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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Toons for Our Times: The Casagrandes: Four Course Catchup

I take some time to catch up with everyone’s faviorite mexican-american family with a four course meal of shenanigans.

Mexican Makeover: The thorny issue of racial identity erasure is handled via a lot of costumes, spicy food and a second Sergio, which suprisingly isn’t my own personal hell. Then again giving rusty a brother wasn’t either so there’s a precident. Uptown Funk: Carl goes full Zach Morris, minus the white privlage, and marries Adelaide to get a free train ride, then let’s his hallucinations talk him into nearly killing everyone. At least the Leprechaun in the sandbox isn’t telling him to burn things anymore. Bo-Bo Business: Hector won’t respect Bobby’s genius new ideas so Bobby sets shop at the near by hong’s market and procedes to nearly get murdered by bunnies. Dear god Anya was right. Blunder Party: Ronnie Anne and Sid host their first event as a couple, a sleepover campout on the roof with their running crew. Adilade and Carl crash it causing their sibling and cousin to send the two on a dangerous scavenger hunt. As you do. Context for what’s going on the page image under the cut.

So yeah I originally wasn’t going to add the Casagrandes to regular coverage.... but what can I say. I had way more to talk about with the recent crop of episodes than I thought, the show often airs with loud house so it increases my coverage output and most importantly.. i’ts just damn good. While still having some kinks to work out, like forgetting to use CJ, the show is just really charming and uses i’ts premise well. So yeah when the show, at least according to the wiki, so expect full coverage of both this years halloween special and the show in full when it comes back in november... and with bobby being hypnotized into thinking he’s a cat apparently.. so yeah i’d be watching anyway, so why not go all in. .So with that out of the way we’ve got a lot of ground to cover so, Golpeteo de pitter, which is spanish for pitter patter... maybe. If google translate mangled that I apologize.

Mexican Makeover:

Like with our last bit of loud house coverage, we start with the least of the episodes first. That being said this one isn’t TERRIBLE, just a waste of a good concept and something intresting to explore. It’s also a real shame given this episode is written by Lalo Alcaraz, the writer of the comic strip La Cucaracha who works as a consultant on the show and previously wrote my favorite episode of the season, Croaked!, which we’ll be talking about soon. But he seems like a great guy, but everyone dosen’t bat a thousand. This episode centers around Rosa, whose mother Mama Lupe, and her parrot sidekick Paco, coming to visit. Paco is a recolor of sergio which actually explains a LOT honestly, as I now feel Sergio is the Quaks to Paco’s Squaks.

As in the crappy recolor who dosen’t have as many skills. As you can tell I don’t like Sergio much. He’s annoying, not very funny and only rarely has his moments and also spent one episode constnatly being obnoxious to Bobby, who as we’ve discussed and will soon discuss some more, is my boy. My precious baby boy. So bullying him is the equilvent of slapping me with a dueling glove. So yeah Paco is better than Sergio, being more laid back, less obnoxious.. and voiced by, of all people, legendary cartonist and the namesake of the parrot sergio, Sergio Aragones. I grew up with the guy in middle and high school as he frequently, and I belivie still does, work for parody magazine MAD Magazine, and while I haven’t read it also did 80′s indie comic Groo the Wanderer with Mark Evainer of Garfield and Friends Fame. The guy’s really damn funny and it was a real treat to find out he’s involved here, especailly since the namesakes for the loud pets have all sadly passed, so it’s nice at least one pet namesake between shows gets to guest star. But my fanboying aside, Rosa is worried she hasn’t been making her family Mexican enough and thus goes a bit absolutley nuts. She steals the kids clothes and replaces them with various traditional mexican outfits, which is a bit psycotic, and gives us a shot of carl’s ass when he compalins about his underwear being replaced, which...

Yes thank you wayne. I’m sure even some of the 7 year old’s watching this don’t want to see a fellow 7 year old’s butt. Stop that. There’s a reason the parent show stopped the gag of having Lincoln in his underwear all the time and it wasn’t just because only chris savino thought it was funny. It’s especially creepy given after Savino’s sexual harassment, John K’s reveal of being a pedophile and whatever Dan Schinder did they refuse to talk about to the public but has ciruclated around, you TIHNK the’yd be more congizant of not showing borderline child porn. I mean it’s one thing to have a kid in underpants for a gag it’s another to have a close up of his butt. Just stop. Stop. So the episode goes as you’d expect, Rosa keeps pushing things harder without explaining herself, including trying to force the kids to speak in spanish, feeding them extra spicy food and againt eh whole replacing their clothes thing.. which\ do look nice though and we do get that blessed image of bobby up top. The kids eventually confront Rosa who reveals she just dosent’ want to give her mom a heart attack, they go along with it with Sergio feeding ronnie anne spanish, which is nice continuity as her not knowing i’ts come up before, and everyone putting on a show.. which goes horribly wrong with super spicy food understandably not being built for a 80-100 year old woman, and while i’ts nice Bobby’s buddy par, we’ll cover their episode at some point too, shows up he also heavy metals so hard it knocks her over and destroys the painting, which yeah of course. Rosa comes clean and Lupe.. is entirely fine with it and feels that culture is more in values than in what you know about it, though she will teach them a few things because knowing where you came from is still important. Also Paco returns and.. why coudln’t both he and Lupe stay. For all my issues with the episode besides Carl’s butt shot, which we’ll get to in a second, I do really like Lupe and Paco is better than sergio in every way shape and form apart from the name. just color him read and have him smother sergio in his sleep and we’re up a better parot.

Final Thoughts for Mexican Makeover: This one was eh. I saved my thoughts on the main plot for here because it IS a topic worth talking about: loss of cultural idetntity, especailly for first or second generation, as our main kids and their parents are, kids, how to ballance the cultures, what really matters.. it’s all good, deep really senstiive topics that i’m in no way qulaified to entirley judge because i’m very much white and am not going to whitesplain topics that I have no personal experince with. But I can at least say they could’ve done MORE with this. For one thing Maria was absent, and it would’ve been REALLY intresting to get her take on it since Croaked! established she didn’t really give Ronnie Anne at the very least much of a lesson in their heritage. You can’t really BLAME HER: She works a demanding job, ended up having to raise them alone, and is tired a lot. As I said i’ts a VERY complex topic that’s created some VERY brilliant works around the subject, and while i’m not asking for “Moonlight... for Kids!” I am asking you to explore something like this. How aclimated the kids are to white culture is a topic worth exploring and could’ve been a special and while yes I know, it probably would’ve been “A Very Special Episode”..sometimes you need to tackle complex topics for kids. The Proud Family was also a screwball comedy, but it tackled the civil rights movement, xenophobia and other heavy subjects from time to time.. it also thought music piracy was the root of all evil but as I said no one bats a thousand. And it wouldn’t lack jokes as Alcaraz’s career is in satire: He knows how to write jokes about heavily charged topics and be clever about it on the freaking comics page, and given The Casagrandes like it’s sister show is basically a comic strip in animated form, he has the right format tow ork with it just ultimately becomes instead the cliche “person is coming time to hide everything we’ve been doing plot”, which has never been that good and is even worse on top of a more interesting idea. I don’t expect the show to be super deep all the time but I expect better than broaching a clearly difficult subject and not really giving it any weight.

Uptown Funk: Now we’re past the one I was eh on because I knew how it’d turn out, and somehow got even less on board as it wasted a good concept and good ideas, and to the one out of the four I was most pumped for. And of all things it was a CARL episode. I passingly mentioned last time I didn’t like Carl, and that opinon’s started to change. I’m still not a huge fan, his voice is grating and he STILL hasn’t given up on Lori seasons later after Clyde long has and the other show long regonized this was a bad idea. Buuut i’ve come to realize he has his moments, with Monster Cash, which i’ll cover very soon for Halloween Havoc, and this very episdoe which is utterly fantastic. Though part of that is also the supporting cast, who were the reason I was pumped. I talked abotu the Changs Breifly in my Operation Dad review but since Adalaide and Stanley are more promenent here and Becca will be, if not in person, in Croaked!, i’ll gladly dive into them. The Changs are the Casagrandes next door neighbors and EASILY one of the best parts of the show. A lovely interacial nuclear family, the four are all really likeable and distinct. I’ve talked about Sid before, so we’ll save more of that for in a bit. Stanley her dorky dad voiced by Kim Jeong who works as the subway conductor for Great Lakes City. He’s just a treat, in both sense of hte word, and really sweet interacting with his daughter and has a tendency to make small apperances due to Ronnie Anne and Sid riding the subway wherever they need to go. As i’ve said it’s nice to see Ken Jeong get to play a goofy, normal-ish dad and be funny without having to either play an over the top lunatic, weirdo or asshole. I love community but Chang could be a lot but this Chang is alright.. and probably dosen’t speak to his community college student brother that often for his family’s saftey. He does have Rabi Chang, his other brother over a lot though. Look if Teen Titans go can be jammed into the same multiverse as ok ko and steven universe, this show can take place in the same unvierse as community.

Becca is stan’s wife and the head zookeeper at the zoo as well as the runner of their various shows, voiced by melissa joan hart and while not around as mcuh as her husband, is still a delight and it’s a delight to have clarissa back. Also together with her husband they make one hell of a couple to get sandiwthced between.. and no shame there, and yes i’m aware they have kids, i’d be happy to help raise them. I”m no asshole.

Anyways speaking of those kids, we lastly have Adalaide, the star of this show and an adorable 6 year old and as Sid calls her “A sass bucket” which is accurate both for 6 year olds in general, and for this one, though like most kids her age she flips from being adorable to entirely blunt when warranted. She also has a Frog, named Froggy II. We’ll get into what happened to Froggy I and how she met Froggy II in October.

So yeah two of my faviorite side characters, I consider sid main, PLUS one of my other faviorites Vito in a supporting roll. What’s not to love? As for the plot Carl brushes off Adalaide, because he’s a little jerk festival, but changes his tune when he overhears Stanley offering to have Adilaide join him on the train even see the control. Carl being a fanboy for trains among many other things which I shall list now: Things Carl’s a Fanboy For: 1. Money 2. Petty Schemes 3. Zack Morris 4. The Ladies 5. AC Slater 6. Luchadores 7. Trains.

He naturally has his eyes light up like a christler buliding and given numbers 2 and 3 on the list quickly comes up with a scheme to get that train ride, since Stanely offered her a plus one. Granted he could’ve PROBABLY just asked Stanley for a ride and being the upstanding guy he is, and given Carl’s also a train nerd and stanley is their king, he would’ve said yes, but this is the same boy who thought his adult cousin’s same aged girlfriend would want to go out with him when said girlfriend lives in a house with at least 3 girls close to his age instead she could set him up with. The boy is more of a short term planner, like most schemers in fiction really, he sees the dollar signs like eddy from ed edd n eddy and has some good ideas, but not the more obvious solutions that aren’t as scheme based around him. I swear if this kid didn’t have a moral center this would be him in 50 years

I mean the only reason the boy hasn’t used sharks or explosives is because his parents and grandparents won’t’t let him.

Anyways Addie is skepteical for about 5 seconds and my one real complaint about the episode is it felt like she was genuinely skeptical, and playing him slightly with their games.. but it turns out nope she just genuinely bought it. But as smart as she is she’s also only 6, and her being adorably trusting works just as well. So they play games. They have a tea party, with carl wearing a truly glorious peacock that I guarnatee sid has worn both for playing with her sister and just to feel fancy. They then play with Froggy.. which gets uncomfotable as Adaladie forces Carl to kiss him, and then basically goes full on “NOW KISS” when it fails to turn froggy into a prince and Froggy runs because he wisely dosen’t want to make out with Carl, and is omly passable and not disturbing instead because she’s 6 and dosen’t know better. They then play chase froggy, which Carl wins but gets flies thrown at him in hte process so does he really? They get to their final game superheroes, with carly playing his faviorite el falcone.. but also being the hostage while Adalaide saves him because this is 2020, she don’t need to be no damsel in distress. And this to me is why the episode works.. Carl IS a huge jerk here, manipulating a younger child who just wants to be his friend to get a train ride he could’ve gotten just by asking her.. but he gets put through the ringer, and most of his “humilation” is stuff that isn’t that bad: Tea is alright, there’s no shame in wearing makeup or a veil, and being rescued by a woman is awesome. It’s just Carl’s own baby’s first toxic masuclinity that makes these situations minus kissing froggy uncomfortable, so it adds to it as Addy’s doing nothing wrong really and any pain on carl’s part is an accident on hers. She’s just an imaginatiee little lady and he’s jsut a jerk. But they pair well together his underserved ego with her adorablility and creativity and as we’ll see smarts. Part of the reason I was so excited is their one real scene togehter in monster cash, when Carl is throiwng everyon’es money back at them which is also the best bit of the episode and we’ll get to that when we cover it her response is a stern “Don’t you even dare” and he hands it back to her because you don’t mess with Addy.

Addy then brings up pretend marriage and while Carl has his first , and probably not last, panic attack over comitment he does realilze this can be used and gets his train ride over it, with the two taking Froggy along as their baby. But being Carl, he’s not ready for marriage to a strong judge on the supreme court who makes him change the diapers and humilaties him in public, whcih i’d be more upset about if again he didn’t deserve it. We also have VITO! Local itallian, the Mercado’s best customer and Hector’s only friend. He also has his two winer dogs with him which.. yes. Just yes. And they have matching hats and sweaters because Vito is the best. Hedecides to toss froggy and book it for the train car. Adalaide realizes she’s been played and is understandably pissed but sadly, needing to find her friend her husband threw, dosen’t storm into Stanley’s conductor car and throw him off the train.

Instead Carl geeks out with Stanley over the train, which means he probably is meant to marry into this family, and Stanley’s glart awards. When Stanley’s called away to deal with the frog fracas, Carl is left told not to touch anything. So the obvious happens.. Carl hallunciates a bunch of pre school level choo choos who tell him to press the button. I love .. everything about this. It’s just pure hilarity and insanity and I’m here for it and a really creative, and insane gag and a nice take on the shoulder devil trope.

Naturally Carl, being Carl, presses the big button which turns on the ac and then blasts Stan’s train mix. Which sadly isn’t just this over and over and over and over again.

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With Carl possibly banned from trains for life he naturally turns to his wife for help, who is none to happy with his bullshit, and not willing to help him because why would she? But Carl.. genuinely apologizes. It’s why I mentioned he has a moral center. Unlike say Zack morris 80% of hte time or Eddy from Ed Edd N Eddy at his worst, Carl can FEEL human emotions like guilt, and while he does need Addy’s help to not get in massive trouble, you can tell he genuinely feels bad about hurting her and is only asking because she’s his only hope and for the sake of the various passengers who if she dosen’t step in will go off the rails on a crazy train, she agrees. Turns out though Addy is pretty badass on top of being adorable, and uses Froggy II as a grappling hook, then turns out to have inherited her dad’s knowledge of trains, which was foreshadowed earlier as she said she’s gone with him a lot and was bored at his offer and won two time junior glart awards.. which given that likely includes teens and tweens, is Valeria Richards levels of acomplished. God damn kid. Kudos. Stanley gets understandably mad at carl But Addy covers for him and since she saved her dad’s awards, Carl can live.. and come back sometimes. Carl, first through his action figure then himself apologizes for being a jerk toa ddy and manipulating her.. a genuine one that shows he means it and finds she’s pretty cool. Gues this marriage CAN be saved. And so we end this episode as you’d expect.

No.. for one thing i’td be leprechaun-train monstrosity. For another the happy couple team up as superheros and thwart froggy being hit by a train , who greatfully smooches carl who, having grown, takes it in stride. Happy end

Final Thoughts: I love this one. It was funny, intresting and had carl develop as a character while fleshing addy out and giving us some great stanley stuff. It made having a jerk as the protagnist here work and made me go from begrudgingly liking carl to actuallyl iking him. while he’s pretty terrible here he suffers for most of his actions and learns from it, and he and Adelade ahve a great dynamic that we thankfully do indeed see again this very marathon. But first. IT’S BOBBY TIME.

Bo-Bo Buisness It’s my first episode starring Bobby on this blog and i’ts been TOO long and there will be more to come I promise. As i’ve made no secret of Bobby is my faviorite character here, and as you can tell that’s a tight race, and is just.. great here. The move to the city fleshed him out by giving him drive with his desire to run the mercado, franchise it, and go to buisness school to do all of it properly, while keeping his loveable sweetness, stupidity and relationship with Lori which has gone from deeply unhealthy to awwwwwwwww.

So naturally I was on board for another Bobby Bonaza, and this one like most of his eps is pretty good: This time around it focuses on Bobby’s hard work ethic and youthful energy..and it leading him AWAY from the mercado. Bobby tries setting up free wifi and a table like a cafe in the Mercado, but Hector flatly refuses and refuses anthing Bobby comes up with, citing his 30 years running the place sucessfully, while Bobby cites his less than a year of it and his book of ideas, though Hector refuses to budge. And what I like here is that while hector IS still the bad guy here, it’s not in a one dimensional “Jerk for the episode’ way this show’s sister episode tends to fall into. Or treating a character being a jerk like their the wronged party, or.. you get the idea. Point is hector has SOME points: He has run a small buisness in a huge city for 30 years, beating out gentrification, racisim, big buisness and other threats to run at thriving mercado, even with another market across the street. He also owns a sizeable apartment with room for two diffrent families, 5 adults, 6 kids, a dog and an asshole, and his wife is super for the building as a whole. He’s done MARVELOUSLY for himself and deserves to be proud and his stubborness likely comes from just how much he’s been able to acomplish while others fell around him. However.. Bobby is still sympathetic. It’s very clear working here is his dream job: His plan for his life is to expland the place into a franchise and run it himself one day, he’s the clear sucessor and Hector wont’ be around forever.. probably for a LONNNG time still, and his ghost will probably haunt the place with Rosa’s scolding him, but since ghosts can’t own property probably, someone has to take over. Bobby is his clear sucessor and his ideas aren’t bad.. poorly exceuted in this case, but not bad. As we’ll see in a bit the table idea can work, bobby just didn’t think it through and Hector could’ve HELPED HIM with it and as we’ll see most of the ideas Bobby ends up doing elsehwere are just common sense for this day and age and the one that isn’t is the one that does him in. But Hector, likely seeing any change as a threat to his bottom line and his legacy, rejects him out of hand. H’es likely scared that his protege can do BETTER, or worried that one wrong move could cost him his life’s work. I also find this ironic since a few episodes ago, though I still need to see it, Bobby himself had the same problem letting go and letting someone else control the buisness with his sister and cousins running the place while he had his anniversary with Lori. Bobby DESERVES to be given his shot.. and so when he decides to quit the mercado in a huff and take his table and his ideas with him.. you agree with him. Sure he’s leaving the family legacy.. but if Hector wont let him make it his own or appricate how much fucking work he does or love he has for the place, then what legacy is there? That got heavy. We get a great joke next as bobby makes a metaphor about the dinosaurs.. then wonders what happened to them and like me on any given day stops to google it.. and since he uses a laptop unlike me and my desktop computer or phone, and his table, he inadveratly sets up a table outside.. which fixes the problems with his idea, if by accident and impresses Mr.Hong the owner of a nearbye market who could use a fresh faced go getter like bobby and hires him right on sight and agrees to start putting his ideas in.

And the wifi table.. is a huge sucess and putting it outside gave the customers more room, so it fixes the one flaw in his plan, and serving out cafe and snacks I can’t prounounce or spell properly, bobby shows his idea WOULD have worked: instead of creating loiterers it simply gives customers like Vito, who pretty much lives at the Mercado anyway so why not, a place to sit, eat and check their email and stuff, and bobby’s a good enough salesman he can convince them to eat and given the mercado already has a customers only policy on toilets.. they could’ve just made the table purchase only, and once per hour, and their regulars would’ve lapepd it up. Hector refuses to accept this though and stews and drives sergio and carl away.. which yeah if you can out asshole Sergio, you may be the bad guy here. The two feud over dinner to their family’s confusion, and to Rosa’s annoyance and dope slaps when she spills her hard worked on food over their petty sniping but bobby’ sstar continues to rise with a music video for hongs including that bit seen above, rapping and just.. whatever the fuck that video was it was the third best rap in nick history behind that “nnnnnnick” rap and this.

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So yeah with the comeerical, Hongs has tons of customers, and Hector stews more. However things can’t be good forever, as the last 4 years have proven they can be bad for an especially long time but good? Sadly no, as Bobby gets what he always wanted: The keys to the store.. maybe not the store he wanted but still and gets to run hongs solo. Sadly though Bobby ends up fucking up, letting people bring their pets which wrecks the place, and ends up with bobby getting swarmed by an ever multiplying batch of bunnies.

As Bobby is cuddled to death, his exact words, Hector finally relents and saves the boy from literally drowning, and the two get the rabbits out.. but well with social media and all that hong knows what happen and bobby’s fired. But back at the Mercado, Hector rehires bobby, and genuinely apologizes. I do feel it comes a bit quick.. but I guess after your grandson almost got bunnied to death, you rethink your life choices. Bobby admits he was in over his head while Hector genuinely admits Bobby has good ideas and he was being a stubborn jackass and decides he can use them after all. Starting with the commerical where the two perform a nice mexican song, the whole family adorably dresses up like various mercado items as seen at the veyr top and we also get this.

Yes, yes to all of this. And we’re out.. for a moment then back in but you get it.

Final Thoughts for Bo Bo Buisness: While not the best Bobby episode, that would be the one that introduces Par and again i’ll get to that one, this one is still pretty good. While I do feel Hector turns around a bit quick, otherwise it’s funny enough and has enough character stuff with bobbby, even if i’ts mostly just from knowing him in this series to work out. I”m not ANTI-nonsense episodes, I just don’t want them there when ther’es clearly a way heavier issue your steping around. This wasn’t the BEST the series has done comedy wise but it was fun enough. Alright one more...

Blunder Party:

And we end on another pretty good one. And oddly for this show it’s the only Ronnie Anne focused one of the four. Usually she’s dead center but it seems the series is getting comfortable enough, much like it’s parent show, to ease out of focusing on just one character as the viewpoint and letting the others breathe. Still this was a good un and let’s talk about it.

