grow as a writer. So here is the fic. I hope you all enjoy it!

Summary: Where after having an argument with Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng decides to become a much cooler and more fun uncle. Or the one where Jiang Cheng decides to become a better Wei Wuxian than even Wei Wuxian could ever hope to be.

READ ON AO3 (This is a really big one guys)

It began during an argument with Jin Ling of all things. It wasn’t even an argument. Jin Ling was being a particularly insolent brat on that day of all days. Ever since he had become a Sect Leader, he had started to talk back to Jiang Cheng and disagree with him more and more.

Jiang Cheng wondered how people could think they were alike since Jiang Cheng had never dared to speak up against his parents when he had been a teenager. But then again, he had never really had the best relationship with them, and he liked to think that his relationship with Jin Ling was better and that they were a bit close, if nothing else.

All of that changed during that one argument. “Why not?” Jin Ling asked, and Jiang Cheng could tell he was resisting the urge to stomp his foot. “Lan Sizhui’s going and so is Lan Jingyi, even Ouyang Zizhen’s dad is letting him go.”

“You’re not like them though, are you, A-Ling? You’re a sect leader now, you have more responsibilities,” Jiang Cheng tried to explain through the headache he was getting.

“I know that, Jiujiu, but can’t I go just this once?” A-Ling asked, and Jiang Cheng sighed. “I’ll be back as soon as—”

“That’s what you said the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. You can’t keep making excuses to get out of Koi Tower and avoid your responsibilities and duties to the sect. If you tell your friends, I’m sure they’ll understand and change their plans.” Jiang Cheng replied, keeping his tone firm.

He couldn’t let Jin Ling wander off wherever he wanted and let him have his way every time. He needed to understand that things changed when you became a sect leader, and you had a duty to protect your sect and its people. He wished that things could have gone differently for Jin Ling, and Jiang Cheng was trying his best to not let too much burden fall on Jin Ling’s shoulders, but Jin Ling had to try too.

Jin Ling crossed his arms and pouted like a child. “I’m sure if I’d asked Wei Wuxian, he would have allowed me to go. He lets Sizhui go anywhere he wishes whenever he wants. I’m sure if he had been my guardian he would have wanted me to go have fun.”

Before Jiang Cheng could get the chance to respond, Jin Ling stomped away from Jiang Cheng’s office, closing the door behind him a bit too harshly. Jiang Cheng couldn’t muster up the energy to shout at him for it.

He wanted to go behind Jin Ling. He wanted to pull him back and order him, ask him to please take back his words. If I’d asked Wei Wuxian, he would have allowed me to go. If he had been my guardian, he would have wanted me to go have fun.

A knot formed in Jiang Cheng’s stomach and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. But he wasn’t there for you, A-Ling. He was dead for sixteen years while I— I suffered. I tried my best for you, but I guess it still wasn’t good enough.

It had never been like this with Jin Guangyao, it had been different with him. With him, Jiang Cheng had never felt the pressure to compete, to be the best uncle he could be because he had known that he already was.

Jin Guangyao may have had the emotional sensitivity that Jiang Cheng lacked, and a way with words. He may have had his advantages, but Jiang Cheng had known that the way Jin Ling had called out to his ‘jiujiu’ was never the same as when he had talked about his ‘xiao-shushu’.

Jiang Cheng had seen the way Jin Ling had brightened up every time he had been in Jiang Cheng’s presence. He had never mouthed off to Jin Guangyao the way he had to Jiang Cheng, and still did. 

People had always said that Jin Ling behaved like Jiang Cheng, his personality, and the way that he acted being remarkably similar to Sect Leader Jiang’s. Jin Guangyao had never stood a chance.

Wei Wuxian, on the other hand… Jiang Cheng had once loved him dearly (still did, even if he denied it profusely) and had always been competing with him for his entire life. For the affection of his father, for the satisfaction of his mother, he had competed against Wei Wuxian with everything he’d had, he had worked so hard and practiced and practiced until he had been a bleeding mess on the floor, but it had never been enough.

And then Wei Wuxian had taken everything from him, including his free will. Now here he was, promising to take another important part of his life. One that Jiang Cheng had been growing and cherishing for sixteen years. Wei Wuxian hadn’t even done anything really, and yet, here Jiang Cheng was, already losing this battle of acquiring nephew’s affections. How long had Wei Wuxian been back and alive for?

Didn’t Jin Ling hate him? Or at least mildly dislike him? Jiang Cheng couldn’t lose to Wei Wuxian already. Sixteen years, dammit. He was going to win this competition against Wei Wuxian. He was going to come out on the top and be a better uncle than Wei Wuxian. The cooler uncle. The best uncle he could possibly be!

He needed to be a better Wei Wuxian than even Wei Wuxian could ever hope be.

Jiang Cheng stared into the mirror, looking at himself properly. He wasn’t going to start dressing like Wei Wuxian, obviously. He wasn’t obnoxious enough to wear all black, and he quite liked his purples and navy blues. What he was going to try though, was to smile like Wei Wuxian. So, he looked into the mirror, staring at his mouth.

But no matter how much he stared at it, he could not turn his frown upside down. He sighed and pressed his lips together, glaring at the mirror. How did a person smile, again? He tried turning the edges of his lips up…UP. But they just wouldn’t move. He groaned. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t even smile like Wei Wuxian could. How could he hope to become a better uncle than Wei Wuxian if he couldn’t even smile for his kid?

This was a great start.

It was just a week later that he found himself in the Cloud Recesses. Jin Ling was going on a night hunt with the rest of his friends and Jiang Cheng was going to spend the night in the Cloud Recesses after a meeting with Hanguang-Jun.

So, he stood outside the entrance of the Cloud Recesses with Jin Ling, who was about to leave for the hunt. Jiang Cheng knew what he had to do. Project WWWWD (What Would Wei Wuxian Do) was about to begin.

“A-Ling,” Jiang Cheng said, his hands twitching at his sides. He was sweating and red in the face, wasn’t he? He was sure Jin Ling was giving him a weird look. Jiang Cheng could do this. All he had to do was lift his hands and give Jin Ling a hug, just like he’d seen Wei Wuxian give all of the juniors. Jin Ling had avoided his. But he wouldn’t avoid Jiang Cheng’s hug would he?

Jiang Cheng lifted one hand. Jin Ling looked at it. Jiang Cheng swallowed and cleared his throat, putting the hand on Jin Ling’s shoulder and patting him. “Have fun,” he said, just like Wei Wuxian had said earlier. He tried to smile like he had practiced in the mirror.

“Jiujiu, are you okay?” Jin Ling was staring at him worriedly. Jiang Cheng nodded his head, letting his hand drop and a frown settle on his face. He expected Jin Ling to say ‘goodbye’ and ‘see you soon’ before sprinting off to join his friends, but instead he waited, as if expecting Jiang Cheng to say something more.

Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to ask to check Jin Ling’s pouch and ask him if he had carried all of the necessities with him, his clarity bell, and the flares and…

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Cheng asked, “Is there a problem, A-Ling?”

Jin Ling seemed to search Jiang Cheng’s features before he shook his head. “No. I guess I should get going.” The kid had his lips pursued as he turned around and walked slowly over to his friends.

Jiang Cheng watched him take a few steps forward before he swore under his breath and gave up. “A-Ling!�� Jin Ling turned back with a hopeful expression on his face. “Take care and stay safe.”

Jin Ling’s face brightened, and to Jiang Cheng’s surprise, he walked back to Jiang Cheng, pulling his pouch out of his robes. “I will, Jiujiu.” He opened his pouch in front of Jiang Cheng with a serious expression on his face. “Here, look. I’ve packed everything……”

After Jin Ling had finished showing Jiang Cheng all of the items in his pouch, had pointed to his clarity bell, attached to his waist, and had shown Jiang Cheng his supply of flares, he was gone with his friends waving and enthusiastically saying goodbye to Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng watched Jin Ling disappear and sighed. He had failed in the first step of his project. He hadn’t even been able to chill out like Wei Wuxian and let Jin Ling have fun. He’d had to check up on him. Well, he would not anymore. He turned to look at Wei Wuxian, who was sat on a rock, looking up at the moon.

As Jiang Cheng passed by him, Wei Wuxian’s head whipped around to look at him. “Do you think we should go behind them? I think we should trail behind them for this hunt, just in case.” Wei Wuxian said, and on the surface, the words seemed innocent and harmless enough. But Jiang Cheng knew better.

He narrowed his eyes at Wei Wuxian. Subtly trying to steal his nephews love and earn the spot as his most favourite uncle was one thing, but this. This was too much.

“Oh, haha, Wei Wuxian. Very funny. Let’s make fun of Jiang Cheng for being concerned about his nephew and being cautious. They’re teenagers, you know, and even if they don’t think so, they still need someone to look after them. That includes Jin Ling, even though he’s a sect leader now. So, I don’t appreciate you making fun of me for that,” Jiang Cheng answered and stomped off after he had finished his rant, ignoring Wei Wuxian’s calls to him.

Phase two of the plan to win Jin Ling back and be the cooler uncle involved going to Koi Tower. Jiang Cheng took the day off and went there late into the morning. As soon as he opened the door to Jin Ling’s office, he was greeted with a surprised “Jiujiu!”

Jin Ling stood up and rushed over to Jiang Cheng, who tried not to eye the messy pile of letters Jin Ling had left on the table. “A-Ling,” he said, greeting Jin Ling with a nod of his head, and a slight curve of his lips. He was trying, okay? At least Jin Ling seemed like he was glad to see him. That was a start, right?

“Jiujiu, what are you doing here?” Jin Ling asked. Jiang Cheng understood why. He didn’t really come visit Jin Ling at Koi Tower unless there was a meeting, a conference, some type of a celebration, or if Jiang Cheng believed that Jin Ling needed his help with something, or Jin Ling called him over for an emergency.

One of these things happened at least once a month and Jin Ling visited Lotus Pier often enough, so it wasn’t as if Jiang Cheng needed to casually go over to check up on the kid. But he was there now, for an extremely specific reason, and Jin Ling was curious.

“Well, I was hoping we could go out and do something fun,” Jiang Cheng said. Take that Wei Wuxian. Who’s the fun uncle now?

Jin Ling’s entire demeanor changed as he straightened up and gave Jiang Cheng a serious look. “Is this some kind of a test, Jiujiu?” A test? Jiang Cheng frowned. “Because I’ve been working very hard on the upcoming night hunt I have to arrange for all of the elites in the Jin sect. The elders have been on my back for weeks, and if you’re wondering why I haven’t responded to the letters, it’s not because I’ve been wandering around with my friends. I’ve just been so busy—”

“I know,” Jiang Cheng interrupted, feeling guilt gnawing at his insides. Was this the kind of uncle he was? One that put Jin Ling into such an anxious and frustrated state even when he suggested doing something fun? He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I know how hard you’ve been working, A-Ling. I’ve never doubted you. That’s why I was thinking that maybe we could get away from here and do something fun. It’s up to you, we can do whatever you want.”

Jin Ling stared at Jiang Cheng. He seemed to be searching Jiang Cheng’s eyes again, or maybe searching for the right words. Jiang Cheng didn’t know what he had said to make Jin Ling turn speechless. Did Wei Wuxian not speak like this to Sizhui? Or Jin Ling? He didn’t know. He was betting it was something much, much more sentimental.

Jiang Cheng scowled at the thought that Wei Wuxian had one-upped him in this too. “Jiujiu?” Jin Ling was biting his lower lip, deep in thought. “Could we maybe do that later?” Jiang Cheng blinked. What? “First, could we— well, now that you’re here, I was hoping that you could help me with arranging the Jin hunt. Please, Jiujiu? I’ve been working so hard and—”

“Alright, let’s take a look at it,” Jiang Cheng agreed. Jin Ling’s whole face lit up as he practically dragged Jiang Cheng to his worktable to take a look at what he had come up with so far.

Jiang Cheng blinked and listened as Jin Ling spoke rapidly, ranting to Jiang Cheng about everything all at once. Everything Jiang Cheng had missed so far, everything the elders had told him, everything Jin Ling had incorporated into his arrangement of the hunt so far, and all of the things he planned to do.

To Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling looked not like the capable Sect Leader that Jiang Cheng knew he had become, but like the tiny child who used to pull Jiang Cheng through the entire Lotus Pier to look at a flower he had seen or a bird or a butterfly, anything that had caught his attention, really. He reminded Jiang Cheng of the Jin Ling who, every time he had come to Lotus Pier from Koi Tower, would hold Jiang Cheng’s hand in his pudgy, little one and go off on a rant, rapidly recalling everything that had happened at Koi Tower.

And maybe, phase two of his plan had failed too, maybe it hadn’t. Jin Ling had said that they could go have fun after they had arranged the night hunt, but Jiang Cheng was sure that A-Ling really couldn’t care less about it.

Maybe that was Jiang Cheng’s problem. He was too hard on the kid. Maybe he should ease up, loosen his leash, and show a little more trust and belief in Jin Ling. Like Wei Wuxian tended to do.

“Jiujiu, you should come with us.” Jiang Cheng blinked as Jin Ling looked at him. Go with them where, again? He had almost dozed off while Jin Ling had been having a conversation with Jiang Cheng and his friends, and of course, Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng felt like he somehow got less sleep as he became older, and surely enough there would come a time in the future where no one would let him get any sleep at all.

“Hmmm?” Jiang Cheng casually asked.

“To the lake nearby!” Jin Ling said, clapping his hands excitedly. “We could go for a swim.”

Jiang Cheng just wanted to get some rest, but he turned to look at Wei Wuxian. WWWWD—What would Wei Wuxian do? Wei Wuxian was nodding at the plan approvingly which meant that Jiang Cheng would have to do the same.

He tried to hold in his sigh. “Sure. That sounds like a great idea.” Jin Ling blinked and narrowed his eyes at Jiang Cheng, as if he had said the wrong thing. But Wei Wuxian seemed pleasantly surprised.

“Are you sure, Jiujiu? You look tired, and I saw you kind of dozing off in the meeting earlier.” Jin Ling said. Damn that kid and his observation skills. Maybe he could blame that one on Jin Guangyao?

Jiang Cheng searched for a response. What would Wei Wuxian say? “Ah, A-Ling, it’s fine. I’m fine. I can sleep after we come back, but I wouldn’t want to miss this.” A smile. Jiang Cheng should go for a smile right about now. He felt his lips twitching upwards, but he couldn’t see himself, there was no mirror around. Was he smiling?

Jin Ling’s eyes widened, and he looked stricken. Was that the kind of response people got when they smiled? Was he doing this right?

“We…should go,” Jin Ling said.

As they reached the spot near the lake, Jiang Cheng noticed the shade under the trees. Maybe coming here had been a good idea after all. Jiang Cheng could get some rest while the boys had some fun. Wei Wuxian was there to keep an eye on them, or not. But Jiang Cheng most certainly wasn’t going to pay them any attention. Just like he had promised himself.

He could also get to spend some time with A-Ling like this, and he wouldn’t keep bugging Jiang Cheng to try to meet up with Wei Wuxian. He was in his presence now, and that would have to be enough.

Spreading out a blanket for himself on the grass, Jiang Cheng lay down under the shade of the trees and closed his eyes. He had kept the picnic basket which contained warm food a bit of a distance away from him, but still on top of the blanket.

Jiang Cheng let himself relax. He felt the breeze gently caressing his face and his hair, and he allowed himself to finally fall asleep….

“Jiujiu!” Jiang Cheng startled awake.

“Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian called out, and Jiang Cheng heard the urgency in his voice.

“What is it? Who’s hurting you? Where’s the dog? What’s wrong?” Jiang Cheng immediately stood up, alert.

“It’s Jingyi and Sizhui. We were just playing in the lake and they both got hurt and almost drowned, but Wei Wuxian and I saved them.” Jin Ling told Jiang Cheng. While Jin Ling’s tone remained calm, Jiang Cheng could see the worry and concern on his face. “They need your help, Jiujiu.”

Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, could not seem to stand still, hopping from one foot to the other and hovering around the two boys. As Jiang Cheng walked towards them, he noticed that the boys were both sitting upright and coughing. Ouyang Zizhen seemed to be rubbing their backs, the smart kid.

“Do something, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian said in a panicked voice. “Look at them. I almost lost Sizhui a second time! I think they might have a concussion. Jingyi’s looking a bit pale—”

“They’re going to be fine, Wei Wuxian. Stopping jumping around and help me.” Jiang Cheng snapped, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. This was great. Wei Wuxian was acting like a child. He felt like the only adult around. At least he could still count on Jin Ling to help.

Jiang Cheng saw that Sizhui’s knees were scratched up and immediately pulled out a few creams and lotions along with a bandage from his pouch. The lotions would help Sizhui’s sea sickness and help clear both the boys’ lungs of water. Lan Jingyi did not have a concussion, but he had a bruise on his forehead. Jiang Cheng pulled out a pack of ice for him before closing his pouch.

After tending to both the boys and giving them instructions, with Jin Ling sitting right next to him and adding a few pieces of advice of his own, and Wei Wuxian still hovering around them, Jiang Cheng thought it would be best to go back to his blanket. He had done what he had been asked to do. That was enough, right?

Jiang Cheng felt almost proud of himself, as he pulled warm food out of his picnic basket for everyone. He hadn’t even given the boys a single lecture. He was getting the hang of this cool, fun uncle thing.

“Jiujiu,” Jin Ling said. He standing next to Jiang Cheng and conveniently blocking out the sun. Jiang Cheng watched him as he looked down and fidgeted with his fingers. What was wrong now? “I’m sorry.” Jiang Cheng stared questioningly at Jin Ling. “You were right. You’re always right. We should have been more careful. I didn’t know Sizhui couldn’t swim, and the tides were very strong. It was stupid, Jiujiu, and I know that I was being irresponsible. It won’t happen again.”

Jiang Cheng blinked up at Jin Ling. He hadn’t even lectured Jin Ling this time, but he had somehow still received an explanation and an apology. He hadn’t even said anything and yet, here A-Ling was doing the talking for him, saying words in response to everything that Jiang Cheng wanted to say to him.

Sighing exasperatedly, Jiang Cheng tugged on Jin Ling’s arm, making him sit down beside him. “It’s alright, A-Ling. I’m glad you’ve understood your mistake, and I’m sure you’ll be more careful from now on.” There. His response had been short and sweet. Wei Wuxian could get wrecked!

What was Wei Wuxian doing anyway? Jiang Cheng looked over at him. Wei Wuxian seemed to have gone mad, making wild hand gestures as he spoke loudly. Sizhui seemed to be trying to placate him, as if the idiot were angry at the kid and not concerned for him. Jiang Cheng scoffed. Who was the cooler uncle now?

Looking back at his own nephew, Jiang Cheng was puzzled by the hidden disappointment he found in Jin Ling’s eyes. “Jiujiu, why aren’t you getting angry at me?” Jin Ling softly asked.

Jiang Cheng was even more confused now. Hadn’t Jin Ling wanted this? Hadn’t he wanted Jiang Cheng to be just like Wei Wuxian?

What would Wei Wuxian say? “A-Ling, you are a grown-up now. You’re managing to look after an entire sect all by yourself, aren’t you? Then it wouldn’t do for me to treat you like you’re still a child, to shout at you or get angry with you. You’re a responsible and mature individual now, and I’m sure you can take care of yourself. You don’t—” Jiang Cheng cut off and cleared his throat, immediately looking away.

