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sanemisstalker · 9 months

Note

!spoiler!

hey, I saw your requests are open, so here we go...

imagine rengoku and y/n had a 'friends with benefit' relationship before he passed away, but then he comes back 2 years after his 'dead'.

as half demon.

he's sitting in front of your bedroom window one night and you can't believe your eyes...

he tells you how much he missed you and that his love for you grew stronger every day (soft human ren) but when he smelled that you let giyuu touch your body... oh dear

he shows y/n who she belongs to..(rough demon ren) his other half taking over and fucks y/n so hard and good to make it clear that she belongs to him. only him.

👉👈 hf <3

You deserve the most INSANE head for this concept oh ym fucking god. Oh my fucking g o d. I went delusional when I saw this last night.

CW/ Fem reader, AFAB genitalia, Breasted /Rengoku briefly mentions Suicide/ SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA......../ Giyu's life is on a clock/ Possessiveness/ BDSM Dynamics (mutual ownership)

-I can imagine how the news would've stricken you in specific. How muted it must have been. Day in and day out of hearing the cries of people much closer to the flame pillar than you could ever hope to be.

-You weren't his brother, you weren't his father- You weren't any of the young men that watched him pass- That had to stare at his, apparently, mangled corpse for hours, awaiting help in the uncomfortably hot air he left in his death.

-Hell, you weren't even a hashira yet. You just... knew the guy a little too intimately. Just enough for it to hurt more than you felt you deserved.

-It's not like he was going to marry you, or even ask for a partnership. They hadn't found a ring on his body in some grand last appeal-

-He wasn't even thinking about coming back for you-

-and it had felt that way for a while, now. You weren't counting the days, but you knew his birthday had passed twice. You hadn't quite remembered yours, but his had come and gone.

-Rengoku always remembered those kinds of details though. He was pretty big on the little things, so much so that he considered no thing too little.

-When the ex-water hashira had dropped off a small gift, courtesy of himself, you were partially confused. You hadn't known Giyu inherently well, nor did you think he paid you any mind.

-'I've been looking for your home for a while.' He'd hand you the gift. 'It was... hard to find.'

-'What is this for?'

-'Your birthday.'

-'It's my birthday?' The question came out more pathic than you'd hoped.

-'I- this may seem invasive... but... before his death, Rengoku had mentioned the date to me in passing. I had to ask around to see what was so important about it.'

-'He mentioned my birthday?' God, you were just full of pathetic questions, it seemed.

-'The... anniversary was just last week...' He was clearly stumbling.

-'I- maybe it's because my years are... numbered... but I- I wanted to put forward his kindness. I was too in my own head to do so while he was alive. Please open it before I say anything else.'

-It was a button. The top one of the demon slayer uniform.

-'I don't want to make any... assumptions about you and Rengoku, but I know, at the bare minimum, he was fond of you. I think he would've wanted you to have something of his... He left most of his clothes to his younge-'

-He'd begin apologizing profusely when you'd start sobbing. You'd collapse into his arms, clutching the box to your sternum and just wailing- A wail you hadn't known Kyojuro would even think you'd be worthy of.

-But Giyu thought you were worthy of it, and Giyu was the only one here right now. You cried in his arms for what felt like hours. You couldn't remember the last time you'd let somebody hold you- let a lone a man.

-His smell was cathartic. Like rain.

-His kiss meant nothing. Neither did the tear filled sex. Giyu was a dying man who'd done an inexplicable kindness. You got to pretend he was there, Giyu got to experience a warmth he'd never been rewarded for throwing a life away.

-You did not want Giyu to stay over in your bed, and thanked that button on your nightstand for his absence when you awoke in the dead of night.

-but Kyojuro remembers the little things.

-And you remember those loud eyes. They were perched at your window seal.

-You blinked once, twice-

-and then his face started to form in the darkness, and you were sure Giyu must have brought some ailment with him, because no. Not your Kyojuro, it must've been a delusion. Or maybe the original wasn't really dead-

-The way he said your name was undeniable. Past the buzz of the cicadas, and the huff of the wind.

-'Y/N.' The man said.

-'K-Kyojuro?'

-'Y/N!' There was palpable glee in the air, radiating from the man that claimed to be Kyojuro Rengoku.

-'W-who are you?' You'd croak.

-'...I'm Rengoku Kyojuro?' He'd respond softly. 'It is dark in here, I suppose. I'd meet you in the daylight if I could. I'm... not able, though.'

-How love stricken you must've been. At the mere chance that it was even partially him, you were bounding into his arms. You ignored the clear horns on his head, and bizarre markings along his neck. The undeniable smell of fear wafting from him-

-It was him. You knew even God or the devil himself couldn't recreate his warmth.

-It would take everything to remind Rengoku of his enhanced strength. The feeling of your body in his arms was heavenly- He'd only felt this elated maybe once before, in his mother's arms.

-'I missed you so much. Y/N, you will... Oh no, you're crying. You can't, or I'll cry too.' But he's already crying, afraid of his new found strength, and far too happy to see your face in the moonlight. Even if it's full of tears.

-'Sweet, and beautiful. You're just as striking as when I left. You look so tired... you've slept, right? Please don't tell me you've laid awake for me?' His heart ached at your nod.

-'I-I didn't deserve-'

-'Shshsh-' His hands would run through your hair. It was the first time in so long you'd felt the weight of your body- how slow you moved. 'I should never keep you so restless- come, sleep- sleep-'

-As the high of the night wore down, and Rengoku lulled you to bed with 'I love You's and the like, he felt at peace-

-But the smell of rain on such a dry night was aggravating his nose. He'd know that smell anywhere.

-Rengoku had formed a rather unfortunate temper since his supposed death. Not that he wasn't the same, fiery man at his core, calm, booming voice and all, but something he had never struggled with was the trade marked Rengoku male hot-headedness. (He'd always found his fathers decline in pride more than a little unsightly.)

-And he now struggled with it. Kyojuro had spent the last two years burning every unprompted shred of anger away so he could stand before you now as the same emotionally intact and strong man he'd died as.

-The one he hoped you loved.

-He'd sooner take his own life than take something out on you-

-but that smell.

-When you woke up, he questioned you as gently as he could.

-'Why do you smell like... water?'

-Your admission wouldn't be easy, but you couldn't lie to the man. You'd begin crying again, begging for forgiveness. He'd pull away to look at you with pity.

-'No, no- I'm the one that left you alone for so long. Don't apologize for my faults-' His hands would begin a slow decline down your body, tugging you closer by your ass. Your face would land squarely against his bare chest...

-And his hands- those big, all encompassing hands would move up your spine, to the nape of your neck.

-'Y/N, I'd like to address the elephant in the room.' He'd mumble against your temple as his hands wandered along your frame.

-'You're... You're not entirely human. I understand that.'

-'I... am not entirely right, anymore, Y/N. I want to warn you of that...'

-'I would...' hope, the thought briefly flitted in your head. Though clearly a travesty, Kyojuro had often waited for you to make the first move. The sudden interest on his behalf was more than nice. 'I would... assume.'

-'I don't want to harm, or scare you. Please don't let me do either. If I ever even- begin to... Behead me where I stand.'