It’s Party Time and Ronnie and Sid are having a sleepover on the roof. Their first party of a couple.. i’m so proud of by baby gays.. or gabies as I call them. I mean.. yes i’m not subtle with my shipping but they act less like close friends and more like two tiny lebisan awww factories. Anywho the whole crew’s here, which as with a lot of things this episode let’s talk about them: Casey, Nikki and Sameeer were introduced in a loud house I haven’t seen and naturally carried over to the show proper, showing up when Lincoln visted in an episode I will defintely cover at some point, and accepting Ronnie Anne wasn’t a born city kid. They have neat designs, are nicely diverse, and while lthey do need some fleshing out, given that like Lincoln’s own friend team squad they show up in a good chunk of ronnie anne episodes, we got time for that so we’re good. There’s also new addition Laird, the school’s own screech powers, and your standard awkward dork whose not that great. So yes even this group has a waste of a character, though he’s not AS bad as rusty or useless as Liam, just feeling a bit less essentail than Ronnie Anne’s running crew, who match her general vibne, and Sid whose her soulmate.

But as the pizza arrives via Sergio, because he has to be useful at least once, our heroes soon find the party crashed by Great Lakes City’s newest power couple: Carl and Adelaide! Looking like their fucking team rocket. Seriously I had other options for this episode, including bobby sliding around on his back comically, so it says something just how great that iamge is and how fucking gloriously smug yet awesome they look.

The two want to join and even outdo the big kids at stretcing and flinging pizza, but as many little siblings like myself know all too well, the big siblings don’t want you there. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to hang with my brothers friends, but he refused frome lementary all the way up to high school. It was maddening. SO I sympathize with them, but i’ve grown tor ealize grown up kids want to have their own time and fun so I sympathize with both parties: Carl and Addy just want pizza and games and to hang with the big kids and Ronnie Anne and Sid just want to host a party as a couple without watching their siblings.

However Carl forces a compromise.. by using his special mood.. whining loudly and summoning Rosa.. whos eriously just.. teleports behind the kids. I thought only Lucy could do that in this unvierse. Respect.

Rosa however is resonable. While she dosen’t want the kids to be excluded, and it’s understandable and nice of her: The kids just wan’t to feel included and Rosa is resonable enough to say they will have to leave eventually wehn it’s time for bed. A fair compromise. Also i’d wonder why Adelaide is here but I assume the Chang Parents had her come over there, which Rosa being the lovely person she is agreed to. I didn’t get into her above but I do like Rosa a lot as a character as she’s a resonable authority figure.. but liable to slip into her own foibles, and is kind and loving with her family if strong and strict when she needs to lower the boom. Mostly on Hector who i’m amazed survived last episode and getting his own grandson to leave in one piece.

But yeah I mean I can only imagine what’s going on there...

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Also sex obviously, but since I obviously can’t and won’t show you that, have this video to jodeci’s freak n you instead and let your imagination fill the blanks if you want.

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I will use this song any time I can. Anyway, Sid being the peach she is tries to convince Ronnie anne all is not lost. Earlier she used a metaphor saying how they had all the perfect ingredents like a smore, and now adds pizzza.. which ot be fair a pizza smore, but using bagles or something sounds great, but pizza on a smore sounds like my own personal hell.. though Sid likes it so i’ll let it live.. for now. That’s also why Sergio is alive. FOr now.

But even sid has a limit and the power couple soon break those: An attempted scary ghost story session goes bad as they break poor sameer by predicting eveyr story he has even the one the poor kid wings, and he and his prehinsile hair are sad. Cheer up kid at least you can probably go live on Krakoa at some point. Free health care, free housing, living on a giant paradise. Good stuff.

The two then ruin an attempted dance party, which unlike the above which was just bad timing, this time their just obnoxious as addy wnats to ballet, and Carl wants to... put it to his butt whle playing fart noises. Okay for starters.

Secondly if he wanted to do that he could’ve got a cd of Nickleback cheaper and no one would’ve noticed.. then again they might of thought the poor boy had Dihera. Somehow this isn’t the last draw. Nikki, being a real one, holds a gross drink contest which carl spits out on the crowd.. which really WHAT DID YOU ALL EXPECT. This is how those things end. WIth spit up and fury.

Anyways enough is enough, so our ambigiously gay duo hatch a plan and send the little kids on a scavanger hunt. So while the Ronnie’s Running Crew have fun, and spot bobby and his best buddy par and bobby flop on some mangos and slide around on mango juice all episode as a result, the dream team work on getting that list done. From getting one of Hector’s nosehairs to Mr. Nakamura’s faviorite sweatervest (which takes a while) , to Carlota’s diary they do it with flair. Of note is the two having to steal Sergio’s crackes.. and nearly getting murdeered by the parot who seriously looks like he’s about to skin a child.. thankfully when HE does a shining by crashing through the door, he just gets stuck so no child murder tonight. Horay! Well until Carlota finds out her diary missing then this happens.

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But things get dire when the kids think they see the smaller kids get stuck in par’s truck. Thankfully bobby knows where his best friend is at all times, because he’s consdierate and knows where he’s headed next, and the kids end up following him, while Sameer stays behind to distract with his hair puppets since Rosa wants to little ones to go to bed.

Sid and Ronnie anne and co head to the dump , shenagins insue and they think they lost their sibling and cousin.. only to find them, the two having gotten a mango that looks like Vito and won.. and Sid and Ronnie apologizing and admitting their scam. In a nice bit though while Carl gets upset, Addy quickly points out they DID ruin their fun, and crash the party, and Carl begrudingly admits he’s wrong. Again, keep them married show. Carl needs Addy to keep him honest and Addy needs carl to hide the bodies of her enmies. They make a good pair, just like their big sis and cousin.

Anyways, Ronnie Anne and Sid ask to have the kids for just a bit longer to repair them and again this is why I repsect Rosa. She finds out the kids disobeyed her or at least found a loophole but isn’t mad and gets both sides learned from it. Our kidlets get a giant ass smore for their heroic efforrts, Nikki returns Carlota’s diary in secret to avoid their deaths while Sergio is arrested for attempted murder of two minors. A good night all around. Bobby joins in to close out, which isn’t met with any resitance because who dosen’t love bobby, while Hector wakes up to the vito mango and wonders what happened to him.. okay apparently Vito’s been turned into a non-sapient piece of fruit before and I want details show. Final Thoughts Finally: A pretty good one. Carly and Adleadie continue to prove to a hell of a combo, whie the proven dream team of Sid and Ronnie Anne work well off their younger counterparts. It overall leads to a fun episode with lots of great gags.. and also bobby sliding around on his back comically like he’s a goddamn roomba and I am hear for it. Just overally really good stuff and a really fun plot. This really feels like stife of the party done right. Both sides screw up but make up instead of one just getting their way because protaganist. And overall this batch of episodes was really damn good and I look forward to watching the series reguarlly from now on. Until then, just one more day then this blog gets all spooky! SO stay tuned, stay safe and go team venture! Play us out nickleback! WAIT WHY DID i SAY THAT NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 5 years

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Episode 124: Lion 4: Alternate Ending

“Please tell me my destiny.”

We’ve had Ronaldo as a toxic gatekeeping fan intent on harassing the creator. We’ve had Lars as a disappointed fan whom the creator is desperate to impress. We’ve even had Navy as a false fan who’s only interested in robbing the creator’s spaceship (arguably a rarer breed than the first two). So now it’s time for the obsessive clue-hunter, who parses through the creation so deeply that the original meaning gets lost in the shuffle. And this time, our fan stand-in is Steven.

Lion 4: Alternate Ending is an episode about Steven trying to ruin Lion 3: Straight to Video. All the magic from that first glimpse of Rose Quartz threatens to be extinguished through overanalysis, to the point where his discovery of a new tape is met with dread instead of excitement. For all the Steven Universe fans that get frustrated by Steven not being as invested in the lore as they’d like, well, this is what happens when Steven gets as invested in the lore as you’d like.

To be clear, I don’t think Steven succeeds in ruining Lion 3, especially because the conclusion of Lion 4 manages to enhance its predecessor. I also don’t think it’s a bad thing that he tries: it fits his post-Storm in the Room state to tear through whatever evidence he's got to figure out why he was born, and it’s properly painful to see him so desensitized to the wonder of Rose’s tape that he’s reduced it to a possible decoded message. What better way to express how Steven feels than tainting a pivotal moment with his mother?

I’m super into stories where a mystery to the characters isn’t a mystery to the viewer: the core example is Cowboy Bebop episode Speak Like a Child, where our 2070s crew is trying to solve the case of a strange antique object that a 1990s audience already knows is a videotape (although a fifth of the way through the twenty-first century, we’re already getting removed from an era where modern audiences would know what a Betamax is, even as a cultural relic). Because the writers don’t have to try to fool us, we can focus more on how the characters tackle a problem instead of trying to beat them to the punch with our own deduction skills. I wouldn’t call Lion 4 the most concrete example of this sort of story, as it’s not impossible that Rose was leaving encrypted messages behind, but to me at least the “twist” that Rose’s tape wasn’t part of some dubious master plan is obvious enough that I can just enjoy the ride.

“Enjoy” is perhaps the wrong word, because while this is an excellent episode, it’s not a fun one. There are comedic moments, because this is still Steven Universe, but watching a kid at the end of his rope struggling to understand his place in the world is bound to be harrowing stuff. Steven’s determination is compounded by his solitude: the Crystal Gems are pointedly absent, as the last time he asked them for answers his dad got abducted to a space zoo and it’s easy to confuse correlation with causation. So it’s just Steven and Lion for most of the episode, and it’s telling that Lion answers Steven’s final cry for help by bringing him to see his dad. Some things can only be fixed by talking, and for all his strengths, Lion isn’t a great conversationalist.

Before we get to Greg, this Steven/Lion solo outing uses constant activity to sidestep the dullness factor that bogged down Steven’s Lion. After a strong first impression of Steven’s mental state as he scours Rose’s tape for clues, going so far as to try to find meanings in anagrams, Lion revs up the plot by retching up a giant key. I love that Steven’s first thought is the same as mine, and likely yours: the chest in Lion’s mane that we first saw in Lion 3, which unlike Bismuth remained a mystery (and it still is, because we never saw what Steven found in there between Change Your Mind and the movie). Even though the key is comically oversized, Steven ignores the obvious and keeps trying to make it fit. So right off the bat, we get two little stories about Steven looking for answers where there clearly aren’t any and doubling down despite the futility out of sheer desperation for the truth.

From here we get a montage of past locations a la Marble Madness and Warp Tour, accompanied by a gorgeous medley of location themes from Aivi and Surasshu; I will never not complain that we don’t get to have an album of their scoring, because this episode’s soundtrack is one of their best. Visiting the Armory harks back to Lion 2 as the tape did for Lion 3, and we also get a glimpse of Rose’s Fountain and Rose’s Room to continue our references to the many known areas tied to Steven’s mom. When nothing works, Steven pleads with Lion for more information, aware by now that the cat has some answers.

While I’m not huge on Steven’s Lion as an episode due to the aforementioned dull pace, it’s awesome to see our heroes return to where Lion was first found. Buddy’s Book already did a great job of reminding us of Lion’s desert home, but now it’s time to finally investigate the area further.

Jesse Zuke and Raven Molisee paired up for our last episode, leaving their usual respective partners Hilary Florido and Paul Villeco at bat for Lion 4. The ragtag team has so far given us rich visuals, with a particularly expressive Steven and Lion (crucial for the non-talking member of the duo) and a callback to the lovely settings of the past, but every aesthetic choice they make is topped by the desert run. It’s a beautiful shot, evoking the iconic ocean run of Lion 2, but Steven’s exhaustion (aided by Zach Callison’s beleaguered performance as he narrates his thoughts) tinges the scene with melancholy where there was once only magic. Steven’s desperation is no longer the frenzied need from when Greg was kidnapped, or even from the beginning of this very episode, but has been worn down to a weary determination that just breaks your heart. This is Charlie Brown after a yanked football too many; he hasn’t been thrown a single bone in his search for answers, and this might be his last chance.

I try not to include too many images in these reviews, because they can mess with the flow of the text, but screw it this shot is also amazing:

The pyramid-like structures leading to the locked door are the first we see of a new hidden getaway, and retrospect makes Steven’s plight even worse: as we learn in Legs From Here to Homeworld, all he had to do was touch one of them to get a major hint about Rose’s true identity.

It wouldn’t have solved everything, as Garnet would likely assume they were spoils of war, Amethyst wouldn’t recognize them, and Pearl would keep her mouth shut. And it would’ve ruined the pacing of the mystery for such a strange hint to be presented, so from a storytelling perspective it makes total sense to keep this in the backburner. And it’s not like it’s that weird that Steven doesn’t feel compelled to touch what seems to be a couple of statues when he’s spent the whole episode looking for a lock and it’s right in front of him and he just survived hours of desert travel. But knowing what we know now adds to the drama of how close our hero is to the truth he deserves.

In yet another bummer, Rose’s hidden landfill is worn down to the point where most of the walls had collapsed, meaning Steven didn’t even need the key. Which isn’t to say the key wasn’t important, as it prompts his trip in the first place, but it’s just one more way that the universe seems to be throwing unnecessary hurdles at him. In the same vein, Lion not only could’ve warped him to the destination as he mentions, but he could’ve done so without hacking up the key in the first place. But we’re long past the point where we should expect straight answers from Lion, so I forgive the big lug.

The first thing that came to my mind when Steven saw the dump wasn’t Amethyst’s room, although there are obvious similarities. It was Greg’s storage locker, the place where we first talked about Rose all the way back in Laser Light Cannon, the place where Greg expressed confusion about why a magic woman fell for a regular guy like him. And as frustrated as Steven is, this room is a wonderful unspoken answer to that distant question: among Rose’s many imperfections was that, like Greg, she was kind of a slob. It’s so nice to have a mundane flaw after nearly a full season of focusing on her as a liar and murderer, especially a flaw that reminds us of why she and Greg were so great for each other.

But yeah, Steven isn’t interested in subtext, and his tantrum is both realistic and reasonable. He finds the tape for Nora by accident, right after kicking some garbage in anger, and this is where that Speak Like a Child oomph comes in. It’s crystal clear that the tape was a backup in case Steven was a girl, but he’s so primed for lies and complications that the obvious answer eludes him and he suspects the worst. I honestly can’t blame him. If you learned out of nowhere that your mom killed someone, who’s to say you don’t have secret siblings?

The contrast between harsh desert and soothing sunset is another treat for the eyes, readying is for a cooldown after two distressing acts. Greg’s excitement over seeing the old tape blinds him to Steven’s angst in a way that adds honest tension to the exchange, because he’s trying to give Steven a fun treat but has no idea how much anguish his son has been through to get to this point. To Greg, telling Steven the answers outright would be ruining the moment, but the wait is already killing the kid. In an episode without an external villain it’s such a clever way to present a final “confrontation” to overcome.

When we finally see the tape, it becomes even more apparent that it was a backup for a hypothetical daughter. Still, I love how the strange new version of a video we know and love is only half-seen, as we focus so much on Steven’s reaction at the expense of footage. Where he was once gazing at the marvels of a new glimpse of his mother, his eyes are now furrowed in frustrated concentration. As in Lion 3, he has a viewing partner, and Greg’s welling tears mirror those of Steven and Sadie from the first tape, highlighting that the Steven of the present isn’t feeling an ounce of tenderness.

Tears do come for Steven, but in the form of anxious release. When he’s told that he’s Nora, meaning he’s the person the tape was intended for, Steven still doesn’t get it and exclaims that he’s his mom and his sister; it’s sort of a joke, but boy is it rough to hear him slip that in some way he does see himself as his mom rather than his own person. So thank goodness he’s saying this stuff to Greg, who’s calm at first but leaps to the occasion when Steven frantically asks why he exists.

As is standard by now, Greg's got fatherhood down cold. He adjusts his tone to show he’s taking Steven seriously, but rather than jump in he sits his son down and lets him talk. He addresses Steven’s concerns gently but firmly, leaving no room for doubt that he’s loved and appreciated no matter what. He brings himself into the conversation by saying he changed his name, doing so not to turn the topic to himself but to reassure Steven that it’s okay to not be stuck on one identity. And just look at how perfectly our three main characters exist in the shot during this last talk:

Steven gets those happy post-tape tears after viewing the last part of the video, and our happy ending is earned, but it’s not a full victory. Rose still had issues, but at least Steven has gained some confidence back that she wasn’t all bad. He’ll go back and forth on how much guilt he feels for her actions, but at the very least he knows now that his decisions to try and atone for her mistakes are his to make, and not a mandate from a dead parent looking for an escape route.

Whiiiiiiich means that now he’s able to try and feign a sense of control over helpless situations by assigning blame to himself in new, exciting ways. Hey, it’s not like the show could’ve solved all his problems less than halfway through Act III of the series. Lion 4 thus doesn’t have the conclusive oomph of Lion 3, which closed a trilogy of Lion Episodes as well as the stage of the show where Rose was a well-realized but distant idea more than a full character. For all its strengths, Lion 4 feels much more like Just Another Episode. But that’s okay. It doesn’t owe the past a thing.

Future Vision!

Again, those pyramids return in a major way, because they’re not pyramids.

Greg talks about Garnet’s inability to predict things about Steven, which is an element of their relationship throughout the show but gets major focus soon in Pool Hopping.

Escapism blends the two big Lion Runs by setting it back on the ocean, but making the passenger an exhausted Steven facing one last ordeal before relief in the form of his dad with a guitar.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

It doesn’t make the top twenty, it does make the top twenty-five. Just like Bismuth right before our hundredth episode, this doesn’t mean much now, but it will next time, because I’m expanding again to a Top Twenty-Five when we hit the big One Two Five with Doug Out.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Room for Ruby

Lion 4: Alternate Ending

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

6. Horror Club 5. Fusion Cuisine 4. House Guest 3. Onion Gang 2. Sadie’s Song 1. Island Adventure

(Kind of unbelievable to me that a Lion Sequel doesn’t have official promo art, but luckily we have discount-supervillain’s measured take on what Nora Universe would realistically look like.)

#lion 4 #lion 4: alternate ending #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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artisticflutter · 5 years

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Enemy is my Friend - Part One

Hey hey, looks like it’s time to post Secret Santa gifts... and hey there @red-rose-draws, I’m your Secret Santa via @mlsecretsanta. You wanted a very square Enemies!AU and I hope you enjoy~

Also if you have an AO3, I’d love to get that so I can post over there too.

Rating: G Genre: Fluff, Angst, Romance, AU, Friendship Pairing(s): Love Square Summary: According to Tikki, Chat Noir was supposed to be Ladybug’s partner, but it’s just Marinette’s luck when that turned out to be wrong, wasn’t it? Warning: Enemies!AU. Also, there’s a second part to be posted from another POV.

According to Tikki, Chat Noir was supposed to be Ladybug’s partner, but it’s just Marinette’s luck when that turned out to be wrong, wasn’t it?

Her first outing as a superheroine all those months ago definitely could’ve been better, but Chat Noir’s declaration of being her enemy was just the cherry on top. She asked Tikki over and over just how this could have happened, but the kwami couldn’t go into details. Rules and all, she had said, much like the rule that required Marinette keep her identity secret from her friends and loved ones. Any one of them could be Chat Noir, too.

It didn’t take long for the reality of this fact to change how she handled situations with extra caution.

Still, looking down at him now, him pinned to the ground, her hand twisting his right wrist to pull his ring off, she didn’t expect their confrontation to come to an end like this.

Akumatized victims by themselves were only nuisance, but add Chat Noir to the mix, and they became competition. While he never had any new powers in battle, he was the destruction to her creation - the counterforce meant to be equal in strength with small differences that covered her battle disadvantages. But although he matched her in nimbleness and just barely surpassed her in sturdiness, her cleverness won out in many of their encounters and she came out on top, leaving the feline villain to slip away to fight another day.

However, she didn’t only chalk it up to just her wit.

As determined as she was to stop Chat Noir and Hawkmoth, Chat Noir didn’t seem to take their battles seriously either. Dare she say he even seemed to be anticipating every bout? Maybe she was reading too much into it, but he did have the powers of destruction.

“Why doesn’t he just use Cataclysm on me?” she asked aloud one evening, her pencil tapping her lip. Her sketchbook sat open before her, the supervillain’s face almost drawn to completion.

Tikki halted her cookie consumption and raised her wide azure eyes, a smile playing on her face.

“I know it’s odd considering he’s your enemy, but he has a good heart. I can tell – and I know he wouldn’t have received the Cat Miraculous if he might use it for the wrong purpose.”

“I would say fighting against us is the wrong purpose…” Marinette sighed, leaning backwards in her chair. “Maybe he thinks he’s fighting for something righteous. Do you think if I asked him, he'd tell me?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Tikki resumed devouring her cookie and Marinette continued etching mindlessly along the marks she made already: wild hair that gave him an untamed appearance, bright eyes with oval pupils (part of his transformation she assumed), and round cheeks rarely ever down because he always seemed to be grinning or smirking. His features were still sharpening, though, so he had to be around her age.

The more she drew, the more she considered.

Aside from people being affected by the akumatized victim’s power, Chat Noir didn’t seem to like civilians getting hurt. When Stormy Weather appeared, he had had an argument with Aurore because she’d shot lightning directly at park patrons. He also hadn’t approved of her sweeping people away with gusts of wind outside of the TVi studio tower.

And when she had gone on that ‘date’ with Nathaniel while he was Evillustrator, he seemed to have been watching more intently than needed. Yeah, he’d been on the lookout for Ladybug, but when she – just as Marinette – tried to get Nathaniel’s akumatized pen, he’d jumped in before she could get hurt. He even bothered coming to find her a few evenings later to sincerely apologize. And he’d meant it.

“… Weird cat,” she mumbled, staring back at the beaming image of Chat Noir.

Who was the boy beneath that mask?

She found herself coming back to that question with each subsequent encounter.

Though she should be asking him why they were fighting, it just slipped her mind again and again because there were always new questions. Who was this boy fine with people being akumatized, but not letting civilians be hurt during the rampage? Controlled was fine, but injuries were off the table. Rather contradictory; and then, why keep this chase going? She knew he had better combat skills to bring, but he seemed lax using them. Was he going easy on her? Did he find it fun? What was with all the puns and jokes and – dare she say – flirting on his part? Why did she find herself playing into it too? Was that an effect of the Miraculous?

What did Chat Noir want?

When she finally did recall, Simon Says didn’t give her the time to ask. After Tikki had her break into Gabriel Agreste’s safe (why was there a safe behind that painting?) to take some book and a peacock pin, she had formed a temporary alliance with Chat Noir to save Mr. Agreste’s life.

In that instance, things felt right – as if she’d never fought the black cat and it was scary how well they worked. It had been a whirlwind of events ending off with her meeting Master Fu,so she missed the opportunity to ask Chat Noir yet again. Sure, she did ask Master Fu, but his answer was she was better off asking Chat Noir himself.