He swallowed the emotions threatening to spill over. You don’t need me to take care of you anymore. You have Wei Wuxian here with you if you need a fun, cool uncle to spend some time with.

“A-Ling. Why don’t you call your friends and your idiotic uncle over to have some food before it goes cold?”

Jiang Cheng found himself going on a night hunt with the juniors and Wei Wuxian soon after that. He knew that this would be difficult. It would be hard for him to keep his cool and stay calm if a monster came at the kids, especially at Jin Ling, but Jiang Cheng would try. For A-Ling.

He was even keeping his distance, walking right next to Wei Wuxian, who was at least a few steps behind the juniors. Jiang Cheng sighed, tightening, and loosening his grip on Sandu. He wanted to ask Wei Wuxian how he did it, how he made everyone like him so much. How he inspired the loyalty and devotion of the people around him instantly.

Maybe he got it from his parents, or maybe he got it from Jiang Cheng’s parents. Either way, Jiang Cheng hadn’t acquired that particular personality trait. Maybe it was the smile that did it. That bright, blinding smile that made people instantly melt, no matter what had just happened. Then it made sense, because Jiang Cheng had never learned how to smile like that, had he?

A sudden gurgling sound tore through the silence of the night and Jiang Cheng instinctually looked over at Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian was looking back at him. He gave Jiang Cheng a quick nod, and Jiang Cheng could feel Zidian slowly beginning to flare up, could feel the itch in his hands to unsheathe Sandu. But he straightened up, took a deep breath, and decided to watch as the juniors handled the monster by themselves.

It was after all just one monster. They would be able to handle it wouldn’t they?

“Jiujiu!” Jin Ling called, his eyes flashing over to Jiang Cheng. Be supportive. Trust him. Tell him that you believe in him.

Jiang Cheng  gestured with his hands and gave a small smile. “It’s alright, A-Ling! I believe in you.”

Disbelief flashed in Jin Ling’s eyes before he joined the rest of the juniors in fighting the monster. There, it seemed like Jiang Cheng had done a good job. Now all he had to do was stay away from the fight and let Jin Ling and the rest of his friends handle it. Easier said than done.

“Jiang Cheng, what are you doing?” Wei Wuxian hissed. Jiang Cheng blinked and turned to him. Wei Wuxian had a desperation in his tone and this look in his eyes that Jiang Cheng hadn’t seen since he had been resurrected. “Why aren’t you helping them?”

Jiang Cheng scoffed. Was Wei Wuxian serious? Was this some kind of a trap to knock Jiang Cheng down a few pegs so he could never achieve the title of a cool, fun uncle? Well, Jiang Cheng was not falling for that. “Why don’t you go help them?”

Wei Wuxian gave Jiang Cheng the same look of disbelief that Jin Ling had.

“You’re the one who has Sandu and Zidian. Why would I use Chenqing on a single monster?” Wei Wuxian asked. Jiang Cheng could not understand what was wrong with him. Why was he acting like Jiang Cheng had to be the one to handle this hunt? The juniors were handling it just fine, weren’t they?

“There are four of them, Wei Wuxian. I’m sure they can handle a single monster,” Jiang Cheng replied, pointing at the monster, who was apparently already dead. “See, I told you.” Jiang Cheng felt like the coolest, fun-est uncle ever in that moment.

But before Wei Wuxian could respond, a second monster ran into the clearing, and Jiang Cheng held his breath as he realised that it was going straight for Jin Ling. Jiang Cheng was ready with his sword and Zidian, he was ready if he felt like Jin Ling was in even the slightest bit of danger. But the kid looked at the monster running towards him, unsheathed his sword smoothly, and in one clear move, pierced the monster straight in his heart. Jiang Cheng couldn’t have felt prouder.

As Jin Ling pulled the sword out from the monster’s chest, blood spurted all over his face and body. He groaned. “This is just fucking great!” He exclaimed, lifting his hands up in the air.

“Nice aim, Young Mistress.” Lan Jingyi said. As the rest of his friends gathered around Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng suddenly remembered how to breathe again.

“That was close,” Wei Wuxian muttered, with another expression Jiang Cheng didn’t remember seeing on his face since the resurrection, or maybe since Guanyin Temple.

Too close, Jiang Cheng thought as he rushed over to Jin Ling.

“A-Ling—” Jiang Cheng said, and something throbbed in his chest as Jin Ling’s expressions turned grim and more serious.

“It’s all right, Jiujiu. I’m okay. You don’t need to— You were right. I can handle these things myself,” Jin Ling said, his voice a little harsh as he walked past Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng stayed frozen in place. Jin Ling had never spoken to him like this before. What had gotten into him? A small voice in Jiang Cheng’s mind said that this was the way Jin Ling spoke to Wei Wuxian. So, was it really a good idea to try and be more like him?

But it’s what A-Ling wants. A-Ling likes him. Jiang Cheng sighed. He didn’t understand what was wrong. What had he done wrong?

‘A-Ling, what’s wrong?’

Something was wrong with Jin Ling. Jiang Cheng knew that. Ever since they had gone on the night hunt, Jin Ling had been acting different. More distant. And Jiang Cheng didn’t know what he had done wrong.

It had been a month, and Jin Ling hadn’t come to visit him in Lotus Pier. He hadn’t met him or found a reason to call him to Koi Tower, and Jiang Cheng just wanted to know what had happened. What had Jiang Cheng done wrong? He had tried to be like Wei Wuxian. He had tried to be fun and laid back and cool. Was that still not enough? Was Wei Wuxian still a better choice than him? Better company than him?

Of course, he was. Jiang Cheng didn’t know what he had been thinking. Trying to be like Wei Wuxian had only confirmed one thing for him, that he could never be him. No matter how hard he tried, he could never evoke the same sense of loyalty and devotion as him. Jiang Cheng had never been and could never be likeable or fun or cool or anything good.

He just had to surrender the title and spend the rest of his life knowing that he would be Jin Ling’s angry, temperamental, strict uncle. That Jin Ling would only come to him because he had to. When he had no choice.

‘If I’d asked Wei Wuxian, he would have allowed me to go. If he had been my guardian, he would have wanted me to go have fun.’

And now that Jin Ling was a Sect Leader, he didn’t have to come to Jiang Cheng anymore. He had a choice, and it was even better now because he had Wei Wuxian. Another uncle. A better uncle.

Jiang Cheng sighed, putting his head in his hands. Fuck all of this, he missed his kid.

He missed having Jin Ling around, walking into his office to interrupt his work every once in a while. He missed Jin Ling pulling pranks on him, and Jiang Cheng getting so angry that he would threaten Jin Ling by pulling out Zidian. Jin Ling would retort by mouthing off to him.

He missed having the kid insist that they sit together for lunch and dinner and all of their meals, and having him insist that they go to the training grounds to train together or because he wanted Jiang Cheng to teach him a particular technique or to show him something he had recently learned.

He just missed his A-Ling. Jiang Cheng rubbed at his eyes, roughly wiping away his tears.

“Jiang Cheng!” A sudden voice called out, making Jiang Cheng look up as his office door banged open. It was Wei Wuxian. What was he doing—

“You need to come with me to Koi Tower. It’s Jin Ling.” Wei Wuxian was a mess, and Jiang Cheng’s heart was in his throat.

“A-Ling, what—” He’s alive. He has to be alive.

“He’s got a fever, and he’s calling for you. Please. I don’t know what to do,” Wei Wuxian pleaded, looking helpless in a way that he had never seemed before.

Jiang Cheng relaxed slightly as Wei Wuxian’s words sunk in. He already had Sandu unsheathed and was marching outside with Wei Wuxian. “How long has he had the fever? Why didn’t anyone tell me? How did you get here?”

“He just got it this morning, but he didn’t tell anyone because he thought it was nothing. We only noticed when it spiked this afternoon. It’s a good thing I was there at Koi Tower with the rest of the juniors. I came here on Suibian as fast as I could.”

Jiang Cheng looked at the sky as he stepped outside the entrance. It was evening now. He swallowed and hopped onto his sword, pulling Wei Wuxian onto it before he could protest.

As they flew into the sky, headed towards Lanling full speed, Jiang Cheng swallowed. “What were you doing there?”

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian seemed hesitant to speak. “Jin Ling needed some help with some things, so he called me.” Of course, he did. Why would he call me when he has you? “It was no big deal, Jiang Cheng. He knows that you’ve been busy and he just didn’t want to cause you more stress.”

Jiang Cheng snorted. That was easy for Wei Wuxian to say. Everyone actually wanted him around. He was everyone’s first choice. So where did that leave Jiang Cheng?

They flew in silence for a few moments before Jiang Cheng remembered what Wei Wuxian had said as soon as he had burst into his office.

“You said that A-Ling was calling for me,” Jiang Cheng spoke. A knot tightened in his stomach at the thought. He imagined a feverish Jin Ling calling out for him, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. They had to go faster.

“Yeah, he— he had a high fever and he kept murmuring your name in his sleep. Kept saying he needed his jiujiu, even after he woke up. We found him fainted in his office in the afternoon, y’know.” Wei Wuxian said.

Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth, clenching his fists. This was all his fault. He should have been there for A-Ling. He should have visited him. He should have—

Koi Tower appeared in Jiang Cheng’s vision and he almost leapt off his sword.

“A-Ling!” Jiang Cheng pushed open the door to Jin Ling’s room. “A-Li—”

“Jiujiu,” Jin Ling spoke. He was sitting up, leaning against a soft pillow. He seemed fine. Jiang Cheng’s posture slumped slightly. “What are you doing here?”

Jin Ling looked surprised. As if there was no need for Jiang Cheng to be there. Well, fuck that.

“What do you mean what am I doing here?” Jiang Cheng asked as he strode over to stand to Jin Ling’s side. “Am I not allowed to enter my nephew’s room? Who are you to demand answers from me when you cannot even take care of yourself?”

Jin Ling blinked at Jiang Cheng, and a tenseness that Jiang Cheng hadn’t even known Jin Ling had been holding in his shoulders, disappeared. “I—”

“I don’t show up for a few weeks and you forget you have another uncle!” Jiang Cheng knew that he was getting worked up over nothing. It was just a fever; it was supposed to be nothing. But he’d had enough. Jin Ling not taking care of himself was the last straw and all bets were off.

If being Jin Ling’s temperamental and strict uncle would mean that Jin Ling wouldn’t get hurt and that Jiang Cheng could protect him, then Jiang Cheng would happily take that title back. “You forget you have another home and just decide to not come visit Lotus Pier. Not only that but you don’t even write me letters! You think you can get rid of me that easily, you brat?! Huh?

You think you can just keep things from me and not have me find out about them? Well that’s too bad because I’m going to find out anyway! And I’m going to come nag you about them. I made a promise to your mother and father to take care of you, and I’m going to keep that promise!”

“Jiujiu,” Jin Ling looked at Jiang Cheng with a soft look in his eyes, and as he coughed, Jiang Cheng was reminded that the kid was sick. He had a high fever.

Jiang Cheng sat down with a frown on his face, taking the wet cloth lying beside A-Ling and dipping it in the cold water kept in a bowl. Gently squeezing the cloth, Jiang Cheng kept it on A-Ling’s forehead. He touched the back of his hand carefully to Jin Ling’s neck and his cheeks. The kid was burning up.

“Jiujiu,” A-Ling said a little more meaningfully. He grasped Jiang Cheng’s hand in both of his own and held on.

“A-Ling,” Jiang Cheng whispered softly. He swallowed the bile rising up his throat. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you call me here?”

“I thought—” Jin Ling looked away from him.

Jiang Cheng used his sleeves to wipe the sweat off of Jin Ling’s cheeks and neck before keeping another wet cloth on the neck. “You though what?”

“That you didn’t care anymore,” Jin Ling muttered. What?!

“What?” Jiang Cheng gaped at Jin Ling. What had given him that idea? “What made you think that?”

“You— you started acting really weird, Jiujiu. You didn’t ask me to stay safe and take care during night hunts anymore and you didn’t tag along on this recent one until I asked you to, and told you that Wei Wuxian was coming too. You didn’t demand to see what I’d kept in my pouch or check if I’d packed the flares and tied my clarity bell around my waist. You came over to Koi Tower to visit me but you didn’t ask about the elders or how my sect leader duties were going. I had to ask you to help me instead.

When we went out to the lake to take a break, instead of keeping an eye on us or joining us, you just fell asleep. When you found out that Sizhui and Lan Jingyi were hurt, you just tended to them and walked away. You didn’t even ask if I was okay, you weren’t even mad or angry at me, and you didn’t even shout at me or tell me to be more careful. You just— You just didn’t care!”

“A-Ling—” Jiang Cheng’s heart hurt to see his kid in so much pain. There were tears in Jin Ling’s eyes and he had gone red the more he had spoken. But he wasn’t done yet.

“And then during this recent night hunt, you didn’t even come to help us. You just stood there and watched! Even when that second monster was about to kill me.” Tears fell from Jin Ling’s eyes and he turned to look away from Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng firmly held Jin Ling’s face in his hands. He wiped away Jin Ling’s tears with his thumbs.

“It’s like you don’t even care about me anymore.” Jin Ling brokenly whispered, and Jiang Cheng wondered how they had gotten here. How had they reached this point of almost no return?

It was because Jiang Cheng was a fool. “A-Ling, that’s not true. You know that. You know how much I care about you. You’re the most important person in the world to me.” Jiang Cheng said softly.

“Then why were you acting like that?” Jin Ling demanded. “Why were you acting like— like Wei Wuxian?!”

“Hey!” Wei Wuxian protested, but neither of them paid him any attention.

“I thought you wanted me to act that way,” Jiang Cheng said, and Jin Ling blinked at him confusedly. Jin Ling looked so tired that Jiang Cheng just wanted to pull him into his arms and sing to him until he fell fast asleep. “You told me to, remember, when we fought a while ago. I didn’t let you go out with your friends so you said that Wei Wuxian would have allowed you to go. You said that he lets Sizhui go anywhere he wants and that you wished he were your guardian. So, I— I tried to be…more like him.”

“What?!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “Jin Ling you wanted me—”

“No!” Jin Ling almost shouted. “That wasn’t what I meant. Jiujiu, I was angry and frustrated. You never usually take me that seriously. What happened this time?”

Jiang Cheng tried to hold back the tears that sprung into his own eyes. “I just…I just wanted to be the fun and cool uncle that you wanted me to be, A-Ling. For once. I wanted you to— I didn’t want you to—” choose Wei Wuxian over me “—hate me because I couldn’t be as amazing as Wei Wuxian.” Jiang Cheng let out a sharp breath, feeling like a shard of broken glass was stuck in his chest. Breathing hurt.

“Jiang Cheng…” Wei Wuxian spoke, but Jiang Cheng didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear the pity in his brother’s voice.

But he didn’t have to, because Jin Ling spoke up in response. “Well, I was lying you know. Wei Wuxian lets Sizhui go wherever he wants but only because he goes with him. Just like he follows us on night hunts and brings out his flute any time anyone so much as breathes. He says it’s because he wants to teach us things, but he just makes us do things on our own and plays pranks on us. And he’s a shitty teacher, Jiujiu. He’s nowhere near as good as you are.

And every time anything happens to any one of us, even if it’s a scratch, he just freaks out. Especially if it’s Sizhui, cause Sizhui always gets hurt. He tries to reassure Wei Wuxian, but it just ends up with the both of them hugging each other and saying they love each other.” Jin Ling made a disgusted face.

“And if, unluckily, any one of us gets hurt so badly that we start crying, then he begins to cry too, and then so does everyone else. I’m the only one who just sits there wishing that you were there too. Because I know if you’d have been there with us then you wouldn’t have cried, you would have actually done something to help us.” Jin Ling scowled as he looked at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng had never loved the kid more than he did in that moment. Without even thinking about it, Jiang Cheng hugged Jin Ling tightly. “I missed you so much, A-Ling,” he admitted.

He heard Jin Ling swallowing heavily. “I missed you too, Jiujiu.”

“I’m sorry I made you feel like I didn’t care. That promise I told you I made, to take care of you and always protect you. To never let any harm come to you. That wasn’t just a promise that I made to your parents, A-Ling. That was a promise that I made to myself first. And I intend to always keep it.”

Jin Ling brushed away more tears as they appeared and leaned in to hug Jiang Cheng again. “I’m sorry too, Jiujiu. I never should have said those things about Wei Wuxian. You are a fun and cool uncle. At least for me, you are. And I don’t care what anyone else thinks about you, they can fight me if they want. I don’t want you to change, Jiujiu. I don’t want you to stop caring about me. You’re the best uncle. Wei Wuxian is the lame one.”

“Hey!”

“I will never stop caring about you, A-Ling.” Jiang Cheng promised. He pulled the kid into his arms and softly caressed his hair. He was hot with fever, and they were surrounded by Jin Ling’s friends, and Wei Wuxian, but Jiang Cheng could care less. “Sleep, A-Ling. I’m here. I’ve got you and I’m going to take care of you, okay?”

Jin Ling melted into Jiang Cheng’s embrace, closing his eyes and sighing softly. “Okay, Jiujiu. Goodnight.”

“Night, A-Ling.” Jiang Cheng murmured.

“You know,” Lan Jingyi spoke up. “I think Sect Leader Jiang is a really cool uncle, too. Remember when he patched us up at the lake, Sizhui? Wei Wuxian just stood by and did nothing.” This Lan kid was really starting to grow on Jiang Cheng, he wouldn’t lie.

“I remember,” Sizhui spoke up with a smile.

“And I’ve heard tales of Jin Ling having fun at Lotus Pier, so I think he might be a really fun uncle too.” Ouyang Zizhen added. Had Jiang Cheng mentioned what a smart kid he thought the Ouyang heir he was before?

“Hmm, he might be,” Sizhui agreed, making Jiang Cheng narrow his eyes. He could spot the slight smirk on the kid’s lips. “We’ll just have to see proof of that then, won’t we?”

Jiang Cheng blinked at that. Had Lan Sizhui just invited himself to Lotus Pier that easily? Wei Wuxian really had been the worst influence on the kid.

“What is happening here? Are you forgetting that I’m the fun, cool uncle here?” Wei Wuxian dramatically said

Jiang Cheng shook his head and smiled to himself.

“Oh my god, look at that. Sect Leader Jiang is smiling.”

“He is. How nice.”

“He looks so handsome when he smiles.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, his cheeks flushing at the comments made by Jin Ling’s friends. As he looked down at his nephew, who was fast asleep in his arms, he realised that the last part of his project was complete. He could smile like Wei Wuxian after all, and charm those around him.

He had already inspired the loyalty of an entire sect, the Yunmeng Jiang sect, and the utter, complete devotion of his nephew somehow. Jiang Cheng supposed he had just been too blind to notice it until now.

[raggedy-albert]

Ok it’s clear you are very attached to Albert and I do not know a lot about Albert other than he’s a redhead and I ship him with Finch so bless me with your glorious Albertness.