-'I-I couldn't-' You'd shudder.

-'You can.' Rengoku would assure. 'I've developed an awful habit.' He'd be squeezing your hip, massaging just rough enough to rock you. He'd pull your leg up and over his own... Slotting himself between your thighs.

-'Y/N, did you let him cum inside you?' The word felt foreign on his tongue. How crude of him.

-'N-no!' You rushed.

-'Did he make you cum?'

-'....No.'

-'Mmm.' Rengoku hummed, his large hand running up your thigh. You quivered as he made contact with your sex. 'You haven't had one in a long time, then.' His fingers would slip past your gown, and pull your garments to the side-

-'I- I haven't. It didnt..didn't... feel right-'

-'Nobody can make you cum like I can, right, Y/N?'

-'Nobody.' You rushed. Your body was reeling from his touch. The mere possibility of his cock once again battering your insides was--

-'And this...' One of his fingers would slid into you, your insides still mushy from Giyu's use. 'This is still mine, right?'

-'It's- It's a yours. It always will be.'

-'Even in death?' Rengoku whispered against your temple.

-'For forever- For as long as you want it-'

-'You're my strong girl, right?' You'd nod. You'd be his anything. 'And this,' He'd add another finger, curling them inside of you.

-Part of him was pleased, you were all stretched out and ready. Giyu must have done you well....

-Giyu had no right to do anything with you.

-'This wants your cock?' He'd ask. You didn't even think before nodding. You'd never heard such words from his mouth.

-How daunting

-You'd cling to his bare chest, trying to just get closer. 'Say you want it.'

-'Give me my cock.' You'd slur. 'I need you. I've needed you. Please- please- I need you to let me.... Use me- I-' He'd already done you in, and he hadn't even tried.

-He could never turn you down. Especially not now that he was so much weaker.

-You stayed laying down, your body pressed against his broad chest- And Rengoku slipped his cock beneath your gown. He didn't bother removing your panties.

-He didn't even let you adjust before he wrapped his arms around you tight and just began pumping.

-How cruel, but it was the least you deserved for allowing another man so close. Rengoku would never punish you for it. He was too kind. He was too good, even when a demons blood crept through his veins. Rengoku was just too fucking good-

-'You're-' a hiccup would interrupt your sob. Words were lost on your poor, over fucked mind. You'd never experienced such speed, or such a grind. 'So- good- Kyo-kyojuro---!'

-His hand swiping at your clit was quick enough for it almost feel like vibrations. Climax after climax while your creaming cunt just begged for his seed.

-You felt like you were being consumed. He didnt break eye contact with you once- Not even allowing you the reprieve to look away from him.

-'Open your eyes.' He cooed, still thrusting up and into your pussy with a roughness that seemed almost impossible with such a tone. 'Look at whose loving you while you cum. Look at whose making you cum.'

-He wanted your eyes on him, and him alone. He wasn't sure what animal he'd become if they drifted away. You wouldn't. You can't.

-He'd never been so possessive. Had never claimed you- He had never really wanted to. Marry you, definitely. Kyojuro had never planned to bed you and not dedicate his romantic life to you-

-but you were always supposed to be able to leave, if you really wanted. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to let you do that, now.

-'Say my name again. Remember whose you are, Y/N. Burn it in your head.' He hissed, an unusual quiet to his voice. It made you hang on every word.

-You were his. He was yours.

-'Kyojuro! Kyojuro!' It was all you could manage. Every question he posed, every time he hummed, or thrust, or made you cum- You'd let him seer in across your stomach if he found fit-

-Rengoku had never loved his name so much. He'd make sure to burn it in your head again, if need be.

#rengoku x y/n #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer smut #rengoku x reader #rengoku smut #demon rengoku #hashira x reader

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down-one-juice · 1 year

Text

Print and Palms - Morpheus x reader SOULMATE AU!

Summary: A little Godling finds her way back to Preston over the long years she has roamed, visiting the grave of a dear friend. Her little visit is interrupted though, as her and an endless are bound.

Words: Around 3k

Warnings: Blood, Swearing.

AN: This is the first fiction I have written since college, please be nice to me! Comments are really appreciated! Also its a Slooooooooow Burn because in this chapter, they have yet to meet. But in the next chapter, they shall!

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There you now stood, on the edge of the world it seemed.

Watching from the top of the old bell tower in the centre of town, you peeked beneath the awning above you. All bustle and hustle below. Rain angrily flew sideways at you, sticking your hair to your cheek, occasionally landing a drop from your brow onto your chin. Women and men dressed in their warmest clothing Scurried away towards the shelter of a pub or home. Umbrellas, gloves and heavy skirts to fight off the chill.

Your garb mimicked theirs. The woollen skirts layered over you. But you did not feel the chill, you already felt gutted and cold from the inside. For you were at this bell tower to honour a promise. You could almost see it from here, the mountains now cleared of any fog that may have been there before the rain. What was once a fresh mound of dirt a mere 300 years ago, now fell into a flat landscape.

“Hello Perrin,” you whispered towards the mountains.

A sincere sadness plagued your heart, You had missed the last visit to his grave 300 years ago. Not that you were able to say it was an accident. You had merely tried to pretend you were human. That is what they do. They mourn and move on, create distance between the one that had died. As after all, even a great wizard needed to greet his death like a well-earned slumber. But, after 50 years you realised something. Humans do not spend the better part of a thousand years with the ones they love. You needed to honour the man that picked you up when you scraped your knees running with the hounds. Or the man who had hidden you when you had torn the heart from a man the first time.

Ah, to be 13 again.

Even when you had lost control, tearing flesh from man and woman. Howling and biting for the throats of the innocent. He had taken you in by the hearth. Swaddled you and washed the blood clean. Soft and stern like only a father of a disobeying child would be. A child who did not know why they disobeyed so.

That was the time before the amulet hung by your breast. He was the reason you were in control. You had returned the favour well, helping him through 17 wives and what must have been scores of little spawn.

You wanted to be able to tell him of his descendants. Where to start? You still kept an eye on a select few, the ones that had more of his blood running through them than most.

“That small one,” you started suddenly,” with the red hair, Ronny? He found his soulmate. He was ordering his coffee, looking though his wallet for a tip for the jar when the girl asked for his name. She was sweet looking; not too tall. And then they locked eyes.”

You sighed and leaned onto the pillar beside you. A soulmate was a beautiful thing. It meant that the universe and the realms had converged in such a way that you were near enough to feel them.

Perrin had never found his, nor had you. Two with such a long life, surviving with the knowledge that the universe preferred you alone.

For those that are mostly or all human, It’s a warm feeling. They can feel what the air is like to breath from the others lungs for a brief moment. Then it turns into a warm and comforting hum. That’s the way others had described it to you.

Love was apparently pleasant and warm. Or, at the very least, human love. Kind and simple.

You watched as a print had made its burn onto the skin behind Ronny's ear. No doubt where his new loves hand would fall many times as she kissed his freckled face.

Why you had been so long without a soulmate was baffling. Most of the time, even immortals found their own. If they tended to be mortal, Death made an exception. They’re ‘record’ seemed to be lost, and they mistakenly were taken to the wrong realm it seemed.