Maybe she needed to ask herself why she even cared. He was the enemy and she needed to get the Butterfly and Cat Miraculous.

But why did it feel like taking the ring would make her the bad guy?

The holidays came and went, but something was wrong with Chat Noir.

Ever the perpetual smiler in their encounters, his expressions started becoming strained and there was a new, more aggressive approach in his fighting style. If a battle dragged on long enough, his movements would grow sluggish and predictable. That wasn’t all; paling skin, dimming eyes, and he became thinner and thinner. Despite his worsening condition, he was still the most civil villain. Heck, he got her a birthday present after finding out it was her birthday while her Nonna was akumatized.

Was he sick? Would Hawkmoth push him to keep fighting in that condition?

She didn’t want to think about it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it when he bowed out of a fight or didn’t participate at all, watching with a hand pressed against his stomach from a distance. It was such a distraction that she wasn’t even paying attention to Luka while André served her ice cream. She was so startled she accidentally swatted it, sending the peach and mint green scoops flying. Marinette apologized profusely, but André didn’t seem too perturbed.

“There is conflict in your heart right now.”

“Huh?”

This time, she paid attention as he made the cone.

“Peach pink like his lips and mint green like his eyes! Eat this, my dear, and your love will materialize!”

“My love…”

Accepting the cone, Marinette stared at it unblinking for a few seconds, focused on mint melting onto the peach. Even as the dregs began to run over her fingers, she stood there, feeling her face flare up.

“Is that it? But I shouldn’t…”

“Uh, Marinette?” Luka’s voice cut through her thoughts and she turned her head. Not only was he staring at her, but so were Alya, Nino, Ivan, and Mylène. Normally, that would embarrass her, but she calmly took a few Euros from her pocket to pay André.

“Thank you for the ice cream. Sorry guys, I have to do something.”

She didn’t wait for her change before sprinting off, scarfing down her ice cream and powering through the brain freeze to make it home.

It just had to be a coincidence - she was thinking too much about that stupid cat, the ice cream meant nothing. Her Miraculous wasn’t helping either. Yeah, she was sure. That dumb boy becoming thin as a rail was not her concern – she didn’t have to do anything about it!

It was just the right chance to take his Miraculous and then go after Hawkmoth!

The akuma had been paltry this evening, but it had assisted her immensely by dealing with Chat Noir on their own, though it didn’t have to throw him away like he was rubbish. He was just tired – yeah, that had to be it; that had to be why he hadn’t bothered trying to get up during the fight.

… Had his arm always been this thin?

He struggled beneath her knee – oh god, she could feel his ribs shifting beneath her leg. Before people arrived, she just needed to take his ring – grab it and be done with one nuisance. Pinching his ring and pulling slowly, her leering eyes darted to his sunken face, taking in wide, pleading eyes watering slightly in the corner, the faux ears on his even messier hair folded flat. No longer was he trying to push her off, but he was trembling, gradually appearing much like a kicked cat he embodied. Teeth gritted, his jaws shifted as though to open, but he refused – why did he refuse to speak?

If this was victory, it felt terrible.

He wasn’t anywhere near his peak physical form; and with him, this wasn’t how she wanted to win.

Beneath her leg, she both felt and heard his stomach rumble loudly.

“… You stupid cat.” He wasn’t eating? Was that really the problem? “You owe me one, got it? And don’t you dare try to take my earrings right now.”

“… W-What?”

Once boisterous voice was soft and very shockingly subdued, and picking him up suddenly had him yelping, but she didn’t comment. Yo-yo out, she allowed it to fly, catching a nearby roof and sending them both soaring across Paris.

Was she really doing this? Was she really going out of her way to help her enemy? Well, she supposed she still felt some responsibility because they were supposed to be partners, but watch her luck – she was going to regret this.

Gosh she’d really like him to say something right now. Maybe she wouldn’t be thinking too hard on it, but he hadn’t said a word.

Landing firmly on the patisserie’s rooftop, she placed him in her lawn chair – alright, she might’ve dropped him in a bit more harshly than she meant - hands going to her hips as he gazed upon her in confusion.

“Listen here, Chat Noir. I know you helped the girl who lives here before and she’s pretty grateful. So stay here and maybe – just maybe – I can convince her to give you something to eat. If I’m going to claim your Miraculous, it’s going to be in a fair fight, understand?”

“What? You don’t need to--”

“You say that, but your stomach says otherwise.”

She noticed him flinch when she cut him off, but didn’t have time to ask what that was about. “Bug out, Kitty.”

She didn’t hear him scrambling to follow her as she leapt down and entered the building. Inside the bakery’s kitchen, she transformed back to Marinette, scowling because again, what was she doing? How ever troubled she was, Tikki was glowing.

“I’m proud of what you’re doing, Marinette.”

“Really? I think I might’ve done something wrong,” the girl replied with a groan. “I mean, I brought him back here to feed him. I’m sure if our positions were different…”

“He would likely do the same,” Tikki interrupted, hovering before Marinette’s face. “Even if he’s working with Hawkmoth, you know Chat Noir isn’t underhanded like him. Maybe he lets the akuma do what they must to get your attention, but he never directly harms civilians.”

That could be debatable, but Tikki was right. It wasn’t like Chat Noir was the one akumatizing people or giving them targets. Nor did he ever purposely make anyone fall under the abilities of some past akuma – and when they did fight, he didn’t try involving anyone to make her give up her Miraculous; Hawkmoth did. In fact, with him being on the side lines for many of their recent skirmishes, he seemed to observe with a mild grimace.

“… Maybe I could get him to open up about why he’s doing this,” she started softly. “Maybe, but if he finds out who I am, I don’t want him to feel like I deceived him.”

“When the time comes, you’ll do the right thing. I’m sure!” Tikki bumped against her cheek and Marinette giggled. In the back of her mind, she could only hope no reveal occurred anytime soon. It was time to get to the bottom of who Chat Noir was really.

“So, what shall we feed a hungry cat?”

#ml secret santa #mlsecretsanta2k18 #mlsecretsanta #miraculous ladybug #scribbling do #miraculous!au #ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #chat noir #ladynoir #marichat #mentions of other friends #enemies!au #red-rose-draws #gifting #tikki

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waitingforanangel · 6 years

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Growing up with and being with Robb Stark would include part 2

(This won’t follow the correct storyline of the show)

(Requests are open so just look at my profile to see what I wrote for and send requests if you want to)

Word count-2,487

Part 1

Part 3

-This was the bit you were nervous for. You’d never had sex before but you were pretty sure that Robb had and that made you nervous alongside the fact that your main job, as his wife, was to provide him with children and if you couldn’t do that than you would be looked down on by everyone. What if you couldn’t provide ? You didn’t have a lot of time to figure that out as Theon and an army of other boys were heading your way, getting ready to whisk you off to your chambers whilst undressing you while also having to watch random girls undress your husband. Something you never wanted to see. However, this was northern tradition so you stood up, ready to accept whatever was about to happen when Robb grabbed your hand, pulled you back down to your seat and stood up himself.

-“There will be no bedding ceremony” was all he said before taking your hand and walking you out of the room. It was obvious you two were going to have to consummate the marriage but apparently Robb wanted it to go at his own pace which you thought was really kind and sweet of him. You knew that his father, Eddard Stark, had done that for Cat on the night of their wedding but it still made you warm inside when you realised that he broke northern tradition for you. The walk to your chambers was silent but not awkward. It was just full of nerves. Walking into your new room and seeing how large it was took your breath away. Around six of your previous rooms could fit inside of this one but you didn’t really have time to be worrying about that at the moment. Robb, at this point, was in his undershirt and loose fitted trousers and was looking at you with what you could only describe as arousal and lust.

-That night, even though it was your first time, was one of the best nights of your life.

-Robb was gentle with you but definitely not boring and his stamina was out of this world. You were still going during the early hours of the morning and by the time he finally let you rest you went straight to sleep-cuddled up to the love of your life. Quite frankly, the best feeling in the world.

-Right now you were lying on Robb’s chest after spending the best part of the mourning continuing your marriage night. Greywind was lying across yours and Robb’s legs whilst you lay there in comfortable silence...until Robb’s stomach rumbled. Even Greywind looked up in alarm which cause you to snicker at his embarrassed expression.

-Being married to Robb was like being married to one of your best friends and you loved it. You didn’t see him that much, during the day, because he was busy with lessons and training but (after marrying the future lord of Winterfell) you also had lessons everyday as you were no longer Catelyn’s ward. Your lessons mainly consisted alongside Sansa (and Arya when she turned up) and were filled with things like sewing, knitting and music playing along with one hour a day of political learning, like the different houses in the seven kingdoms, and what duties you would have to perform when you became the lady of Winterfell. Most of it you already knew from being Cat’s ward but you still had to sit through them. The only time you properly saw Robb was at night but you didn’t really talk whenever you were in bed (if you know what I mean).

-You’re life was great...until Bran was pushed out of the tower and someone tried to kill him just a couple of days after. This stressed everyone out to the point that no one trusted anyone and there were guards everywhere. Since you were now a Stark you had already been given guards to protect you wherever you went but now the guard was almost tripled. However, you could see how stressed Robb was with the situation and you knew you shouldn’t add anything else onto the list so you didn’t question it. To make matters worse the King was heading back to Kingslanding along with Robb’s father and best friend (Jon) so he was more stressed out than ever. Moreover, several days later Catelyn headed for Kingslanding which left Robb in charge and the only person to talk to being you (and Theon but let’s be real. When is he properly serious and reasonable).

You tried to help him with his stress but most of the time you just had to let him vent out whatever he had to say and then comfort him when he was finished. To be fair, isn’t that the main job of a wife around here-even if you were a Stark.

-But if you thought things were bad then ? They were catastrophic now.

-Your mother in law had captured the Imp, Tyrion Lannister, when she discovered that it was his knife the assassin used to try to kill Bran, Ned was taken prisoner after his men were butchered and Robb had gathered his bannermen to march against the Lannisters-especially since the King was dead and that stupid prince Jeoffrey was now on the throne. It was going from bad to worse and you knew that the romantic and fantastical part of your marriage was now over and the real world was beginning.

-Robb told you to stay at Winterfell with Bran and Rickon but you knew that you would be more useful by your husbands side than at Winterfell not knowing what to do. Your job as Robb’s wife was to stay by his side so that’s what you intended to do, no matter how much he told you to do otherwise so three weeks later you were sitting at a meeting table surrounded by the heads of the great houses of the North. With Robb only being the leader of this army for a limited amount of time you thought that he would be careful about how he talked to his men and yet here you were-watching Greywind attack the leader of one of he houses which resulted in two of his fingers being bitten off. You watched in horror at what would happen and you swear you could’ve heard a pin drop but everyone started laughing. You breathed a sigh of relief and rolled your eyes which Robb noticed and lifted his eyebrows up in question.

“You crazy bloody northerners” You chuckled into his ear which caused him to release a deep belly laugh of his own.

“Well you’re one of us now darling. Get used to it” was what he said before he started kissing you quickly on the mouth and carrying on the meeting promising that the kiss would be continued later.

-The battles were the worst bit. Robb always assured you that he would come back but at times of battle nothing was certain. The anticipation of it all was what killed you. Being a woman you were allowed no where near the fighting. You had to sit there, clutching onto Cat’s hand for dear life and strain your senses for any kind of change. Any kind of shout or clash of steel made your heartbeat jump into your throat and a new wave of fear flush through your veins.

“We should go my ladies” said a man to the left of Catelyn but you couldn’t respond. It was almost like you were frozen. Luckily Cat disagreed with him and you squeezed her hand in thanks to which she squeezed back. You weren’t allowed any closer to the battle but no force on this Earth would get you further from it.

-A horse broke through the tree line followed by many others. You slightly relaxed when you saw the wolf on the banners instead of a lion but you knew you couldn’t relax until you saw Robb but they were too far away at the moment. Cat was holding onto your hand so hard it was going numb and yet you knew you were clinging onto her all the same.

-Then you saw him and you breathed the biggest sigh of relief possible and a smile split across your face. You swore you faintly saw him smile back but it could have been a trick of the light. He was covered in mud and caked in sweat but you didn’t see any sign of blood on him so you didn’t care about the rest. You wanted to jump off his horse and tackle him into a hug but he had just won a battle and he needed to uphold a strong image in front of his bannermen so you stayed on your horse and smiled at him in happiness and reassurance.

-You expected the men to be slightly relaxed as they’ve just won a battle but as they all stopped in the clearing you were already at you quickly saw why.

-You quickly dismounted your horse and went to stand by your husband who took your hand and gave it a quick squeeze (silently promising more later) before letting go and turning back to his newly acquired prisoner. Jaime Lannister.

-You stood on the right side of Robb and his mother stood on the other side of him. Jaime was placed on his knees directly in front of Robb and yet he looked directly at you.

“The new Lady Stark. The last time I saw you you were walking down the aisle as a shy little girl” You saw Robb shuffle slightly in front of you and you mentally smiled at his protectiveness. Jaime then turned to address Cat as well as yourself and said “I would offer you my sword but I seem to have lost it” with a slight hint of humour which made your blood boil. Catelyn seemed to think the same thing as she quickly snapped back “it is not your sword I want”

-Jaime was hauled away as the men cheered and Robb stepped forward as you moved next to Catelyn who gently took your hand into hers to which you gave an encouraging squeeze. She smiled back at you. You could tell that all this fighting was taking a toll on her and all she wanted was for Nedd and her daughters to be home but that couldn’t happen immediately. You did now have a massive advantage with the Kingslayer as your prisoner though.

“One victory does not make us conquerors. Did we free my father and sisters ? Did we free the North from the people who want us on our knees ? This war is far from over “ He said before walking to his tent. You weren’t sure if you should follow him but Cat quickly shoved you in the side and motioned to Robb so you nodded at her and quickly followed after him.

-Running seemed to be a difficult feat, especially wearing the dress you were currently wearing, and the amount of feet that had stamped on the ground beneath you had reduced the grass to a slippery death trap of mud. You could feel the mud staining your dress but you carried on walking, slipping occasionally, but regaining yourself quickly. You cursed Robb and his long legs and armour for making sure he could walk fast without falling over. You saw him, in the distance, go inside his tent and close it behind him and you slowed to a stop. Maybe he just wanted to be left on his own.

No, wait a minute. You were his wife and that was your tent as well as his so with that thought in mind you carried on walking with a new sense of vigour. This was your job as his wife and the future Lady of Winterfell.

-You quickly opened the tent, so as not to disturb him, and closed it gently behind you. Your tent was bigger than the others. There was a big bed at the back of the tent along with several chairs and an enormous table in the center that was covered in maps. You had woken up many times in the night to see him fawning over those maps and you practically had to drag him back to bed.

-At this moment he was standing in front of the small mirror you both had and he was slowly pulling off his armour. You weren’t sure if he knew you were there so you slowly started walking towards him so as not to startle him. You could tell he was tense as he was struggling to take off his armour so you gently placed your hands on his shoulders to let him know you were there. You felt him tense up slightly but he quickly relaxed before he flashed you a weak smile to you through the mirror. You pushed his shaking hands away from the straps and started undoing them yourself.

-It was quiet between you two and you internally debated what to say. Your husband had just come back from fighting and all you wanted was to feel his arms around you but you weren’t sure how he would react if you did hug him. He might hug you back or he might strike out against you out of instinct. You placed a small kiss on his shoulder once his shoulder pad was off and saw his lips curl upwards slightly which made you smile. You moved your hand to undo the rest of his armour but he gently grabbed your hand and pulled it across his chest. You placed your head on his back and wrapped your other arm around him so you were gently back-hugged him.

-You didn’t say anything but you didn’t need to. He had to uphold this strong image in front of his men but you saw through that. You saw how scared he was. Scared of looking weak, scared of failing and leading his men into the slaughter house and scared of losing his father and sisters. He moved slightly so you pulled away but he pulled you back as soon as he turned himself around. His arms engulfed your waist and pulled you to him. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pushed his head into the crook of your neck. You’d noticed that he always relaxed the most in this position because he feels calmer when he can smell something familiar. He was sure that you were safe, in his arms, and vice versa so you just stayed like that. Even when he pulled away long enough for you to remove the rest of his armour and for him to remove your outer dress. You knew that nothing was going to happen tonight but nothing needed to. After the event of today, the two of you just needed each other.

@tsuupa @icouldbeyourpatronus love you two so much 💜💜💜💜💜

#robb stark x reader #stark x reader #game of thrones #game of thrones x reader #robb stark #jon snow #house stark #robb stark imagine #game of thrones imagine #dating robb would include #dating robb stark would inclue

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 5 years

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Chapter 15: more information, and finally, some answers -- but of course more questions.

And surprise! Another chapter! I’m super excited for this one, and even more for what’s next up.

[Beginning] [Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

Wednesday morning sees Apollo wonder if he got stuck in some sort of time sink in his way to work, if he dove through a liminal space and lost a few hours, because there’s no regular, non-fae, mundane reason that Phoenix should be in the office before him.

He has papers spread out over the coffee table, next to a formidable-looking legal text, and is sitting cross-legged on the couch hunched like a gargoyle. “Morning, Apollo,” he says, tapping his pen again a legal pad until it flings forth from his fingers and arcs up into the air to fall somewhere near the piano.

Something shuffles on the other couch, out of Apollo’s sight, and Vera pops up over the back of it. “Hi, Mr Justice.”

She still looks human. She looked human on Sunday, too, when Apollo went to see her and Trucy; he has wondered since the hospital visit when, or if, something will break like Kristoph broke.

“Hey, Vera.” He sets his bag down near the door. “What’s going on here?”

“Inheritance law fuckery,” Phoenix says. “I figured I’d spare you the early start on it.” He yawns and reaches for a mug perched precariously on the corner of the table. It takes all of Apollo’s self-restraint to lunge forward for fear of him knocking it over. “This does mean there’s some tea in the kitchen that hasn’t gone totally cold.”

“I didn’t know you drank tea.” It sounds tempting, though; he and Clay ran out of coffee yesterday and haven’t gotten their shit together for it.

“Not every habit I’ve picked up from people I hang out with is bad,” Phoenix says. “Just about eighty-five percent of them.”

Vera slumps back into the couch. “I don’t think you’re inspiring confidence in our client,” Apollo says.

Phoenix grins sheepishly. It’s an expression that still surprises Apollo, that vulnerability and acquiescence of wrongdoing, even if it must be calculated that he chooses to let it show at all. “Sorry.”

“You did warn me that this isn’t your expertise,” Vera says softly. “It’s okay. It’s better than being alone.”

Phoenix’s face falls. He looks back to his hand, expecting the pen to still be there, and finding nothing. “Oh, Apollo, if there is something you want to do later, I’ve got some folders on my desk I need run over to the Prosecutors Office.”

“Yeah,” Apollo says. “Sure.” It’s still a little cold – not that Phoenix is wearing a scarf inside today, but Apollo feels it biting into his nose and fingers. If he can get some tea and reheat it, that would—

He stops dead.

“Mr Wright,” he says. “This office doesn’t have a kitchen.”

Phoenix raises an eyebrow. It disappears beneath the hem of his beanie. “Sure it does,” he says. “Only just when you want it to.”

“You’re shitting me.”

He waves a hand. He’s found another pen somewhere. “Go look. You’ll find it.”

And in the next room, on the wall that doesn’t have a desk, there is a door that Apollo has never seen. It’s the wall across from his desk, that he has stared at often enough with no idea what to do and the window behind him, and he knows he should have seen it. Cautiously pushing it open, he steps into a narrow kitchen with no room for two people to stand side-by-side between the counters, with two stovetop burners, no oven, a fridge, and numerous cabinets. A teapot and several mugs are laid out on the counter. The teapot, white with black and gold detailing of some sort of hounds or wolves, looks like it cost real money, which means that it was probably a gift that Phoenix took up drinking tea in order to use. The mugs are a mismatch of kitschy souvenir mugs from cities across Europe, another with a cracked handle and the logo for one Ivy University, three hand-painted probably by Trucy and showing a clear progression of skill, and two with weirdly detailed images of cats on them. Someone’s reject mugs handed over? Apollo takes the one with the calico on it, feeling like those two might be the ones with the least meaning behind them (or conversely, the most, but probably a stupid inside-jokey meaning), and pours himself some tea with the distinct feeling that in picking up the pot, he has taken his life into his hands.

The tea is still warm when he takes it back out to the main room. Phoenix smirks. He hasn’t stopped being unbearably smug, apparently; just maybe has less to be smug at Apollo over. “I see you found the kitchen,” he says.

“Anything else I should know about this place?” Apollo assesses his options and decides he would rather sit next to Vera. She unsprawls herself and presses close to the arm of the couch. “Any ghosts or anything?”

“I guess you’re a bit behind the curve since I haven’t been around much,” Phoenix says, “but she’s not really a ghost, technically. ‘Ghost’ implies she died here instead of choosing to ascend into an incorporeal… blanketing life-force blessing who is… still sapient and has opinions about my lack of organizational skills and also everything else.” He straightens his back out and winces. “I’ve lost you, haven’t I?”

“I was only about half-serious,” Apollo says. “I mean, I thought this place was weird, but--”

The lights flicker.

“Oh.”

Phoenix laughs. It stops just short of mocking, but it’s close. “Her name is Mia,” he says. “She was murdered almost a decade ago now – at the end, I’m sure she could’ve lashed back one last time, knocked her killer dead instantly with a curse, but she just – went the other way – ascended, kind of? Stuck around to help me bring him and more to justice, legally. Life and death, she went for the blessing instead. She’d given enough of herself away to the office before, anyway.”

Vera wraps her arms around her knees. “Is that… something anyone can do?” she asks. “To… to learn to stay? Instead of dying, could…?”

No trace of the laugh is left in Phoenix’s face. “No,” he says. “I’m sorry.” They must be all thinking about her father. “Sell your soul and maybe you won’t go if you get murdered before your time, but that’s inadvisable for about a thousand reasons.” He shakes his head. “Otherwise – otherwise Mia’s unique. She’s the strongest fae I’ve ever known – she could have been Queen of the Winter Court if she had wanted. The ones on the throne, now, they’re powerful, but…” He shakes his head again and leaves it hanging, his eyes dark and downcast. “Not like her.”

Apollo doesn’t want to breathe -- wants to ask so many questions and is sure if he moves he makes Phoenix realize that Apollo has learned more of his personal life and relationships to the fae this week than in the past six months. This must be Phoenix’s mentor, fae royalty, and now Apollo knows what happened to her.