AHHH THIS IS THE BEST ASK IVE EVER GOTTEN TYSM ANON

this is going to be really long so it’s under the cut

so we’ll start off with the simple hcs:

he’s portuguese

he loves to steal and does it all the time

he has two older brothers and his mom died (canon)

his favorite color is green

his birthday is in august

he says “come on” a lot

he doesn’t drink alcohol because of negative past experiences

he doesn’t like the feeling of anything on his arms, which is why he wears tank tops

Finch, Crutchie, Jack, Davey, and obviously Race are the newsies he’s closest with

he never pays for his papers

he’ll call finch any other bird than finch

he was born in brooklyn

he’s hard of hearing

he’s shockingly not that good at lying

he likes his job and his life

he has a really weird sense of humor

people call him “red”

he will do anything if it’s a dare or a bet

ok now onto the more complex ones:

He has two older brothers, but used to have three. The one that used to be the oldest was the one who he was closest with, and he really looked up to him, especially since their mother died and their father’s treatment of them got so much worse. One day, relatively soon after their mom died, the brother went to steal food for Al and their other siblings, and Al went with him. Their home was out of food, and out of money, so they had to steal to survive. As the brother swiped something he somehow was caught doing so, and a police officer took him. As the brother was being taken away he took his hat off to hide the food in, tossed it to Albert, and told him to run. The brother got sent to the Refuge. After waiting and denying for what seemed like forever, Al finally realized his brother just didn’t make it out. He still wears his brother’s newsie cap every day, backwards too, just like his brother.

When he ran away from home after his brother died and after he started to become more angry and bigger, the Brooklyn newsies (they knew his brother, and it was the closest borough) took him in (which is where he met Spot, though he wasn’t leader of the Brookies yet. They weren’t really close though, they just knew that each other existed). The Brookies gave him a nickname (Sticks) and he became really close friends with someone (Stones), another newsie who was around his dead brother’s age. The newsie didn't have any friends but he had been with the Brooklyn newsies for a while, and Albert didn’t have any friends there so he thought it was a perfect match. The newsie would only call Al by his nickname, which he didn’t really like but the newsie told him it made him sound cooler, and he figured it was a way to disconnect from his past life. That newsie and him became brothers (“replacing” the brother he lost) but Albert didn’t realize how toxic and controlling he was. They went everywhere together and they sold together and were inseparable, but one day his “friend” got in trouble with the cops and was going to be sent to the Refuge so he blamed it all on Albert and got away with no punishment, while Albert got sent away instead. His short time there changed him, he has a few physical scars from the abuse (he hates others seeing them), but most of them are mental. He got extremely protective of others, which is where he first adopted the older brother mindset, but he also started getting nightmares as well as sleep issues and his mental health plummeted. He also became really jumpy, and he got much quieter, though before he was outgoing, loud, and rebellious. After he got out he always tries to give whatever extra food or little money he has to Specs to give to the kids he left behind, who he thinks about often. Ever since this, he swore off nicknames. He is still friends with a few of the Brookies, but he doesn’t like to see them too often since it’s hard for him because it reminds him of the newsies who betrayed him and his brother.

He’s actually pretty smart but didn’t get a school education since he started working so young. One of the Brooklyn newsies taught him the basics of how to read, which he used to tell the other newsies the headline or just to entertain himself. He’s sort of a smart dumbass though, and it’s more street smarts than intelligence.

Very protective over others, but not of himself (he doesn’t understand why other people protect him, since he doesn’t feel like he deserves it). Especially the younger newsies, he feels that they don’t really have anyone sticking up for them, so he became that someone. Obviously the other newsies are important too and he’ll protect them but they’re attuned to the difficulties of their lives, and are just older and bigger.

He used to mostly live at his house but ever since both of his brothers moved out his father became more violent due to there not being anyone to protect him anymore, he lives in the lodging house most of the time. Sometimes he randomly shows up late at night with bruises and doesn’t say anything about why. The other newsies just accept that he sometimes shows up and needs a place for the night. He has his own designated bed there (the bunk under Race’s).

One of his brothers was a striking trolley worker which is why he seemed sort of hesitant to strike, because he saw the effects of it. He also didn’t want to cut off another source of income for his family, leaving the other brother having full responsibility. That’s one of the reasons why he was quick to defend the trolley workers (he also just genuinely didn’t want innocent people to get hurt).

Before his mom died, he wasn’t really close with her. He mostly spent time with his dad. Even if they didn’t really talk, they just got along and sat in comfortable silence together. It’s not like he disliked his mom or anything, they just weren’t close and it was sort of awkward whenever they would interact. After she died though, his dad completely changed. He got angry. It was like he had lost two parents, not one.

OK THAT WAS A LOT BUT AGAIN TY ANON AND THAT IS MY SUMMARY OF MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER

[princeasimdiya12]

Talentswap-DR1 Kids with V3 Talents

So I came across a post made by @mythgirlimagines who gave some headcanons that featured the kids from the first game with talents from the V3 game. I really enjoyed the idea and I began to think of my own headcanons for each kid and how their lives would be different with their new talents. So with their permission, I was able to come up with this. I hope you like it!

Sayaka Maizono as the SHSL Adventurer

As a kid, she spent all her time at home since her dad was always working and her mom passed away.

She found comfort in watching TV programs that showcased different countries and cities and loved seeing the people having fun together.

Wanting to find happiness like those people, Sayaka began to secretly wander around her home city and partook in sight seeing and trying new foods.

She also practiced interacting with the people and asking them different questions.

After getting enough practice, she began traveling around different parts of Japan before making her way through the Asian countries followed by the rest of the globe.

She vlogs her travels by uploading pictures and videos of the food, fashion and festivals in each place she visits.

The popularity of her vlogs has resulted in her gaining contracts with multiple tourist companies who want her to visit their cities to boost tourism.

Mukuro Ikusaba as the SHSL Pianist

Mukuro doesn’t really care about playing the piano. She only took it up because her sister insisted that she do something useful with her life

She spent most of her freetime practicing the piano and would perform for hours on end to see how far she could go before exhausting herself.

She’s won multiple awards and critical acclaim for her performances but they mean nothing to her if they didn’t come from her sister.

When Junko decided to become SHSL Despair, Mukuro began to channel her talent to her sister’s instruction.

Her music can manipulate the emotional states of anyone listening to her and increase it based on the melodies she performs.

Ex. A somber tune can make people into sobbing messes while an aggressive song can make listeners become hostile and violent towards each other.

Junko would use her sister’s talent to either influence new followers or to dispose of unlucky victims.

She mainly wears a slim black dress when she performs on stage.

Leon Kuwata as the SHSL Tennis Player

Just like in canon, Leon doesn’t like his talent. Particularly the heavy training that’s involved.

He mainly uses his tennis player image to become a celebrity.

This involves staging photo sessions with him posing in his tennis uniform or performing cool moves for the camera.

He mainly performs solo and the few times that he partakes in a doubles match is if his partner can boost his image.

This has resulted in him getting into arguments with them because of his lazy nature.

He ended up in multiple flings with various fangirls which tarnished his image as a celebrity.

His wardrobe consists of a white polo shirt with orange stripes, shorts and a red sweatband. 

Chihiro Fujisaki as the SHSL Maid/Butler

(As to avoid potential discourse, I’m going to gloss over their backstory and headcanon them as genderfluid)

They find cleaning and organizing rooms to be mentally relaxing.

They take pleasure knowing that a clean house or room will become much refreshing and comforting to their client(s).

Most people are surprised that someone as small and fragile like them is capable of doing multiple chores and duties in a single day.

They prefer to work behind the scenes or with as few people watching over them.

Chihiro often has difficulties when it comes to making public announcements to large groups.

Some days they dress up in maid uniforms while other days they dress up as a butler.

Their specialty when it comes to cooking is making perfect creme brulee. 

Mondo Oowada as the SHSL Artist

As a professional artist, Mondo can make a variety of artworks.

His area of specialties include sculptures and murals.

Despite making tons of money with his artworks, he secretly dislikes the rich people who buy his pieces due to their snooty personalities.

He initially hated his talent because he was hoping to be good at something that was more manly or cooler.

His big brother was the reason for why he became an artist to begin with.

Having been Mondo’s main parental figure their whole lives, Daiya wanted to ensure that his brother would have a secure career that he could be proud of and that he wouldn’t have to risk his life for. Just like he does as a gang leader.

After his inevitable death, Mondo took his art career more seriously to honor his big brother.

He wears cargo pants with a white tank top and has a paint splattered bandanna around his neck.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru as the SHSL Aikido Master

He took up aikido believing it to be an ideal practice of mastering self control

He devotes most of his freetime to studying the different forms of aikido aswell as the religious aspects tied to the skill.

At his old school(s) he became popular for taking down various delinquents who would terrorize his defenseless classmates. But what really moved everyone was how Kiyotaka invited each delinquent to join him so that they can master self control and change their lives for the better.

He ended up becoming the president of a large club dedicated to aikido.

Despite his popularity, Kiyotaka is still very awkward at friend making as all he can discuss is his general studies and aikido. 

All of his relations with his peers are purely professional.

Hifumi Yamada as the SHSL Anthropologist

He started out by watching foreign cartoons and dramas and wondered how different they were compared to the ones shown in Japan.

This led to him binge watching multiple foreign shows while taking notes and analyzing the cultural norms displayed in each show.

His hard work paid off when he landed a spot on a TV show where he showcased his research and the popularity for each show in their respective country.

He does most of his research in his hometown but sometimes he’ll travel to specific cities either to showcase new research or to analyze a TV show/movie production.

He dreams of being remembered as a hero who was able to connect every culture and bring world harmony.

He often reaches out to Sayaka in the hopes that they could do a travel collab together but she politely denies his requests using various reasons.

Celestia Ludenberg as the SHSL Inventor

She uses a steampunk lolita ensemble whenever she makes public appearances and speaks with a Victorian accent.

She’s able to maintain her composure when she’s in an environment with an exceptionally hot temperature.

Celestia takes pride in being able to take apart the most mundane of household appliances and rebuild them into something better and praiseworthy. 

Several companies have already commissioned her to make service drones.

She’s willing to make any invention that’s requested provided that the client can afford her extravagant prices.

There’s rumors that she’s been secretly making inventions that can brainwash people and turn them into her obedient servants.

She’s openly expressed interest in studying Kyoko’s existence but the robot makes it clear that she doesn’t want to be involved.

Sakura Oogami as the SHSL Entomologist

While she underwent extreme training thanks to her family’s profession, she has caused conflict among them for refusing to continue the fighting legacy in favor of her true passion.

She’s earned the nickname “The Mountain Woman” on account of how she’s always spotted hanging out in the mountain range studying bug life.

Sakura earned publicity by researching every individual insect found in Japan and how they interact with one another in their ecosystem.

Sometimes she allows the more dangerous insects and arachnids to bite/sting her so she can develop an endurance towards their toxins.  

She also does environmental activism by stopping companies from illegally destroying the forests.

In her spare time, she enjoys meditating in the middle of the woods or by waterfalls.

Aoi sometimes asks if Sakura could lend her some of her butterflies for her magic shows.

Junko Enoshima as the SHSL Supreme Leader

She’s a cult leader. Plain and simple.

Using her analytical talent, Junko can analyze any person who’s unfortunate enough to talk to her.

By lending her ears, she gives them the impression of a person who genuinely cares about them and their problems no matter how pathetic they may be.

Most of the people who are drawn to her are often poor unfortunate souls who have been hurt by society or loved ones.

Wanting to fight boredom, she used her initial members for manipulation games and mental torture to see how powerful her charismatic personality can be.

She uses her findings to establish herself as a prominent figure of the 21st century.

A figure that can guarantee dramatic change if her subjects are willing to follow her commands.

When she decides to become the SHSL Despair, she uses an alternate persona via Monokuma to broadcast messages of despair and hard truths to the listening audiences.

And to keep Hope’s Peak and the police from catching on about her plans, she makes it so that she runs an exclusive club for intellectual and high class individuals. 

Makoto Naegi as the SHSL Astronaut

Despite being average, he wanted to show everyone that it’s possible to accomplish the extraordinary even if you’re ordinary.

He loved the idea of going to space and seeing the beauty of the stars and the Earth down below.

Ever since middle school, he’s been training his body so he can be prepared for space travel.

He’s studied different star systems but he has difficulties when it comes to mechanical engineering and repair.

The closest he’s been to space was traveling in ships that reach high enough for him to experience zero gravity.

Despite being the youngest member of the space program, all the staff members adore him for his bright personality and his eagerness when it comes to completing missions.

In his free time, he tries to learn English and Russian should he be assigned to work with astronauts of the US or Russia.

Kyoko Kirigiri as the SHSL Robot

Her creator was her grandfather Fuhito who wanted an heir for his engineering business.

Her design was modeled after his young granddaughter who had died alongside her mother.

Having familiarized herself with the ongoing grudge between Fuhito and Jin, Kyoko can’t help but wonder if her creation was born out of spite.

She’s willing to follow along with her grandfather’s wishes but she does question if her actions are because she was programmed to follow them or because she herself wants to do it.

She’s built with a titanium body armor that can endure any extreme forms of damage along with providing her with super strength. 

Given the right resources, she can also hack any computer system and gain access to any information found in said system.

Jin had conflicting feelings about allowing Kyoko to enter Hope’s Peak due to her bringing up feelings of anguish for his lost daughter and needed to be pushed by his dad to accept her.

She prefers to stay in the background analyzing the actions and behaviors of her classmates but she will show no hesitation in using force to resolve potential conflicts. 

Byakuya Togami as the SHSL Cosplayer

In this reality, he lost his chance of becoming the Togami Heir and was banished from the family.

He still wanted to make a name for himself and decided to pursue a career that no one in his family would cross paths with him in: cosplaying.

Initially, he was depressed for a month after losing his big chance and immersed himself in anime shows to drown out his depression.

In a way, he found inspiration by watching the protagonists who continued onward and decided to make new paths for themselves despite failing to achieve their initial dreams.

If he wanted to be like them, then he could try dressing like them.

He only watches anime that has an enriching fantasy setting or has historical themes

Using what was left of his money, he funded a public fashion show that displayed the elaborate costumes of famous anime characters.

He became a big hit and was given sponsorships to produce more cosplays. 

He has a love/hate relationship with his talent. On one hand, he prides himself in being the best at cosplaying. But on the other, he hates it because it’s a reminder that he lost his right to be a Togami.

Touko Fukawa as the SHSL Detective

Having grown up reading mystery novels, Touko became familiar with the cliches and expected tropes found in each given mystery.

Before going freelance, she served as a secretary for a private detective.

When looking over his cases, she pointed out the familiar patterns for each case while explaining her reasonings behind her deductions. She ended up being right 9 times out of 10.

The PI decided to give her simple cases that involved family drama and cheating spouses to test and expand her knowledge.

Eventually she would be hired for more extreme cases involving drug rings and murder.

Because of her abusive childhood and upbringing, Touko still has Dissociative Identity Disorder and created Genocider Syo as a coping mechanism to protect her.

But rather than killing people like a cliche yandere, Syo shows up whenever Touko ends up cornered or captured by dangerous criminals.

While she has no idea what gloomy got herself into, Syo has no issue with thrashing the low lives who would threaten her existence.

This has often led to the criminals becoming seriously injured or even being killed as a result. When it comes to the latter, Syo takes special care to ensure that it looked like an accident or that the criminal died by someone else’s hand.

This unfortunately resulted in Touko having a bad reputation as a loose cannon detective.

The detective decided to cut ties with Touko to maintain his business but ensured to tell her that she has what it takes to be a true detective.

She still thinks badly of others and is quick to point out the negative qualities associated with that person.

Yasuhiro Hagakure as the SHSL Assassin

The reason he got into assassination was to own up for his mistakes.

When he was 13, his gambling habit led to him and his mother losing their house and having to live on the streets.

Wanting her son to learn responsibility, Hiroko called in an old friend who had ties with the local yakuza and requested that he give her son a job.

Unbeknownst to the two, the only job that the friend could offer was being an assassin. And wanting to make his mom proud of her boy, Yasuhiro accepted the job without telling Hiroko.

After years of brutal and life threatening training, Yasuhiro became the clan’s go-to hitman and was handsomely rewarded every time he successfully got rid of a clan enemy or someone who couldn’t pay their debts.

His preferences for killing involve drugging the victims with slow but lethal poisons or attacking them when they’re alone. His appearance requires him to be extra cunning as to avoid being detected.

Eventually he was caught by the authorities but was contacted by Hope’s Peak who learned about his unusual career. 

He was given two choices: he could go to jail for his murder or he could attend HP so that his talent could be studied while also receiving the school’s protection. Even a moron like Yasuhiro knew what choice to take.

When he went to tell his mom the good news, he found that she disappeared without a trace. Some say that Hiroko left out of shame when she found out about her son’s crimes, others believe that she was kidnapped and killed by revenge driven enemies. Regardless of the rumors, Yasuhiro has a gut feeling that she’s still out there and he intends to find her to make things right.

He uses the SHSL Fortune Teller title to keep his assassin career a secret.

He still maintains his carefree and ditzy personality both because no one would ever expect him of being a professional killer and so that he can keep pushing forward in life without falling into complete despair.

His baggy clothing and dreadlocks make it easy for him to hide knives or bottles of poison.

Aoi Asahina as the SHSL Magician

Ever since she was a little girl, Aoi loved everything about magic.

She read different types of fairy tales and myths so she can learn more about it and use them for her shows.

When she first started, she would perform tricks for her brother Yuta and would ask for his input regarding each performance and how she could improve herself.

Her costume is based on the classic witches mixed with a magical girl theme. (Think along the lines of Little Witch Academia).

Her magic shows put alot of emphasis on spectacle and enchantment so the people watching could fall in love with the concept of magic.

When she has the time, she bakes her own special donuts and offers them to a certain number of lucky participants.

Despite her friends and family encouraging her to participate in competitions, Aoi doesn’t feel that it would be right to use her magic tricks to compete for publicity.

She wants her magic shows to be an inspirational thing that brings happiness and wonder to the people watching.

She enjoys performing for children and often performs at schools, hospitals and orphanages.

The trick she’s best at performing is the underwater escape challenge.

[themonotonysyndrome]

The Holy Quintet in Twisted Wonderland! (all 7 dorms - Part 3)

This is Sayaka’s reaction to the other dorms! Apologies for the delay. RL and work are starting to get real hectic again. Also, a big shoutout to @lionheartanotheraccount​ for brainstorming with me over at Discord and help me out a lot at fleshing this crossover. If any of you guys want to just talk and have fun about this crossover series, I’m more than happy to talk over at Discord!

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed Sayaka’s reaction! 

-

Miki Sayaka & the other dorms (except Heartslabyul)

SAVANACLAW!

Sometimes when the gang needed to lay-low from Riddle’s anger, Sayaka, Ace and Deuce would hang out at the Savanaclaw dorm until curfew. Or until Cater and Trey come to pick them if they’re too loud and rowdy that Leona had to call the Heartslabyul seniors to deal with them. 

Kyouko lets them chill in her room only if each of them bring a tribute (food or drinks) for her and then the four of them would spend hours playing and goofing off. 

Jack would join them after his workouts or if he doesn’t have to help Ruggie attend Leona. The wolf boy helps restrain the four of them from doing anything too stupid or crazy most of the time (and if he can’t, he’ll begrudgingly help hide the evidences).

Sayaka’s personal favourite place to hang out at the Savanaclaw dorm is their lounge because of the small waterfall and pool of water, with some greeneries and tall cool shades scattered around. Perfect to laze about after a hard day of classes.

At first, the Savanaclaw students that often hang around the lounge felt restless at having an interloper intruding their territory. It’s only after Sayaka learn to be respectful and know her place as an outsider that they were comfortable with her. It helps that the boys of Savanaclaw dorm know just how close the Heartslabyul Knight is to their Savanaclaw Brawler. 