Lightening cracked, illuminating the large manor beyond the treeline. Wind picked up as you waited for the thunder to hit. In those seconds the wind seemed to still. You looked back at what was now a grave.

“I’m so sorry.”

Tears seemed to jerk from your eyes as a single sob ripped into your chest, rattling the amulet that was tucked beneath your collar. And the flood gates opened. The next sob was met with the crash of the thunder, wind flew through the bell tower, finally warning you it was time to go.

Yet, you couldn’t. Not yet.

“Five more minutes, old friend. I owe you that much.”

Years passed.

You travelled far and wide, half a century had passed before you felt the pull back to Perrin and his resting place.

You had finally made your way back to the town that was once small and meek, now booming with wealth and prosperity thanks to the attraction that became the Burgess house. It had always made you queasy that thing, it seemed to call to you, then shun you away with the same breath.

A warning and a plea.

Perrin had often told you to not meddle in the affairs of folk that believed they had more power than they did. It wasn’t worth risking those that would bring a godling to harm.

But yet, you had always wondered about the rumours the poor folks in the pubs spouted at you.

“A devil.” They would slur. “An’ if yer’ not careful, he’ll gobbl’ you up and ne’er spit you out!”

You had felt bad for most of them, they would never know what a true devil was. Although some of the ones that were on the handsier side you hoped would taste a portion of the devils wrath. For now, you sat at the pub at the bottom of the street, as you had so many times. Every so often flitting back in when you were confident that you would not be sought after as a witch and burned at the stake.

Again.

Now you stood before the stone building, holding an old leather bag and watching the flapper women gleefully run towards cars awaiting to take them to the Magus. It was still slightly familiar, it had not been quite long enough for the building to shake the last of the century off just yet. The doorway still held those designs from the last visit, although it seemed several layers of paint had been slopped over them.

You sat by the door, shrugging off your obnoxiously large, old coat, which was by now more patches than the real deal, harshly shoving it between you and the hard seat back as a cushion. Slipping into the seat you placed your bag by your feet, pulling an old notebook bound in leather from its innards.

“’ello, miss!”

You glance up at a kindly older gentlemen, his eyebrows slightly unruly. His nose was large, almost as though a cauliflower had been plopped in the centre. Above that his glasses fell slightly askew, doubting they did much as he was still squinting at you merrily. He was dressed cosily, a vest and woollen jumper hugged him tight. Though it did nothing to hide the finger marks that peeked from the sleeve. What would have been a bright scarred colour was now a dull grey.

A lost soul, you thought.

“Just a pint of the freshest you have, please,” You answered.

He seemed to understand and cheerfully chatted to another at the bar as he poured. You went back to the notes. Reading over a few runes that you had found in some abandoned building not far from here. You could see what they were going for. A few tweaks and they may have successfully summoned something.

As you saw the movement of the barkeep turn back towards you, the sky exploded.

Blue and black shook the windows angrily. Sand and grass flew through doors that were flung wide open like mouths. A few of the lights on the streets shattered and sparked, only to blacken the streets moments later.

Chaos erupted. A few that had been holding drinks nearer to their mouths spat glass and ale mixed with red. You had been thrown to the floor, napkins and coasters flying past your head.

What was this power? This anger that you felt screaming through every part of your being. You clutched at the amulet under your shirt as your heart seemed to pick up to match the heartbeat in the wind. Closing your eyes for a moment before you managed to scramble to your feet. The wind still pushed at the backs of your knees. Almost as though willing you to bend before it. To kneel.

You watched as others started to come to a sense of realisation that the world wasn’t ending. Burgess house was probably at it again. They all did their best to close windows and doors. Bundle the injured up and out to the back where windows were less frequent. Others just continued to drink. To grumble out a harsh:

“Always knew those doors were shoddy.”

But they couldn't feel it, couldn’t grasp the absolute rage that had freed itself into the room. It was still ebbing and flowing and screaming. Even if the wind had flown on to the next victim.

You cautiously approached the ghost of what was once a window, glancing upwards at the path that was well paved and still well lit, compared to the dark streets outside the door that were missing bricks. You watched a gust pick up the leaves and branches at the entrance. Framed by beautiful arches of life that seemed to answer the call. You knew it was through there. The Burgess estate.

Perhaps it was time to venture past those borders and visit the Magus.

A small tingling on your chest made you look down. Black grains sank beneath your skin, your breath caught and you stumbled back to your chair. Hearing the kind old man calling out politely as you felt your hands go numb. Your nose felt cold and your knees fell stiff.

The necklace chain you had worn for centuries seemed to scream away from your neck as pain ripped through your back. The power you had felt just before punching through to your heart as a scream tore its way from your throat. You could barely afford to breath as a pain as hot as a branding iron slashed at the base of your throat.

You finally fell, finding the strength to open your eyes, you curled in on yourself. You could just make it out, golden sand flowed from what seemed to be the glow of fire in your neck. The tears that blurred your vision seemed to evaporate as soon as they found your lashes.

You began to question just how much more you could take, the sand felt cool on your skin as the fiery feeling raged on.

You did not know how long it lasted, nor did you wish to know, but the calls and shouts from the pub patrons were mere buzzing in your brain. You knew there were hands on you. Knew there were people clawing through the sand to clear you from it. And yet all you could feel was the presence of anger and power that ripped you to shreds.

As soon as it started. It ceased to be.

The smouldering ache left almost immediately, but in it’s stead it left a wanting. You felt as though you had ice on your throat that you would never be able to warm. For now, a welcome contrast but in the coming years, it would prove maddening.

You gasped and threw yourself away from the sand beneath you. Scurrying backwards on your hands with a new found energy. Panic induced adrenaline seemed to be a hell of a drive. When your back hit the bottom of the bar you stalled, eyes wide and panting. In the middle of the room was now a pile of sand that seemingly glowed under the light.

Dragging your gaze from a very human shaped mark on the floor you looked at the people hovering around. Concern, disgust, fear. One woman even had a hat pin aimed in your direction.

The new silence deafened you, and you found the energy to try and stand. Clumsily you stumbled to your things, attempting to grab your bag and coat before you, so gracefully, ran away. You could hear the people around you starting to move again and you wanted to be gone before some poor police officer was sent this way.

Your skin felt like ice and you just wanted to be away from here. Before you could escape, however, you caught your reflection in the window of the doors. Your eyes were red, small splotches of blood hung by your lash line and nose.

And a hand print had snugly found it’s way around your throat. The skin around it still angry and bright. Your breath caught in the back of your throat.

You needed to get the fuck out of here.

Not far away from where the pub now shook, the Endless sat, statuesque and tall. All muscle and bone, seemingly as healthy as when he first fell. Alex dared not venture past the frame of the door. Not this time. He simply peered through the bars, avoiding the light that would catch on the beings prison and cast shadows over the floor.

There he was, the dream.

Shrouded by the glass that could not quite allow him to hear well enough to make out the goings on upstairs. To hear the fact that above them, the Magus laughed and rejoiced with those that buckled beneath his feet. This was a natural occurrence for Alex, staring at the pale man whilst he heard the guards bicker about something stupid.