Mia Fey.

He always thought that name was bold when he read the trial records.

“Did you love her?” Vera asks.

Phoenix smacks his head back into the couch. “How do I keep getting to this kind of thing?” he asks the ceiling. The lights hum a little louder. “You can’t ask me that in front of her!” His exasperation tilts upward at the end, seems blended with some amusement. “Yeah,” he adds. “Of course I did. And she saved my life when we first met, and keeps saving it.” He sits forward again, rolling his eyes as he does so, but then resting his arms on his knees he stares very seriously between Apollo and Vera. “Whatever your misfortune or your curses, this office, Mia’s blessing here, is about the safest damn place in the world.”

Vera nods, her thumbnail halfway to her lips, and then she hurriedly brings it down. Does she know about the curse? Have they mentioned it in front of her? Has Phoenix told her – does she know of more than the nail polish poison? Does this reassurance, actually for her benefit, seem strangely out of nowhere?

“We should probably get back to work,” Phoenix says quietly, tapping his pen to the legal text, and the look at the man behind the cards is gone.

Apollo stays with them, because he has nothing else to do, and even if he’s personally inheriting nothing but abandonment issues and anxiety, it’s still good to know. Early in the afternoon, Vera begins spacing out and Phoenix is doodling in the margins of his legal pad. Apollo thinks it might be a good time to go.

“I didn’t know you are an artist,” Vera says.

Apollo, in the back, at Phoenix’s desk – still surprisingly bare, if only because he’s migrated to the couch – only catches part of his response, “on the side,” and when he reenters they’re talking about museums and classical art and Apollo definitely checks out. “1202!” Phoenix yells after him, in the middle of the same breath as something about the Renaissance.

Lawyer, artist on the side, turned piano-poker player, legal reformist on the side, seems pretty damn weird to Apollo, but they’re all also squatting in the office of “immeasurably powerful fae being on the side, lawyer full time”, so what does he know?

Room 1202 at the Prosecutors Office is the second prosecutor’s office Apollo has ever seen, but because the first was Klavier’s, he has no idea if this one is typical of their decor, or equally pretentious in the opposite way of Klavier. The couch and curtains are the same shade of – maroon? Burgundy? Apollo doesn’t know what he would call this color. On a small table sits a chess set, red and blue, and the shelf beneath the huge window is a bookshelf with a tea set and some kind of figurine resting on top of it.

The prosecutor at the desk has graying hair and a suit that matches his decor. He looks up over his glasses at Apollo and sits back, and he doesn’t actually look any older than Phoenix. Maybe even younger, but that could be Phoenix’s unkempt aura of existence. “Mr Justice,” he says, standing and starting to move around the desk. “I was told to expect you to come by. My name is Miles Edgeworth.”

“Nice to meet you.” Apollo shakes his hand and turns over the folders. “I have no idea what this is from Mr Wright, exactly. He didn’t say if I was allowed to look.”

Edgeworth flips the first open, scans it, and lazily tosses it onto his desk without a second glance. “Like a lot of the things Wright ferries my way, or has Trucy do, there might be something in there, but mostly, it is an excuse.”

Apollo shifts in place and fidgets with his bracelet. “For…?”

“Today? An introduction between us, I imagine.”

“Does he do anything without an ulterior motive?” Apollo asks, directed somewhere toward the wall, but Edgeworth snorts and shakes his head.

“He learned too well from his mentor and her cohorts.”

Apollo takes a step back away from the terrible, cutting blade of his words. “Forgive me,” Edgeworth says, his eyes and palms turning up, some sort of pleading with nothing or with Phoenix or with the fae. “That is neither here nor there. What I wanted was to speak with you about last week’s trial and your impressions of the system, having stood in the courtroom yourself; I was unable to attend to witness myself.”

It takes effort to stop himself from just weighing himself back and forth, foot to foot, burning off nervous energy in place. He feels like he did early in his career with Kristoph, still terrified of his boss but for mundane career-anxiety reasons. “I’d be glad to, but uh, since you’re a prosecutor, wouldn’t you rather get Prosecutor Gavin’s thoughts—?”

Edgeworth makes a noise of disgust in the back of his throat. Apollo regrets everything he has said so far this conversation. “I am equally interested in the perspective of both benches, but yes, I would perhaps like to hear from Gavin if he would deign to show himself in front of me.” He frowns deeply, squinting not really at Apollo, and then he cranes his neck over Apollo’s shoulder. “I asked him to deliver something to me in person today, so if I seem distracted at any point, I might be trying to make sure that I can corner him.”

“He hasn’t come into work?” Apollo asks.

“No, he has – I’ve seen those ostentatious vehicles of his.” Edgeworth folds his arms over his chest, drumming his fingers and shaking his head. “And he responds to email – but simply, no one has seen him around when I’ve asked.”

Apollo knows which office is his; he can stop on the way down. Is this some sort of machination on Phoenix’s part, too? “Oh.”

Edgeworth waves him over to the couch, returns to his desk, and begins what feels a little more like an interrogation or a trial than a conversation. He shouldn’t have expected otherwise – he knows the name Edgeworth as a famous (and infamous) prosecutor, and already he can see the hints to that reputation. He doesn’t ever ask more about Vera the changeling when Apollo brings it up, makes some quiet dismissive noise when Apollo mentions curses – and that, finally, seems like something he can push back on. He doesn’t know what Edgeworth is looking for from him, a fight or information or one in the form of the other, but he can try a new tactic.

“You don’t think that sort of thing is important to know?” Apollo asks.

“To what end?” Edgeworth asks. “For your own purposes, to secure your own belief in someone’s guilt, or lack thereof? What will you do with it – lobby an accusation that is subjective through your very own eyes and hope that someone believes you – that the prosecution will take pity on you?” He leans forward, intimidating even with the desk and the floor between them. “Will you take photographs through the center of a magatama – can you? – or just hold it to the eye of every detective on the scene, hoping to get corroboration to put before a judge and jury? Presume I trust you, because Wright picked you as his successor – faith and trust between the prosecution and defense can go a long ways, but if you have only that and wisps of magic, you still will not reach the truth.” His eyes, as they have all conversation, flicker from Apollo to the door and back again.

“And furthermore, for the matter of a jury trial, I can only see, going forward, that penalties should be made in cases of wanton claims about curses and magic, as you made.”

“But—”

He holds up a finger. “Consider this, Mr Justice: yes, the purpose of the Jurist System is for common sense to fill in the gaps where a clever killer has escaped with critical evidence. There is, however, a difference between that and a verdict based in impulse because accusations of magic have been bandied about. Consider a clever and unscrupulous attorney, or prosecutor, swaying a jury with passionate and baseless conviction that this witness is one of the Gentry – or even that the one behind the other bench is, and as such their evidence cannot be trusted. How will we ever untangle the truth amidst that slew of hearsay?”

Numbly, Apollo nods. Edgeworth sighs heavily and rests his forehead on his hand. “The psychology behind how a jury might respond to further cases such as this one, with claims of magic, is a headache in clear need of further research before we push the Jurist System toward the mainstream. We desperately need reform to prevent more Kristoph Gavins and so much other corruption like his, but…” Finally, he seems to be at a loss for words. “Wright was – is – a competent attorney, but it was fortunate for us all that the judge most often saddled with him is remarkably unfazed by talk of the Gentry. Going forward, with you and Wright and his methods and the possibility of uniquely made-up juries, I worry what could be unleashed, if the defense make claim to Wright’s Sight but lacks his integrity, or if the prosecution is not the rarest trustworthy witch who can confirm what was Seen.”

“I don’t think Prosecutor Gavin is a witch, actually,” Apollo says, knowing as soon as the first word leaves his mouth that he sounds like an idiot, and continuing on anyway.

He doesn’t even know if Edgeworth would consider Klavier trustworthy.

Edgeworth’s frown lessens, his brow slightly uncreasing. “Wright told me as much, eventually, but I admit I was thinking of a different prosecutor, my mentee.”

“Wait,” Apollo says, screaming again inside his skull because this next statement is actually going to be just as stupid, “you think Mr Wright’s an idiot for hanging out with the Fair Folk, but you mentored a witch?”

“Did I say he was an idiot?” Edgeworth looks, and sounds, puzzled, like he really isn’t sure if that was the phrasing he used.

“No, but I got that kind of, uh, vibe.”

“Hm.” Edgeworth considers it for another few seconds. “You are right, of course, he is; but the circumstances in our cases are very different, and my taking on a mentoring role toward a younger prosecutor was and is independent of him being a witch.” He folds his arms on the desk, quietly tapping a pen in one hand. “The most prominent difference is that I have not and refuse to give in and casually allow this office to become something like a coven, as Wright has your office.”

Apollo cannot lodge an objection to that. “I think I must cut us short here,” Edgeworth says, and Apollo tries not to jump up too quickly in relief. “I have to make more consideration of what we’ve spoken of, and see what Wright has thrown at me this time.”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about, as well,” Apollo says. Edgeworth is right – it is a headache.

His mouth twitches. Apollo hasn’t actually seen him smile. “You aren’t the one running this reform, Mr Justice, so you need lend a little less consideration – but I am glad to learn that you won’t just sit back and let the wind carry you where it may. That you know how you wish to fight, too.”

With nothing to say to that, Apollo nods, turning it into a little bit of a bow of his head, and hurries for the door, finding sitting in the open doorway on the floor, a small stack of papers. He picks it up, glances it over, and finds his eyes are immediately drawn to the signature at the bottom, in purple pen, initials unmistakeable. “Um, Prosecutor Edgeworth?” he asks, turning back around, everything but his mouth and feet frozen. “I think – I think Prosecutor Gavin came by.”

Edgeworth curses, too much of a hushed hiss for Apollo to determine what exactly the words are, and he hurries around his desk to snatch the pages from Apollo’s hands. “Yes, he – yes, that is exactly what I asked him to—” He crumples the edges a little with the tightening of his fists, a harsh scowl tearing across his features. “I have been watching the door, all this time – you didn’t see these on your way in?” Apollo shakes his head. “Gavin, I swear – the man is a goddamned ghost, somehow, when he wants to be.”

“If you wanted me to meet Prosecutor Edgeworth for whatever reason, you could have just introduced us,” Apollo says.

“I wanted you to drop off those papers, Apollo.” Phoenix looks up at him like he’s looking up from checking the new hand he’s been dealt, utterly and frustratingly emotionless. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The second one is a red lie. It circles him – for someone else, he has no tells at all. “Bullshit you don’t,” Apollo says. He has the distinct feeling that he has had this conversation before. Twice before? Every conversation he has had with Phoenix is this one? “Or are you fishing for information on Prosecutor Gavin and hoped I would learn or say something?”

“And how is Prosecutor Gavin?” Phoenix’s lazy eyelid has returned. Apollo doesn’t miss it. Apollo wants to punch it away. It isn’t right that his boss should have such a punchable face.

Apollo crosses his arms. “No,” he says. “I’m not doing this. Ask after him yourself.”

“I have.” Whenever Apollo’s voice gets louder, Phoenix drops his lower, like if he can balance Apollo, Vera out in the front room won’t hear them. “And Ema’s only heard from him in email – Edgeworth too – nobody’s goddamn seen him, so yeah, maybe I did just hope that you could draw him out.”

“And what do you care?”

Phoenix scowls up at him, sticking a pencil to mark his place in the heavy leather-bound book with handwritten script he is paging through, and slamming it shut harder than necessary. “Where should I start?” he asks, voice with all of the bitterness but none of the sarcasm that Apollo is used to. “Maybe I spent seven years with Kristoph Gavin as my closest ‘friend’” – he makes quotes in the air with his fingers, too – “and learned not only how he thinks, but how you come to start think after being around him for a lengthy personal relationship. And maybe I spent those seven years also listening to all of his belittling, dismissive remarks about his little brother.” He smacks his palm on the desk like it is the defense’s bench and then he looks surprised, as though the muscle memory of being in court should have atrophied years ago. “And maybe I’ve seen prosecutors before have their foundations upended, to end with a spiral off a cliff, and maybe” – his voice drops further to a hiss – “I would prefer not to let Kristoph get the last goddamn laugh over any of us who have survived him this far.”

He falls back in his seat, spinning it halfway away from Apollo, and closes his eyes. “Or maybe I’m just morbidly curious how it ends this time. Your pick.”

Two steps forward – Iris and Mia, pieces of a history before Apollo, the man before disbarment – and then three more back. His internal counter of “Days Since I Last Hated Phoenix Wright” resets.

“I think less people would try to kill you if you didn’t pretend to be heartless,” Apollo says. He turns on his heel and heads for the sound of Vera humming along to the radio.

“Magatama’s in the bottom desk drawer if you want to go back sometime,” Phoenix calls after him.

Clay’s advice for no response to his texts was to wait a day and then send some casual, irreverent remark, maybe about something going on at the office, as a bump to the previous message. That, unlike most of Clay’s advice, had actually seemed reasonable to Apollo.

Ran by the prosecutor office today, maybe you saw me talking to Edgeworth I knocked on your door afterward to say hi, guess you weren’t in then

On Thursday, it seems to Apollo that Vera has officially-unofficially been adopted into the agency, because there’s some easels, canvasses, and paints that were not there when he left the prior afternoon. She has dismissed both the paints and her sketchbook for a plain pencil and the edges of a Wonder Bar flyer.

“You’re in early,” Apollo says.

She doesn’t jolt quite as much as she has when he’s surprised her other times. Maybe she’s learning to be a little more at ease in the world. “It’s lonely at my house,” she says. “I’m not lonely when I’m alone here.”

Mia. Apollo nods. “I feel that, too.”

Phoenix wanders in before noon, after the two of them thoroughly investigate the mysterious kitchen. Vera is trying to make a house of cards on an already-precarious end table, and Apollo is looking over the books on the shelves, hoping to find one that can teach him something new without being criminally boring. “Nothing?” he asks Vera, pointing to a canvas.

She shrugs. He is almost to the back room when she says, “Um, Mr Wright?”

He stops dead.

“How do you draw something that isn’t real?”

“Huh?” Apollo asks. Phoenix turns back around, heading for the couch and not looking confused, and Apollo has no idea why they both understand that very weird question.

“How have you done it in the past?” Phoenix asks. Vera has abandoned the cards and is flipping through the legal pad that Phoenix was doodling on yesterday. “I know your first, er, paintings—”

“Forgeries,” she says softly. “Call them what they are. It’s okay.”

“—your first forgeries were identical copies of things, but then – like the diary page – that was still you making something new, something that wasn’t real.”

“But it was always obvious how to make those real.” Vera’s eyes are fixed on the page and a little scribble of a woman with smudged graphite hair and red pen eyes, as many of them as a spider. “I was told exactly what to do. I had the torn edge to match my new page to, and the text to put on it, and the handwriting to put it in, and the type of paper. But I don’t know how to make something new.”

Phoenix digs his phone from his pocket and starts typing. “I’m not ignoring you,” he says. “I just need to, before I forget, tell a friend of mine that I need to introduce him to you.” Apparently satisfied with whatever message he sent, he tosses his phone toward a shelf. It bounces off and cracks to the floor. “Anyway. The advice that’s maybe shitty I can offer you is to find what’s real in it. Like… paint me how you feel today.” He gestures toward a canvas. “Not how your face would look if you were showing those emotions, not what’s making you feel them, but how it feels. That’s real, but it’s not you replicating anything.”

Seeming to decide against doing whatever he meant to, he returns to the couch and sits on the arm of it. “My friend’s a children’s book author-illustrator – he’s human, but his mentor was one of the fae.” The glance he casts about the office doesn’t land in any one place. “I don’t think I have any of her books here, but I’ll bring them in. After her death, he and I talked a lot about what he’d learned from her, because my experience with the fae and art had been my friends getting obsessed with kids’ action shows and needing the concept of ‘fiction’ and ‘acting’ explained about a dozen times.” There’s that fond exasperation again. “She said that her books were always grounded in something real. They had to have that heart of truth, and the rest she could build.”

Vera lets the pencil fall from her fingers and cranes her head back to look at her paint brushes. “Is this a common thing?” she asks. “The fae, drawn to art?”

“Culturally, it’s not their thing,” Phoenix says. “They themselves don’t have much of a tradition of storytelling or paintings that are much more than… apparently accurate versions of history. It’s something about how they consider themselves bound to the truth, even if they’re twisted about it. They’re a little weird about music, too, but I do know that they’re drawn to human artists over this same thing – that they don’t get it, but we do, so they like artists as…”

“Court jesters?” Apollo offers.

Phoenix snorts. Vera has stood and gone to consider her paints, and he slides off the arm of the couch and sprawls across it on his back. “Something like it. But it is interesting to consider, in terms of you, Vera – you’re a changeling. They swapped you for a human baby of artistic parents, who was more or less destined to grow up to be an artist – and there’s a woman I know, human, a musician, and she’s the other side of that coin. So from my nearly-anecdotal sample size” – Ema would not approve – “it’s future artists and musicians who… get… taken…”

He sits bolt upright, his eyes flashing blue. “Oh, son of a bitch!”

At his outburst, Vera squeaks and stumbles into the piano, knocking some some brushes and a palette down to the floor. He looks at Apollo, eyes pale and vacant, jaw twitching but still hanging open. “I do know what the hell he is!”

And Apollo, halfway to Phoenix’s desk to grab the magatama, is sure that they’ve realized the same thing.

#fic: the seelie of kurain #roddy fanfics #next: THE BOY IS BACK. and probably having a mental breakdown. mood but also like. bad.

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persephonesgossip-blog · 6 years

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fondue for the mudracker

A New Beginning

Yo and Hello from JBI and Brittany Pierce, here to bring you the hottest gossip and introduce our newest speciality. Minus the cheese, there’s a total lack of cheese, we’re working on it.

We all love The Sirens and Divine Influence, obviously - who doesn’t? And since some of us can’t see the tour live RIP all you broke fangirls and tiny children, we wanna make sure you get to see all the drama. So welcome to our new blog for all the ladies on Persephone’s Tour. As The L-Word taught us, too many ladies all together is gonna bring some MAJOR drama. And lady loin tingles.

Speaking of that specific l-word, let’s start out with the only one who’s officially used that word - little Miss Kat Hummel...

Of course we’re all major fans of Kat’s Korner (maybe not all of us?) and we’re stoked for her upcoming fashion line, but is that all we want from her? Of course not! We want her to be rocking with The Sirens 24/7! But is that what Kat wants? The answer is maybe a yes. Rumor has it that Kat is going to drop out of the band to focus on her fashion endeavors. Probably because her socialblade suggests that reviewing shoes and bringing Marley on here and there can only give her so much ad rev. She lacks cheese, I’m telling you, cheese and cats = YouTube success.

She might also just be tiring of certain members of the band. “Members” being used very lightly. Her stepsister, Fiona Hudson, is playing drums for The Sirens, who don’t have their own drummer, on tour. Obviously they’ve used drummers before, and Kat seemed friendly enough with other replacement drummers...but have you noticed how little she mentions Fiona on social media? How Fiona is the only Siren-of-sorts who hasn’t appeared in a Kat’s Korner video? The two don’t seem very close at all. Could family tensions force her to leave? Maybe so, especially since both Marley and Norah could easily take over keyboard and possibly bass when needed. Spoiler alert, Fiona’s height probs makes Kat feel too tiny since she wants to be the biggest thing in the band. Too bad Mad Marls has that covered.

Kat leaving, as mentioned, would let her focus on her well-known first love, fashion. We also assume that means she could focus on her girlfriend, Kitty Wilde of #KittyKat fame. Oh, sorry, we mean “friend”. Friends don’t invite friends to do the couple tag on YouTube, just saying. Obviously. After all, Kitty should have time with her fellow feline-named female once Rachel Berry goes on Broadway, a gig she has lined up right after the tour ends. We all know Rachel loves Broadway and majored in musical theater at UCLA, so will she choose to stay on stage? And, if she doesn’t, can her band really recover from a Broadway hiatus? I hate her.

Kitty, while “close friends” with Kat, has also openly called Rachel her best friend, as the two have known each other almost their entire lives. Kitty only pretends to be in the God Squad so she can convince people she has a soul. It seems rather interesting that Kitty would be so close to the two people who are rumored to be leaving. Is it something she did? Maybe she wants more time with Kat - or maybe she wants to start and empire of her own, and had to recruit Kat to help her start a fashion/make-up/social media fame platform. We’ve noticed how her follower number has grown exponentially since #KittyKat vlogs started, and we wouldn’t be surprised if all of that success went into her little blonde head. Kitty is just a knock off version of Quinn and knock offs always fall apart.

Regardless, we wish Rachel luck on Broadway (no), but not enough luck that she’ll actually get recognized for her work. If she does a good enough job she could get a Tony nomination, which will lead to more job offers, and that might just be the end of Divine Influence... Tony should keep his award and Rachel should keep being horrible somewhere I don’t have to see it anymore.

...Unless someone takes over for Rachel. Lead singers do have a history of being replaced - we’re looking at you, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, etc. - but could Divine Influence be doing the same thing? Blair Anderson speaking of, who even IS Blair?????, a back-up singer/dancer on the tour, also studied musical theater at UCLA, and she obviously knew Rachel. There’s even evidence of her being friends with the other members of the band. Sabrina Smythe, the manager of both bands on Pesephone’s Tour, has said their back-up singers have been working hard and well with the bands, She even made special note that Blair could have a solo during the encore which is a shame because Santana Lopez should totally get to sing, and it doesn’t take much searching to find out that Blair has made a demo herself. Is this tour going to be her audition to take over Rachel’s spot? And, more importantly, would we care about the band anymore if Rachel’s not a part of it? Hmm. We just don’t know. Wait... we care about the band right now??

What else we don’t know? Why are there back-up dancers in the first place? Jackie Williams made a smash in Divine Influence’s “Hey Beautiful Angel” music video, but was it enough that they really decided to add dancers to the tour? Back-up singers, sure, which Jackie also doing, but it’s oddly coincidental they managed to book her months afterwards, right? Sabrina announced the search for other back-up for the tour shortly after the video debuted, and Jackie was a part of the search team. Something about that seems rather off, don’t you think? Sad pandas unite for me not making it on the tour. I dance way better and am way hotter and have bigger boobs. So.

Speaking of Sabrina Smythe, have you ever wondered if there was another “S” that needed to slip into her name? Perhaps Sabrina Stripper Smythe? A blind item on twitter claims that some tour member has a stripper past, and wouldn’t that just fit the narrative of the Spoiled Smythe? After all, her best friend, Santana Lopez, is known for taking her clothes off, so we can’t help but wonder if she was influenced by her. She’s also the only member of her family to not have a law degree, and we could see a stripper past causing that problem. I’d pay to see that... just saying.