Sayaka is just tomboyish enough that she reminds Jack of his littlest sister. Small yet always hard-working and spunky. Always trying her best, whether in classes or her magical training. Jack admires her for that. 

Ruggie knows that nothing but shenanigans await him whenever he sees Sayaka bring Ace and Deuce to Kyouko. He finds her knight-like personalities amusing as more often than not, she seems to attract trouble. But after seeing her swordmanship and how she uses the water around her to fight, Ruggie suppose she’s often get out of trouble easily as she got into them. He could only hope that she won’t join Kyouko in trashing their stadium. Kyouko alone does tons of damage during her fits of anger.

Loud and noisy herbivore. That’s what Leona think of Sayaka. Sure she’s cute and all and could hold her ground against Kyouko (and probably a few of the Savanaclaw students to boot) in a fight, but the moment she starts sprouting her reason for fighting (to fight for the weak, for justice and etc), Leona just tunes her out. 

When he laid it to her of the old and true principle of the wild - how the strong would always devour the weak - Sayaka’s reaction took him by surprise. He thought that the girl would bristle, argued back, but she was genuinely stunned before smiling fondly.

“Ne, I thought you were kinda of a jerk, Kingscholar-senpai. Always bully Bucchi-senpai, making him run after you. But you know what? I think I want to get to know you a lot more! So let’s hang out, Kingscholar-senpai!”

That... that did not go what Leona thought their conversation would.

From that day onwards, Sayaka would ‘annoyed’ Leona whenever she sees him. Calling and waving at him from across the courtyard, sitting beside him in the greenhouse when he’s trying to nap and etc. The best part is, no matter how hard Leona tries to chase her away, she would run with a stupid and happy grin on her face and come back the next day. Ruggie snickers but there was nothing that they could do about it. 

In the end, Leona just lets her do whatever she wants. Just don’t bother him while he’s napping.   

(Oh Leona, Kyouko sprout the same bullshit to Sayaka when they first met. And look where they are now! So be prepared to be tackled by a rumbustious Sayaka from now).

(Now Sayaka and Cheka will do their best to smother our poor lion boi with hugs. Leona does not appreciate this).   

OCTAVINELLE!

The students that captivated Sayaka the most at NRC are actually those from Octavinelle. Her eyes shine in awe and delight when she saw a group of mermen for the first time ever during Swim practise.

(At this point, each girls already joined a club and for some reason that she couldn’t explain, Sayaka was drawn to the Swimming Club. That’s where she meet many Octavinelle students).

The way how they transform from human to their true form as soon as they hit the pool took her breath away. Their beautiful tails mesmerised her as they swim laps around the large pool. 

(Homura looks constipated whenever Sayaka gushes about mermaids and etc, but Sayaka knows better than to ask what’s her deal is. She knows that the other girl would just shut her mouth if she asked anyway).  

Despite her Heartslabyul seniors warned her about the Dorm Leader and Vice Dorm Leader of Octavinelle (and a wild twin brother), Sayaka really wanted to see the inside of Octavinelle. She heard that their dorm is actually underwater!

She tried befriending some Octavinelle students, but with Ace and Deuce constantly at her sides, they tend to make a fuss or push them away; so what if the Octavinelle students can breathe underwater. They’re a lot cooler!

(Yes, these dumbasses would be jealous that Sayaka would want to befriend other boys not from their circle of first-year friends).  

Her club members find her fascination with them adorable. She’s earnest with her questions, eager to learn about their cultures and the feelings would soon turn mutual. 

At first, when Sayaka proved to not only them and herself that she could easily keep up with them underwater even when they’re in their true form, the Octavinelle students were surprised.  

Slowly, Sayaka and the rest of the club members discover that she can also breathe underwater without the use of a potion when they were going through multiple laps in the pool! The guys were very eager to help her discover what else she could she do that involves water. Nessless to day that Sayaka is having a lot of fun in her club. 

As her club members help her discover the extent of what her magic could do, rumours began to circulating around NRC that one of the girls is actually a mermaid. Heck, she could even fight using her swords underwater without a problem! The rumours soon reach the mermafia. 

It was easy to figured out which girl that everyone is talking about since only one of them are in the Swimming Club. 

Azul wanted to know if Sayaka’s Unique Magic involves the sea and water and if she could actually transform into a mermaid without using a potion. Perhaps that’s her Unique Magic. So he sends out the Leech Twins to befriend her. 

Jade and Floyd approach her in the cafeteria while she was having lunch with Ace and Deuce. The two boys were immediately on guard when they sat down and boxed Sayaka between them. Jade broke the ice by telling her that they’re merfolks and heard her interest in learning more about life under the sea and the cultures of merfolks; he’s happy to teach her all he knows. Floyd sweeten his twin brother’s offer by inviting her to the Coral Sea so they could show her around. Sayaka didn’t hesitate to accept their offer, despite Ace and Deuce strongly tells her not to.

One day after they made the offer, the Leech Twins invite Sayaka to their dorm lounge where the three of them talk for hours (Sayaka it at awe over the decor of the dorm). Eventually, Azul join in on the conversation. Don’t worry, Ace and Deuce are there with her. Honestly, they grow bored of the conversation after 15 minutes, but they remain and did not interrrupt because Sayaka was having fun learning about the merfolks. 

When they exhaust the conversation, Azul explains with a welcoming smile that now they indulge in her curiosity and questions, would Sayaka please do the same for them? It’s fair, after all. 

It is only fair, Sayaka thinks. The guys have been very patience with her inquiries and Jade even made sure to always supply them with snacks and drinks throughout their conversation, so sure! Ask away!

They let Floyd ask first: this boy wanted to know if he and Sayaka can have a swimming race. Winner can squeeze the loser as long as they want. Thinking that squeeze = friendly hugs, Sayaka easily agreed.

The mermafia started off by asking easy questions first; what is her world like? Doesn’t it have creatures other than humans? Then they will start asking her about her life as a Magical Girl: How did she become a Magical Girl? Oh, she made a wish and for it to be granted, she needed to be a Magical Girl and fight Witches? That sounds interesting! Do tell them more. 

It’s Ace who actually felt uncomfortable with Sayaka telling the mermafia about her magic and stuff. So while the mermafia and her are busy talking, Ace texted Kyouko. He told her where they are right now and what they were doing. 

Sayaka was just about to explain what she knows about Soul Gems (and thank goodness that it isn’t a lot), when Kyouko suddenly calls her. She put her phone on mute and was about to continue with the conversation, but Kyouko insist in blowing up her phone until she picks up her call. 

The mermafia could do nothing but wait for Sayaka to wrap up her call. Kyouko call and ask her and Adeuce to meet up with her at Savanaclaw. Right now. It’s important. 

So with a heavy heart, Sayaka informed the mermafia that they have to go now. If they linger, Kyouko would definitely come to Octavinelle dorm. Azul knows that the Savanaclaw Brawler must’ve caught wind that Sayaka is with them right now so is trying to interfere. So he has to begrudgingly let her and her friend go, but he wasn’t too upset. Since they already became friends and establish a good rapport with her, Azul is certain that he can always ask her about her magic next time. Maybe when she’s alone. 

SCARABIA! 

After a particularly gruelling exam, Sayaka is in need for some serious heavy-duty distraction from stressing out over her grades and results. No matter how much Madoka tried to console her, Sayaka just can’t turn her anxiety off.  

So Kalim’s invitation to his upcoming party come just at the right time! Not only that, he also invited all of her friends too so she’s looking forward to having fun with everyone. 

(She’s not looking forward to mingled with Homura, though. She knows that the other girl would be there since the party will be at Scarabia but she’s not going to let Homura spoil her fun).

Sayaka is just giddy with excitement until the day of the party finally arrives. When she, Ace and Deuce appear at Scarabia for the first time, it takes them some time to get used to the hot weather and wind. Her eyes widen when nearly everyone in NRC have come for the party!

Madoka came with her Diasomnia group (she made sure to personally bring Kalim’s invitation and handed it to Malleus so he’s there with them. It’s hard to tell, but Malleus is very happy to be included for once). Kyouko with Leona, Ruggie and Jack (Leona got his ass up for once since Kalim’s feasts and banquets are something you can’t ever missed out on). Mami was accompined by the Pomefiore trio (Vil wants the first-year students to practise their etiquette and dining manners during parties and Rook never passed out on the opportunity to observe the Savanaclaw and Octavinelle students in a relaxed environment while their guards are down). 

Even the Heartslabyul seniors later made their appearance. Soon enough, Cater is fluttering about, taking pictures of the food and drinks, decoration, students dancing and roped many people in for his selfies. Trey is sampling desserts from the Land of Hot Sands with a thoughtful expression; probably planning to try baking new desserts later. Riddle is there at a much quitter corner, talking to Vil. Both of them are sipping on the local teas from the Land of Hot Sands. 

Food and drinks laden the tables in abundance. Music blared from everywhere, studens dance to the tune and their friends cheer them on. After having her fill of delicious food and sweet juice drinks, Sayaka couldn’t help but join in on the dance floor. 

Kalim later join in too and uses his Oasis Maker to shower them all. Sayaka dances and manipulate the water, unintentionally creating a water show. This excites Kalim and he dances along with her. it was a spectacular sight and everyone loved it. She and Kalim were a sight to behold! Cater is snapping pictures and recording their dance for the internet to see. 

The party continues to the evening but at this point, students are slowly trickling out; thanking Kalim and Jamil for such amazing party right after the exam. Looks like not just Sayaka needed something to melt the tension away. Madoka was the first one to leave with her dorm members (they’re planning to have a picnic in the morning and Sayaka and the rest are more than welcome to join), then it’s Kyouko with her Savanaclaw members (Leona sacrifice his nap for the party so he’s in some serious neep for some long hours of dozing) and soon after, Mami also left (the Pomefiore students need to head back to start their nightly skincare routine. Vil made sure none of his dorm students is left behind). 

Throughout the party, Homura did made herself known. She sticks close by to Madoka but otherwise didn’t join in on their conversation too much and let the pink-haired girl mingle around with the rest of the students. It was a surprise to Sayaka that Homura didn’t watch over Madoka lika a hawk. 

When Sayaka rejoin Ace and Deuce at the dining table, she spotted Homura talking to Kalim. Kalim had a big smile on his face but when she blinks, Homura vanishes and Kalim is left looking astound but then just scratch his head, clearly surprise that he’s suddenly is left standing alone. Sayaka would not stand for it. So she decide to eat later and console the Dorm Leader. 

“Hey, don’t be sad, alright Al-Asim-san? Homura can be a real jerk and leave you hanging just like that. Even after you invite her to your party, too...” 

“Eh?”

Kalim is suddenly taken aback at Sayaka’s harsh words. He wasn’t expecting for Sayaka to walk up to him like that. 

Sayaka was actually trying to comfort Kalim but what she didn’t realise is that she nonchalantly and absentmindedly bad mouthed Homura in the process. And this was something that displeased Kalim.

Kalim then interrupted her; a rare frown on his face. He didn’t raise his voice, but ask Sayaka to stop insulting Homura. Before Sayaka could recover from her shock, Kalim went on to tell her that Homura is actually a nice girl but is having trouble expression herself and that there’s more to her than what she shows. While Kalim is on a tirade, clearly defensive over his dorm mate, Sayaka didn’t expect for him to feel so strongly over her. 

Kalim explains that Homura actually help them out a lot in the kitchen and other preparations for the party. She even uses her magic to cut the entire process short, so the other Scarabia students wouldn’t have to spend so much time getting ready. Kalim readily admitted that he doesn’t exactly know how she does it, but the fact that she help Jamil and the rest without even asked already tells him everything he needs about her and to Kalim? That’s enough. And beside, she had came up to him to be excuse before vanshing.  

Jamil smoothly join them (he was lingering nearby, instructing the other Scarabia students to begin cleaning up when he saw Kalim’s frown and that set him on alert) and addressed Kalim first. There was still some leftover food in the kitchen and he needs him to decide whether they put them away in the pantry or wrapped up the food to give them to the other dorms as gifts. Kalim snap to attention, smiling once more and went off to do as Jamil told him to. His previous frown already gone. 

After the Dorm Leader left, Jamil broke Sayaka out of her stupor. Quietly, he made it clear whatever beef Sayaka has with Homura is none of his business. But as a Vice Dorm Leader and as someone who knows how it feel to be judge by ignorant people just because of their Unique Magic, Jamil chatise Sayaka for being being ignorant. One that he wouldn’t tolerate if she was his friend. If Sayaka treated him like how she treats Homura, then he will make sure that Sayaka will regret it and that she should be thankful that Homura is not like him. And with that, he left the girl alone with her thoughts. 

Sayaka shivers at Jamil’s threat. His words plant the seed of doubts in her. Is Homura truly more than she seems? She’s silent when Riddle called for his dorm mates to follow him back to their place and throughout the night, Sayaka found herself unable to sleep because of what just happened.

All in all, the Scarabia duo intrigued her. Kalim and Jamil relationship dynamic is an odd one (Sayaka could see the similarity to Homura and Madoka friendship and that just weirded her out) but since Kalim harbour no ill feelings towards Sayaka after the party and Sayaka made sure to apologise to him for bad mouthing his dorm mate, these two actually get along. She, Kalim and Silver are the airheaded trio, much to the exasperation of Jamil. 

Jamil does not consider Sayaka a friend, but tolerates her presence whenever she’s around Kalim and Sayaka is alright with that. She doesn’t think she could ever truly get used to someone like him and Homura. However, Jamil’s words (and threat) made her see Homura in a different light from that day onwards. Their relationship is still cold but her suspicion on Homura is lessen.     

Kalim thinks that Sayaka is a kind hearted and amazing girl. He really enjoys dancing with her and despite how she insulted Homura, Kalim knew that she was just thinking of him. Wanting to make him feel better. It’s just a simple misunderstanding that’s all.     

POMEFIORE!

Sayaka has no idea what she had unleash when she dances with Kalim under the shower of Oasis Maker during his party. 

Not only did she and Kalim gain instant popularity in the world of the internet and wowed the students that attended the party with their watershow, their dance remain in the thoughts of a particular Dorm Leader who was looking for inspirations for his next fashion show. 

So a few days after the party, Vil instruct Rook to capture Sayaka and bring her to him. Rook happily comply for his Queen. 

It’s a Sunday afternoon and Sayaka - along with a couple of Heartslabyul NPCs - are tasked with trimming the rose hedges in the maze. Ace and Deuce had their own chores to do for the day with feeding the colourful hedgehogs and pink flamingoes. 

(Even from the rose maze, Sayaka could hear Ace and Deuce shrieking from the distance and decided that nope. Not her problem this time.)

While she was doing the finishing touches and her dorm mates are watering the greenery, Rook suddenly pop out from behind the green wall she was attending. Needless to say that his sudden appearance made her scream. Hers are louder than Ace and Deuce’s. 

Rook simply smile in amusement at her reaction. While Sayaka is desperately trying to calm her frighten and racing heart, he tips his hat and introduces himself as Pomefiore’s Vice Dorm Leader and an extrodionary hunter. He also unabashedly added that he also sees himself as Mami’s older brother. 

That got Sayaka’s attention real quick. 

This Magical Girl wanted to know just what kind of person that Mami would look up to as her older brother. Prey now baited, Rook kept his smile and told her that if she’s curious about him - just as much as he is curious about her - why don’t she follow him to Pomefiore? 

(Oh Sayaka, you need to learn not to follow handsome boys to their place without knowing their true intentions. Ace and Deuce are gonna tear their hair out in frustration because of your ignorance).

When Sayaka agreed to follow him to Pomefiore since she’s done with her chores for the day, Rook decided to be a little extra. With a beaming smile, he scoop her up in his arms and chuckles when Sayaka immediately blushes. He ignored the other Heartslabyul students shouting at him to put their Knight down and leap off towards his dorm. 

Sayaka felt like she was being carried by a tornado - albeit a gentle, handsome and charming tornado - when he finally put her back onto the ground as soon as they’re inside of Pomefiore. Her blush remains when Rook asks her if she’s alright. Never before had a boy ever treated her as if she was a princess. She prays that her heart remain strong if all the boys in Pomefiore are as prince-like as Rook. 

“Ah, as expected of you Rook. You’ve brought Riddle’s Knight to me in perfect condition. Good job.”

“I always strive to live up to your expectation, my Roi de Poison”

 There, waiting for them at the dorm lounge is Vil and Mami. Mami smile and greeted Sayaka, but since this is the first time that Sayaka witness Vil in all his glory and dorm uniform, she could only gape at the sight of the most beautiful man that she has ever seen. 

Vil was not amused at her gawking like a goldfish, though he acknowledge and praise Sayaka for knowing true beauty when she sees one. While Sayaka is trying to recover from her blunder and flustered so adorably, he ushered her and Rook to join him at the couch. Mami patted the empty space beside her and Rook handed Sayaka a tea cup and Vil began to explain why he wanted her here. 

Ever since Mami shown her Magical Girl dress to him and more and more of her friends are coming over to Pomefiore, Vil has been itching to put the girls on the runway with him. 

(Vil didn’t notice it, but the word ‘runway’ nearly had Sayaka choke on her tea).

Vil continue to explain to both Sayaka and Mami that he had use his connections and contacted several well-known fashion designers and is preparing for this season fashion show, fully expecting to have the girls well trained to walk on the runway with him. 

Sayaka felt like dying in the inside when the Dorm Leader showed them his sketch book. He had drawn Sayaka and the rest of the girls in various style of dressess and poses. Absolute gorgeous dressess, but Sayaka had never worn something as fancy as them! 

She interrupted him, stating that despite her magical girl outfit, she’s a bit of a tomboy and is rough around the edges (her fighthing style can be as brutal as Kyouko’s) so she can’t possible pull off those dresses! 

Vil scoffed and told her that he would trained her and the girls on how to walk and pose like a model. By the time the fashion show arrive, Sayaka would be as graceful as Mami. 

Seeing Sayaka’s distress increasing, Mami suggest to give her some time to get used to Vil’s proposal as she had never done something like this before. It’s only natural that Sayaka is apprehensive of it. 

(Bless Mami for shielding Sayaka from Vil’s attention. Rook is just smiling to himself throughout the conversation).

Soon enough, the Dorm Leader and Vice Dorm Leader of Pomefiore left the girls alone as they need to attend to their duties. Sayaka thanked Mami for covering her. Despite how Vil appear to be completely otherworldly at their first meeting, Mami explain to Sayaka that although Vil can be quite harsh on them, all he wants is his dorm mates to be the best that they can be. Sayaka find that she couldn’t fault that kind of wish.

However, when Epel barged into the dorm lounge, angry that Vil demanded that he return to Pomefiore since he deemed that Epel had been spending too much time at Savanaclaw, he made it very clear to Sayaka how he feel about his Dorm Leader. 

At the end of the day, Sayaka decide that despite how beautiful the students of Pomefiore are, having someone as Vil and Rook running the place suddenly makes Sayaka glad that Riddle and Trey are her Dorm Leader and Vice Dorm Leader. Despite the many rules of Heartslabyul, at least Riddle appreciate her effort in trying to keep up with them. Even when she mucks up half of the time. 