He was in awe of this monster, as he always had. But awe can be overshadowed by fear. As much as the Magus, his father, believed it would finally bestow him his brother back, Alex could not be so sure the creature would comply.

And that’s all he was now. A creature in the silence that seemed to breathe slower and slower as the years passed. His bird like torso almost still. Almost as though he had forgotten that he needed to to breathe.

Alex could hear a ruckus from up the stairs. No doubt another fight had broken out after too much liquor and swapping women. The old stairs behind him flew dust down at his feet. A wind that didn’t exist scraping over the ancient walls near his face. Roderick was probably up to no good again. At least, that’s what Alex had hoped.

He was not able to think on the subject any longer as he turned his attention back to Dream. He had slightly moved from his position. Now his face basked slightly upward and his eyes cast to the ceiling. Furrowed brow and pursed lips as his eyes seemed to melt into starlight.

“Always freaks me out when he moves.” One of the guards grumbled with a clink of a coffee cup. Just out his eye line he knew that the men were lounged quite comfortably. Against the Magus’ wishes.

The other let a grunt in response as he stood, footsteps edging close to the glass ball.

“’es stopped now, eh?” He could make out a shoulder coming into view, and Alex ducked up a few of the steps, trying not to crunch the stone beneath his dress shoes. The silence that followed seemed to be enough of an answer as the shoes clacked back towards the table.

Alex felt the floor seemingly fall from under him as he slipped, the guard let out shocked “OI!” as it seemed they had felt the same. Alex's’ attention immediately turned to the door again. Scrambling back to his knees he peeked back through the bars as the glass prison seemed to fill with some sort of wind. Impossibly harsh, throwing the Endless about against the walls.

He didn’t seem too phased as he let the current take him left to right, he seemed amused almost. Intrigued. The guards started to scramble, talking about Roderick and if they should go get him. Alex at this point wasn’t scared of being found, all he could do was watch.

Because the Endless lord started to SCREAM.

The first sound he had uttered in such a long time. His voice had not been used for such an age that it seemed to not quite reach it’s peak. It was hoarse and pained, Alex shot upwards, tempted to throw the gate open and barge in. Still wishing no harm onto him.

The dark hair fell over his eyes that now screwed shut as he clutched at his right hand. A golden light spreading over the palm, the muscles rippled through his chest and back. Changing what was once a relaxed canvas of skin, into a map of veins and tendon.

The glow seemed to fill the prison with warmth that the cellar had not felt in a long time. Alex could feel it on his face and hands as they clutched at the metal. But alas, the light was short lived as the glow was snuffed out by red.

Blood began pouring through his palm, by the bucket load.

The screams were higher now, more desperate as his toes disappeared into the thick warmth. By the time it had stopped, Dream had slumped backwards, trying to find footing as he tired. His feet were now gone. He sloshed as he attempted to stand, below his ankles were hidden from view.

He seemed to trip. Putting his hands out to steady himself, his right hand pressed against the glass. Alex’s eyes almost burst from his skull, his heart dropping with them. For there, in the Endless’ palm, was the print of another. Smaller, slightly more curved and delicate than his own.

I’ll be damned. He thought. Even the fucking Sandman gets one.

The riot came to an end and he heard one of the guards grunting to climb to his feet. It was time to leave. Turning on his heel, not without sparing one last look at the burn on the beings hand, and ran.

#the sandman #morpheus x reader #lord morpheus #the sandman netflix #fanfic #dream x reader #dream of the endless #x reader #slow burn #soulmates #soulmate au

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the-illiterate-pirate · 1 year

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Hey :) please can I request a oneshot with a female reader with the idea that kars, wammu and esidisi fell in love with and dated a human woman before they went into hibernation. Thank you for your time and have a great day :)

Hi and thank you for the request!! It's so nice to see your asks in the inbox. Happy to get this one out so soon but I'm afraid this one's a little short, hopefully I can make it up to you in the next request <3

Pillow Talk

I couldn't think of a better title. Notes include: fluff(?) fem reader/pronouns, man children, reader is a "hostage" but she's cool with it

Esidisi whined, "You're hogging her."

"I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about." Kars feigned.

"She hasn't left your lap since nightfall." Wamuu added, never breaking his bow and never looking away from the ground, too fearful to look his lord in the eye.

Uncomfortably, you squirmed in Kars' lap. A large hand of his left its rest to settle over your hip immediately, fueling Esidisi's tearful complaints and slowly feeding into Wamuu's growing jealousy of his master. This was his first time feeling such a powerful, such a human emotion, he grew worried if even his masters could feel the heated greed coming off of him in waves.

"You enjoy my lap, isn't that correct, dear?" Kars' silky voice whispered in your ear. Still worried over your own safety while sitting in between wha felt like three hungry wolves, you stayed silent.

"A unanimous yes!"

"That isn't how that works!" Esidisi finally snapped, "She should decide who she would like to lay with! She must be tired of your greedy claws sinking into her skin!"

Kars frowned in anger. Silently, he moved in his seat, mulling over what has been said. Finally he decided. Rather unflatteringly, he kicked you out of his lap, almost sending you flying into the hard ground if it wasn't for Wammu's arms that caught you. Esidisi yelled at Kars, meanwhile Wamuu was just glad to feel you in his hold.

"Fine, the woman can decide with whom she wants to stay with." Kars ignored the other lords ranting, "Well then, take your pick. Just remember who you're wedded to." He then smiled menacingly. Just then as if to agree, the ring holding your poison squeezed around your trachea. You weren't sure if Kars had the ability to do it himself or if it was just your breathing picking up pace.

"It was just like this before! All those years ago with the first human!" Esidisi screeched, sending your eyes rolling back into your head. It was a common story to hear. No one ever specified who the woman was, it was only hints at what used to be, a bride shared by the last of the remaining Pillar Men, probably nothing more than dust at this point, but it came up frequently when Kars was manhandling you and refusing to let go.

You tuned out their arguing, melting into Wamuu's arms instead. Unlike Kars, there was a softness to Wamuu's touch that you enjoyed.

You tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "What's the matter, mistress?" He asked softly.

"I'm tired." It came out with a involuntary yawn to prove your point.

"Would you like me to take you to your resting room?"

The innocent question sparked the attention of his two masters. They stopped their fighting to stare at you, in his arms. "What do you think you're doing?" Kars asked. Wamuu froze still, nervous of the cold stares. "Our lady would like to sleep." He said plainly.

"Oh, my lovely orchid, would you like to lay in my arms tonight? I can keep you warm." Esidisi purred as he came closer, a hand coming up to brush your hair.

"You'll boil her blood." His superior countered with venom. "She can sleep with me. I won't do such a thing."

If only looks could kill.

"I think she should stay with me." Wamuu smiled, "You both are two strong, I am much more gentle, you'll only snap her in two."

His masters looked lost, Wamuu had a point. It was almost humorous how quick these three could switch up their emotions. If only you weren't so tired, you would've teased them farther. But now wasn't the time for it.