Another degree-less member? Sam Evans. As in, not even a college degree, or even an attempt at college, like Fiona. It’s rather sad, actually. We don’t know much about her past between Kentucky, dyslexia, and moving to LA. Is she hiding some dark past? THIS IS RUDE college is hard :( and Sam is pretty, pretty people don’t need to go to college. Maybe SHE was the stripper.

Eh. Seems unlikely with how innocent of a country bumpkin she is, but we’re keeping our eyes on her. When your past is full of so many blank spots, we can assume you’re hiding something

Then again, do we know anything about Quinn Fabray? Well, about her past? She was friends of some sort with Santana in college, as evidenced by Santana’s old picture of her with pink hair all the way back from their freshman year. Along with the pink hair, there are some now gone piercings and a punk vibe that we didn’t expect.

We also know that Quinn’s real name is “Lucy”, but why did she change it? Could that mean - NEVERMIND QUINN’S THE STRIPPER

And, lastly, let’s get into our beloved Puckerose, both of whom may not be hiding so much anymore...

Norah Puckerman and Marley Rose have been the fan favorite ship of the band since day one. Over time, the ship has grown from fan speculation to fans just knowing it’s true. All the posts about each other, the duets, the songs they’ve written together, and now they live together? Please! Even non-fringe fans are starting to assume they’re dating. I’d date them, too. I’d also date Norah’s new boyfriend, he’s hot.

Which is why we are very distressed to report images of our beloved Puckster with a man. The two seem to be enjoying time in New York City and are all smiles.

While we all just assume Norah’s bi and, yes, we would be okay with her dating guys, we gotta ask...um, what the fuck??

Norah has mentioned an affinity for older men in the past, but this old? Um...what? Originally we dismissed the photos, since there wasn’t much to them and she could’ve just ran into someone on the street who was trying to talk to her. She’s pleasant to strangers...well, sometimes.

But now the two have been spotted together a couple of times, and we think that could be a sign it’s a real thing. One brave TMZ-er got footage of the two of them at dinner before the man - her boyfriend? - asking her to leave them alone while Norah just sat there politely. Norah being a quiet, good girl?? He looks old, maybe she has a bigger daddy kink than Kitty does for Jesus?

We’re kinkshaming this relationship - am I using that term correctly? Whatever, this whole thing is weird!

Of course, maybe it’s in response to Marley’s obvious beard - oh, oops, “boyfriend” - Ryder Lynn. Marley must be good at shaving, she should shave her boyfriends head, too.

Totally cute and believable - if we pretended Puckerose wasn’t living together - right? Except...where the fuck is this guy? We never see him around. Maybe he’s a robot, they’re good at hiding.

And you’d particularly think he’d want to be around after the events of the day. The OG Sirens had a group interview today, and, as soon as it ended, Marley fainted. She was quickly revived and had plenty of water but was rushed away before any questions could be asked. Marley even declined to be on Fondue for Two which totally means she either hates cheese or isn’t eating at all...because we all know she’d love to come pet my pussy’s. Sabrina and Santana put out a message that Marley was simply dehydrated and tired from all the rehearsals, but, come on, we all know “dehydration” and “exhaustion” are code words for drugs - I bet Norah gave her drugs - and mental health issues. So, what’s Miss Rose hiding besides her relationship with her favorite guitarist? Or is the stress of headlining a major tour while her bestie for the restie, Kat, is planning on leaving too much for her?

Well...we’ll have to wait and see.

#ptgossip #jbi #bp #a new beginning #all #ba #rb #se #qf #fh #kh #sl #jp #np #mr #ss #kw

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

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@time-is-still-a-waste

(This is gonna be fun! I’m sorry if she seems boring though!)

She’s definitely not boring! Themeatically a tiny bit of a mess, but this blog’s got a broom and a dustpan, so we’ll sweep her right into line. From reading through the profile, different things I noticed you mention were optimism, fire/fireworks/explosives, baking, painting, carnivals, phoenixes and therefore implicitly rebirth, a soothing nature and desire to help others…

When you list them all out like that and realize you don’t have a connecting force, it can quickly get a little cluttered-seeming, right?

Well, I have a connecting force. One that’s going to seem like goofily obvious. She should be An Actual Circus Clown. Like not just a fun juggalo ex-cult member but someone who truly believes in the humanesque Principle Of Clownery.

It jives with her optimism and desire to help others because she just wants to make ‘em see the sunny side, she just wants to make ‘em see the funny side! She wants to make ‘em laugh until they cry with- okay I’m done making this carebears joke no one will understand.

Fire easily works for a circus performer, paintings and carnivals obviously work, and rebirth? Well, just take one look at Pennywise.

So now that we’ve got that idea locked in here, we can begin!

Universe: Alternia!

Name: Raizna Ashraz.

“Raizna” was made to sound similar to the word “Raising”, which always seemed to fit her, due to her baking themes (Raising agents), and her optimistic personality (Raising spirits)! Ashraz, simply means “A bundle of torches”, which fits with the fire theme she shares with her Moirail.

I liked the Ra sound and the justification behind the first name, so I wanted to keep it, but I want to do you one better, themeatically. How about Ramkin Ashraz?

Ramkin comes from Ramekin, a small ceramic bowl often used to bake souffles, which, as anyone knows, tend to Rise in the oven. But sometimes they can get too hot and deflate. So, y’know. A fun fact is that etymologically it can be read to mean “little battering ram.”

Age: 8 sweeps, close to 9

Story!: Raizna never really had much luck, with things that happened to her. Being quite unusual for her caste, she (due to no fault of her own, might I add), ended up living with a rustblood, who would later become her moirail. These two, often team up, to set things on fire, but mostly just like fireworks. Preferring to be passive, she tries to hide her own nature, to try and keep her friends safe, to various degrees of success, often baking, and painting to keep up this appearance. When things just started to seem good for the troll, the meteors began falling. This time? She is refusing to think of them as the end. If it would take fighting to survive, then fighting she would do.

I don’t know what the circumstances are, but maybe I can make some recommendations based on the circus clown suggestion I made? She could’ve been a performer for a higher-ranking purple. Then she ditched the church and is here to party with a pal and try to reform himself into someone happier and more pleasant to be around. Getting her anger under control is hard when it was something so accepted as part of a wider cultural persona, but… Baking helps!

Strife Specibus: Bakingkind. (Formerly, Clubkind)

Raizna’s whole theme, was based around baking, and art. So, with a little bit of help, she worked out ways to weaponize her own baked treats.. if only mostly for the aesthetic. She has a set of various pies, filled with explosives, weights and sharp shards of glass, so whoever gets hit with them, gets a nasty (and hopefully explosive) surprise. However, if those aren’t available, she will use a rolling pin, and quite gladly bash people around the face with it.

She could still have a clubkind specibus, since she uses rolling pins as a bludgeon. I think it’s nice for her to keep it on hand. Then she can also utilize, like, juggling torches to whack with.

Fetch Modus: Painting.

Raizna, always finds painting relaxing and loves doing it whenever she can! So, whenever she goes to take something out her modus, she has to paint an image of whatever she wants to get out. The worse she paints it, the worse the condition the item comes out in.

Blood colour: Purple

Raizna, is somewhat of a classic Purpleblood, although she tries her hardest to hide it… to a degree. She still wears her self designed paint with pride. She’s ambitious, stubborn, and a bit emotionally messed up, often hiding her own disappointment with dry and self depreciating humour. However, she is still quite.. volatile, becoming extremely violent when people she cares about are threatened.

Symbol and meaning: Being both Rage, Prospit and Purple, she’s-

TRUE CAPRICORN- THE CAPRICOUS

Honestly I think she might be better off as

CAPRINIUS- THE CREDULOUS.

But we’ll talk about that in a minute.

Trolltag: candiedCarnival [CC]

Candied, is used to reflect her sweet themes, and also to tie in with her sweet personality. It could also reflect her tendency to sugar coat things, that are going on in the world. Carnival, reflects the truth of herself, but also occasionally the fun of them, being places of joy and laughter, things she strives on making people feel.

how about conffectionateCarny, conffectionate is a portmanteau of confection and affectionate, which is a clever way to combine the idea of carnivalous cakes with the idea of her being a sweet person. Carny’s fairly straightforward, but it puts a singular person identifier on it instead of implying she’s the Whole carnival.

Quirk: Raizna isz szuper cheerful! Szo szhe talks with a ton of exclamation marks! Szhe likes adding letters when szhe talks to fit with her name! It’s not like szhe’s bragging or anything! Szhe just likes how it szounds! :}

I gotta be honest, I can’t tell where the sz comes from. She had z’s in her original names I guess? But certainly no sz’s.

What if instead, she replaces her o’s with °‘s? It’s a good reference to her baking interest as well as the theme of fire and heat. Maybe replace P with п? It’s derived from the greek letter Pi, which is a sly reference to Pie! And the letter name means ‘peaceful state’, which implies her interest in making things nice.

Ex: Cheer uп, buttercuп! °r I’ll have t° thr°w a пie in y°ur face!

Special Abilities (if any): Raizna, if perhaps only by sheer nature, is ridiculously resilient . It’s incredibly hard to hurt her properly, or at least. Keep her down. But, if that isn’t counted, she’s just really good at calming people down. It’s like her words have something soothing about them. She does, however have a tendency to get increasing annoyed when doing this, almost like she’s taking their pain, or anger and keeping it for herself.

Now, this isn’t… Purpleblood abilities manifest as a way to keep the lowbloods down. That’s what it’s supposed to be. So maybe you could alter this to be something she really hates having? Something like hideous laughter, maybe? She can use her abilities to make people absolutely lose it with uncontrollable laughter. Maybe she’s trying to work on blunting the effect, somehow? Like making it so that she can make people giggle a little but, but having to suppress the power like that has a negative effect that makes her irritable and headachey?

Ancestor: The Vandal [Aleyna Ashraz, Witch of Rage]

Caught in a war and several rebellions, Aleyna was right at home. Rebelling against her own kind, She’d paint messages of rebellion along the walls of the nobles, with blood that she could find, her own, if necessary.

Quickly gaining fame as a rebel, she kept this image up, stirring up rebellions with her works, and sending messages of danger to those who ruled. This did however, end up with assassins, coming to find for her, only to be led on a wild goose chase. Any of those, that did find her returned back home, scared, although they couldn’t quite describe why.

When the law eventually caught up, she didn’t surrender, and was taken away. What happened to her, was unknown.

Raizna was always interested in her Ancestor, respecting her for speaking up about what she thought was right, in a non-violent way. She often hopes that she had survived, and one day, Raizna hopes that she could do something just as cool.

Ancestors need 8 letter titles! How about The Graphein instead? It’s a Greek word that means To Write and is an etymological root for Graffiti. It still implies the same writing on the walls that you desired, but fits the lettering rules.

Lusus: Her lusus, is a weird combination, of a phoenix and a cat, that she affectionately calls her Birdmum and loves dearly. Raizna often takes food both caught and made to her lusus, as an attempt to return the favour of being brought up by her. Often being very defensive of Raizna, Birdmum often has to guard their hive, meaning she isn’t around very much. They have a mutually caring relationship, and if anything happened to her lusus, Raizna doesn’t know what she’d do.

Purple lusii need to be creatures that cross the land-sea barrier, so Bird Cat doesn’t really satisfy that requirement. Hmm… How about a phoenix turtle instead? Half phoenix, half turtle. It could have feathers on its wings, long tail feathers instead of the short turtle tail. This is because turtles are known to be long-living, so it fits the immortal theme alright. It’s also a sly reference to The Phoenix and the Turtle, which is about a lot of things but The Death Of An Ideal is one of the core themes and it fits well with the hope switch I’ve given to her.

Personality: Raizna is obnoxiously cheerful. Or at least, that’s what most people think. She often goes out of her way, to make people happy, either by feeding away their woes, listening to them, or calming them down with soft words. Often doing things out of her own kindness, many people are drawn to her for aid. She does, have a fondness for helping people, and will often go out of her way to do tasks for people, even if that means beating the hell out of somebody who hurt one of her friends, or stealing. Normally quite calm, she’s often cheerful, always fighting with her own dark urges. When she’s angry, or if her own nature takes over, she can be brutal, murderous and cunning, all the things she often hates about herself. With a deep hatred of lies, and lying, she’s incredibly honest, to the point of being brutally honest sometimes. However, at the top of everything, she puts others first, with very little care for herself.

I really like this base for her personality, like a LOT. I think you should pull some of the clowniness I’ve suggested, though. Maybe have her crack jokes for her friends, or do little performances. Maybe she’s willing to sacrifice her dignity to make her pals laugh. Maybe she’s always willing to throw a pie in her own face to get a giggle. She wants to be a good friend, and she tries to keep up under wraps with these jokes, maybe sometimes with pranks? Just trying to vent it out in any way possible.

The rest of the stuff is really good. Give her a STRONG conviction for honesty, helping people, and doing what’s right. Because convictions are very important with hope-aligned players.

Interests: Baking, Painting, Writing, FLARP (to a degree. She doesn’t play much anymore), Sociology, Fire and “Magic” .

Maybe she plays FLARP but she likes to change the F to mean Funny. Funny Live Action Role Play. You know those people in MMOs who are like high level and terrifying and you’re so scared they’re going to kill your weak little level 1 character? and then they roll up and hand you like 4000 silver for literally no reason and tell you to go buy a horse? That could be her.

You should add a general clowniness here. If she used to use clubs, she probably knows how to juggle! Maybe she could like fire spitting as well. And some pranks! Harmless fun! Fire crackers and noise makers and confetti poppers!

Appearence: Raizna, has never been one to draw attention to herself. She keeps her long curly hair, that’s practically impossible to brush loose. You could probably find a plushie or two in there, if you tried hard enough. Often wearing a plain black shirt, and fluffy black pyjama trousers, she often seems like a mess, to the annoyance of a few of her friends. Quite.. disturbingly, she’s often covered in bright colours, from her painting. However, some lowbloods mistake the paint, for being the blood of people she’s killed, causing uneeded fear.

At all times, she wears her makeup, flame like patterns coating her eyes, and brim of her nose. Streaking down from her lips, are swirls of white and red that stand out against her skin. She virtually never takes off the makeup, and just puts more on each day, without washing the previous day’s makeup off. To keep with her messy theme, she wears soft slippers everywhere. I mean. Literally everywhere. Even when dressed up formally.

She seems cute! I’ll see how I can communicate this in sprite form.

Title: Thief Of Rage.

I’ve always had her, as quite a soothing character, so I figured somebody who stole peoples negative emotions, could be quite a good idea, which is why I originally started with a thief. I couldn’t decide on if I should make her a heart, or rage player.

I eventually decided on rage, and although I don’t think the go to version of the aspect particularly fits her. She can be selfish in a way, so I suppose it still fits!

I think that she’s in a kind of good place, theoretically, as a person. So I think maybe Rogue of Hope might be a good title for her.

She’s someone who cares a lot about others, who has a strong sense of justice and what is right and what needs to be done, and she’s not afraid to do it for others. AND she moves the anger around via her powers. She passively moves hope and positivity and potential onto others, lightening their moods, while actively taking on rage, which she turns into a weapon.

Land: The Land of Fire and Fear.

Raizna’s hive was just destined to be something fiery. I mean, with a phoenix for a lusus that was just fate wasn’t it. She just wasn’t quite expecting it to be on an active volcano. So when she eventually left her hive, and got hit by the freezing cold winds, she decided immediately. Nope. Don’t like cold. Cold things are bad.

So she ran inside again. Like a coward. That was, until said volcano erupted, lava burning away and melting the ice that covered her land. Just her luck. Right?

However, despite all that destruction.. there was something beautiful about the whole ideal. As fire and lava ran across the land that was home, she soon decided one thing.

Maybe destruction can be pretty.

I see what you’re going for here, fire that’s pretty, but… I want to try to push that idea further than just lava flowing over the ground. How about…

Land of Glass and Paraffin, a land where leaping balls of flaming accelerant jump across the land, melting down the glassed surface, creating beautiful swirls, an ever-shifting pattern, molten-hot and deadly, but so wonderfully beautiful you can’t look away. There is always potential for something new, something beautiful, in the mutating surface. But she also has to find hope for the consorts, who live on a molten nightmare planet.

Dream Planet: Prospit.

Raizna, is a Prospit dreamer to a point. She’s optimistic, bubbly and cheerful! However, she does hold some of Derse’s dissatisfaction towards the world, simply due to just how wrong she finds everything. Following what some people do.. would just be lying to herself. Fate, however she does believe in. Fate, and Miracles.

Design:

Horns: I wanted to make them look like the new symbol I gave her. So very curly, fun, and huge.

Hair: I made it a big curly mess just like you suggested. I tried to make the curls come off a lot of larger round shapes, mostly because I wanted to summon the image of a clown wig at least tangentially.

Eyes: Because I liked my own joke too much, I wanted to base her eyes just slightly off of Funshine bear from Journey to Joke-a-lot. And to make her just a little goofy looking, because that was kind of my goal for the whole design, I made her almost cross-eyed.

Mouth: I wanted her to have big scary teeth to hint at her more dangerous nature.

Makeup: I utilized red for some flamey eye makeup, some lines down the face, and the outer part of some cheek dots. I used yellow for her lips and the inner part of the cheek dots to try to bring a bright cheeriness, to hit on some more fire-themed colors, and to make her look goofy, once again.

Shirt: I made the shirt slipping off one shoulder, to aid her messy image. I also like how it bunched the collar of the shirt, because now it’s vaguely reminiscent of a clown frill. I only added a few splotches of blood because her design was already busy color-wise and I didn’t want to overwhelm it.

Pants: I made some loose pajama pants from Karkat’s pants and edited them to be purple. I wanted to carry the yellow down here, too, so she gets stripey pants!

Slippers: They’re just edited from a fan-troll spritesheet to be in her purple color-family.

She’s a really cute character! Thank you for sharing!

-CD

#time is still a waste #raizna ashraz #ramkin ashraz #raizna #ramkin #ashraz #purpleblood #review #redesign #cd review #submission

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totesmccoats · 6 years

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Batman and the Signal #1

After years of teasing and buildup, Duke Thomas finally has a suit and a codename. As the Signal, he protects Gotham during the day, when the Bats are all sleeping. Besides being the only non-nocturnal member of the Bat-family, he’s also the first with powers, albeit, powers he doesn’t quite understand. He can “read” light, and is able to reconstruct images of where it’s been and where it’s going. Essentially, he has the ability to rewind and fast-forward his perception.

His first assignment, given to him by Batman, is to investigate the recent spree of metahuman teenagers – like Duke – popping up in Gotham. But even with his training under Batman, there’s no guarantee he’ll even survive his first day.

Duke Thomas has always been a breath of fresh air to the recent Batman mythos. For one, he’s not a dark haired white guy. (I know Todd was blond at one point; and also wish that Damian was more often depicted as half-Asian, but he’s not.) He’s also been a bit of a perpetual outsider; someone a distance removed from the Bats and Robins. So it makes sense to give him an entire 12 hours to himself, to become his own type of hero. He’s also got his own crew, the former members of We Are Robin, whom he’s let into his superhero life. In one issue, he’s already showing how he’s doing things his own way.

On the art side of things, Hammer and Martin are showing us a side of Gotham we don’t often see; what it looks like during the day. But also, Duke takes them into the streets more than the rooftops. Being a daytime hero means more groundwork, and also running into more people as they go through their daily routines. Despite what we usually see of the city, during the day, Gotham can be surprisingly bright and spacious. And the modern style of the new Wayne-funded developments even give the city a few shades of Metropolis. The brightness continues through Duke’s costume, which takes the yellow highlights found in Batman and the Robin’s costumes, and makes it the primary color. Eventually, even his black chestpiece is replaced with a more reflective material, bouncing the light back rather than absorbing it.

Between the half dozen Batman books DC has running at any given time, it’s easy to feel overexposed by Gotham city. Turns out all you need to make it feel new again is let the sunshine in.

Batman: White Knight #4

Jack continues with his plan to take over Gotham – nicely – announcing his run for city councilman; and turning his campaign launch into a PR stunt when he gets Batman and Gordon to interrupt and arrest him for no reason. Blackport is already overwhelmingly in favor of Jack, and the rest of Gotham is slowly turning. Even Gordon is convinced by Jack’s plan to use the Batman fund to instead fund a new team of super-cops; and Jack hopes that Gordon can convince Batgirl and Nightwing to turn as well.

Meanwhile, Neo-Joker leads the mind-controlled villains on a raid of Gotham PD headquarters to steal files and find a way for her to reawaken Joker. She also tells Mad Hatter how she came to meet, and fall for, the supervillain.

But, for my money, the most interesting development is that Harley senses that somewhere along the line, Jack legitimately turned his plan to get revenge on Batman and the GCPD into a way to save and improve Gotham. And if anyone would know, it would be her, the person who knows him best, and a professional psychologist. Maybe the Joker really is dead.

And, of course, Batman keeps playing right into Jack’s hands – almost causing a riot at his campaign launch, and pushing Gordon away by refusing to listen to a plan that could help them both. If Bruce still has a chance at saving his own hind, he’s letting it slip past him awfully quickly.

SGM is really out-doing himself with the art in this series too, and can switch things from the sweetness of Jack and Harley spending a night out together, to the brutality of this Batman’s ways of taking out criminals, and the pathos of Neo-Joker’s backstory. Plus, there’s a garage full of the GCPD’s idea of what their Batmobiles should be like, and if there’s one thing he goes all out on – it’s cars.

Batman #38

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, although, I can assure you you haven’t. One rich kid, two murdered parents, a butler, a desire for vengeance. But this isn’t Bruce Wayne. It’s Matthew, the son of a couple who worked on Wayne’s board. As Bruce, he assures Matthew that the person behind the murders will be caught, and that he’ll be taken care of. As Batman, he investigates. The first suspect is Zsasz. Shortly after this discovery, Zsasz’s parents are found dead in their home. But Zsasz didn’t do it. Then, another couple is killed.

Coming off the perfectly delightful Superfriends two-parter, King reminds us he can also write twisted noir Batman with this one-shot story that’s a twist, not just of the Batman origin story, but of all the twists on the Batman origin to come before it. It also plays into King’s larger arc of Bruce Wayne trying to heal past the trauma that’s defined him. Just because Matthew is very much like Bruce Wayne, and looks up to Bruce Wayne, does not make him Bruce Wayne, nor any of the Robins or other heroes with similar backstories. Sometimes, tragedy doesn’t result in heroes.