After their proper meeting and observing her with her friends, Vil actually finds Sayaka’s idealistinc worldview troublesome. She’s naive, reckless and can be blunt (but at least she’s not at Kalim’s level so Vil thinks there’s hope for her to be brought down to reality without too much of a heartache). He also finds her pretty and firmly believes that he can push her to be beautiful and powerful. He likens her to an unpolished sapphire that oddly reminded Vil of the clearest blue sea and that hides horror underneath. 

Rook actually always wanted to fight against a knight. A match between a hunter and a knight; he always wonder who would win. Fortunately for him, Sayaka humours his request for the occasional spar and is delighted to find that her fighting style is completely different from Mami. While Mami dances as she fight, Sayaka is direct, brutal and loves to throw multiple swords at him. His keen eyes once spotted that when the tip of his arrow graze her cheek and a line of blood trickle down, he merely blink once and the cut completely vanishes. By the end of the fight, Rook suspect that Sayaka’s magic might actually might involve healing. He can’t wait to observe her! 

As for Epel, he gets along with her (since they’re all in the same gang despite coming from different dorms) and admire how she uses her sword to fight. Epel is just happy that Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko are willing to help him get stronger. 

IGNIHYDE!   

Sayaka was walking back to Heartslabyul once her classes were done for the day when she spotted someone skulking around the hallways. Now, normally she wouldn’t really notice a random student walking through the hallways but what caught her attention is that his hair was on fire!

This girl literally shriek, drop her books and bag on the floor and rush like mad to save this poor student. 

Poor Idia Shroud shriek like a banshee when someone tackled him from behind, the both of them tumble onto the floor. He was manhandled and turned around so he could face the student who suddenly tackled him. Immediately his face turn red when it’s one of Homura’s friend. Not only that, it’s the Heartslabyul Knight herself. Idia bemoan internally; he knew he shouldn’t step out of his room today!

“Don’t worry, senpai! I’ll save you!”

“W-What!? Oh, please - g-get off me!” 

Idia’s pitiful pleas fall on deaf ears, however. Sayaka is too busy glaring at the blue flames on this student’s head. She transform the ring on her finger into her Soul Gem and thrust it to Idia’s hair. The Dorm Leader could only yelp and gurgled when he’s suddenly being assaulted by a stream of rushing water, nearly drowning him. 

10 minutes later, the aftermath of Sayaka’s ‘rescue’ attempt left an unconscious and bald Idia. Well, for about 5 seconds before blue flames blazes his head again. Cue Sayaka thrusting her Sould Gem to the flames again but this time, she was suddenly haul up and away from the prone Idia by Trey and Cater.     

The two Heartslabyul seniors was at the right time and place to catch their junior suddenly high-tail away from the path to their dorm and towards Idia. Without hesitating or even questioning it, they quickly ran after her. It’s too bad that they weren’t quick enough to stop Sayaka from dousing Idia with water though. 

Sayaka blink when she was suddenly haul away from Idia like a cat. When she tilt her head up to see that it was Trey looking so done with everything, she quickly said, “Clover-senpai! Clover-senpai, you have to let me go! That student is in danger! His head is on fire!” 

Trey would’ve facepalm if he could. So instead, he patiently reply, “That’s actually his hair, Miki-chan. He never was in any danger.” Well, until you attacked him, but Trey is kind enough not to say that out loud. 

“Huh?” 

Despite the absurdity of the situation, Cater laugh and snap a quick selfie of himself and the unconscious and wet Idia before assuring Trey that he’ll take Idia to the infirmary. 

As Sayaka, Trey and the rest of the students who were there to witnessed the spectacle, watch Cater dragged poor Idia off, Sayaka began to feel bad. So bad that her eyes began to watered a little. 

“I... I didn’t know. I didn’t know, Clover-senpai! I thought he was hurt! I - ”

“Hey, hey, calm down Miki-chan. I know you meant well. Once Idia-san wake up, how about you go visit him and apologise, hmm?” 

Sayaka eagerly nodded, loudly promising that she will do that as soon as Idia wakes up. 

(To Trey, this is just like that time when Riddle Overblotted. Good God, is this girl gung-ho about helping people. He would need to sit down with Sayaka and try to talk to her into not jumping into conclusions first later. For the sake of the other students).

After that incident, poor Idia is a little afraid of Sayaka (despite how sincere her apologies are) even when Homura casually informed him that among them, Miki Sayaka is the weakest. Well, that day when she tackled him to the ground, it sure didn’t feel that she was weak!   

Sayaka felt so bad that she would constantly barge into Ignihyde and ask if there’s anything she could do for Idia. She didn’t judge his hermit-style of living; she’s just too focus in making up to the Dorm Leader. In the end, Idia had her run errands for him (buying snacks, help him pass his notes to teachers and etc) just to get her to leave him and his dorm alone. 

It took a long time for Idia to finally warm up to Sayaka. Her cheerful disposition is just too much for him to handle sometimes. 

Ortho share the same wariness over Sayaka like his older brother. All he knows about her is the student who attacked his dear, older brother after all. Sayaka has her work cut out for her before the Shroud Brother could be comfortable with her. 

As for Sayaka, after she patched up with the Shroud Brothers, she finds his hair actually amazing. Not only does she and Idia share the same hair coloured but his are actual flames! So cool! Maybe she can do the same too? 

(Riddle sternly dissuade her from turning her hair into flames. Lighting your hair with fire is against the rule).

DIASOMNIA!  

Sayaka’s first interaction with the Diasomnia gang is during Alchemy class. On that day, her partner is Sebek Zigvolt. 

Their partnership started out fine. As Divus made his round in the lab, Sayaka steadily stir the potion in their cauldron while Sebek grab the require ingredients from the shelves. Everything started off alright. 

Until a misunderstood occur. Sebek didn’t actually insulted Madoka’s shy and timid nature but his words can be quite harsh and Sayaka took it wrongly. So she stop stirring to confront of him, it quickly turn into an argument and voices were raised. With their voices raised, Sebek and Sayaka failed to hear Divus’ shout of warning. 

They were too late to react when the cauldron somehow growl and then exploded the liquid all over Sebek, Sayaka and several students who were nearby. The consequences were immediate. Sebek and Sayaka’s voices are swampped and so of those who were caught in the crossfire. 

Class was forced to end early because the professor had to check over the students that were doused by Sayaka and Sebek’s half-baked potion for any injuries or hamrful side effects. So far only their voices were swapped with their partners. 

Then it’s detention for the two of them while Divus now have to brew an antidote. 

(When words reach to their respective Dorm Leaders, Riddle was not amused that Sayaka landed herself in detention over something as silly as an argument and negligence. Though detention with Divus Crewel is enough of a punishment, so Riddle won’t punish her. Malleus just blink when Lilia told him that rigid and proper Sebek has detention because of an argument during his Alchemy class. It’s rare for Sebek to land himself in detention, so Malleus didn’t chatise him. Just told him to be careful next time. Cue Sebek crying in gratitude over his kind and wise lord. His crying woke Silver up from his nap). 

Even though she shouldn’t, Madoka felt a little guilty that her friends has detention because of her. Lilia was quick to assure their Fairy that it’s totally not her fault. Sayaka and Sebek just had a bit too much fun that’s all!

Despite their initial meeting, the two actually bonded during detention (as punishment, they had to go into the woods to gather some herbs, flowers and other ingredients for Divus to replace the ones that were lost during the explosion). 

Since Sebek is a lot more familiar with the floral and fauna of TW, Sayaka was more than OK at listening to his instructions and Sayaka surprised Sebek when she easily slice the sturdy tree barks that they needed with her sword. Slowly, the two learn more and more about each other. 

(They’re too proud to apologise to one another though). 

By the time they return to the Alchemy lab, hauling the ingredients behind their back, Sebek thought for a human, he can respect Sayaka as a fellow knight. He’s looking forward to crossing blades with her and he won’t hold anything back. As for Sayaka, she admires his devotion to his Dorm Leader and how couldn’t she, when he’s so passionate about serving him. 

Through Sebek, Sayaka was then introduce to Silver and Lilia. There was a pair of white rabbits that were nibbling on some flowers at the courtyard and Sayaka followed them to Silver who was napping underneath a tree nearby. One of the rabbits placed a flower near his hair. Sayaka then realise that small animals were resting alongside him. Wanting to play with the animals, Sayaka made sure to be as quiet as possible as she petted the rabbits and chipmunks. Luckily they didn’t screech or bite her. In fact, they seem to tolerate her. 

That’s how Lilia find them; Silver deeply asleep with Sayaka sitting beside him, happily amusing herself with the small animals that flocked to his son. Lilia surprised Sayaka by hanging upside down from the tree, thanking her for watching over Silver. Sayaka yelp but then blush; stammering out that she actually just wanted to play with the animals. Lilia smile and thanked her nonetheless. 

Silver woke up when he heard her yelp. He didn’t expect that Sayaka would also flocked to him apart from the animals. Again, Sayaka blushes and told the two to stop teasing her. This made Lilia cackle and Silver frown in confusion. Lilia invites her to their dorm if she wants to see Madoka and Sayaka jumps on the offer. It’s been a while since they hang out, just the two of them, and look, she even has some leftover macaroons that Trey handed to the first-year students of Heartslabyul this morning. 

Lilia enjoys being around Sayaka. She makes him feel younger; her youth, passion, sense of justice and etc. Lilia belives that she would grow to be an amazing woman in time. It’s also a good thing that their Fairy has someone like her as a good friend. She could definitely help boost Madoka’s self-esteem.

Silver doesn’t really have any problem with Sayaka. As a knight, he also asked if the two of them could spar sometime. Perhaps Sayaka could teach him how to combine his magic with his swordsmanship. She seems to be able to do it so effortlessly using water. 

Sayaka only meet Malleus through Madoka. She offer to help Madoka search for her Dorm Leader when Lilia informed them that the Dorm Leaders and Vice Dorm Leaders will be having a meeting with the headmaster and teachers in less than 3 hours and Malleus is nowhere to be found in Diasomnia. Since Silver and Sebek are in the middle of their class, Madoka volunteered to look for him and Sayaka joined her. 

It took them 2 hours to finally find Malleus wandering around the Ramshackle dorm. The moment Sayaka laid eyes on Malleus, she could sense his overwhelming presence and power. It’s made her hesitant. Seeing the wariness in her eyes, Malleus became dishearten. He had hoped that Madoka’s friends would be as fearless as her. 

Fortunately with Madoka there, she helps to introduce one another. She even pressed close to Sayaka’s side and whisper that Malleus is actually very gentle and kind. Don’t be scared of his height. Sayaka whisper back that it’s not his height that took her off guard, but she bravely step forward and gave Malleus her most sincere smile. 

This earn her a pleasantly surprise and fond smile from Malleus. When Madoka told him that he’s needed back at Diasomnia for a meeting, Malleus allows himself to be usher by these two girls. And what sight these 3 make! With Malleus in the middle and Sayaka and Madoka on his left and right, it feels almost Silver and Sebek are accompanying him. Plus, his ridiculously tall form dwarfed these tiny girls. 

He enjoy listening to them talking about mundane, daily things and appreciate that Sayaka would pull him into the conversation by asking about his opinions and hobbies. It was nice being with her. 

As for Sayaka, something in her finally vanishes when she personally witness just how attentive and gentle the Diasomnia gang treated Madoka. It makes her happy that her childhood friend is well looked after here.           

-

Alright! And we’re done with Sayaka’s part! Next is Mami! On a related note, I’ll be posting an announcement regarding updates to my TW’s works tomorrow. I think I needed to do it so those who sticked around for this series knows what’s up. 

[raidbossmadi]

People Like Us: Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Blood in the Sand Previous Chapter: Here 

This chapter includes an appearance by JK who belongs to Jak

“Did you hear?”

“They would’ve taken the whole settlement out if one of the Carnivore Cities hadn’t shown up…”

The Cathedral halls were abuzz with gossip as Sloane stepped out of the private elevator on the way to a hastily called meeting. Before she could take another step one of her retinue of Handmaidens held a hand out to stop her advance. Another flagged down the nearest priest and signed to them where they needed to go. Sloane could appreciate that the Handmaidens vow of silence came in handy in situations like this where she otherwise would have to yell over the crowd.

The priest on the other hand was fully prepared to do so. Sloane watched as they inhaled a deep breath.

“Children of the vault, your Blessed Sister wishes to travel these halls. Please make way.” The words echoed over the commotion of the crowd high into the vaulted ceilings of the Cathedral. A moment passed before the crowd split, people moved to either side of the hall like a switch had been flipped.

“Thank you, Priest. You may continue your duties.” Sloane said as her handmaidens motioned her to continue their journey through the halls.

The buzz of gossip continued, albeit much quieter now that one of their gods walked among them. Sloane caught groups sneaking glances at her though quickly looking away before she could meet their glance, a few gave the CoV salute to her but most just lowered their voices and lowered their gaze.

The large doors to antechamber of the meeting hall swung open as she approached. She looked about the chamber and noted that a few handmaids were sat on one of the benches against the wall. The designs on the masks designated them sister superiors. She surmised that this meant that she was running late, the other department heads already arrived and inside.

Her handmaidens opened the door for her and she nodded in thanks as she stepped inside the meeting hall.

The other department heads were in fact already there. Jaxon, Juniper, and Lydia stood by a water cooler chatting while Hephaestus and Mouthpiece did the same across the room. Tyreen and Troy sat at the table frowning at a laptop in front of them.

“Sloane. Come.” Tyreen said not even looking up from the laptop.

On her way past Juniper and the girls Sloane made note of their body language and they seemed relaxed so she assumed there was nothing to worry about. Nevertheless the hair on the back of neck was raised, perhaps her siren senses picking up on something she could not.

She pulled up a seat to the right of Tyreen, the other department heads filed into their seats after her.

“Has everyone seen the video?”

Everyone nodded. The video in question being the Raiders attack on a CoV base. The CoV had been losing badly before the carnivore city Tartarus pulled up at the opportune moment and turned the tide of the battle. Sloane had not understood until she’d seen the video why they were called carnivore cities until the giant steel mechanism slid out of the undercarriage and ‘swallowed’ the Raiders vehicles whole.

“So you all understand what this means then right?” Tyreen asked.

The group of department heads all collectively shook heads no, this was an unprecedented event.

“It means,” Troy cut in “We’ll have to start fortifying our bases around the continent. This time we were lucky that Tartarus was nearby, otherwise that entire settlement would be gone. We have to protect what we have here, starting over somewhere else isn’t an option.”

Sloane shifted in her seat slightly, she had never been to a conflict assessment meeting before and was woefully under prepared for this side of the Twins public personas to come out.

“What would you have us do then, your Majestys?” Lydia chimed in, with talk of fortification on the table it was apparent that engineering would have to get involved.

“Halt production on the armoured T-7’s, we have enough vehicles in our armada at the moment. I want all engineers working on mobile turret units for deployment at every settlement we have here on Pandora.” Troy barked as he leaned forward, his over large prosthetic hand catching the edge of the table which strained under the push of his hydraulic powered grasp.

“Shall we send orders to Scrapburg as well?”

“Yes, I want a missive drafted and sent to Deimos by this afternoon.”

Lydia and Hephaestus nodded and pulled out their E-devs.

As Tyreen spoke Sloane felt Troy’s hand slip into her chair and wrap around the markings at her wrist. They had gotten good at discreetly siphoning energy in cases like this though the sting of the initial pull still caught her by surprise every time. He gave her a gentle pat when he was done, straightening back up like nothing had even happened.

“Juniper, I want the marketing and media teams working on getting anti-raider propaganda out ASAP. Remind them why they feel safe under our watch. The God-Queen would never let such tragedies befall her people.” Tyreen ordered as soon as Troy was done with his demands.

Juniper nodded. “As you wish.”

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to assigning priests to head out to the settlement to reassure the populace that they would be safe. The might of the twin gods would protect their flock forever more.

“Sloane, Troy, we have to go meet with the clan leaders to do damage control. I have one more thing to take care of on my way to the garage but I expect both of you to be loaded in my technical by the time I’m done.”

{ I will see to it Sloane gets there on time, my Queen} Agatha, Matron of the Handmaiden’s and Tyreen’s personal guard signed to the God-Queen.

“If you’re gonna escort Sloane who's coming with me?” Tyreen asked a clear look of surprise on her face that she tried her best to hide, it was easily apparent this was something she hadn’t planned for.

{Pallas will. You trust her to escort the blessed sister. She will serve you well.}

Pallas inclined her head at the mention, the blue and white mask obscured ever so slightly by her hood. {It would be an honor God-Queen}

“Yeah alright. Not sure what’s going on that I’m not privy to around here, but I trust your judgement Agatha if you think Sloane needs your protection for this I’ll take your word for it.”

Tyreen shrugged as she looked to her twin who rose to his feet and joined her as they exited the meeting room without so much as a glance back at their subordinates.

“We should be going too, Right?” Sloane questioned as she looked to the Matron Mother.

Agatha shook her head. “We will make it in good time, Blessed One. First though there is business here.”

Sloane blinked never having heard the Handmaid matron speak before, they only spoke in their cloister and Agatha was rarely ever there.

Juniper turned to look at Lydia who was stood with her ear on the door listening to the footsteps in the hall it would seem. Lydia nodded as she stepped away from the door and was the first to speak.

“I just want to start with I know how this looks, and you’re not in trouble nor are we planning treason.”

That got a chuckle out of Sloane who hadn’t even considered that every important woman in the CoV gathering together around her like this could have been cause for alarm. She was after all a Siren and no matter how innocent she seemed she could turn to murder at the drop of a hat were it her life on the line.

“We know what’s going on with you and Troy. That the two of you are moving on to something a little more official than before.” Juniper cut to the chase.

“Troy rambles a lot when he’s hanging around the Engineering bay of the Cathedral. I mean we wouldn’t tell anyone of course but it turns out Juniper already knew, and Agatha was filled in this morning.”

“It’s my job to know hun, and if I know it means she doesn’t which is better for all of us of course. “

Lydia gave a nervous laugh and Sloane looked between Juniper and Lydia as the pieces fell into place. She blushed, they knew granted it hadn’t been a slip on her part and she knew that Troy was not one to keep his mouth shut. The insinuation that she was in danger though, that pulled her out of the embarrassment and caught in her chest like someone had slipped a shard of ice between her ribs.

“Ok so you know Troy and I are seeing each other now is that a problem or something?” Sloane raised an eyebrow they had said she wasn’t in trouble but it sure seemed that they were here to look at her blossoming relationship under a microscope.

“Not on our part. Lydia, do you want to tell her? You were the closest to the victim after all.”

Lydia nodded. “I wasn’t always the second department head, Hephaestus was hired with his assistant, a man named Phillipe. When I joined the Children Phillipe became my mentor I learned most of what I know now from him. More importantly though, Phillipe and Troy were seeing each other. They were starting to get real serious too when Tyreen found out. She lost her mind about it, came storming into the Garage and grabbed him by the throat before having Agatha’s girls take him away in manacles.”

Agatha shifted nervously at the mention of what her girls were complicit in. Even though no one here thought lesser of them they had all had to do things against their better judgement in the name of the Twins.

“She executed him live during the morning sermon the next day. Said he’d stepped out of line. I became the new department head after that.”

“And Troy’s never had a serious relationship since…Then you came along.” Juniper interjected. She ran a hand through her curls and sighed. “We don’t want the same thing happening to you, which to be fair we don’t know how Tyreen would take the news. You’re not like Phillipe, you're one of them.”