The room fell silent once you jumped out of Wamuu's arms. You grabbed his hand and Esidisi's in the other, and gestured to Kars to follow. Confused but eager to see what you were getting at, they followed. They trailed you into the 'bed' room (it resembled an animal nest more than a bed, but it was comfortable). It was where you slept ever since they took you as a trophy of their first battle won in the new world. For being just a hostage, they treated you nicer then Joseph and Caesar during their battle. Maybe it was because you weren't a hamon user like them, and the Pillar Men had some decency. Or maybe it had to do with that wife from the past? Maybe you reminded them of her. Did they think of you as a replacement? That was a little disheartening.

"Sit." You commanded Esidisi. He settled down in the blankets and duvets, you settling between his legs, Esidisi looking pleased with himself. As for Wamuu, you asked him to lay next to Esidisi's lap, patting your thighs for him to rest his head on. And for Kars, he accompanied your other side, snaking an arm around you to force your face into his chest.

"Hmph. This isn't ideal... but it will suffice." He murmured into your hair. You used him like a pillow, a hand subconsciously running through Wamuu's short hair as you drifted off. Their combined heat was comfortable, and Kars' chest was soft enough.

His eyes drifted down to Wamuu, perfectly content with your hand in his hair, and Esidisi behind you happy to have you in his lap. He huffed and closed his eyes again. Pillar Men didn't need something as useless as sleep like lowly humans, but he'd play pretend this once if it kept you happy. Soon again he'd have you back into his arms.

#jjba x reader #kars x reader #esidisi x reader #wamuu x reader #jojo no kimyou na bouken #jjba #battle tendency

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bestworstcase · 6 months

Text

now, i’ll be the first to admit: humans are the worst. […] so i understand why you would love to see us all locked away, or better yet, killed. but before the claws come out, i’d like to mention the fact that you and i all have a common enemy: the ones in control. the people pulling the strings. the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdom. government, military—even the schools. they’re all to blame for your lot in life, and they’re all pests that need to be dealt with; fortunately, i’m the best exterminator around.

oh.

how does it feel, knowing that all of your time and effort has been for nothing? that your guardians have failed you? that everything you’ve built will be torn down before your very eyes? your faith in mankind was not misplaced: when banded together, unified by a common enemy, they are a noticeable threat. but divide them, place doubt into their minds, and every semblance of power they once had will wash away.

her plan isn’t to divide people. if she really was unstoppable, she wouldn’t have acted with such caution until now; she knows we’re a threat—she does. and she knows she can’t take down the huntsman academies alone, nor will it matter if the culture ozma inculcated in the kingdoms remains.

why does salem smile while she listens to the amity broadcast?

the white fang, the atlesian drones, even the grimm themselves have all been controlled and manipulated by her, in order to tear down the huntsman academies. […] i know the idea of maidens and relics seems, well… crazy, but i promise professor goodwitch of beacon and headmaster theodore shade can verify all of this. they might even be able to help organize a way to fight back! but sadly, general ironwood can no longer be trusted.

ruby didn’t just reveal salem’s existence to the world. she also told the whole world that salem wants to tear down the huntsman academies, that those academies were the pillars of a massive conspiracy, and that one of the three remaining heads of those academies is their enemy.

this is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to men who claim to be our guardians, but are in reality, nothing more than men. our academies’ headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. they cling to this power in the name of peace. […] perhaps ozpin felt as though defeating atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect vale when the grimm invaded its streets; or perhaps this is his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. […] i know that the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. […] our kingdoms are on the brink of war, and yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark.

refugees from mantle are going to pour into vacuo with tales of android soldiers on every corner, crumbling gaps in the city wall, atlas leaving them to die when the grimm attacked, ironwood threatening to bomb them out of existence for the sake of that relic. (and how many of them will remember that when atlas abandoned them, salem left them alone?)

refugees from atlas will have stories of sitting alone and unguarded in subway tunnels, listening to the general declare his intention to take mantle out of the equation instead of doing anything to protect them. (how many will remember that the grimm did not follow them into the subway stations?)

help will be pouring in from mistral and vale, which no longer have huntsmen academies, and from menagerie, which never participated in the huntsmen system in the first place. the promised threat of salem will not materialize.

what happens next, in a kingdom that already had a popular insurgency against shade academy only a few months ago?

#salem united the world against the gods once. she’ll do it again.

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codenameredkrystalmatrix · 5 months

Text

Starting a Family (Pillar Men Headcannons)

Part One- Santana

Should he...tell you? Male humans were not able to sense their mate's pregnancy, so maybe that would disturb you too much. But his reaction to when you eventually told him must have been lacklustre, judging by your response.

"You knew already, didn't you?"

"I was not sure how to express it."

You laughed a little, shaking your head.

He doesn't care about the gender. The fact that there is a little life inside you is wonderful and fascinating enough for him. His body was strong, adaptable, and designed to destroy. But yours nurtured and nourished another. He'd never experience that directly, but he wants to be as much a witness to it as possible. His preferred sleeping position shifts down. His head rests near your stomach, so he can lay a warm, careful hand on top. He always wants to rub and nuzzle and touch it to check in on them.

"They want you to sing to them."

"How do you- alright, Santana. You and you Pillar Man senses."

He wouldn't let anything happen to the two of you. Santana is a professional at getting you whatever you need before you realize you needed it. And he does it all with a feather-light touch.

After delivery, he is fixated on the child- so much so that it scares the medical staff. And the moment he holds them, you see him light up in a way you've never seen before. In caring for them, Santana is incredibly hands-on. He studies their behaviour constantly, and learns their tells, quirks and even kinds of cries. He does everything he can for your child: scanning the area, clearing absolutely everything out of their way and staring at just about anyone in a one-mile radius.

But as they grow, you remind him that they need to go out into the world- find their place, and build their own relationships. It's a mixed bag of emotions for the both of you. You feel a little pang in your chest at the thought. And Santana gets twitchy and tense, especially when they're at school and he can't sense them nearby. Their bond is strong, and he knows they'd have to drift apart a little. This almost makes him want to hide, though he'd always loved to discover.

Knowing this initial stage is temporary hurts him. He'd value it for as long as he could. You'd comfort each other with the reminder that, though physical closeness would not always be possible, there were many ways of reminding your little one you loved them.

Part Two- Wamuu

Part Three- Esidisi

Part Four- Kars

#jjba #jjba fluff #santana jjba

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danddymaro · 2 years

Text

JOJO'S Masterlist

[ Links in Blue ◍◍◍

important detail / Ratings in Pink ◍◍◍ ]

We'll go by parts order

Phantom Blood

Dio Brando

Dio Brando X Reader | of course, she likes Jonathan first. Story. Unfinished.