And, despite the darkness of this issue in particular, King still finds places to inject humor. The clues Batman ends up following to solve the mystery, down to his final deduction, could’ve come straight from the Adam West show – just add blood.

Justice League #36

Following the opening of a congressional investigation into the Justice League, the chairwoman leading the investigation is assassinated by a Batman doppelganger. The next day, the public pressure from the investigation and assassination, as well as personal agendas not lining up with the team’s charter, further increases fissures in team cohesion as they try to prevent another international incident involving a nuclear sub in Chinese waters.

I can’t remember the last comic book to make me so stressed. If Priest succeeds in one thing this issue, it’s selling how stressed everyone in the League is at the moment. Aquaman’s balancing being part of the League with being the King of his people; Wonder Woman is starting to think that Batman’s rules are interfering with her mission of peace; Superman’s being called to testify at congressional hearings; Simon feels that the League’s charter is preventing him from saving lives; and Batman’s gotta somehow heard all these cats while also dealing with a doppleganger using his example to kill people. It’s a lot to deal with, and adding to all of it, the public ain’t the biggest fan of vigilantism right now.

I’m also really enjoying Wood’s art on this series. It’s bold and colorful, unabashedly heroic, almost to prove by aesthetics alone how necessary the League is in spite of the public’s doubts. On the other hand, he perfectly captures the stress in every heroes face as they deal with each-other and other mounting stressors. They’re larger than life, but also relatably human – a very fine line that he nonetheless walks.

Green Arrow #38

Another Ferreyra illustrated issue, hell yeah! I don’t think I get this excited over any other artist. He kills it every issue he’s on. This one included. From Dinah kneeing Ollie in the balls, to a sunset on the beach, to an underground fight; he does it all with style and personality.

After Dinah and Henry rescue Ollie from the trench in the Pacific ocean Moira abandoned him in, Ollie has to make things up to Dinah for almost getting himself killed in the pursuit of money. Meanwhile, Moira resurfaces and reconnects with Malcolm Merlyn, and together, hope to pay back her debt to the Ninth Circle. Unfortunately for them, they’ve decided they’re already settled.

How else could this issue end but a three way fight between team Arrow, Moira and Malcolm, and the assassin the Ninth Circle sent to collect their debt? Well, many ways; but none as satisfying.

Black Bolt #9

Black Bolt and Blinky visit Titania to tell her that her husband is dead. And then the three of them hold a funeral for Crusher Creel. It starts with a toast at his local watering hole, and ends with a visit from Captain America and Odinson, who come to pay their respects to a worthy adversary who died a hero’s death.

This issue got to me. I’m no bastion of emotional fortitude or nothing, but, because of everything leading up to this, this death meant something, and Crusher’s funeral means something too. Within the pages of this story, Crusher found love and redemption. That his funeral drew heroes and villains alike says that his life mattered because in the end, he chose to give his own for someone else’s. It’s a simple story, but a powerful one. We’re all loved. We all matter. No matter where we come from, we can all choose to be heroic. And that will matter too.

Hawkeye #14

Kate remains captured by Eden, who gives her a moment with her mother to convince her to turn her back on Clint.

Meanwhile, Clint and Kate’s friends make a plan to find where Eden took Kate, and save her. The plan Clint comes up with after finding out where Eden and Kate are? Kidnap Madame Masque, who’s still in a Kate clone body, and pull the ol’ switcharoo on Eden. Like most of Clint’s plans, he hasn’t thought this one entirely through.

This is mainly a Clint issue, and it’s great how Thompson continues the tradition of writing Clint as an almost utter fuckup, but importantly, a likable fuckup who always tries his best.

Rise of the Black Panther #1

This series, which serves as a retelling of T’Challa’s origins and early years as Black Panther, has two Black Panther’s in it, neither of whom are T’Challa. The book begins with his grandfather Azzuri meeting Captain America and the two working together to defend Wakanda from Hydra; then follows the reign of T’Chaka, as told by his first wife, and T’Challa’s mother, N’Yami. Together, the story tells of two kings who broke tradition for the betterment of Wakanda. Azzuri gave vibranium to an outsider so that he could use it to save the world; and T’Chaka made a common woman his Queen, and gave her the resources she needed to study vibranium and develop new technologies from it. But, it is also a story of Wakanda being pulled onto the world stage as it is attacked by outsiders for the first time. Wakanda is able to repel them, but always at a cost.

This first issue does a great job at establishing the legacy that T’Challa inherits from his forefathers; a legacy of a recently unified country just beginning to expand past its history of secrecy. It presents T’Challa inheriting a country at the height of its power, but also, at its most vulnerable. It also establishes that whatever T’Challa does, he’s following in the footsteps of imperfect men. This issue ends with the stakes being that T’Challa has to be a Black Panther unlike any Wakanda has ever known. The next ones will have to tell us how he begins to become that.

Paper Girls #19

The Girls, and Chris, decide to find old!Tiff before she gets smushed by the giant robots, and when we meet old!Tiff, she has a run in of her own with some future-folk. And through the whole issue, including the Girls and Chris finding old!Tiff and going to a church for safety, Mac doth protest KJ’s lesbianism way too much, to the point where her edginess begins irking the other characters.

Like pretty much every issue this arc, this one moves quickly, ending almost before you know it. And, a lot of this issue is characters playing catch-up with one another as they go over that Tiff is married to Chris, Tiff can see the fighting robots, and time-war. Like, it makes sense in-universe that the characters have to re-explain everything to the people who weren’t there for the initial exposition, but being that we the audience presumably know most of this, it stalls the issue and the overall story a bit too much.

Crosswind #6

Cason and Juniper finally meet in Seattle and prepare to defend themselves and each-other’s friends and families from the gang coming to kill them all.

Like all great finales, this is an issue full of self-actualization and beautiful bloody coups de grace, mostly from June, who finally stands up to her whimpering douchebag husband. Cason also actualizes, deciding what he wants to do with the rest of his life, being that he can’t go back after today. By the end of the issue, Simone manages to bring all of her characters to satisfying places, while still giving them some room for inferred growth.

Staggs, meanwhile, gets to finally deliver on the action and blood front, and even draws a poignant send off for her recently departed dog.

The final panel of this issue promises more Crosswind, but with such a satisfying ending, I have to hope the series continues as an anthology, showing us another incredibly freaky-friday.

Comic Reviews 1/3/18 Batman and the Signal #1 After years of teasing and buildup, Duke Thomas finally has a suit and a codename.

#batman #black bolt #black panther #crosswind #dc comics #green arrow #hawkeye #joker #justice league #marvel #paper girls #signal #white knight

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heseuscristo · 6 years

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An Artist’s Bizarre Passion

Features twinning, human bodysuits, masks, and male to female gender bending. Contains spoilers for the first three chapters of Danganronpa V3.

“Yo-ho! Shuichi!” An energetic voice hollered from my door, crazily tapping the doorbell and letting it ring for one minute too many. Moments ago, I came back to the dorm after spending some free time my friend Kaito Momota and was deciding whether or not to sleep to finish the day or socialize again with someone else. A bit longer ago, the student council at this killing school was established. Now, that may not sound bad, but they were more of a cultist dictatorship than an ordinary council. They even had plans to ban nighttime activities in the name of peace, since Kirumi Tojo’s murder took place at night. Still, was limiting our freedom worth it for peace? I held this thought and opened the door to calm down my enthusiastic caller. There, brimming with positivity, was a thinly dressed woman. She was Angie Yonaga, a dark-skinned Pacific Islander with a knack for creating abstract art of all kinds, from wax sculptures to woodwork, also the president of the aforementioned student council. Despite the cooler weather at this academy, she still dressed in a sunny yellow robe and wore a white bikini top and frilled skirt under it; the pale colors were a perfect match for her hair. “Good morning. Do you need something?” I nonchalantly questioned. The majority of people to ever knock on my door were Kaito Momota and Maki Harukawa, so this was a nice surprise.

“Atua needs you!” Her stature curved into the room as she curled her index finger, pointing at my pale face. Her low twin-tailed hair followed, as did her tropical green eyes. “Huh? Me?” I was known as the Ultimate Detective, so it was going to be probable that people would need me. Though it wouldn’t hurt if the requests were less stressful and more ordinary, like to find a lost cat or something. “Nyah-ahaha! Only you!” Her blunt bangs hid how upbeat her eyebrows were, but her energetic transition that raised up her arms did reveal her darker, skinny underbody most women would die for. “Um, what for?” “I’ll explain later, just go to my lab when you can! Goodbye-onara!” Abruptly, she closed the door, and I could hear her humming as she left the dormitory. Atua, huh? For the entirety of me and other classmates here, it was her island god that she refused to personify with a set image. She claimed he came as a culmination of our desires, yet told us to let go of our desires, including leaving the school. He, or she, or whatever it was just seemed like a questionable voice in one’s head. I let those morning thoughts pass as I hastily made my way into the school building. After this, I think I’ll go check up on Kaito again. He seemed sick when the Monokubs presented the motive of bringing a spirit to life using a Necronomicon. Even saying it felt so unrealistic, but what was real was Angie’s fanaticism to bring someone to life just to kill them. No matter what she was going to do, I just didn’t want her to intervene in my late night workout session with Kaito and Maki. I digress. Traversing through the entire school, I finally climbed to the current last floor, in this case, the fourth. The environment here didn’t match the previous three at all, ominously foggy and dark and lit by candles. The worn wood and rocky statues as the decor were unlike the usual modern touch below. I suppose it fits the two labs here, belonging to the Ultimate Artist and Ultimate Anthropologist. Reaching the end of the hallway to Angie’s workplace, I had to knock several times on the front door before she opened it. Once unlocked, she gestured me inside with a smile. The last time I was there was actually yesterday while exploring new areas of the school, and today no notable changes occurred. Wax was still kept in containers while buckets of black paint unevenly spread across the white floor, some spilling and staining the wood. The whole room was white—even the unbuilt roof had the same tint, and the fluorescent lights shined pure. “Now, now.. sit here!” She bent her knees and patted two footprints made of blue tape right next to a large monitor. I positioned my feet there to the best of my ability since it was not in the range of my foot size. Looking down, I saw how the distance made formed a triangle between my legs. “Good! Close your eyes!” Her back faced me as she began to gather items from the stacks of wax, shuffling through it and making clanging sounds. “H-Huh? Why?” She came back holding a hairdryer and a gigantic bucket of wax labeled, “Soft and Hands-On,” in a bold red font. “‘Cause Atua says so! Now close your eyes!” I gave up rebutting and shut them as told, moving my lips in anticipation for what she was doing. I heard some sort of clicking behind me, and then the hairdryer began to blow on something. That something was my feet. “Eh?” I involuntarily looked down, seeing Angie pat down mounds of wax at my soles. It was warm, but not scalding hot. “Atua told me He wants you to be His newest follower!” She continued until my entire feet were inhuman mounds of wax. Her work was diligent, preserving as much of it as possible while still having enough to be molded. Wait, was I going to be stuck and forced to join? “W-What? Why are you doing this, then?” I received no answer as her eyes were now the ones closed, somehow working as effective when they were open. “Mhm, mhm! I see!” Thankfully, they reopened for her to comment, “Oh, you must be quiet so Atua can communicate to me.” With no way to resolve her tenacity to put wax on me, I remained silent and blinded in the still coldness of morning. In due time, I was as rigid in the substance, aside from my face. Nothing more was placed on me for a good minute or two, so I opened my eyes impatiently. “Angie..?” I murmured. I didn’t want to break the wax, so I continued looking in one direction. When I tried glancing down without moving my head, I saw two conspicuous brown.. orbs? Something white and long entered my vision, now that I became more attentive. Few moments passed after I called to her, finally coming into by vision as she bent over from my right. The grin on her face was much larger than any other I’ve seen since our arrival to the school. “I’m here! Atua’s made His final preparation!” She walked back to my view, something preciously held in hand. “A wax mask?” She was in glee as if the work was satisfactory, but her full smile was from doing half the job. There wasn’t anything colorful in its interior. “Oh, you saw it? It’s like a death mask!” When she waved it around so I could fully see the facial features, it was.. her?! “Two Angies are better than one, Atua says.” Her whole face grew ominous, eyes virtually glowing as the words crept out of her mouth. “W-W-Wait—“ The mask was instantaneously placed on my face, turning my words into inaudible, muffled confusion. I wasn’t aware she was going to make an Angie out of me! T-This girl was dangerous! At this point, I could’ve broken the wax at the expense of her tedious work, but for some reason, I let it happen. Did I mind the amount of effort she put into making a wax statue of herself? “It’s like an Angie effigy! Don’t worry, Shuichi! I’ll get you out very soon! The end result will be beautiful!” All of my trust was put into her craftsmanship, hoping she wasn’t plotting something as insane as murder. Time held less meaning as the darkness from being encased warped my vision and mind. The only thing I could hear was the muted swishing of paint and wax, which engulfed my body in pleasant heat. Standing there made me numb in a comfortable way. I didn’t feel any worry, paranoia, or claustrophobia. In this environment, I was drifting in space with no freedom to stop and return to the ground. I started to feel my surroundings after what was akin to a hibernation. Granted, it was already frigid, but this time it felt like it was directly stinging my skin. There was something off about the sensations in general, however. My butt, to put it bluntly, seemed more defined and outward; I felt this in my chest as well. I noticed something crawl down my head in addition, but throughout this observation, the mask was still on my face and blocking any viewing. The discomfort began to resonate with my lower body. It was like my feet had less surface to touch the ground, and that my calves and thighs were almost too puffy and padded for to my usual liking. Out of all of this, my privates were the ones impacted the most. Nothing felt like it was there, but something had to be there, right? Was I imagining it was gone..? There certainly wasn’t anything that felt protrusive, no doubt. Clenching my crotch muscles provided no answer. Finally, I could see, though I would never perceive things the same way again. Something felt weird on my face, like overgrown eyelashes. Abnormal heavy bangs forced me to use my hand to shove them away, but then I saw my hand. Unlike my usual pale, somewhat blemished skin, it was brown and soft as fine powder. I pulled out my other hand and noticed both were smaller, had longer fingernails, and womanly. “Excuse—excuse me?!” My.. voice?! Its echo from my throat sounded just like Angie’s, from her aloof tone to everything else! I pulled the courage to look down, and found myself blushing at a pair of dark-skinned breasts! Even darker areolas with stiff nipples horrifyingly validated my reaction. I should have gotten an erection, yet I felt nothing. To add to my horror, my clothes had somehow disintegrated as the wax molded me into a bare woman. “It’s not there?!” I tried to steer clear of the breasts newly attached to me as I dove my hands around my crotch, spreading them to hopefully find the girth of a penis. But it was absent! Instead, I touched a woman’s— “Atua wants you as His artist! Wow!” The true Angie, appearing from behind, clapped her hands together with a grin contrasting my visible terror. “H-How did this happen to me?!” I cried out in my unaccustomed airy tongue, furiously touching other parts of my body and confirming my new form in red-hot shock. Sliding my hands down my back was like smooth sand, and it bent to my no longer shallow ass. It was a perfect size and touchable shape of a woman’s, and sensitive enough to warrant my heart to drop. How did wax even do this?! “Oh, just like Pygmalion and Galatea. Just like Atua’s will, He chose you to spread His word!” Her casual attitude toward an exact clone of herself was insane! This woman was a fanatic inside and out!

“W-What are you trying—“ I tried to move a foot toward her, but I was not accustomed to the tiny steps and landed right in her body. My unkempt white hair sprawled all over her robe, and my head rested on the side of her bikini top. Like treating an animal, she patted my head with a face of ease, catlike smile and closed eyes that reflected enormous zen. “It’s ok, Angie. We’ve lost many followers due to their desire to leave. It’s ok. Let’s make a paradise here and stay.” She spoke of paradise, but her gentle, motherly tone was its own paradise. It never sounded so full of honey and compassion before. A miracle struck me as I found myself closer to her, reveling in her warming hug that thawed my previous chills. My eyes lingered near the verge of closing, hypnotized by her motherly caress. Why was I upset, again? Why was I Shuichi, again? “You’ve been good for helping Atua during class trials. But we won’t need those if we just peacefully stay here. No trials, just Atua and His love.” I was Shuichi, but now I am Angie. The fact didn’t strike me as peculiar. That was just Atua’s way of helping me realize who I really was. I fully embraced myself in sharing her dream, closing my eyes as she brought a hand back and forth to grace my hair and relaxed cheeks. Love.. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that. If I was as devout and acted exactly like Angie, would Atua love me? Is that why I didn’t believe in Him before? Atua. Just what did He look like? He, no She, was the perfect woman. Her childbearing hips signaled herself as the catalyst for nurture and fertility. Her arms stretched out to grab me and put me into her body, like Angie. Blonde perfection mentally wrapped around my head, stunning my thoughts. Yes, Atua was Kaede Akamatsu. A girl who I kept a promise to, the one who believed in me. The promise made less coherent sense to me, but I actually couldn’t remember what it was. Not that I bothered because Atua loved me and that was sufficient. “Shuichi, we don’t need truths. Only Atua.” The truth. I felt a tear loosen out of my eye when I heard the word. From the moment I arrived at this school, truth was what I wanted to avoid as a detective. Funny, wasn’t it? I’ve mingled with the thought too many times. If I hadn’t exposed Kaede’s plan to save us all, she wouldn’t have died. If only someone else, no, all of us chose to take Kirumi’s position, the Prime Minister of Japan would be alive and millions wouldn’t have to suffer. Why can’t I do anything right as myself? Perhaps becoming Angie was my single way to atone. “You don’t need to be so serious. Let all of your needs go. Your need to leave. To hate. To be afraid. To care. This is Atua’s truth, Angie.” Atua’s warm voice sounded different from their first statement, but I didn’t care. I didn’t need to. As long as I have Atua, oh, then I can be Her vessel! What a wonderful truth, an offer I couldn’t refuse!