“We‘re not even like ‘official’ yet. We’re just going on a few dates y’know. Are you sure this is something I should be worried about?” Sloane protested she felt a bit like a trapped animal she was still working through her feelings for Troy. While they were romantic in nature and she was willing to go on dates she had barely socialized with people. She barely knew what she was doing at all.

“I don’t think Tyreen cares much how official you are. If she feels threatened she’ll put the dots together in an order she likes and then you might as well be together anyway.”

“I appreciate you telling me this but isn’t it a bit late? I mean what do I do now I can’t just be like oh sorry Troy I’ve changed my mind the girls told me Tyreen might eat me?” Sloane asked a flash of fear ran through her mind like a cold river, she didn’t want Tyreen to be the enemy because as much as she had come to care for Troy the same could he said for the female twin as well.

“No not at all. We just want you to be safe.”

Sloane sat back for a moment to process this information she’d never had anyone but herself looking out for her back home. It was so strange to have them all care about her safety.

“We should get going, Iris will be waiting for you and Agatha, so can make it to Tyreen’s technical in time . You’re welcome to talk to any of us about anything Sloane.We might be loyal to the twins but we’re also loyal to each other.”

A soft murmur of agreement rose from the gathered women and Agatha motioned for Sloane to follow, they slipped back into their roles for the outside world once more.

She had a lot to think about, even so she couldn’t find herself afraid of Tyreen. Maybe the others had got it wrong, perhaps there was more to this story than any of them knew. Tyreen had only ever been friendly and accommodating but then again Troy had his hackles raised about Tyreen finding out too.

The twins were hardly ordinary people, then again she wasn’t particularly ordinary either. Though she was far less cagey about who she was before they came into her life and the trials she had faced since powers manifested. Even with the months of living under their roof and sleeping in their beds she was no closer to truly knowing where they came from save for the vague statements they made of not being from any of places they had taken her and they most definitely were not of Pandora.

She also knew that for a long time they were all they had and that perhaps it was this reliance on each other that led Tyreen to act in fear whenever it seemed her twin would need her no longer. Perhaps a fear that Troy would befriend people who did not like her and would try to take him away from her, effectively signing his death certificate without even knowing. There was only one way to get the answers to all this. Sloane would have to ask Tyreen directly, but now was neither the time or place so she set the idea aside for later.

—-

So lost in her thoughts was she that Sloane had scarcely realized that they’d been through wardrobe and that she’d changed into her ceremonial outfit which was a dress draped in silk flowers of all types and a floral crown that she was always worried would topple from her head despite the amount of hair pins she could feel against her scalp.

It was only when Agatha cleared her throat as she took a knee for Sloane to be boosted into the Technical that Sloane shook the mental fog and realized where they were.

“Oh of course. Thank you Agatha.” She muttered as she was boosted into the car. Troy and Tyreen sat with an empty space in the middle that was saved for her. Neither twin looked up from their echo devices as she sat herself down.

“Took you long enough.” Tyreen broke the silence though her gaze stayed fixed on the handheld computer.

“I was having trouble getting into the dress. But it’s fine now. You know how quickly Iris works.”

“Too small in the bust was it?”

Sloane caught off guard by the blasé tone of her voice and the small seemingly knowing smirk on her lips.

“We had that dress made before we had your exact measurements. I had Iris use mine and you can’t deny that you’re the more gifted one in that area.” Tyreen snorted the edges of her lips curling into a grin as the snort morphed into a cackle.

Sloane blushed and looked to Troy to come to her rescue but he too was giggling at his twins remark. She found that their laughter was infectious and she too laughed at the situation.

“Hoo man! That was too good.” Tyreen sighed as she settled down. Her hand came up and brushed her bangs out of her face.

This was the side of Twins people usually didn’t see, the side Sloane knew and relished the company of even when it came at the expense of her dignity.

—-

“It’s been a minute since we’ve been to the Ranch.” Troy remarked as he looked out the technical window. “Let’s hope the order has been taking good care of it.”

He was talking of course of the Ordo Agricola, a group of priests who had been absorbed into the Verdant Grove, her priests. Yet the twins had neglected to tell her what the Agricola protected only, that they were caretakers of the aforementioned ‘Ranch’ property. As such Sloane’s only contact with them in regards to running them so far was to insure they got their monthly shipments of supplies.

“Place was our first base on Pandora. We outgrew it eventually but Ty and I use it as a retreat still. We’re meeting the clan leaders here cos they don’t much like having to come all the way to the Cathedral and sometimes the easiest thing to do is the path of least resistance.” Troy cracked the door of the technical open startling the priest who was about to do the same thing.

The farmhouse and surrounding property was protected from the rolling dust storms by tall fortifications common in Pandoran architecture though they were notably newer than most of the ranch's buildings which were typical fair for a farm. Sloane recognized most of them from her childhood home farm on Eden-4. Those memories stung just a little bit, but they had been so long ago now, she had been a different person entirely.

Sloane was just about to ask where they were going when an excited yell went up on the other side of the vehicle.

“Jak-Knife my bro! Good to see you again.” Troy clapped the back of a masked bandit, dressed in gear splashed with bright neon colors. The two were clearly very happy to see each other.

Clearly not as subtle as she thought she had been Sloane found her gaze locked with Troy’s and he waved her over.

“Sloane c’mere I want you to meet my friend.”

Sloane approached, she hadn’t had much experience with bandits save for the few shopkeepers she spoke to on her errands in Temple Town. Troy’s general disposition around this one though eased her mind.

“Sloane, this is my good friend JK. They help us with the affairs of the locals that we might not be privy to and run security around the settlements. They don’t spend much time at the Cathedral which is why you've not crossed paths yet.” Troy explained.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you JK. That Troy speaks so highly of you I know you must have earned his respect.”

JK nodded, she could not see their eyes behind the mismatched lens of their mask but she felt as if they were seeing her as something other than herself.

A moment passed of the two of them just looking at each other before they turned to Troy and spoke in a whisper.

“Her verse in the song is not like yours. It is not like your sisters. Where did you find her?”

Troy blanched slightly clearly not expecting the question. He leaned down to better obscure the both of them “I’ll tell you later, yeah. After the meeting.”

He cleared his throat as he straightened back up.

“Anyway, JK here will be making sure you’re understanding everything that’s happening with the Clan leaders.”

“Oh my god, like hurry up you three we’re going to make fools of ourselves if we’re late!” Tyreen called from further up the road, impatiently waving a hand above her head.

The walk from the cars to the ranch house was a grueling test all on its own. The heat of the Pandoran day swept over all who dared walk the desert. The twins had informed Sloane that there would be no use of a parasol for this walk as there often was when they had to cross large swathes of desert. The clan leaders would see as much as a sign of weakness and they had promised that once they were inside she could have as much water as she wanted.

She cleared her mind and focused on the cacti scattered around the place. They could manage in such temperatures for their entire lives as could the bandits she was about to meet so what was her excuse? The heat melted away to a minor annoyance as they continued the trek.

Outside the ranch house several banners were freshly stuck in the dirt. The arriving clan members had stuck theirs into the soil before they entered the house to mark attendance. Tyreen counted them one by one seemingly making a mental note before she nodded to herself and opened the farmhouse door. The rush of the air conditioning inside the house quickly broke the cactus trance Sloane found herself under as she realized in that moment just how hot she truly was. She lifted the canteen that had been attached to her belt buckle to her lips and drained its contents before she sighed in relief, even though she knew that tapping into her powers like that meant she was at no risk of heat stroke when the trance broke it always made her feel so tired. Perhaps because it was an ability she had not used much until her time on Pandora and even so she did it sparingly, as it took an immense amount of focus to pull off.

Troy grabbed her hand abruptly, he pulled her in between himself and Tyreen. The door they approached had posted guards who looked them over before opening the door. Inside the room was simply the home's den, where one would expect couches to be instead sat a large wooden table ringed which was currently surrounded save for the head which was right where they were headed.

The people gathered around the table looked like they could snap all three Sirens in half and walk away none the wiser. They probably could and that was enough for Sloane to keep her eyes focused on the destination instead of letting them linger too long on any one of the clan leaders. Their tattoos and scars tell the story of lives carved from the roughness that Pandora gave its people, they were survivors.

“Good afternoon Venerable leaders of the Clans. My brother and I come before you today in the wake of an attack on our way of life. We-“

“That’s one way to put it God-Queen. I thought your MO was to avoid the Raiders detection at all. What was that settlement doing to attract attention like that?” One of the clan leaders, a well built and tall woman asked leaning over the table.

Tyreen’s eyes steel the way they always do when someone challenges her authority. “Moving ammunition. The same thing all of you do day in and day out. We have been particularly careful especially given the attacked settlement was so close to raider territory.”

“It won’t happen again. We’ve told Tartarus to stay in the area and we know the Raiders are afraid of the predator cities. Likewise we’re rolling out new defense turrets, your settlements will see them installed soon.” Troy cut in a scowl on his face as tapped his metal fingers against the tabletop.

“You weren’t here for the Lance. You don’t know what they did. Sure you read about it in your fancy books before you set foot on Pandora but you were here. The Raiders were made of people who defected but they still know the tactics they have no problem using our culture against us and you expect one lousy eating city to protect the greater population. You might want to get your eyes checked Troy you might be going blind.”

Chaos fell upon the meeting as leaders began talking over each other arguing about what the best course of action was.Then metal fist met the wooden table and the resulting crunch brought order back to the meeting.

“Enough! The next one of you to insult our intelligence gets their balls torn off and tossed out the window. So shut up or get up because I won’t repeat myself.” Golden fangs were bared, muscles tensed and ready to strike at the first sign of resistance.

“We meant no offense, God-king. To you or the Mother. Surely you can see why we would be up in arms after this. Your track record for keeping settlements safe has been fine up until this attack..”

A murmur of agreement rose from the crowd and the meeting began to disperse, however as one of the clan leaders walked around the back of the twins to go their guards snatched Sloane by the back of the neck like one holds a misbehaving Skag puppy.

“You really doing this Diamondfist?” Tyreen hissed which earned her a hard stare from the rugged man who had earned the name Diamondfist from the studded brass knuckles that were now on full display. “Kay, your choice.” There was a flash as Tyreen lifted her left hand and Sloane felt the grasp on her harden.

She looked down and saw the fingers around her neck had crystallized into Eridium and a sharp kick backwards sent the entire statue toppling over. She landed on the ground with a thud and pried the remaining fingers of her neck. She shivered as she flung the purple stone digits away from her, so perfectly preserved that even the fingernails were still present.

“It’s rude you know to not introduce someone who's gonna sit there and listen to us spill our secrets. Didn’t even hear a peep outta her.” Diamondfist growled as he observed the remains of his guards.

“My name is Sloane Idunna.Servant of the Twin Gods, who are you to lay such hands on me.” Sloane puffed up slightly in a bid to make herself look more intimidating despite the fact she was quivering in her boots.

“Bray Diamondfist, leader of the Diamondfist clan. You know nothing of our way of life and your God-twin handlers have sheltered you from it don’t think we don’t know that you stay cloistered away behind their walls. When the God-twins came to Pandora they started in the dirt like us all. They earned the respect of the leaders you see gathered here, just because they vouch for you and see some use in you doesn’t mean we all do. Even now they had to bail you out of this.”

“I’m… Sorry?” She tilted her head not understanding what the big fuss was.

“You should be. Words however, are hollow. You will meet me in the field outside the house and we will settle this the bandit way.” Bray stormed out of the house doors nearly flung off their hinges in his wake.

Sloane looked at the twins in confusion but it was Jak-knife who stepped up. “You will have to fight him. He will not hold back, one of you will have to die.”

“This is asinine let me handle it.”

“No Tyreen,” Troy placed his human hand on his sister's shoulder. “It has to be her. The others won’t accept her if she stands down. We knew this might happen, we had to do the same to earn their respect.”

Tyreen grumbled to herself but she knew her twin was right all they could do was have faith in Sloane.

The four of them walked out into the desert strip just outside the front door, where Bray was waiting. It felt like a scene from an old western, Sloane thought, all they needed was for a tumbleweed to slide in.

With little ceremony the man charged forward and with a flick of her wrist, a motion so well practiced she did it without thought seeds scattered from her pocket onto the sandy ground.

Vine erupted at her feet a moment later and latched onto the charging man. Her right hand lashed out and the vines responded in kind throwing Bray across the field. He kept coming though as she watched him pick himself off the ground and growl with renewed fury.

He was closing the gap faster this time and her blood was roaring in her ears. In all the fights she’d picked on Eden-4 she’d had the high ground, she had calculated her attack before she made, there was no time for that here. She was a bit too slow to dodge taking a hit to mid section that knocked her off her feet given the size disparity between them she tumbled head over heels in the sand. Troy growled from the side lines Tyreen trying her best to hold her larger twin back.

Sloane took stock of herself quickly and this time she threw herself, vines wrapping around her waist and tossing her skyward. Siren instinct took over as she got her bearings in the air and in a flash of green light her wings moth-like in appearance sprouted from her back and she turned in the air.

“This was cute, but I'm done messing around.” She hissed between gritted teeth. Below her the vines doubled and twisted around Diamondfist’s limbs. She was aware of a prodding in the back of her mind, more like an itch than anything else, A new source of plant life calling out to her and it was inside the clan leader. There was a wet tearing sound, a strangled yell, and a splash of blood as the leader of the Diamondfist clan was torn apart from the side by a thorny flowering vine unlike the ones that gripped at what remained of his limbs. The spores had just been there inside his lungs, exposure of some sort she supposed but this was interesting because she could feel them now in the people all around her. They had all been exposed, but to what.

As the adrenaline rush died down she fluttered to the ground and clutched at her side which she was aware now ached something fierce as she drew breath, broken ribs if she had to guess.

“Christ.” Troy breathed as he rushed to her “Good thing I was filming, plenty of content for the next let's flay.”

She snorted only to regret the action as it caused the pain in her side to flare up once more. Without words he scooped her up with his prosthetic.

“Get her back inside, We can get Allison air dropped to us faster than we can get back to the Cathedral.” Tyreen remarked. She bit her tongue lest she fall into a barrage of hounding the other siren for being so reckless and how that had made her feel.

It was a feeling Tyreen only experienced when Troy was injured, only there was something more behind it, she had found the nature sirens display of power beautiful and she wanted to shower her with praise between berating her for the carelessness. Now was not the time though there were more pressing matters to attend to.

As she watched Troy carry Sloane back into the house and she reached for her echo phone to call Allison, only one thought roiled inside her head. Sloane was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen and she wanted to make Sloane hers.

[mommymooze]

Big Girls Have More Fun

You were always a very big girl. Your mother had complained when giving birth to your brothers that their shoulders were so wide it was a miracle that they ever made it out. When the midwife had problems getting you to leave the warm comfy space known as your mother’s womb, Mommah cried because it was going to be another boy. She and Father were so happily surprised that after all these years they finally had a girl. Weighing in at almost 10 pounds, you were also the biggest of her children. Everyone who saw you when you were little thought you were a big boy. It didn’t help that you had plenty of hand-me-downs from your brothers so your clothes were always masculine. You were bald headed until you were two, until your (h/c) hair finally started to grow in. Mother always styled your hair so cutely with lots of ribbons and bows. Being the girl and the baby of the family, you did have a few beautiful dresses that you wore on special occasions, but you preferred the tough pants that were from your older brothers. Girls clothes never fit very well in the shoulders, so your dresses were custom made. Having 6 children’s feet under the table did not call for a lot of extra money for clothing, and you preferred your older brothers castoffs anyway.

Always chasing after your brothers and their friends, you were as much of a boy as they were. Instead of dolls and dress up, you preferred wrestling and play fighting. If someone said you couldn’t do something because you were a girl, you had to push yourself until you could climb higher, run faster or swim farther than any of those silly boys. Mother tried to get you to wear makeup when you turned 13, hoping that some feminine influence would stick. They found out all to quickly that most of the powders and eyeshadows made your face break out until you looked like a chipmunk. Since you would not wear dresses, when you were older your mother convinced you to wear loose-fitting long-sleeved blouses that had a bit of frill around the neck or cuffs. This was to make you look more feminine because…well because you had muscles. No tea parties for you. It was much more fun to hang out with one of your brothers. Your oldest brother was a carpenter so helping lift stacks of wood, hammering nails and learning to build things was fascinating. Your next brother was a bricklayer. Helping him move pallets of bricks, stir the bonding material to go between the stones and hand him bricks as quickly as he could lay them was always fascinating. It was so satisfying seeing a line of bricks suddenly become an entire wall by the end of the day. The middle brother was apprenticed to the blacksmith. This was your favorite brother to work with. He would let you pump the bellows and work on basic metal pieces and he would finish them. Your fingers were a bit smaller and more nimble than his, so he had you assembling pieces together he would hammer in the rivets to join them into the finished work. He taught you how to make shoes for horses, some in different lengths and widths. You really loved hammering on a piece of metal, molding it into something new and useful.

Shortly before you turned 18 your parents were killed in a tragic fire. Having nothing left to keep you home you had heard of the Academy at Garreg Mach. With the blessings of your brothers you headed out to become enrolled and most importantly, to see what you could make of yourself. The atmosphere at the school was exciting. You had been homeschooled by your parents. Taught the basics reading and writing, a bit of etiquette (though your brothers still attacked every dinner like a pack of ravenous wolverines.) You were invited to join the Golden Deer, a mostly wild and boisterous bunch except for Marianne and Ignatz. It was a perfect fit for you. Raphael was just like one of your big brothers and loved to spar and wrestle with you. You found Leonie to be a great friend, easy to hang out with because neither of you were extremely ‘girly’.  That word was more for Hilda and Marianne, who would dress up and fix their hair for hours, complain about getting dirty. Still, they were still sweet and became good friends. Even Lorenz could behave himself and tolerated in small doses.

Claude was the ‘leader-man’ for the deer. He certainly was mischievous, playing pranks or generally annoying at times. Much of the time he follows their Professor, Byleth, always asking questions and trying to get more information than Byleth probably wants to supply. You arm wrestled him once. He’s an archer, great upper body strength, you thought he would be a challenge. But he lost pretty quickly, telling you that you should stick to someone more of Raphael’s or Caspar’s build.  It was really strange when one day Claude and Byleth are called away on a special mission. A few of the other students, the heads of the other two houses and Hilda are not seen for a couple weeks. Some of the knights filled in for teaching when they are available. Otherwise the Deer are thrown in with Professors Manuela and Hanneman for most of the classes.

You are thrilled to get extra training on brawling from Catherine and Alois. Alois is okay, great at brawling, but his jokes are something hard to stomach. Being a brawler meant you were always well armed. Ugh. Catherine is a ton of fun, she is built a lot like you. Broad shouldered and incredible upper body strength. She is a plethora of knowledge. She’s constantly giving tips on the best holds, the best way to take someone down. Knowing that you would come across a lot of male opponents as there were few female brawlers such as you two, she gives tips on distractions, specific grabs and holds that were very effective against men. Some of it feels like cheating, especially the sudden fake flirts and the like, but any weapon in a battle for your life. The other students may not have enjoyed the few weeks without Professor Byleth, Claude, and Hilda, however you are having a blast.

Byleth and all of the missing students return without a word as to what happened while they are gone. You decide to trail Claude today because he’s acting extra suspicious. He stops at an area close to the sauna, not far from where Byleth’s room is located. He is talking to that shifty merchant guy that hangs out over there at times. Your curiosity gets the best of you and you approach greeting Claude loudly.