Battle Tendency

Caesar Zeppeli

Never | The reader had been taken by one of the pillar men, and she waits for Caesar to save her | Word Count: 465

Perfection | He thinks she’s prefect | 100 words

Kars

Belonging To Me | [ Smut ] Kars Falls for a Normal Woman.| Word Count: 1415

Disgraced | [ light smut / Dub-con ] AU where Kars wins, The (Hamon user) reader is left at his mercy. | Word Count: 737

Hiding | The reader being insecure while intimate with Kars | Word count: 755

Love | reader is human, obviously. Kars version of Fluff and love | Word count: 1024

Show me | A Stand user Interacting With Kars after he lands on earth. No romance, just an interaction | Word count: 678

Underground Gem | He’s her weakness, and vice versa // He adores his little human. | Word Count: 1346

Santana

Beautiful | Meeting Santana and being instantly drawn to him. A situational thing. | Word Count: 657

Wammu

First time |Their first time together | Word Count: 739

A strange Feeling | Wammu feels a strange feeling invade him as he lays with the reader | Word Count: 493

Yours | He’s a sucker for her | Word count: 100 / Drabble

Stardust Crusaders

First encounter | SDC drabble. Her first encounter with the Crusaders | No ships

DIO

It’s Fate | During SDC. (f/n) seemed so familiar to him, he couldn’t help but feel that it was fate. Mentions of Part 1 | word count: 1149

Hol Horse

Coward | He is a coward

Jean Pierre Polnareff

Sleep | slight comfort. The reader finally gets some sleep. Also, We don’t like Dio here lol. | Word count: 2183

Carry | Polnareff offers to carry the reader. Short and sweet. | Words: 484

Young and in Love | As the title implies. Sweet, cheeky, corny, young love | Word count: 1464

Before I Go | Set during Part 5. AU Where sweet Baby Polnareff doesn’t get fucked and instead gets a happy ending, surviving Diavolo. [ Kind of, sorta angsty] | Word count: 2395

Come Back To Me |Polnareff being transformed into a child by Alessi | Word Count: 901

Thankfulness | Aftermath of the final battle with DIO. Angsty but ends well. Romance? Perhaps more friendmance?? (IDEK lol) |Word count: 2299

Kakyoin Noriyaki

A Little Thank You| He has something as A little thanks for her concern. Nori being a tease. | Word count: 414

Your Friend | Kakyoin being transformed into a child by Alessi. sweet comfort. Genuine friendship. | word count: 1136

Diamond Is Unbreakable

Rohan Kishibe

Stubborn | Rohan admits his feelings while almost losing his (F/n) thanks to kira and in his mind, Josuke too. Serious Jealousy | Word count: 3451

Sweet Annoyance |The reader is brought into the world without any memories or recollection of the past, + It’s easy to assume wild shit like this wouldn’t happen to Rohan. (◍˃̶ᗜ˂̶◍)ﾉ” | Wordcount: 2735

Yoshikage Kira

Existing | He’s starting to realize that perhaps there’s much more to her than her hands. | Warning: Smut/ NSFW | Obv. A bit sick. The reader is basically kidnapped lol |Word Count: 5044

Going Out | He’d rather live his life quietly, stay out of the public eye. But she knew a way to tweak his heart. He just wants to please her. Part 2 to Existing | Word Count: 538

Golden Wind

Bruno Bucciarati

[ Doodles with Bruno nd OC ]

Smile | somewhat NSFW nothing Too crazy | Wordcount: 849

Kisses From Bruno |This is How Kisses from Bruno go // somewhat nsfw | Wordcount: 590

Loving Pet |Someone Pet play // Sub reader // somewhat SFW // Nothing crazy | Word Count: 380

Unconventional | Bruno Loving Both Leone and the reader SFW| Word Count: 691

Abbacchio Being Overprotective of His Younger Sister |Abba Being Overprotective of his Younger sister. The ending is Bruno x Reader | Word Count: 365

Bruno Finding Out About A Secret Child With The Reader | After Part 5 // Family means so much to him | Word Count: 1335

Diavolo

Bring Her to Me | Diavolo sending Doppio for the reader // Short and not so sweet | Word Count: 391

His | Possessive Diavolo // Started off as an imagine where the man is a serious kitty eater, and then, well, I just kept going! | word count: 1,114

Leone Abbacchio

[ Fanart with OC and Abba ]

Unplanned and unexpected | Reader likes kids// wants kids// is loved by them. Abba being Abba, so kinda sulky in a way. ( poor thing needs love.) | Word count: 3688

Replay | NSFW // Abba using his stand for, Well, dirty purposes. So, he might be a little perverse here // sorry | word count: 1474

Kisses from Leone |This is How Kisses from Leone go | word count: 583

Denial |SMUT : Cockwarming / Edging // 1% fluff. // word count : 1225

Mind Your own Business | Abbacchio being Jealous, overprotective, and chasing guys away, all while still being in denial | Word Count: 1241

Resistance | After the fight With Illuso Abbacchio can no longer hold back | Word count: 3229

Loving in His own way |Ways Abba shows his love | Word Count: 1273

Little Series W/ Leone and a child. Oh the flurr. I love the idea of this man and a little girl!!

Abbacchio Finding Out About A Secret Child With The Reader | Word Count: 3031

Returning home | The reader makes the trip back home greeted by none other than the man she’d left behind |Word Count: 1711

Playing Princess | Abba playing princess tea party with his daughter | word count: 938

Abbacchio’s Daughter meeting Giorno | Abba’s Daughter meeting Giorno because why not. lol | word count:1422

Giorno Giovanna

Thank You | It’s not romantic, but sweet. Comfort and love for this child | Word count: 1066

#jojo bizarre adventure #masterlist #jojo kimyou na bouken

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starry-blue-echoes · 1 year

Note

Hc the includes vampire Jotaro au and Grandpa wham au. (Also playing off that previous ask someone sent that wham and Jotaro are very close)

(So i want to say ive talked about this concoeg a bit before but honestly i don’t remember)

But idea is the pillar men are like natural predators to vampire and so vampires are just like instinctively afraid of pillar men.

So SDC happens and by the end of it Jotaro gets turned into a vampire and after the ordeal is first sorted through and things are a bit calmed down Jotaro goes to his grandfather Wham for comfort and only find himself afraid. He has never in is life been scared of wham. Logically he knows wham would never hurt him, he knows he loves him and would do anything to protect him.

And yet he want to run, to hide to get as far away from this man as possible. He tries to hide these feelings but it’s obvious that something is wrong. Jotaro is tense and skittish in a way he has never been before. Extremely guarded. He wont relax. He wont even touch wham and (whether subconsciously or not) is staying at least arms distance away at all times.

At first wham thinks its due to everything he has been through but Jotaro doesnt act like that around anyone else and as time passes its not getting better if anything its getting worse. Jotaro find reasons to see wham less in less.

Eventually the truth comes out and wham is devistated to have one of his loved ones so scared of him but things do get better. It takes time but Jotaro trusts him despite what his instincts tell him and eventually things become normal again he is able to relax and be calm around wham, but deep down that nagging fear still lingers.

(Also bonus for dhampir gio, when gio is introduced to the family he is wants nothing to do with wham, being only half vampire the feeling isnt as strong but still he ends up subconscious hiding behind bruno(he came for emotionally support) when they were in the same room)

I think joylne wouldnt get the same feeling because she grew up with wham so the instinctual fear never really developed. Kinda how animals raise in captivity dont fear humans.