“Now you know Atua and Angie very well.” I woke up from my revelation as a child with her mother looming above. “I.. do. Nya.. nyahaha!” I giggled, taking her—no, using our signature laugh. She followed my excitement by raising her hands up to her hand into praying position, laying me down. There, she had her own spurt of happiness as she whispered a mantra. “Atua is such a handsome god! So nice to all!” I lifted myself up and matched the pose, looking at her with the same jubilant expression. “Please, teach me how to be more like you!” My eyes widened at her talent as an Ultimate Artist. Oh, how wonderful would it be for me to create art for everyone to enjoy! “I will, but Atua is the one making the lesson plan. Has He talked to you about masturbation?” I was confused. She hadn’t really spoken to me yet, but I knew she was there. “No? Ohh? I wonder why?” Her entire upper body dramatically swung left and right with confusion. “O-Kay! You see, Atua is the pleasure you feel when you do it!” She went sideways and held one hand out like it was holding something on a platter, while the other bent backward to form an upside-down thumbs-up. I stuck my hands together and squeezed my cheek fat. I want to do that! “He cleanses your mind of stress and worries, giving you His love and affection to make art!” I listened and nodded carefully as her new disciple, soaking in all of the knowledge like I was reborn. ”Show me how to do it!” I could no longer contain my delight at making art and masturbating. I relaxed my body on the floor, flat and looking at the ceiling. Angie, her knees bent and adjacent to my own, pushed her arms up so her upper body was above while her twin tails fell. “Remember! This is Atua.” I nodded, my head moving in the agonizing wait. After talking, she dove her head down and tickled my waist with her silver hair. Her arms didn’t move at all, but her mouth did. The rosy lips that once spout Atua unraveled a hungry tongue that flicked my left nipple, making my breast lightly vibrate. I automatically jolted my foot and pushed it further into her bountiful thigh; the sheer intensity and speed of her was startling pleasant! She did the same for my other nipple, making me put a hand over my mouth in surprise at the new feeling. But she rose her head up and swatted it away, saying, “Atua wants to be heard.” She furthered the foreplay on my generous boobs, moving her tongue in circles as they traced my areoles. The sense of cold moisture on my nipples, the subtle jiggle from each revolution, finally made me release a shy moan. “Ah.. A-Atua!” My jade eyes squinted, eyebrows curved from it. In this pleasure, I saw my goddess. My carnal awakening of femininity was all thanks to Her! My dumbfounded, wide mouth closed as I grinned, knowing Atua wanted this. She was helping me become Angie! The real Angie finished her loving suckle of my breasts and moved on to my private parts, going downward so our bodies no longer touched. Oh, it really was female! I saw a small figment of it, and it was as dark as my recently tanned figure. She steamed hot breath into the area, adding to the increased heat I already felt from being touched. She opened up my legs by placing her hands right next to my crotch and pushing it away, bringing my pussy into full-fledged view. “Teach me to be Angie, Atua!” My last request was only heard by Angie, who closed her eyes and ignored the plea. Eyes closed, tongue wide open, she started at the bottom of my vagina and licked all the way up. Her motion was extremely stalled like she was sampling the pink flesh in all of its divine glory. I could see her head slightly turn up as another moan escaped me. My head felt even lighter than when Angie cradled me, drifting my soul from my worldly conscious. The next stroke of her tongue was much stronger, making me recoil and push out my pelvis and surround her mouth with its embrace. How spectacular did it feel to have my inner and outer lips massaged by Atua! She kept on going until I felt a tiny bump right above my opening stammer at her licking. From there on, it was all cunnilingus and all pleasure. She continuously coaxed the bulb with her saliva, twisting her tongue like never before. I just had to move my back up, so I did and planted my arms behind to be stable. The shifting of my pussy didn’t matter, as she just held onto it and never stopped with her lecherous movements. Now I was the one who had to look below, though now I had a better view of her insatiable licking. “A-Angie!” A pent-up emotion that I had no knowledge of surged within me. Lust. It grew with each embrace of her lips, as steady as the ascension up a roller coaster. My arms were strained from holding myself up, and my toes began to shake and curl. I still felt absent-minded, but this overwhelming feeling hit my body and mind. And then, in that prolonged moment of anticipation, I finally orgasmed. First came my muscle spasms that made my whole body vibrate, and then it was the intense culmination of my dark-skinned pussy that erupted from the sheer euphoria. Nothing actually came out from my drenched vagina, but a series of loud and unsophisticated moans from my other lips. As I laid there, in erotic bliss, Angie stood up. Her eyes shut again, while she extended her arms and cupped her fingers. When I finally stopped my noises, Angie laughed. “Nyahaha, did you feel it? This is what Angie feels when Atua speaks!” Our shared relief and pleasure made me understand why Angie was so contempt on praising Atua, and now I was ready to make art. As if she read my mind, she brought out a bucket of black paint and a bristled paintbrush to start. I’d seen her use these tools once as Shuichi, and now they were mine. I desired to use them, but it was a desire to illustrate my mind and give it up to Atua. “I’ll let Atua use your body to create. Goodbye-onara!” She frolicked out the door, reminding me to lock it from the inside and to ignore everyone who knocked. I followed in her footsteps, each step of mine beaming with excitement. I get the whole research lab to myself! Another giggle came from my throat, which no longer had an Adam’s apple. Picking up the tools Angie left me, I searched for somewhere to reciprocate Atua’s will. From the corner of my eye, I spotted a rather large sheet of canvas resting on a wide table. It was the perfect size and shape, too! I cheered out loud to myself as I ran to get it, spacing it on the floor afterward. I snatched the blunt paintbrush, drenched it in the sleek black bucket, and held it out to drip. By now, I was standing on the canvas. Each drip brought me closer to Atua until my body began to move on its own. Black paint stained my breasts as I danced around the open canvas, my paintbrush dripping all over the place. The mismatched ink splotches stained the previously flawless material into a texture similar to that of a cow. All the while, I was having the most fun in my life! To bounce across the surface, laughing, uncaring of how many times I dipped the paintbrush back in was totally addicting. I was thoughtless of how the color flicked on my butt, face, hands, and legs because Atua wanted this. I finished spraying the last dots of black, rubbing my darkened hands together gleefully. The entirety of my stress as a man was forever gone. Yet, when I looked at my work, something was still off. Atua wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, either. I didn’t worry about the flaws, though, for Atua had given me back control and so She must’ve been satisfied. I laid back down on the floor, in a tidal wave of dark pleasure, humming, “This is nice..” --- Possibly because I steered away from reality and my true situation, I couldn’t recall how long I was staring at the ceiling. During the duration, I stopped thinking. Who I was, why I was there, the questions were downright ignored. My thoughts seemed so scrambled now, unlike my position as the Ultimate Detective. I focused more on the roof as such, identifying its abstract, incomplete finish and support beams with appeal. When I finally came out of my messy trance, one single thought popped up with it. “Oh.. I need Angie’s clothes to be Angie.” And to get those, I decided to walk out naked and covered in paint. There was no shame in being one with Atua, after all. My lab was on the fourth floor, so I spent ten minutes prancing down each staircase, a spring in my step as I hummed downward. Upon reaching the third floor, I was shocked! It was already dusk! Did Angie really work on me for that long? I ignored the day transition, instead thinking that someone dedicated their time to give me their joy, as well as a passion for Atua. Once I finally got to the main entrance, my goal of the dormitory was just ahead. I was surprised to see, well, no one. Not even the people from the student council Angie established came in my view. Oh well! I wandered into the glass dormitory and went to Angie’s dormitory instead of mine, rapidly tapping the doorbell and awaiting her response. She opened the door, putting her hands on her cheeks and noted how dirty I was, but how Atua taught me well. She handed me some towels to clean the stains, claiming it was blessed. No matter, hearing her compliment me and our god made my heart flutter, no doubt! Letting me in, she showed me the arrangement of her room which wasn’t different from mine, only having red highlights as a difference. “Take an outfit. Or two! Maybe three! As many as Atua says!” Hmm.. At Atua’s request, I grabbed one pair of her usual outfit. I first took the robe off its hanger and compared it to my shorter form and feminine body figure. It was nothing like my old uniform, which was an ugly moody black suit with thin gray stripes. On the other hand, this was dazzling! The bright dandelion robe gave me so much freedom, being so spacious to fit brushes inside and even draping my knees. Unlike my double-layered male clothing, this one showed off my undergarments and had fresh air to spare. “Hey, hey! Let’s start with these first.” She took out her bra and skirt, to which I found myself even more infatuated with. Since I had no knowledge of wearing a bra, Angie helped me put it on. It wrapped around my upper chest and neck, safeguarding my nipples that had enough exposure for the day. The pair was frilly like a pearly seashell, with a long ribbon that tickled my stomach. Next up was her pleated miniature skirt. It had a cute white underbody and a coral belt diagonally on the upper portion. To top it all off, a ribbon larger than my bra relaxed itself to the side. I rose my legs so she could put on her frilly white panties, and then wrapped the cyan skirt around my waist. Finishing the deed by fitting into the robe, I clapped my hands together on one side to affirm my delight. “So lovely!” My simple phrase made the other me nod in agreement. “What’s missing..? Atua knows! It’s my accessories!” She raised up her left hand to signify I was missing her pearl bracelet, her leg bracelet, and even her seashell necklace. Looks like I’ve got ways to go before I can be her, but Atua is going to help me. I just know! “Oh well! I can fix this for now until Atua gets extras.” I watched as she dove to her bedside counter and picked up two hair bands. Oh, her hairstyle wasn’t messy like mine right now. Going towards my back, she grabbed a clump of my hair on one side fully, making an invisible line divide my white locks. Then, with one hair band, she pulled her hand down to reach the lower area of the strands and wrapped the band around it. When she did the same for the other, she put the two in front so they wouldn’t disrupt my back. With my hair touching the frontal part of my robe, I was ready! “Now what do I do?” I said out loud, throwing myself on her bed and making snow angels. She would’ve done the same, I bet. “No, what Atua wants you to do!” Oops! I backtracked my thought process, now on a better path. In the depths of my mind, though not too deep, I remembered that I wanted to see Kaito. For what, though? I curled my lips in confusion, which felt odd without a paintbrush poking at my chin. I remember doing something after nighttime.. or was it before? I stopped wrinkling her bedsheets to give her Atua’s response. “Atua wants me to see Kaito, but She doesn’t want to tell me why.” “Kaito, huh? He’s not a follower of Atua. I think Atua wants you to teach him how generous and caring He is!” Wow, Angie is so talented at interpreting Atua! I jumped out of bed to thank her with a hug, but I ended up hitting something. Her bed was lined up against a wall, so when I sprang out, I thought I would be right next to her table, but instead, I was struck by an abnormal sculpture of wax. I noticed other wax effigies, four of them in total, surrounded us and were fully colored. The one I bumped was.. Kaede. “An-gie?” I stood, weightless until that name brought me back to my senses. “Nothing. I didn’t see these when I entered.” “They’re beautiful, yes? You must love them.” Love.. them? I focused more on Kaede than any of the others. She was lifelike, at a height remnant of the original, with each strand of light blonde hair appearing so touchable. Her clothes, the fine pink vest, looked to be made of real fabric. It was as if any moment her lips would open and tell me something. And they did. “Don’t be afraid, Shuichi.“ Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. The echo of her words from centuries ago brought the slightest shred to my frail lucid dream. I looked at my hand. Lithe and brown. It was.. it wasn’t.. “Let’s go to Kaito and show him Atua’s pleasure!” I declared by raising my hand, the one I stared at, to the sky. I have no time to be worried, I half-heartedly told myself. “No need to rush things! The warehouse has what Atua needs to love him—rope!” That rang a bell. Rope. Where have I heard that from? Nevertheless, Angie forced my hand and pushed me out of her dorm, but I engulfed myself in her spirit as we ran together holding hands, like a pair of young twins. Skipping through the moonlit, overgrown halls, they felt more harmonious than they ever were when I passed by as my old self. Wearing the swishing robe and feeling the breeze from only wearing a top and skirt were all new to me, but Atua would teach me to get used to them. The doors of the storage signaled us to stop our running, so we came in and gazed at the expansive shelves until we found the rope. She called for three, so we each grabbed a short bundle of the durable material. We came back to the dormitory, at the center of all the rooms. “Okay! Ring Kaito’s doorbell and go inside his room when he opens. I’ll be hiding.” With her master plan unveiled, I followed without a word of doubt because Angie should trust Angie, right? I bounced up the skeletal set of stairs up to the second, fenced floor and walked to his room, which had a pixelated frame of him above the door. Angie still saw me on the lower level and was waving with a free hand as I knocked on the door. A quickening beat of my heart shot out through my body as I now rang the button with my sweaty fists, tense at how he would react to me. “Urgh, you’ve got to come back later. I’m feeling so sick. I’ve been too tired and couldn’t eat anything.” Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut, said his words with a sickly tone of blue over his head. His head faced downward as a hand rubbed the back of his neck, emphasizing his massive hairdo. “Coming right in!” I gently nudged his body away as I sat on his back and looked back for a reaction. “What.. what’s going on with you?” His breathing was heavy, air crawling out of his still mouth. Upon further inspection, sweat beads of tiredness overwhelmed his expression. I was going to fix that very soon. In fact, very, very soon! When he tried to approach me with his unprofessional slippers, the true Angie popped right behind him and grabbed his wrists before he could react. He almost suffered an injury as he fell, but I went down on the floor and cushioned his fall with my thighs. I looked over and saw opposite hands touched opposite elbows, tied to the middle by rope. “Urk?!” He managed to tilt his head up forward and promptly met my elated eyes and gaping mouth. I bent my head sideways to look endearing as he twisted his face in horror when he saw two of us. “There’s two of you?! Is this t-t-this the occult?!” His unprecedented fear made his goatee shiver with his mouth. The occult? No, it was Atua! “Atua and Atua only!” The Angie from behind confirmed his superstition, almost reading my mind. “Which one.. is...” His face and body as a whole turned into a black shade, heightened with greatly downsized pupils. Aw, what a cutie! While he spurted out disbelief, we had already locked him in place on the floor, securing and opening up his limbs with nearby furniture. “Well, I guess I was Shuichi!” He stopped every single gesture of his body, only intently viewing my body up and down. Angie and I came together, looking at his vulnerable position. “Oh my god.” Hey, he was adjusting to Atua already! Finished, Angie pulled out a brush to fidget with, staring at me with a raised eyebrow and a grin. I think she knew what was coming. I walked in front of the bed so Kaito could see me in my blessed, full glory. The clothing Angie put on me came undone as I threw my robe to the floor to unveil my hidden curves. I fiddled with the bra from behind until it fell, bringing out my sizable breasts into the open again. From there, I toed closer to his frozen stature and brazenly took off my skirt so he could see my lower lips. Bending down to my knees, I leaned into his ears with a smile, saying, “Atua did this to me.” Then, I lunged at him until my naked body mixed its rich darkness into his unbuttoned jacket, polo, and white undershirt. A single flick of my tongue at his ear coaxed it in sweet saliva and sent him stuttering. “S-Shuichi.. is this really you? Even.. even your clothes..” I closed his lips with my hands.

“Atua got rid of my boring clothes ‘cause She said I didn’t need them. And.. don’t call me that. I’m Angie now.”

I opened my mouth and dove into his neck, letting out my hot and husky breath. I saw goosebumps on his skin. His smooth, kissable skin. Infatuated, I nibbled the back of his neck, and when he tried to look back, I held him in place with my arms and sprung in for a sloppy kiss. Engrossed in the experience, I shut my eyes closed so only our actions mattered. If he was struggling, I didn’t feel it at all. Instead, I was eating him out with my animalistic tongue, tracing the contours of his mouth as his weak tongue succumbed to my tender grasp. Meanwhile, Angie removed his galaxy-printed slippers and unraveled the buttons in his pants, seeing an amassed bulge push out of his underwear. I departed from his mouth after what felt like hours of pure goodness. I didn’t care that he was sick because all I tasted was his masculinity. A string of saliva connected us for a few seconds, which I saw once my eyes slowly revealed themselves. His must’ve been relishing in my blunt white bangs and scent of sex from two hours ago, as his eyes were no longer full of fatigue but lit with motivation for something. “I’ll join your god, okay?!” Geez, that was really quick! “Mhm, great! Let me bestow his first gift: Pleasure!” I mounted myself on his chest, tearing off his undershirt and pushing his other clothes so my hazel skin could touch his. Angie found her own calling by laying his head on her knees, securing him to watch my teasing. Laying on his body with my back upward, I went up and down his chiseled abdomen with my delectable figure. My adequate boobs joined in on the fun, lightly vibrating every time I decided to push them on his hardened flat chest. “Listen to me, Shuichi! You don’t want to do this!” He squirmed against the rope, to no avail, only rocking our bodies. “Eh? Why not?” I went upright, pressing my bubble butt right in front of his crotch and feeling up the heated fabric of his underwear. “The truth is, b-bro, that you never lived in Angie’s hometown, lived with her parents, or grew up to be the—“ I ignored every single word of truth as I moved up and blocked his mouth with my tan vagina, now sat on his face. “Mmphf!? Mm-mphf!” “Atua says act, don’t talk!” I declared, staring into his broadened purple eyes. He kept protesting, though, muffling his words into the lovely insides of my vagina. Such wonderful sounds! Each attempt to speak filled me with humid breaths, making my pussy quiver as its juices collided with his face. I murmured Angie to move as I weakly held the back of his head, forcing it to rub against my pussy. When he squirmed, I buckled in delight managed to open up his mouth. “Sorry, Kaito! Atua takes priority!” It was wrong to do this, but I didn’t want to stop. Not until I proved Shuichi Saihara didn’t exist anymore. In the heat of the moment, I leaned forward and let go of him, placing my hands far beyond his head so all he could see was my slim midriff while I stared at the cold floor. I was so close to that sensation I eagerly wanted ever since Angie, no Atua, gave me it. Breathing excessively, with a glint of joy in my eyes, I accelerated towards the feeling. “I.. I love being Angie!” Everything seemed to flow down there as I reached climax. I felt my loin muscles and hand grip tighten as I collapsed from the laborious, steaming sex. Harsh moans filled the night, while Kaito faintly yelped in surprise. Our sticky bodies, coated in gallons of sweat, unskillfully hit each other. Air returned to my lungs after seconds, and when my energy also was rejuvenated I rolled over. Kaito coughed, mouth drowning in a splash of my lubrication, unable to clean his face glossed by my shaking vagina. I laid adjacent to his mostly-clothed body, using my elbow as a pillow. Seeing him, flustered and still tugging at the ropes, was my new dark pleasure. Newfound strength resonated with me like never before, making me believe I had enough power to finally do something. “Nyah-ahaha! We’re not done yet!” With my free hand, I tilted his chin. With the mess on him, it seemed like I drained his determination out. “Sh-Shuichi, you..” Angie, who casually watching the events unfold, went back to holding him on her lap and came down for her own kiss. She brought out her tongue and swept up all of my juices into her mouth, licking at Kaito’s tingling face. Finishing it off with a kiss on his forehead, Angie reminded him with a wink. “Hey, Shuichi is Angie now. Atua gave him his love, and now he’s happy.” “That’s right!” “Don’t fuck with me! I know Shuichi’s still in there!” He was being awfully loud.. and too accurate. If he kept talking, I’d be less Angie! I can’t have that! “Mhm.. I have an idea.” I assured Angie, standing up and moving to Kaito’s lower body. In the middle of his crotch, his undone pants still held up that solid erection. With a giggle, I strapped my hand on his underwear and pulled down to see his hard penis in full, meaty glory. As I did this, Angie traced my steps and laid more kisses on his head, and then stripped herself in a swift manner as to not delay our sacred sex. His cock was staggering, almost as tall as my eyes when I went to his level. At the bottom was a short bush of hair, but at the top was a trembling, scarlet tip. The uncircumcised penis bore no decency, only coated in clear precum at the end and dribbling some more of it downward. Merely staring at it, imagining how the massive veiny girth would be swallowed in a moments’ time had my heart racing. I was really going to do this. “The h-hell is this?! I can’t cum to Shuichi!” A flurry of emotions struck his face, including embarrassment and horror. Angie, upon hearing that heretical name once more, gently sucked his left earlobe. Her masterful technique compared to mine had his knees twist and shake, and when she nibbled on the wet ear, made Kaito moan in baritone. “Keep calling him that, and Atua will conquer your body and soul.” She threatened him, eyes darkened, and then moved back before reverting to happiness. At first, I wanted to caress his cock with my slender hands, but a voice in my head wanted me to punish him for trying to make me remember. Straddling myself on Kaito once more and placing my hands on his nipples, my face practically sparkled when he saw what was unfolding. “You’re my s-sidekick, right? You wouldn’t do this, right? Right?!” God, he was so vulnerable and sexy now! I nodded no, swinging my silver hair, and spread my smooth, thick thighs right between his rod. I began to lower myself more and more, poised into the perfect position where an early ejaculation before penetration would manage to impregnate me. “If you don’t start calling me Angie soon, Atua will have a lot more followers!” Impregnation.. giving birth.. being Angie to the fullest.. Kaito shouldn’t object to such a peaceful route. It was better this way for me to stay as the fun-loving Angie. “D-Don’t go further, I’ll.. I’ll come if it happens!” He would’ve raised his fist in front of him, but all he could do was beg by yelling. “Just saying, you asked for this.” His stout cock finally touched my clitoris, but it wouldn’t go beyond that. The alien sensation of his hot cock poking at my equally flushed vagina made me gasp in pleasure, and to extend that feeling I threw a hand onto my one of my boobs and kneaded it carelessly. Angie silenced Kaito’s whimpers by planting her tongue into his mouth, bringing down her back so her breasts obscured his vision with brown goodness. As she was in the same position that had her use her lap to hold Kaito, his hair traced the outside of her vagina. I rotated my flawless hips so Kaito’s leaking dick followed, gracing both of my labias and forming a light trail of semen that mixed with my juices. In no way did it ease the throbbing ache in my pulsing slit, but nonetheless made me slightly drool in anticipation. I tried not to lose balance as I continued groping my tan breasts, pressing down on my areoles and squeezing my ebony nipples. Angie departed from his mouth for a split second, taking a heavy breath before doing it again, this time with both hands on her tits to massage them. Before Kaito could come into my vagina and fill me up there, I shifted gears and moved back down and bent my knees between his legs. Holding his drenched, filled with precum cock with my petite fingers, I began stroking up and down in hope of seeing his long-awaited ejaculation. Blood raced to my head, thinking how insane I was to do this. Angie stopped sitting in front of Kaito and started to squat so he could see me pump his sweet length and the looming pussy above. I saw her bring her hands down to her vagina and open up the fleshy folds, from there sticking as many fingers as she could in and out. “Stop, Angie! Both of you Angies!” His coughing pleas fell deaf to both of us as we continued to enjoy Atua’s blessings. Kaito wasn’t going to be done so easily, huh? Since he was so dedicated to not to come, it was time to pull the last straw. I freed his cock for a moment, only to pucker my lips and salivate. “You finally said my name!” Ah, I was so elated to hear it not from Angie! Deeply lost in that euphoria, I held no more hesitation and flicked my tongue up his frenulum, and then embraced his pride. Though slightly salty, I neglected thinking negatively about the taste and focused my sight on Kaito. Inside my mouth, I continuously licked the top of his cock like savory ice cream. His firm rod, standing proudly in my mouth, caring not that I was Shuichi, oh Atua! Ineffable, pleasurable tickles flourished in my engorged pussy as I felt a trail of its transparent goodness escape me. I made sure not to use teeth, keeping my lips apart. With one hand, I started to rub the lower half of his scrumptious penis, and with the other, I wrapped it around his testicles and applied pressure every few seconds. I glimpsed up to see his cringing face stutter to form an audible sentence. Nyahaha! Considering his eyes were squinting and he bit his lip, he was done now! “Shit, shit! I’m coming!” And so his vicious semen flung at my palate, making me flinch and free his squirting dick. More of his cum wildly erupted out of his ever hard cock, naughtily landing all over my face and the floor. It mixed into my white hair, leaving visible milky trails from my forehead down. I choked at the newfound, sticky fluids in my mouth, doing my best to swallow but failing as it leaked out. I smelled the exaggerated aroma, which already left his masculine scent over me. Furiously licking the insides of my mouth, I tasted his warm, bittersweet cum everywhere. To think I’d lose these privileges eventually! I wanted another round, but approaching dull sores said otherwise. As he came, so did Angie, who fell backward. She regained composure after a few seconds, having a taste of her own fluids while she watched our wet situation. The liquid overflowed down his penis, which I scooped up and sucked from my dainty fingers. I brought my hands back to his shaft for one final, thirsty lick. Kaito laid motionless, in a pool of profuse sweat and exhaustion. In contrast, I rolled out my tongue and went all around my lips until every drop on that area was sanitary, all the while complimenting Atua and how she gave us this pleasure. “One last goodbye gift!” I announced, trying to accumulate my energy. I undid the two ropes trapping his two hands, and excitedly brought both near my body. Fortunately, their motionlessness meant I could have even more fun! Gripping one hand’s muscular wrist tightly, I rubbed it against my plump breasts while pushing the orbs forward to invigorate myself. With the other, I grinned as I stuck two of its fingers down my shuddering pussy, finally curing that insatiable tickle. The gift for both of us was my second orgasm, easily triggered due to keeping my pleasure below that heavenly level. The similar spasms and numbness were ordinary symptoms that gave way to my numerous moans and minor spill of my already present juice. I exhaled slowly as I pulled his fingers out, laughing at how unresponsive he became. “Well, how’s it taste? Creamy, sweet, sour, hmm? Hm?” The borderline virgin didn’t even look at me. I tried to be light-hearted, but he wouldn’t appreciate the work of Atua! I let go of his hand that touched my boobs and raised his mouth, sticking his fingers in. Even if he didn’t lick it, his buds must’ve reacted. That was enough for me. “Hey! Let’s go to my lab, ‘cause I wanna see your artwork!” The other Ultimate Artist completed suckling on her index finger, standing up and basking in the fluorescent light. The waft of semen and sex permeated the dorm as she spoke. “Oh! That’s a great idea!” I chirped as Angie handed me my duplicate set of clothing. Putting them on was still a hassle, but it was my first day as her anyway. Once we adorned our identical outfits, we looked at Kaito’s blank eyes. “Ah! Kaito,” I bent down with a shadow on my forehead, “I’m going to spread peace and stop Monokuma in his tracks. Don’t stop me.” We undid his other ropes and threw them on our shoulders, heading towards the door. Before closing it, I decided to see if Kaito was doing anything. He was already upright despite how fatigued he was before and after our debauchery, but due to how he was strapped down, his jacket’s back faced us as he refused to look back at the door. I couldn’t see his expression, but deep down, I hoped he was okay and not angry at me. I recall how he appeared sick when we chatted in the morning. --- We ventured back to her dorm to prepare for the ritual using the Necronomicon, which apparently required those wax figures. The two of us struggled to hold two each, barely clinging on to the perfect sculptures using the rope. Any challenge is beatable with Atua, we confidently told each other as we left the dormitory. “Did you enjoy Kaito and Atua?” Angie asked while we rode up the polka-dotted staircase, cleaning the last traces of Kaito’s semen off my cheek. “Yep!” A hollow feeling in my chest resonated after I gave the simple affirmation. Did I do something wrong to Atua? No, it wasn't her disgusted by my actions. It was me. I still don’t understand what I did wrong, though. Our small talk ensued, from how to wear women’s clothing, to how to recruit Atua without forceful intercourse. The moment we reached the research lab’s door, a sigh left us as we temporarily set the effigies on the floor. Angie went inside first, holding the door open for me to enter and keep our precious goods intact. Inside, she clapped her hands together at the enormous white sheet stained with black paint. “So abstract, it’s amazing! Praise be to Atua!” I saw her examine the mismatched shapes of paint by forming a rectangle with her hands. I’m never going to get tired of her satisfaction, her poses, everything! Being around her has made me more cheery than I was as the Ultimate Detective, without a doubt. “Praise Atua!” There was no bitterness in speaking about Her. I rested the four effigies against the rear door, leaving it up to Angie on how she was going to arrange it. The bundles of rope also gathered on the wide table that once had my canvas. “Hmm.. Atua needs to do some finishing touches on them before I do the ritual, so let’s talk about the student council!” The fresh thoughts from those words hit me. Angie was the president, wasn’t she? And if that were the case, I’m the president too! Today is the luckiest day of my life! “What about it—“ The floor monitor burst into life before I could finish my sentence. A couple of robotic bear cubs, our captors promptly called Monokubs, sat on a couch and told us nighttime officially begun. Anyway, I returned to my question. “What do I do as president?” “Nothing much. We just establish rules based on what Atua wants.” Simple enough. The only people who have the best connection to Her are us, after all. Angie peered down again at the art, twirling a paintbrush. I didn’t have a lot to do in our lab, in contrast to all of her tasks. “I don’t have a lot to do. Maybe I could monitor the school with the other members? Since it’s night, everyone else needs to go back to their dorms, right?”