“Hey (y/n) talk about timing! I can use a strong pair of arms if you have a few minutes.”

Instinctively you point to yourself. “Me? Sure, I’ve got a few.”

Claude grabs your arm and pulls you behind the merchant showing that there is a hidden entrance to somewhere underground. The air is cooler down here, but a bit stuffy. After a couple turns down the corridors you are met by a tall guy with a deep voice and purple hair. The two are speaking in low voices, you can’t make out what they are talking about. The new guy looks as you so you give a little wave of your fingers. The two men lead you down several more corridors, you feel like you are going in circles now. Finally, they stop and the new guy pulls out a key and opens the door, ushering everyone inside.

“Glad you brought Muscles here, Balty is a bit busy at the moment.” Says new guy.

“I want a look see before I hand over the payment. I’m sure you understand.” Claude says with a grin.

Yuri grabs a dagger and works on a board, loosening it to reveal the contents of the box is a large cache of lances.

Claude pulls one out and invites you to take one in hand.

“Dagdan construction.” You spin it, twirl it and look it over carefully. “Decently made.”

“Who made you the judge, friend?” Purple hair snips.

“Apologies. Worked as a blacksmith for a time. Repaired lots of stuff from lots of places.” You place the weapon back in the box. “I’m (y/n)” you give a bit of a smile introducing yourself. You really get a good look at purple hair. Is he…wearing makeup? It looks good on him. Your face grows into a bigger smile.

“Yuri.” He says. At least he grips your hand firmly.

Claude puts the weapon back in the box, so you grab the board that was pulled off, put it back on and hammer it into place with the butt of your dagger from your belt. You pick up the box (use your legs not your back) and hoist it onto your shoulder. Yuri silently escorts you and Claude back to where you first met him.

“Glad to do business, friend.” Claude gives Yuri a tap on the shoulder.

“Always.” Yuri turns to you, “Come visit sometime. I’ve got a friend who would probably be interested in a spar or two.”

“No prob!” You wave with your free hand and follow Claude back to the surface.

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

A few weeks later, after the Golden Deer have returned from a successful mission, Claude pulls you aside.

“Can you spare some time, friend? I have a special sparring match you might be interested in.” Claude’s eyebrows waggle a bit, a half smile on his face.

“Spar? I’m always up for a challenge. So what’s up?” You answer, it’s been a while since you’ve been in a good match, and the Professor has been teaching you some cool moves and holds that you want to try out.

“Remember Yuri? He’s got a friend that just loves to fight and grapple. Thought you two should be introduced. Maybe teach each other a thing or two?” Claude informs you as he leads you down into Abyss. He leads you to their tavern and you see Yuri seated there with a big dark haired guy wearing chains across his chest. His chest is very muscular and well developed, certainly a brawler like yourself. Claude introduces you to Balthus. The both of you reach out for a handshake, you grasp each others hands and it immediately turns into an arm wrestling type of match to see who can squeeze the others hand the hardest. After a minute you both stop and laugh at each other.

“Way to go, Pal!” Balthus laughs, slamming his large hand down on the table making everything on it rock and wobble.

“Good to meet you too.” You say back to the big guy, a shy smile coming across your face.

Yuri is the next to speak. “So friend, we thought it was time to introduce the two of you. Are you interested in a friendly competition to perhaps determine who is the better brawler?” The half smile on his face lets you know there is some sort of mischief behind this invitation, making it all more enticing to accept the invitation.

You agree to the match. Yuri slaps you on the back. “You won’t regret this, come on.” He says as he leads you off to who knows where in Abyss. You’ve turned left and right and gone through enough doors you do your best to simply keep up and stay with him until he’s led you to a small room. Hanging on a hook is a soft gold tunic and short pants.

“You weren’t exactly dressed for this, hope you don’t mind we’ve provided clothing for you. I’ll leave you to get yourself ready. Be back in a minute.” He says as he closes the door behind him.

Just what kind of a setup have you gotten yourself into?  You wonder as you put on the clothes. You do a few squats, throw a few punches and hooks. They are easy enough to move around in you suppose.  Just before your mind starts to spiral wondering what the heck is going on, Yuri appears again, grabbing you by the hand. He’s leading you to a door that he pulls you through then slams the door shut behind you.

You find yourself in a well lit but small auditorium. There are rows of benches filled with people of the Abyss. On the opposite side of the dirt floor area you are in is Balthus, wearing pants like yours, but in a shimmery gray color. He looks like someone spread oil all over him, his muscles are shining in the light. He’s waving and blowing kisses to the audience.

A voice booms loudly into the room and the crowd quiets, “And now for the main event, our own Balthus vs. (y/n)!”

WTF? This was going to just be a wrestling match. What is this horse and pony show?

“Brawlers, meet in the center and shake hands. Start at the ring of the bell.“ the voice booms in the room, bouncing off the walls with a slight echo. Balthus wiggles his fingers in a “come here” sort of gesture.

As soon as your hands touch, the bells go off and he’s grabbing you trying to throw you to the ground. You grab his wrist, twisting it behind him, kicking at his knee to get him off balance. He tries to use his free elbow to jab you in the side as you pull him back towards you shoving your knee in his ribs. The crowd surrounding you is yelling and jeering, throwing garbage at you for trying to hurt their champion. For good measure you grab the back of his head with both hands, smashing his face to your knee.

The grappling goes back and forth for a while. You’re able to grab him and throw him against the ground, then he grabs your foot, pulling you off balance and you land face first in the dirt.  Next he’s got an arm pinned behind you, so you pull him quickly over your back to flip him down into the dirt. Most of it is arms flailing, smashing into the other to get a good grip and really pull the other into a good position for a finishing move. You’re still confused as to how all of this is happening. Claude and Yuri have some explaining to do.

Balthus is smiling. Smiling! As he grabs you around your waist and flips you upside down dropping to a seated position forcing you into receiving one hell of a piledriver to your skull. You were able to brace a bit on his thighs, so your neck wasn’t broken, but you were going to have a hell of a headache after this match.

The crowd is now screaming “Bal-tie! Bal-tie!” and stomping their feet so hard the ground feels like it is shaking.

He flings your legs to the ground and leaps up to give you a hard elbow drop, but your instincts kick in and you’ve rolled out of range. Once he hits the ground you’re behind him, knees in his back, your right arm grabbing him under the chin pulling it straight back. Balthus’ neck is straining against the pull. He’s stuck in your powerful chinlock.

“Tap out or I break it!” You scream.

You feel the slaps on your calf as you let him go and fall back on the ground. The crowd is booing and screaming and throwing rotten food at you. You struggle to your feet, raising your fists in the air. Your head is screaming at you, bruises in places you haven’t had in a while as you limp back to the door that let you into this goddessforsaken place. You bang on the door once, “Let me in before I bash it down.”

The door opens a little as you smash it open into the wall behind it.

“Great going there kid! I knew you could do it!” Claude is beaming at you until you grab his shirt and pull it tight around his throat and shove him against the wall and as far off the ground as you can get him. “Gah!” he screams as he’s holding on to your hand, trying to take some of the pressure off of his throat.

“What. The. Hell. Was. THAT!” You are seething with rage. Your teeth are grinding so hard he can hear the crunching as your eyes are fixed on his, burning with hellfire.

“Calm. Calm d-down (y/n).” He stutters, patting your fist still holding him up on the wall. “Let’s talk. C’mon. You had a great fight, just like I promised.”

You let go and he drops to the ground sitting against the wall. You move to a nearby bench, taking a seat you close your eyes and shake your head. The Claudster had manipulated you into this. You should have known.

Claude gathers himself back together. Standing he brushes himself off, straightening his collar as best he can considering most of it around his throat is now shredded material.

Yuri pokes his head in the door. He looks at Claude. “You’re still alive? I’m surprised.” The violet haired man takes a small step into the room. “Catch, Tiny!” he laughs as he throws a bag at you, coins jingle inside as you catch it. Before you can look back he’s closed the door.

“Tiny?” you ask.

“That’s what everyone said when you walked into the arena. She’s so tiny compared to Balthus. Your head doesn’t even come close to his shoulder. Now they’re calling you the Tiny Terror.

[flightfoot]

The Role of an Alpha

AO3 @adrichatnovember2020

Adrien hid in his room, breathing deeply.

Earlier that day he’d presented as an Alpha.

His father, of course, was thrilled. 

“So you are an Alpha.”

That was the first thing he’d said to Adrien as he walked through the door, having been sent home early by the school nurse. 

Adrien took in his father’s scent. 

Strong.

Musky.

Very clearly Alpha.

Not that he needed to smell him to know that. Gabriel exuded Alphaness in everything he did, from the way he brushed over other’s concerns to the way he asserted his will, expected everyone to submit to his needs and wishes.

“Alphas are in charge, as nature intends,” he’d told Adrien before, tightly gripping his shoulder. “Omegas simply exist to follow orders, betas little better.”

Looking into Adrien’s eyes, he’d asked him softly, “You’re going to be an Alpha, aren’t you?”

Adrien had wanted to respond. To tell him that he had no idea, it wasn’t exactly something he was in control of. And deeper down, that if THIS was what it meant to be an Alpha - if being an Alpha just meant stepping over everyone else - then he’d rather be anything else.

Ultimately, he’d said nothing.

But now that he’d presented?

The part of him that’d balked then, that’d wanted to protest, to chew him out, was too strong to ignore.

“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Adrien snapped bitterly. “That I’m on top. That I’m above everyone else. That I don’t somehow reflect badly on you.”

His father’s eyes widened. “Mind your tongue!” he snarled, a small growl emerging. “I am still your father. You may be an Alpha, but you’re still just a pup. And I am YOUR Alpha.”

“Is that all being an Alpha means to you? Yelling at everyone else, punishing them if they step out of line - out of YOUR line?!”

Gabriel’s eyes hardened. He stepped down the stairs, each footfall a prognostication of doom. 

He grabbed Adrien’s wrist. “I do not think you will need these anymore,” he’d told Adrien, throwing away the suppression pills the nurse had given him to help him ride through his first rut. “You will get through it like an Alpha should, not debasing yourself with suppressants,” he said in disgust.

And that was how Adrien had ended up here, desperately trying to ignore his body’s anguished cries.

He grit his teeth. Most of the Alphas in class had Omega friends to calm their hormones, to keep them comfortable, and vice versa. Chloe had Sabrina for instance, while Alya had Marinette.

He hadn’t been around for Alya’s presentation, sadly. But Marinette had recounted it with great gusto during one of the few opportunities they had to hang out.

Chloe’d been tearing into Marinette on the first day of the new school year, trying to get her to move seats. She’d just presented as an Alpha a couple months ago and had been thoroughly enjoying the added intimidation boost it provided her.

She hadn’t expected some random new girl to stand up to her.

Nor for that girl to suddenly start leaking a musky scent.

Since then Alya’d taken a lead in protecting the class - though protecting HERSELF? Not so much. 

Not that she was the only one. Marinette had been inspired by Alya’s display, had gotten some confidence herself, to the point she ran for - and won! - the class rep position, with Alya as.  her deputy. 

Her subsequent reveal as an omega had come as a shock. Everyone had assumed she’d be an Alpha, or a Beta at least.

But Omega?

She’d seemed nervous, scared even, when she first presented.

Afraid that her friends would treat her differently.

But well… she was still Marinette. Her being an Omega didn’t change that.

She was still their friend, still their class rep. 

Omegas had grown more common in leadership positions - something Paris became acutely aware of when Ladybug herself presented.

It had been assumed by most of Paris’s population that the suits masked the two heroes’ scent glands. That Ladybug was almost certainly an Alpha, POSSIBLY a Beta, and that Chat Noir was probably an Omega, possibly a Beta.

Until Ladybug had arrived at a fight, feverish and smelling sweet.

They’d still defeated the akuma, but Chat Noir had had to do more heavy lifting than normal - there was a reason Omegas were often given reduced workloads during their heats, especially anything requiring physical exertion.

Whispers emerged throughout Paris. ‘Can Ladybug really protect us if she’s vulnerable to an Omega’s heats?’ ‘An Omega, even one with superpowers, shouldn’t expect others to follow their orders. It isn’t the way of things.’ and worst of all ‘Ladybug should give her Miraculous to an Alpha. They’ll make better use of it than she ever has.’

People began looking to Chat Noir more, addressing him as the leader instead of Ladybug, who they’d deferred to before. Something that clearly made both Ladybug and Chat Noir uncomfortable, with Ladybug looking downcast and Chat Noir being more snappish with the press.

Until finally they’d given a news conference, Ladybug and Chat Noir taking the stage, addressing the preconceptions and discrimination Ladybug had been put through by the city because of her being an Omega. 

Not that she was the only one.

Many other prominent Omegas emerged to tell their story. Even some less prominent, more ordinary citizens, pushing back against the idea that being an Omega made someone somehow less worthy of respect, less worth listening to.

The Ladyblog featured all of this in great detail of course, with follow-up interviews with everyone who’d spoken. As Alya and Marinette excitedly told the class afterwards, they’d helped arrange it, researching activists in their area as well as asking for people to message the Ladyblog with their thoughts and experiences being an Omega.

A lot of the grumbling had died down after that - at least where the rest of Paris could hear it.

Adrien grimaced. Unfortunately, Father had been one of the ones who HADN’T been cowed.

Not that he’d expected him to be, with his… traditional attitude towards Alpha’s, Beta’s, and Omega’s roles in society.

Fumbling around, Adrien reached out from underneath the covers, grabbing the remote that opened up his window. Much too high to climb out of unfortunately (he’d tried), but at least it let in the cool air from outside. Right now, that sounded good.

Ahhh.

He was right, this did feel good. And something about the air smelled exceptional today...

As if in a trance, he left his blanket fort, coming closer to the window.

Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath.

It smelled so NICE, so sweet, almost like-

His eyes blew open.

Just in time to get a face-full of superhero.

“OOPH!”

Adrien blinked. 

Green, slitted cat eyes blinked back.

And drooped as Chat Noir turned into a pile of mush in his arms, purring up a storm as he cuddled close.

Careful not to disturb him, Adrien leaned in near his neck, getting a good whiff of his scent glands.

Omega.

Very, very clearly Omega.

He examined Chat Noir more closely; his flushed cheeks, his twitching tail, his glazed eyes.

“Chat Noir?” he asked carefully. “Are you alright?”

He kicked himself. Of COURSE he wasn’t alright, he was in the midst of his first heat - a pretty intense one too, from the looks of things.

“Mmmmphhhhhrrrrrrrr?” Chat Noir asked.

Well. ‘Asked’ may have been overselling it a bit. ‘Mewled with a questioning tone’ more like.

“Do you know where you are?” He clarified.

Chat Noir just purred and nuzzled his neck, getting a good whiff of his own scent glands.

WOW he was out of it.

“I’m gonna move you, alright?” he told Chat Noir softly, picking him up as gently as he could.

He’d seen how Alya’d helped Marinette through her own heats, though none of them had been as bad as this. 

First, a nest.

At least that was easy - good thing, since he had zero notice to prepare one.

Lowering Chat Noir into the mess of blankets he’d just vacated (Chat giving a confused-sounding “mew?” as he did so), he got up to find what else he needed.

A couple minutes later he was back at Chat Noir’s side, coaxing him to drink sips of some nice, cold water, as well as bringing him the few stuffed animals he’d managed to save from his father’s purges.

As Chat Noir sipped the water (Adrien holding onto the cup; right now Chat didn’t seem confident in his ability to hold it steady), the red gradually started fading a little. 

Adrien put his hand on Chat Noir’s forehead. He definitely felt cooler than he had when he first landed on him.

“Chat Noir?” he tried again, making sure to keep his voice low and soft. “Do you know where you are?”

Chat Noir blinked up at him, still looking a little hazy, but like he was at least attempting to focus. “You’re… that model boy… right?” he asked hesitantly. His voice sounded a little slurred, but at least he was speaking words.

Inwardly Adrien winced. Of course that’d be what he was known for; how ELSE would Chat Noir have heard of him? It’s not like he knew either of the Parisian heroes very well. They’d run across each other during akuma attacks of course, especially with how often their class ended up targeted in one way or another, but they didn’t exactly have time to chat.

Outwardly he made sure to not change his expression. “Yeah, that’s me. You crashed into my house a few minutes ago.”

Chat Noir vaguely looked around. Adrien suspected he’d just become aware of his surroundings.

A tinge of panic colored Chat’s expression. “I- I’m sorry,” he burst out, shrinking in on himself. “I- I didn’t mean to- if you want me to go, I’ll go.”

Adrien shook his head, kneeling down so his head was level with Chat’s. “If you want to leave, then you can. I don’t want you to stay any longer than you’re comfortable with.”

Chat’s eyes widened, then relaxed a bit, looking downcast. He began shuffling around with the blankets, attempting to stand.

Omega unhappy needs reassurance needs support

Adrien sucked in a breath. That surge of protectiveness, of the need to defend, to make sure Chat Noir was okay - he’d never felt anything quite like it before.

This… this was what being an Alpha meant to him. Not trampling over others, exerting will and dominance over them.

But being there for them if they needed it, helping to make sure every member of the pack knew how much they were wanted, needed, cared for. To lift them up, not tear them down.

Sometimes that might mean giving them space.

Sometimes that might mean staying put, letting them know you’ll be by their side.

“But just because I’m okay with you leaving, doesn’t mean I want you to,” he told Chat Noir, trying to possess every ounce of sincerity he could muster, to reach out and let him know on a fundamental level how much he cared for him. “I don’t want to keep you here or coerce you to stay. I don’t want to force you into anything, or feel like you need to do anything to please me or because you feel like you need to pay me back for something. I just want you to do what you feel most comfortable, what you feel safest doing.

Chat Noir, what do you want?” 

Chat Noir looked momentarily stunned.

He swallowed thickly. “I- I want to stay here for a little bit. If that’s okay with you!” he added hastily. “I don’t think I can get back home right now and… and I don’t really want to.” His ears turned backwards, flattening against his head.

“Are you okay with me touching you?” Adrien asked.

Chat Noir nodded.

Adrien sat down on the bed. Chat Noir leaned into him, Adrien stroking his head, like his mom used to do with him when he was little.

His mom couldn’t scratch him behind his cat ears though, on account of not having them.

...most of the time.

(He’d always had a thing about cats.)

They stayed there for the next several hours, Adrien checking up on Chat Noir regularly, making sure he was okay with the close proximity, asking whether he’d like food or drink, just… taking care of him, while making it as clear as he possibly could that Chat could ask for things, that Adrien WANTED him to ask for things, and that he wouldn’t force his will on Chat Noir. 

At last, the heat dissipated to the point that Chat Noir could get up. Could walk around.

Chat Noir looked out the window longingly, then back at Adrien. 

Adrien smiled at him. “It’s time for you to go, I’m guessing?” 

Chat Noir hesitated, then gave a short, sharp nod.

“Then go.”

Chat turned around to leave, but hesitated, looking back at him, an unspoken question in his eyes.

“If you ever need to come by again, for cuddles or support or just… just because you want to? Please, please come,” Adrien told Chat. “Just check to make sure my father isn’t around first, alright?”

Chat Noir laughed, pole-vaulting into the night.

[authenticcadence18]

Can’t Help Falling in Love Ch. 4

hello again!!! it’s another chapter!! thanks for reading!!