Y E S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S

oh Jotaro is going to feel AWFUL about this. Not only has his humanity been stolen but he's now also terrified of one of the few people he trusted with comfort. He wants Wammu to hug him and hold him and tell him everything will be okay but the mere thought of being in the same room as him, let along touching him, is enough to terrify him nearly as badly as the thought of hurting anyone

however...... at the same time this terror is going to serve as a weird comfort. That there's one person he'll be unable to hurt, one person who would be able to stop him incase he became uncontrollable. It absolutly shatters Wammu heart one day when he hears Jotaro ask him to kill him because just...... Wammu has seen Jotaro grow up. Has seen him as a small helpless infant, has seen him smile and laugh and cry and yell, has seen him be turned into a monster of his father's making, and despite that has seen him hold strong to his humanity and refuse to let go

While Wammu does agree to Jotaro's request, he swears to himself that he would do everything in his power to prevent it from happening

eventually Jotaro learns to suppress his instincts. Just like the hunger, he locks it away in a little box and shoves it into the deepest, darkest corner of his mind. And just like the hunger it never fully goes away, lingering as a constant remind of what he is, but it becomes easier to ignore. The first time he's able to touch Wammu, even though it was just for a fleeting moment, he almost cries. When he's able to hug him again, he does

And I had a fun idea for Part 5: what if Jotaro ends up being the one to stay with Bucciarati this time. After all, he has no idea Jolyne exists and wouldn't have many things stopping him from staying. He's already doing his schooling at home, cares for Bucciarati like a sibling, and he knows his Grandpa Wammu has a limited amount of time with his other grandparents left. Besides..... he wants more out of his life than staying in the dark of his mom's house. His mental health is doing better, and he's reached a point where as much as Dio's ruined his life, he still wants to live it. Italy would be able to give him a change of scenery

I also checked the timeline and for once I don't have to shuffle things around/flat out ignore them. Paolo was attacked the same year Jolyne was born, meaning there is MORE than a big enough window for Jotaro and Marina to conceive her and him later moving to Italy

Bucciarati doesn't know all the details. Just that 3 years ago Holly got really sick, and when she got better Jotaro got sick with something else that made him kinda like Uncle Wammu and he stopped calling for a few months. It's definitely an adjustment with Jotaro being the one to watch him, but they make things work and are happy

and also what if he just...... never fully explains to the Bucci Gang what he is. He just becomes Bucciarati's Weird Sorta Freaky Brother/Guardian Who We're Pretty Sure Is A Stand User But Also We Haven't Seen Him Eat. Or Sleep. At All.

on the plus side, come this AUs version of Part 5 Jotaro is ready to completely annihilate these assholes

also, while Wammu is definitely going to be heartbroken another child is afraid of him, Jotaro is going to be a good help with getting Giorno used to him. Things are made more more and less difficult by the fact that this is their first meeting. More because Giorno has no familiarity to build off of, but also less because there aren't going to be the wildly conflicting emotions making things more confusing which Jotaro had to deal with

and with Jolyne, technically she'd be in the same boat as Giorno. Since nobody knew she existed until Stone Ocean when she was 19 she wouldn't have known Wammu at all. At the very least, things are made easier by how being an almost fully matured adult, his instincts are easier to tune out, so she gets used to Wammu the fastest

(and speaking of the guy, he's very happy that there's not one, but three other people who have extended life times. It's comforting knowing they'll be able to live longer than a regular human and all four of them offer each other a sense of stability in that sense)

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karskilledme · 1 year

Text

Vets Test - Kars x Fem!Reader

Kars decides to test an interesting human he found to see if she is worthy of joining the pillar men in their new world.

Female reader - SFW - Mentions of kidnapping, animal injury (non-graphic, no death), kissing, hair pulling, biting.

3028 words! I love Kars; he needs more content! >:)

Minors and ageless DNI, 18+ only!

Sweat began to bead along my brow, my tongue pinched tightly between my teeth. It was agonizing work but somebody had to do it and why not me? I finished up the sutures on the small pup in front of me. The cruelty of humans never ceased to amaze me; how could we be so cruel to such innocent creatures? It was cases like this that made me reconsider my stance on humanity. I brought the little guy back to his crate and gently laid him upon the sterile bedding.

“Rest up buddy, you’ve got a long road ahead of you.” I whispered, giving him a soft ruffle as I did. Suddenly a chill ran up my spine causing me to snap my head towards the open window behind me. Seemingly there was nothing there besides the now rising moon and the chirping of crickets. Still put off, I shut the window and drew the blinds. 'Seems it’s past my bedtime, I’m imagining things now!’

Unbeknownst to you there had indeed been someone outside. Concealed within the shadows stood a rather imposing figure. A 6’ something man made of little else but muscle had been watching you. Humans made little sense to him; their simple brains bred cruelty into the fiber of their being. Seeing you break that mold and show what appeared to be genuine, unmotivated goodness was something that intrigued him. Compassion was rare amongst humans especially towards animals.

As he watched you work with great speed and precision an idea formed in his head. A test would be performed. He would test the limits of your care, see if you really were what you portray yourself to be. Humans usually only went so far and usually not any farther than their own comfort. It was decided. He would bring to you any injured animals he found and if he deemed you worthy he would find a place for you in the new world he built. As he came to his conclusion, he’d watched you slam the window shut. Turning to leave he threw one last glance towards your dwelling and spoke, “Prepare (Y/N), for I will see if you’re worthy or nothing more than fodder for my kind.”

I awoke to a sharp knocking. It could only be what, 5 in the morning judging by the still set sun. What could someone possibly need that’s so urgent? Begrudgingly I stepped into my slippers and made my way to the front door.

“Hello, what is it?” I muttered out whilst rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My heart lurched as I saw the injured pup thrust in front of me. I looked up to see an actual giant before me. His head was wrapped tightly with a black cloth but his face was unobscured.

“I heard you’re in the business of helping animals. A couple of low lifes were kicking this fellow when I found him. Can you be of service to him?” He spoke. His voice was deep and monotone, his pronunciation and cadence led me to believe he wasn’t from here, maybe not even from this time. I swiftly but carefully scooped the puppy from his outstretched hands and cradled him in my grasp. “Of course I can sir! It would be my pleasure!” Without another moment wasted I brought him back to my makeshift exam table. He was conscious but clearly in pain. I hardly noticed as the tall man entered beside me and loomed in the corner as I was quickly to work.

I watched with great attention the small hands of the woman in front of me. I could smell the combo of anxiety and adrenaline releasing from her pores. Her brows were tightly knit and her tongue poked slightly from her plump lips. Despite the high levels of stress I could read from her she moved with a level of precision and care that was far above most. (E/C) eyes darted from tool to dog and back again as she used every tool in her arsenal to repair the helpless creature before her.

It only took an hour for her to finish doctoring the creature. As she wiped her brow, I rose from my seat to stand beside her.

“Fine work, you’re skilled indeed.” I spoke. Blending in with society was a necessary part of my plans and thus human dialogue was necessary. She jumped slightly at my words, had she not even noticed my presence? Typical human, always so unaware and careless. Her eyes met mine, unaware that she was looking the ultimate being in the eye.