“Good idea! When you go, I’ll only open this door to the council, so knock and say who you are!” Interesting. I’ll have to pick up that habit as Angie whenever I go inside the lab to work.

Again, I skipped down the school and began my lonesome duty as the student council’s president. Wandering inside the school in silence was surreal. I really had no desires, to Atua’s and my delight. Looking at some of the research labs, I reminisced how they dramatically came when I used unique objects given by the Monokubs. Ah, no. That was Shuichi who did all the work! Memories of him walking around, placing them and seeing their formation, that was my imagination. Of course.

Outside the main school’s door, I decided to check the backyard behind the building. I walked down the dirt, unfinished path, hearing no cricket of bugs despite the grassy landscape surrounding me. Only the scratching of my white shoes brought me comfort, for each step was as angelic as Atua. When no one was inside the mossy structure or the courtyard in front of the dormitory, I left for the stairs leading to labs of more students.

Down there, I spotted a luxurious red door taunting me from across the stairs. It was the Shrine of Judgment, and inside was where the class trials that killed our friends were held. If I kept this up, as in reinforcing the council’s regulations for peace, then none of us would have to go to that forsaken place any longer. I wouldn’t have to use my previous talent as a detective, meaning I could live out my happy days here as an artist. With that reassurance, I looked around and spotted someone.

“Nyeh? Angie?” The Ultimate Magician, Himiko Yumeno, was standing on the oriental floor beams of the Ultimate Aikido Master’s lab. Noticing her small body, I walked to her with a grin.

“Ah! Hi, Himiko!” I extended my left hand up to wave. She had a look of puzzlement as she inspected my form, but nevertheless, I saw her jubilance to see me. Atua was truly a benevolent deity to make her, a person as lively as a mannequin, feel that emotion.

“I thought you’d be in your lab for the ritual..?” Did she not know there were two Angies? Assuming she didn’t, I fixed her black wizard-like hat and patted it. From that motion, her face contorted to a sly half-smile.

“I’ll go soon. You can go ahead first.” I ran my hands through her short, almost bowl cut, mildly long red hair.

“Sure. But I’m a little curious why you’re missing your necklace.”

“Huh? I lost it, that’s all.” I answered, bending my arm up so my was palm facing me. I couldn’t tell her the truth of my transformation; I insisted to myself that would be the real Angie’s responsibility.

“Oh, ok. Bye, then.”

With that, she went up and staircase and out of my sight, letting her jester-like shoes echo in the still night. Her comment, however, did not leave and remained in my mind. I really needed her accessories, because, at this rate, I would never fully be her. After finishing that thought, I headed right to another lab and inspected the interior and exterior for a decent thirty minutes to rummage through anything that could’ve been catalysts of desires. All I found, though, were just schematics of seemingly alien writing. I left with a vapid sting on my tongue. Considering I was done with surveying the school for people, I climbed up the staircase to go back to my lab.

“Hey. Are you Shuichi?” It was Maki Harukawa, the scary Ultimate Assassin now right in front of me! I said scary, yet I had a tinge of pity when I saw her. “Who that’s, I wonder?” She didn’t look very happy when I said that. Her body, which was in a red and black school uniform, was already facing sideways, head down, with a frown on her face, but now a dangerous aura burned the cold around her. To confirm something, she stared at my dark-skinned navel and sighed. My guess was correct as soon as she grabbed my shoulder with her thin pale hand, hellbent on taking me to the courtyard. Her rather long, dark brown hair was visible from my perspective, stretching down to her knees and only controlled with two maroon scrunchies. What a peculiar girl.

An array of stars illuminated the sky, stealing my attention I looked up to defy her. Their plentiful amount was all thanks to Atua, I thought. I suppose I took notice of them now to spite the assassin. “Don’t you think you should admire Atua’s stars?” “Don’t you think you should drop this delusional façade? Kaito told me everything.” My heart and body remained still for a split second. It hit me that I had sex with him practically moments ago. Suddenly, the stars I lost myself in threw me back to the surface. It didn’t fully occur to me what I did to Kaito, that I raped him. Ra.. Rape? No, that’s wrong! It was for Atua! Maki’s pulling stopped as she looked at me with deep crimson eyes. “Shuichi. We’re here.” I stood motionless on the courtyard, footwear soundless on the warm-colored tiles. There, on a bench shielded by an open-roofed cover, was the Ultimate Astronaut. “Yo, Shuichi.” Why.. why was he still lively? I had sex with him, didn’t I? Wasn’t he sick? My mind began racing, like a car on an open road. Atua disappeared from my senses as if driven out by the accursed truth. Kaito sat with an open smile, in his usual stance with one arm being inside his galactic purple jacket while the other hid under it, not actually inside. His unbuttoned, white school uniform was covering the shirt. As we all had spare clothing, he probably discarded the one I tore apart. “Let’s all sit on the grass. We can have a talk instead of training.” I didn’t ever train with them, but I knew Maki always outsped Kaito and me in push-ups. Dammit! I need to be Angie, not him! I sat on the grass with them, determined to persuade them Shuichi was no more. “Nyah-ahahaha!” I calmed myself with a boisterous laugh to their surprise, “Sorry, sorry! Me, Shuichi? Nuh-uh! What a lie!”

“What’s so funny?” Maki gave me a grave look, her face drowned in blue hatred. Kaito had to wrap his arm around her to remove the grimace.

He gave an arrogant thumbs-up at her, treating me as if I wasn’t there. Sat cross-legged, he didn’t dare to turn to me. “It’s fine, Maki Roll. I got this.” “What you said, I mean.” I returned to her statement. “Just look at me! Angie is Angie one hundred percent!” I flashed my robe, but it felt much too droopy for my liking. I wasn’t accustomed to these clothes, so why did I insist I was Angie? No, I can’t think like that. These two are trying to crawl into my mind.. and I don’t want them to see who I really am.

“Stop talking nonsense. If you’re Angie, what are your parents’ names?” Knees up to her chest, she inquired. I couldn’t answer that! Angie didn’t tell me because I was still learning to be her, so I repeated, “I’m definitely Angie, there’s no—“ “Do you just want to be her? Do you want to die?” Normally, that last statement tended to be a joke. For me, the phrase was borderline threatening my fragile life. Angie’s life.

Why didn’t I have my accessories? Because the real Angie only had.. why am I calling her real all this time? We’re both real Angies, aren’t we? I can’t be Shuichi.. but I can’t think of anyone else I could be.

“Shuichi wouldn’t have sex with Kaito! He’d feel bad! I.. I don’t at all! I loved it!” It was a mixture of the two juxtaposed emotions. That was actually more disgusting than pleasurable, now that I think about it. I’m not homosexual, so why would I..?

Dammit! I’m not a fraud, I have to be Angie!

“Shuichi, you don’t need to be afraid. You’re my bro. You’re Maki Roll’s bro too.” Maki had a thin smile of amusement. Seeing that hidden expression of happiness.. made me remember she was a human whose childhood was stripped away. But I still kept lying, excuses more hopeless than the Ultimate Supreme Leader’s jests.

“I’m not afraid! I have Atua.. and she says being Shuichi is imposs—” I never finished my lie, because Kaito struck my navel with a fist faster than the speed of light. I didn’t realize how short our distance closed in, but when he brought back his hand, I began wheezing in an unladylike manner. Moments ago, I sat with folded legs, but now I was bent over struggling to breathe.

“Kaito!” I saw that the pale girl ahead of me broke into a missable sweat, speeding over but stopping with no idea how to handle me.

My body was trembling, and trying to seize control only worsened it. I’ve felt this too many times to ignore it. Those times it happened.. was when I descended down to the trial grounds as Shuichi. No! I know I used to be him, but now—huh? That’s not right. Why was I denying it to begin, actually?

“I’ll make the impossible possible! If I’ve got to hit a girl, I’ll do it, but it’s Shuichi we’re talking about!” It was me.. me, Shuichi Saihara..

The real, not me, Angie’s loving grasp and words, the same aspects that brought me into that peaceful landscape, disappeared. Her lies of calling me Angie washed away as I regained some of my composure and breathing. I remember now. Hah.. I pitifully smiled at my own thoughts. Kaede was never Atua. Kaede was always in my heart as Kaede. It was Angie who corrupted that, with her seductive words. And her promise.. was that we’d all leave together. This was, and will never be a harmonic paradise. As I descended back into reality, all of the fluffiness dissipated into the clouds.

“I’m so sorry, K-Kaito..” Tears. Droplets of fear and misery had their final reign as they fell from my crying eyes, never to come back. The warmth from sexual exploits was replaced by tantalizing fire.

I was so afraid. So afraid of killing any more people with the truth that I gave up and tried to be someone else. In the back of my mind, I knew it wouldn’t work. But I tried.

“It’s okay to cry after what happened.” I thought he tried to avoid looking at me, but I was the one to avoid his gaze. All this time, he was shining with hope. I was an utter idiot for trying to think I could stay away from his cheerfulness. I had sex with Kaito! I masturbated as Angie! What was I thinking?!

My indecent memory of raping Kaito was more akin to a hallucination because I drowned out all logic by convincing myself meant ignoring reality. It didn't even feel like I was the perpetrator, but rather a spectator to the atrocity. Who was I anymore? I can’t be Angie. I just can’t. And I’ll never see myself in the mirror and say, “Oh, that’s me alright. Shuichi Saihara.” My mental health surely lowered from this.. How am I even sane?

“I can’t go back to myself.. I’ll never see myself in reflections again.” I put my hands on my face, feeling how foreign the overall structure of it was. This wasn’t my body. Angie was surely not going to reverse my form, and probably couldn’t anyway. I was going to be in her shadow forever, bearing an identity that will always be traced back to her.

“To not even know who you are.. we share common ground.” I could feel Maki’s presence next to my body, sighing as she spoke.

“Yeah, seriously! It sucks not to be you!” Kaito broke the depressing change of tone, taking my hands and moving them out of my face. I saw him take a stance and smash his fists together, opening his mouth and revealed his teeth. His eyebrows boosted confidence as he vented, “But the past is over! What you do now in Angie’s body matters most!”

“Now..?” I was sobbing less, cleaning my wet palms with Angie’s gaudy robe.

“Uh-huh! You’ve got to share your feelings with others, not bottle them up with a dumb persona! You won’t get strong that way!” His attitude spoke to both of us. Share my feelings.. that does sound better.

“Y-Yeah.” Rubbing the remains of my tears, I did my best to smile. Not an empty, blind smile, but one that held hope for the future.

“Surprising you only realize this now. I knew it. Angie really is dangerous.” She walked back to Kaito, brushing off a bit of side hair. Angie Yonaga.. just what was she to be able to drastically change me, physically and mentally?

Bringing her focus back to Kaito, she lightly shut her eyes, brought her head down, and muttered, “So the idiot has some merit. Now that we’re done here, let’s go back to your dorm to get you back into shape.”

She extended a hand, which I gratefully took. With the astronaut behind us, she led us to my room. I glanced at the pixelated image of myself. I will never forget who I am for all of the people who’ve died here. Repeating those words of wisdom, I unlocked the door and saw my housing, which of course was unchanged. Home sweet home.

Maki opened up the closet and began to pull out my normal clothes. While she did that, Kaito and I sat on my bed, me blankly gazing at the wall. The basic function of sitting became new again. Angie’s butt was perky for the worse.

“But you know, Kaito,” He looked at me, tilting his head to listen, “it didn’t feel bad to have no truths or worries, and a shoulder to lean on.” Atua was a fickle one. He was built to relate to all of our humanly needs, and he definitely succeeded in converting a decent chunk of us, including me.

“Shuichi. The truth is why we’re alive. I hate to sound greedy, but you wouldn’t want Kaede to survive thinking how all of us died for her, right? Blame those damn bears who forced us here. They killed Kaede and Kirumi.” Without hesitation, he pulled me close with a stern expression. When Maki looked back at us, we stepped out so she could put my clothes on the bedsheet.

“Get out, Kaito. I know you’ve seen him naked, but don’t turn that into a habit.” She pouted, pulling one side of her hair and stroking it. Was she.. blushing? Blushing at what?

“Alright. See you on the other side, bro!” He darted out the door, ending his goodbye the same moment the door was closed.

Maki sat down in the same place Kaito was in, squeezing the sheets below her with her hands. I didn’t feel as embarrassed to be alone with a girl, though I suppose turning into one helped me resolved that shyness.

“Hmph. Idiot.” She puffed and then tapped my hand, “So are you going to change back or not?”

“Oh, yeah, I will.” Her wine red eyes followed me as I prepared to strip.

The first on the list was this robe, much too open for comfort. My hand shook as I unraveled the yellow fabric, showing off my minuscule shoulders. On second glance, they appeared smooth to the touch. As I revealed my other shoulder, I couldn’t help but look in awe at their dainty stature. When I tapped them with my hand, even that was smooth. Realizing what I was doing, my cheeks reddened. This.. is a girl’s body.

“What are you doing?” Maki frowned, eyes in curiosity as mole under one of them followed.

“N-Nothing!” I exclaimed, taking cover my wrapping my arms around my body.

I wish the mere act of undressing remained simple. Angie’s figure was just too distracting! It was the equivalent of being reborn again, for I became a stranger to myself. Also, speaking of covering my body in embarrassment, my two breasts forced me to look down. The orbs were of a fine brown shade, and supple to indicate healthiness. I lived with a flat, pale chest all my life, and now I had two jewels to carry. My blush deepened, making me sweat. I tried looking up to avoid their sexual aura, but the quick jerk caused a jiggle that had me look back down and then back up. Why was I realizing my tempting assets now?!

“You’re embarrassed?” I closed my eyes and nodded, heat building up in my ears. She then asked, “Didn’t you do.. it..? With Kaito?”

“Y-Yeah, but it didn’t feel wrong at the time!” Even my crying was feminine, and it was especially casual unlike before.

“.. I’ll help, I guess. Close your eyes.” I followed her words, shutting them as hard as I could.

From there, I felt her body and its scent emit on all sides of my body. Something tugged at my upper chest in an attempt to undo Angie’s white bra. Thin fabric danced around my back until it was miraculously free, causing the pad-like cups on my busty chest to stick off. With my.. my nipples unleashed to the cold, I felt myself shiver to the sensation.

I distinctly felt the pair individually for they were apart of my body. As a man, the only extension of my body was really my genitalia. But now the sheer weight and mildly cold liberation forced my eyes to open just a tidbit; but from that instinctive glance down, I jolted my eyes in surprise. Black buds of undeniably erect nipples stood out from my tan boobs, sensitive to the touch. Maki, being behind me, couldn’t see my amazement. I did look at my assets occasionally when I came back to my senses, but I couldn’t help to glue my eyes on those succulent spheres. If I didn’t have a vagina, I would be hard down there instead of up here.

Wait, I have a vagina now? Memories of using it came back, including how I almost stuck Kaito’s thick cock into.. No! I do not want to be in this situation or remember my past sins! Trying to prevent the gun of man’s passion being shot, I threw my hands back to my breasts since they were raised before. It was too late, because the shot was already heard around the world. My hands, the ones Angie used when making art, felt my nipples poke at them. I froze, feeling lightheaded at them.

“What am I doing?!” I turned back and jumped on my bed, careful not to hit Maki as I dove headfirst and covered my embarrassment. Like a swimmer, I bent my legs up and down while slapping my cheeks. Through this, I realized how long my hair was, and how it tickled my fingers in its silver vastness.

“I haven’t enough taken off Angie’s panties.” She stopped for a second. “Well, maybe I don’t have to.”

“If you don’t, please don’t. I’d rather avoid looking down there for as long as possible.” I would either bring myself to look down there or be trapped in female undergarments. Either path inevitably turned me into a deeper pervert.

“‘Don’t be afraid.’ Kaito said that. To be blunt, get used to this body.” It seemed she preferred I see my new sex organ. Slowly rolling over to lay on my back, I came face to face with my dark-skinned breasts. Angie’s curvaceous ass was so disruptive, taking up more space than I wanted on the bed. There was no extent to my body temperature as I crossed my legs in growing embarrassment, Maki off the bed and preparing to take my panties off.

“Do it.. gently.” I begged, organizing my hair strands. I decided to adopt Maki’s way of toying with her own, taking one twintail and twirling it around. Speaking of that, was I going to style my hair like the real Angie?

Nevertheless, Maki crept downward to do the dirty deed. With her two hands, trained to kill, she did her best to keep me relaxed by holding onto the sides and softly pulling them. Her sluggish maneuver managed to be teasing as every second wanted me to do something, anything to stop feeling so empty. As she opened up my vagina to the cold, I swear the inner pink flesh puckered. Imagining it so left me with desires I would do best not to fulfill. Even with my obstructive pair, I saw the end as they touched my feet, the frilly parts leaving me vibrating in disbelief.

“Uh.. C-Can you tell me what it looks like down there?” As a man, I had to know. I thought it would be easy to spot, but raising my head provided nothing except shaven hair.

“A little wet. If you’re going to tell me to finger it next.. don’t.” The moisture tingling down there and urge in back of my head was equivalent to an erection, then. No longer would I feel anything grace my penis’ head as it stood full mast. Only the new hollowness in my crotch and the wide gap between my rounded thighs would be present when I masturbated.

“Put your own underwear and clothes on. They’re not new, so you shouldn’t be hesitant.” The set was adjacent to me, forcing me to reluctantly stand up. I think Angie’s footwear fell off when I threw myself on the bed, as my small feet touched the ground. I didn’t have to look down to feel the decreased space my feet covered, and in addition, the freezing temperature actually outlined its perimeter.

I finally reunited with my iconic clothing once I took my attention off my lower body. Most life aspects became new, but luckily these were unscathed. The black trousers were in conjunction with my same-colored, tight collared school uniform. I wasted no time in fitting my pants on, but I learned Angie was still present.

For one, our height difference proved obnoxious. My familiar pants reached down to my soles, and I had trouble fitting them around my wide waist. When I tried to put on my white undershirt, the same applied as it shrouded part of my legs. The black uniform became more wrinkled, only retaining its stiffness on my sizable chest. I had to pull my twintails out, unsure of what to do with them.

It was jarring to think of my new form, considering the bleakness of the jet black colors in contrast to my browner skin and long hair. And plus, it wasn’t attire suitable for my gender either. I pulled through, despite the laughable differences, because this was my prized outfit that I don’t want to lose again. Maki was focused on Angie’s panties for the duration and turned to me after I finished.

“They’re just different from my side-tied panties. Not graceful at all.” She set them on my shelf with the plethora of hidden Monokumas.

“.. Good to know.” I closed my eyes, then unleashing my mouth to comment, “You can call Kaito back in.”

She opened the door, calling out his name for a second before he appeared from the corner. He brushed off some debris from his light purple pants before looking at me, and then smiled like he did all those other times.

“Looking good! Now you’re back in business!” His contagious smile and thumbs-up made another appearance. I was fond of the gesture now and gave my own satisfied look.

“Thanks, Kaito. You too, Maki.”

“Of course. Since this dilemma sprang up, we might as well train tomorrow.” Maki offered, lacking her set of emotions. We’d eventually see that side of her, Kaito and I. That was a promise I made to him, and I’m not going to break it.

“Well, Maki Roll’s not wrong one bit.” He grabbed her arm without warning, shouting, “Let’s go!”

On the other, less excited hand, she told me, “I have to warn you of monthly periods. They’re terrible.” Oh.

“Hey, leave on a good note. Alright! You’re Shuichi Saihara before anything else. Never forget that! Catch ya later!” Pulling a red-tinted Maki by the shoulder, romantically at that, the door was shut one final time. Maybe we were starting to get into her.

Turning to my bed, I decided to gather Angie’s clothes and hang them up in my closet as a memento. She changed my life for the better and worse. With spirit, I collapsed on my sentimental mattress in its splendor. In the course of a single day, I became Angie, dabbled in sex, and cried at the truth. I was looking forward to the future, to the end of this killing game. The present was my stepping stone of hope. Tomorrow, I’ll tell Angie I won’t be hers or Atua’s. Tomorrow, I’ll show everyone who I am now and that they should still treat me as the Ultimate Detective.

My vision began to distort, making way for a well-needed slumber. Before, though, I had one thought. It’s alright to be me after all. Shuichi Saihara.

#tg #tf #mtf #danganronpa #v3 #danganronpav3 #bodysuit #skinsuit #suit #kawamono #mask #wax #gender #bender #temporary #mental #mindset #alteration #change #male #to #female

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