ALSO. I have seen Candace Against the Universe (it was so good!) and took a bit of inspiration from it for this chapter, but there are no big spoilers for it or anything!! If you haven't seen the film, this fic is still perfectly safe to read.

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

AO3

...

INTERLUDE

...

“Isabella!!!”

Isabella whirled around to find Phineas rushing across the auditorium and towards her with a massive grin on his face. She had perhaps a second or two to brace herself...and then he was at her side and hugging her tightly, and she was hugging him back and smiling from ear to ear.

“Hey, Phineas!! I’m glad you could make it!!”

Phineas pulled away from the hug so he could face his friend directly. “Of course!!” he replied eagerly, taking her hands in his own and giving them a squeeze. “You know I wouldn’t have missed your graduation for the world!!!”

Isabella smiled (and maybe she blushed a little because Phineas was still holding her hands and was wearing a nice outfit) and replied, “I appreciate it!!!”

“So how does it feel to be a fully-realized Fireside Girl graduate??” Phineas asked.

Isabella laughed and replied, “A little strange, for sure!!! It doesn’t quite feel real.” She held out her sash and proudly displayed its newest (and final) addition: a “Graduate With Flying Colors” patch. “Finally earning this patch definitely feels great though!!”

Phineas examined the patch in awe. “Wow!!! ...it looks even cooler up close!!!”

“And breaking the record for earning the most patches of any troupe ever feels pretty great too,” Isabella added, crossing her arms over her chest with a satisfied smirk.

“Oh yeah!!!” Phineas replied excitedly. “I’m so happy for you and the girls!!! And super proud of you!! I’m not surprised at all, though.”

“I’m sure you aren’t!” Isabella said with a chuckle. “I doubt we could’ve broken the record without you and Ferb. You helped us earn tons of patches!!”

Phineas shook his head. “Nah, you all still could have beaten the record!!” he insisted. “Ferb and I just gave you a hand! You and the Fireside Girls deserve all of the credit.”

Isabella considered this. “Yeah...perhaps we could’ve beaten the record alone....but it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without you.”

She flinched.

“Both of you!”

Phineas beamed. “Helping you earn patches definitely made Ferb and I’s summers more fun too!!”

For a moment, he reminisced on all those fun times. And then he asked, “Of all the patches you’ve earned over the years, which one is your favorite?”

“Hmm…..” Isabella pursed her lips and thought for a bit before an answer occurred to her. “This one!!!” She gestured to a diamond-shaped patch near the top of her sash. “I could tell you what I earned it for…..but then I’d have to kill you.”

For a moment, she eyed him menacingly.

Phineas shrunk back a bit.

And then they both burst into laughter.

“Now THAT’S an ominous patch-related threat!!” Phineas exclaimed with a grin.

“Yes, yes it is!” Isabella agreed proudly.

(She knew no one loved ominous patch-related threats more than Phineas. Well, no one other than Ferb, anyway.)

Isabella smiled softly, intimidating demeanor gone, before continuing, “Ominous threats aside, my favorite is actually the Help Thy Neighbor patch. It reminds me of how much fun I’ve had spending time with you over the years….”

A beat passed, and Isabella flinched again.

“And Ferb! You and Ferb!”

Phineas smiled warmly at her. “Awww, that’s so sweet, Isabella! The feeling is mutual!!!”

He paused.

“Well. It would be mutual. If I’d also been a Fireside Girl earning patches. But I wasn’t. But it IS mutual as in, I’ve had tons of fun spending time with you over the years too! My summers wouldn’t have been nearly as great without you.”

Isabella giggled and let out a contented, “Oh, Phineas!”

“So!” Phineas scratched his head. “Now that you aren’t a Fireside Girl anymore, what do you plan to do with all your free time?”

“Well, we ARE about to start high school in a few days,” Isabella replied thoughtfully. “I’ll probably join a bunch of clubs and put all the patches I’ve earned to good use!!”

“That’s a great idea!!” Phineas replied excitedly. “Now that you’re done earning all of them, you can come up with new goals to accomplish!”

Goals to accomplish…

Something stirred within Isabella...perhaps the faint sliver of a memory she’d nearly forgotten.

Her smile faded.

“Yeah, new goals to accomplish…”

Phineas frowned upon noticing the change in Isabella’s demeanor. “What’s wrong, Isabella? Is everything okay?”

Suddenly, Isabella found making eye contact with Phineas rather difficult.

“Yeah, I’m fine...I guess I just remembered, uh…” She dared a glance at him and grimaced as her heart rate picked up. “There’s a goal I set for myself a long time ago, back when I first became a Fireside Girl, but I never accomplished it.”

“Oh no!” Phineas replied, taking a small step towards her. “I’m sorry about that…is there anything I can do to help?”

The kindness and sincerity in his gaze almost made Isabella want to cry.

“Uhm...well...I guess so?” she replied hesitantly. “It’s just...there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell...someone...for a long time now, but it’s never worked out...”

“Well, maybe you can practice on me!” Phineas replied, eager to help Isabella in any way he could. “Pretend I’m the person you need to talk to and tell me whatever you need to say. That’ll make it easier when you tell them for real!”

Isabella gulped.

“I guess, uh…I guess I could try that…” she whispered.

She took one of Phineas’s hands in her own. He didn’t seem to notice because he was still gazing at her intently and smiling encouragingly, trying to make sure he was supporting her as effectively as possible.

“Phineas?” She took a deep breath. “I….”

“...I think you’re wonderful, and amazing, and I’m in love with you, and I’ve been in love with you for forever and was maybe wondering if you love me too…”

“.....I appreciate you trying to help, but I think it might be better if I just tell them myself.”

She dropped his hand.

Phineas frowned (and perhaps felt something within him deflate when the feeling of Isabella’s hand in his fell away), but then he shrugged. He didn’t want to force Isabella to do something that made her uncomfortable.

“Well, alright. If you’re sure. But if you change your mind, let me know.

"Whatever you need to say, I know you can say it!! Because you’re one of the bravest people I know.” He gave her another encouraging smile.

Isabella did her best to smile back. She knew Phineas was right—she had a sash full of patches to attest to her bravery!—but right now, she didn’t feel brave at all.

Phineas checked his watch. “Well, I should probably get going...I want to see if my mom needs any help with dinner. I can stick around if you need someone to walk home with though!”

“Oh no, it’s fine! My mom’s here too, I’ll ride back with her.”

“Oh good!! Well, congratulations again, Isabella!”

Phineas took a step towards the exit...and then paused before turning back around. “..you know, Isabella?” he began softly.

Isabella’s heart stuttered. “Y-yes??”

For a moment, the bustle of the auditorium faded away, and all she could see was Phineas gazing gently at her.

Was this it? COULD this be it??

And then Phineas exclaimed, “I just feel so lucky to be your friend!!!” and wrapped her in another hug.

Isabella didn’t think it was possible for her heart to do backflips and droop sadly at the same time….and yet here she was.

“....me too, Phineas….” she replied softly.

And then with a wave and a cheerful, “See ya tomorrow!!!” Phineas was gone.

...

“Ferb!!!”

Phineas burst into he and Ferb’s room with a massive grin on his face.

“Did you know Isabella and her troupe broke the record for earning the most Fireside Girl patches ever today?? Isn’t that great???”

Ferb didn’t get up from his computer desk. He simply looked at Phineas and nodded in response.

Phineas laughed as he sat on the edge of his bed. “Oh, right. I guess you saw the livestream of the graduation online!”

He paused for a second, considering whether or not he should change the subject since Ferb clearly already knew most of what he wanted to say...but the urge to gush about Isabella didn’t go away.

“Isabella is just, so cool!!!!” Phineas continued. “She’s so smart, and brave, and determined, and a great leader to her troupe, and all that paid off today!!!! I’m just so proud of her, and so happy for her!!!”

He stopped, briefly struck with a sobering realization he hadn’t considered until now. “I mean...I guess I’m a little sad we won’t get to help her earn patches anymore, but Fireside Girls aren’t really a thing in high school....

“Well, Candace became a Fireside Girl after she started high school, but that was an exception to the norm. Typically, members have gotten the full Fireside Girl experience by the time they get to high school and thus graduate from their troupes. At least, that’s what Isabella told me the other day.”

Phineas recalled how proud Isabella had looked when she received her graduation patch and the award for breaking the record on behalf of her troupe (and how nice it had felt to give her a hug and talk with her after it was over), and any lingering sadness went away.

A softness entered Phineas’s gaze, the familiar warmth he’d come to associate with Isabella’s friendship filling him from head to toe. “Gosh, sometimes I just feel like the luckiest person ever to be her friend, don’t you?”

Ferb stifled a chuckle at Phineas’s impassioned proclamation. He wasn’t sure how to explain that, while he WAS proud of Isabella, Phineas was certainly far more excited about her accomplishments.

“Gosh, sorry, I know I’m rambling....” Phineas rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. “I just really appreciate Isabella, you know? It feels nice to talk about it.”

“ I’m sure it does, ” Ferb thought with a wry grin.

Ferb had spent a long time waiting for Phineas to realize the abundance of feelings he felt concerning Isabella weren’t entirely normal.

(Well...they WERE normal, in a sense. Feelings were natural, Phineas was natural, and he was a natural being in the world...with feelings. But they weren't normal as in, Ferb didn’t feel the same way, even though Phineas clearly assumed he did.)

A thought occurred to Ferb then. He, Phineas, and the rest of their friends would be starting high school in a few days.

(Well, all of their friends except Baljeet. He was already in college and wouldn’t let them forget it.)

If Phineas hadn’t figured out just how much Isabella meant to him on his own by now, he probably never would.

He clearly needed an extra push to get there.

“You know, Phineas…” Ferb leaned forward in his chair and swiveled around to face his brother.

“...if you like Isabella so much, why not just ask her out?”

Phineas’s initial reaction was to laugh incredulously at Ferb’s proposition.

“What? Ask out Isabella?? Don’t be silly, Ferb, I don’t…I…”

Ferb wasn’t sure how he was expecting Phineas to respond to his suggestion...but he certainly wasn’t expecting him to fall silent after a few seconds.

Across the room, Phineas sat stiff as a board, eyes darting about as if he was doing calculations in the air around him.

...ask Isabella out? Like...on a date ? That was something he could do??

Phineas had never thought about asking anyone out before. (He’d witnessed Candace talk about going out with Jeremy, but that was about it).

What would asking Isabella out entail?

Taking her to dinner? Holding her hand? Telling her she looked pretty? Kissing her cheek?

...or maybe just…..kissing her?

Phineas’s heart stuttered, face flushing.

He’d never thought about kissing anyone either.

But doing all those things with Isabella sounded nice.

Really nice.

And then, he wasn’t thinking about asking Isabella out. He was just thinking about Isabella.

Isabella, who was so kind, and so brave, and so smart, and so full of determination and compassion, and so adorable she could short-out a cute-tracker and defeat an alien dictator with nothing but a smile.

Isabella, who’d been his best friend (besides Ferb) for as long as he could remember.

Isabella, who’d always been especially special to him, who’d always stood out from any of his other friends as someone he really loved to spend time with.

Oh gosh. Oh GOSH.

“....I.....I like Isabella…..”

Phineas blinked a few times.

“....I LIKE-like Isabella…..”

He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry.

“.....I LIKE ISABELLA.”

The more this fact sunk in, the redder his face became. His heart was beating so fast now, he was afraid it might pop, and his stomach was in knots. Was this normal??

“FERB.”

Shock was quickly morphing into panic because WHAT WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS INFORMATION??

“FERB, I REALLY LIKE ISABELLA!!!!”

If Phineas hadn’t looked to be on the verge of tears, Ferb would have laughed.

As it was, though, Ferb instead stood from his chair and quickly sat at Phineas’s side. He gently patted him on the shoulder.

“I know you do, Phineas. I’ve known for awhile now.”

Phineas looked at him disbelievingly. “How did you know?? How could you have known if I didn’t even know???”

“Well...you’ve gone out of your way to do tons of special things for Isabella...and like spending time with just her...and talk about her all the time...and don’t you remember freaking out when she went missing during the pharmacist apocalypse? It was kind of obvious.”

Phineas considered all these things. And then he buried his head in his hands, let out a groan, and blushed some more.

“What’s the matter?” Ferb asked. “You know you like Isabella now, so do something about it! Ask her out! Tell her how you feel! Or build her something to tell her how you feel!”

Ferb typically refrained from speaking as much as he was right now. But this was important.

“WhAT??? Are you kidding???” Phineas practically sprang from the bed and began pacing the floor in a manner that reminded Ferb of their older sister. “I can’t tell Isabella I like her!!!! What if she laughs at me?? What if she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore???”

Ferb could’ve told Phineas the complete truth right then and there. He could’ve said, “That actually won’t be a problem because Isabella’s had a giant crush on you since we were kids. Go, get your girl.”

It would’ve made things a lot simpler.

But Ferb thought that would’ve been a disservice to Isabella.

She’d been trying to tell Phineas she loved him for ages.

Now that Phineas was finally capable of understanding his own feelings, Ferb couldn’t take revealing Isabella’s feelings away from her.

Morally, all he could do was nudge Phineas in the right direction.

(A few years down the line, he would sometimes regret this decision...but there was no point in dwelling on the past.)

“I can’t force you to do anything, Phineas...but I doubt she’d laugh at you or not want to be your friend anymore. I think you should tell her.”

A part of Phineas wanted to do just that. Run across the street. Knock on Isabella’s door and tell her how he felt, maybe with the help of some grand invention. Sweep her off her feet (if she’d let him!) and make sure she understood just how special she was to him.

But another part of Phineas, the louder part, was afraid. After finally realizing just how much he cared for Isabella, could he really risk losing her friendship by revealing his feelings to her?

It seemed pointless to hope she might feel the same way. Isabella was his best friend, sure, but why would she like him like that??

(Plus, he’d literally JUST figured out he had feelings for her. He needed more time to process everything.)

“Maybe I’ll tell her someday…..” Phineas said softly. “....but not today.”

...

Isabella shouldn’t have been sad. She should have been celebrating, not curled up on her bed with tears in her eyes, petting Pinky to comfort herself and wishing things were different.

Today should’ve been one of the happiest days of her life. (And, an hour or so ago, it was!)

But now she was sad. And she hated it.

A part of this sadness was to be expected. She’d been a Fireside Girl (and a Lil’ Spark before that) for practically her entire life! It was hard to say goodbye to something that had been an integral part of her for so long.

But Isabella had been prepared to deal with that. And she had a graduation patch and an award for earning the most patches ever to sweeten the end of her career as a Fireside Girl.

No, it was the sadness she HADN’T anticipated that hurt the most.

When Isabella first became a Fireside Girl (nearly seven years ago!!), she’d established three goals to reach by the time she graduated from her troupe. She’d even written them down in a diary with her favorite pink pen:

1. Become a troupe leader and be the best one ever!!

2. Earn every patch I can!

3. Tell Phineas I like him!

Now, as Isabella gazed down at the final goal she’d written all those years ago within the glittery diary, she was struck with its naivety...and ashamed at her inability to fulfill it.

When she was seven, life had been simpler. It had seemed like she had a loooooooong time to wait before starting high school and graduating from being a Fireside Girl. She figured she would HAVE to get Phineas to notice her by the time they were older! She had plenty of time!! And certainly he’d notice her eventually, if not during one summer, then during the next one!! But the next summer became the next summer, which became the NEXT summer….which eventually became now.

NOW, Isabella was hanging up her sash for good and preparing to start high school. And despite many, MANY efforts on her part, Phineas never seemed to understand just how much she cared for him.

(And though it would’ve been easy to blame Phineas for all that, Isabella knew she herself was to blame too.)

Isabella hadn’t done ALL she could to communicate her feelings to Phineas. In all those years, she’d never flat-out confessed to him. To her credit, she HAD tried doing so a few times...but the universe always got in the way, for better or worse.

As she’d gotten older, however, the prospect of confessing had only gotten scarier...because the older she got, the louder the doubts in her head grew.

What if Phineas didn’t like her that way at all? Or couldn’t like her that way at all? And what if, by telling him about her feelings, she ended up ruining their friendship and making things weird between them?? Having unrequited feelings for Phineas hurt, sure, but not getting to be his friend at all would hurt even more.

Thus, Isabella had instead tried giving Phineas opportunity after opportunity to realize she liked him on his own, hinting at her own feelings without spelling them out directly. If HE figured out she liked him, she wouldn’t have to face rejection from him head-on if he didn’t feel the same way. And if he DID like her back, he would make the first move.

This, unfortunately, hadn’t worked yet.

(Unless, of course, Phineas HAD already figured out Isabella liked him and didn’t want to say anything because he didn’t like her back. But she didn’t really want to consider that scenario.)

Isabella grimaced, wishing the events of the past hour would stop replaying in her head.

She’d had a wonderful time during the graduation ceremony, and then she’d had fun hugging and chatting with Phineas afterwards. For a few minutes, she’d been able to enjoy simply being his friend (and enjoy having a crush on him).

But then he’d unknowingly reminded her of the goals she made for herself so long ago...and every insecurity and fear wrapped up in her love for Phineas came surging back.

It had been like two sides of her were waging war in her head. One side—her younger, more optimistic side—had pushed her to admit the parameters of her goal to Phineas and even scripted out a spur-of-the-moment confession. But the other side—her wiser, more tentative one—barricaded the doors of her heart and refused to let the confession slip out.

After so many years of repeatedly trying to convey her feelings to Phineas without perceiving so much as a hint of understanding from him...the thought of confessing was too daunting. Too scary.

Even if she loved him so much it almost hurt.

Phineas’s reaction to her problem and statement of how much he valued her as a friend didn’t help matters either.

He was just, so kind! So helpful!! So sweet!!! And he loved being her friend!!!! Though Isabella had been disappointed when his final proclamation turned out to be one affirming their friendship rather than something more, she also couldn’t help but be taken with it just the same.

She loved the thought of being something more to Phineas, sure….but she also deeply cherished being his friend.

And now her fears of confessing and ruining that were far more prominent than they’d ever been.

....perhaps it was time to take a different approach to ridding herself of those fears.

Isabella glanced over at her sash and sighed. Without any new patches to earn, she didn’t have a steadfast excuse to hang out with Phineas anymore.

Maybe that was for the best.

Isabella still wanted to be Phineas’s friend. She DESPERATELY wanted to maintain their friendship, more than anything.

But she also desperately wanted to be free of the burning ache in her chest to either admit her love to Phineas or be loved by him first.

In her current state, these desires could not co-exist.

If she wanted to keep being Phineas’s friend, she either had to confess to him—which could ruin their friendship, so that wasn’t an option—or work on moving past her feelings for him.

And doing the latter would be impossible if she kept spending time with him on a regular basis. That would only remind her why she loved him so deeply and make it even harder to let go.

Isabella rose from her bed, grabbed a pen from her desk, and then sat back down amongst her pillows. She reopened her old diary and thumbed to the page on which she’d written out her goals all those years ago.

Her lip quivered, and she brushed away a few tears gathering in her eyes.

“...this is for the best…” she whispered to herself.

She checked off the first goal.

She checked off the second.

And then she crossed out the third, hesitated for a moment….and slowly wrote a new one beneath it:

“Get over Phineas.”

...

...so uh.....yeah......the past hurts😬

(....if it makes y'all feel any better, I teared up when I wrote the ending of this chapter😓)

Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to the lovely @youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal for being a fabulous beta!