“Thank you, I’m just glad I was able to help him. He seems like a good pup!” She paused briefly to glance at the now wiggly thing. “You said you found him? He must not have a home then…”

I hummed in affirmation while studying the clearly conflicted look on her face. She gripped her chin and stared at the floor. “And I don’t suppose you want to take him?”

At that I couldn’t help but chuckle. Sure, I was fond of living things non-human but the only pets I would tolerate were those of use, usually vampires or pliable humans. “Unfortunately not, I’ve no time for creatures who demand so much care. I did stay to introduce myself however.” I paused briefly, holding my hand to my puffed chest, dipping my chin towards her ever so slightly. “I am Kars, you may address me as Lord Kars.”

Her face softened ever so slightly; her frown replaced with a small smile. She curtsied, “A great pleasure to make your acquaintance Lord Kars.” Electricity ran through my spine as my name rolled off her tongue. Her (E/C) mooning up at me through her lashes was no help either. There was nothing quite like a beautiful human that knew its place.

She straightened and turned back towards the dog with a sigh.

“I guess I’ll just have to find a home for him in town. Until then he can stay with me.” She packed the puppy up in a spare crate and turned towards me once again.

“Thank you for bringing him to me, you likely saved his life! I’m sure he’s very grateful.” As she said this, she took my hand in hers and placed a chaste kiss upon it. My desire to be served and worship benefited greatly from the unexpected action so her familiarity with me would be excused for now.

“It was no trouble for me. I’m glad to protect nature and its creatures from vile scum when I can.” I mused. “However I must be going now, the sun will rise soon.”

A few weeks had passed since my initial encounter with Kars and nothing had been easy since. A new animal seemed to appear at my doorstep every morning, always before sunrise and never with an owner. Fixing them up was the easy part but homing them proved to be a challenge. Luckily, I had housed all but one, an elderly cat with no eyes and one and half ears. I called her Grammy as I figured she’d likely not be leaving for awhile and to exist without a name was quite a sad thing. When Grammy was delivered to my doorstep she had a familiar black fabric wrapped around her head eye patch style. The fabric led me to suspect the sudden influx of animals was due to Kars. While I was very touched to be trusted with such an important job it was wearing thin on me financially. Thus I decided to wake up extra early to catch the man in the act.

My alarm began to ring at the ripe hour of 4AM, Grammy meowing right along with it. Turning it off before I hopped into my slippers and ran to my front door, swinging it open upon contact. ‘Nothing yet’ I stepped out onto the dimly illuminated stoop and sat. ‘Surely I’ll catch him’ I thought to myself as my hand idly ran along Grammys spine.

Only about 20 minutes had passed before I saw the imposing figure approach. As I watched him, I noticed a flight of butterflies in my stomach. His body was chiseled, his skin was a warm brown similar to the color of my morning coffee. ‘And I would drink him up just the same’ My jaw flew open at my own intrusive thought. ‘(Y/N) oh my god where is your brain!?’ I shook my head but couldn’t shake the thought of how suddenly attractive I found him.

As he reached me, I noticed he was lacking a sick or injured animal, he was empty handed actually. Standing at his arrival I did an obnoxious curtsy recalling his requested title,

“Lord Kars, I thought I would see you.” I chirped.

Kars smirked at my words, standing tall and regal before me.

“So, you’ve figured me out human?” He said, his tone low, almost dangerous. Human? His words caught me off guard, what could he mean by them? Not wanting to cause a stink by what might be a simple misunderstanding I continued on.

“I believe I have. You’re the one who's been dropping off all the poor animals.”

He leaned against the awnings pole and chuckled.

“And if I told you I was and that this was all a test, what would you say?”

I pondered this briefly. A test? What kind of test would require me to patch up and rehome so many animals in such a short amount of time?

“I’m not sure I would understand what you mean if I’m being frank.”

Kars stopped leaning on the pole, closing the distance between us. His strong calloused fingers grabbed my chin. He turned my now blushing face from side to side before he was seemingly satisfied.

“Simply put I was testing you.” He pointed at himself before continuing. “You see you and I are entirely different beings. Unfortunately you were born human, a disgusting species of selfish filth. Fortunately however, you seem to be a very rare exception. You’re unlike other humans who are clouded with greed, plagued with ignorance.” He paused again and opened his arms in a grandiose fashion. “You are someone I deem worthy of evolving! Evolving in my image to be greater than your wildest dreams. What would you say to that?” He finished, his arms returning to his side.

His words sank into me but my brain could only spin with confusion. Was this guy being serious, different species? He looks human to me albeit a very sculpted and god-like one but nonetheless human. My lips parted slightly but the thoughts were yet to transfer to words. I met his piercing gaze.

“You say you’re not human? I… I don’t know that I believe you.” I spoke, my words softening as they went. Kars smirked before seeming to materialize behind me. His breath was warm against my neck, a stark contrast to the cool blade that now tickled against my throat. His lips brushed my ear before meeting my neck sending a shock of electricity through my being. He whispered “What do you say about this? Do you know any human who moves as I just did?”

I gulped as the blade retracted into his arm and craned my head to look at him.

“I suppose I’ve never seen anything at all even close to that. I don’t know what to say at all, really.” I paused and bit my bottom lip. His red eyes narrowed at me piercing through me much sharper than his blade ever could have. His gaze wasn’t angry or malicious in nature but I could sense the danger of his very existence, the power of his being and in a way, it excited me.

My eyes felt heavy looking into his, a feeling of both sensuality and submission taking hold of me. He smirked before moving in towards my ear.

“I can smell your excitement (Y/n).” he whispered. His hot tongue flicked against my earlobe before I was met with his eyes again. I couldn’t help but to look at his thick lips and imagine what they’d feel like against mine. Slowly I inched in closer, flickering my eyes up in a silent plea for permission before I felt Kars lips smash into mine. My eyes shot open in shock before easing closed. His large hand grasped my waist while the other cupped my head. The kiss was cut short when suddenly he gripped my (H/L) hair and broke me away from him at an angle that exposed my neck. I was sure he could see my pulse by the way my heart leapt. A sharp pain ripped through me as he bit down into the crook. My eyes began to twinkle with static whilst my fingers dug grip into whatever parts of him they could. Soon the pain subsided and was replaced with a rush of cold before my vision left me.

My head pounded and my body ached. Unable to open my eyes, opting instead to groan and place my hands over them. I felt a soft dip beside me before a familiar old meow graced my ears. Turning to peak just as much as I could force myself to, I was met with the familiar sight of Grammy. A welcome relief. I rolled my sore existence over and stroked her. My brain was suddenly alive with the events that unfolded this morning. My hand shot to my neck where he bit me before quickly pulling it away to look for signs of blood. Nothing. I stood from the bed, which was certainly not mine, and ran to the ornate mirror that hung on the wall. There were no signs of what had occurred. My (S/T) skin was actually the nicest it had ever looked, there was virtually no signs of the weeks of stress I’d just endured let alone the injury.

“What is going on?” I softly questioned.

I turned to the room behind me and saw him, Kars. He was seemingly very amused by my awakening as he wore a shit eating grin whilst leisurely lounging in a grand velvet chair.

“So, you’re finally awake.” He stated, lifting his chin from its resting place on his palm. I stared at him with uncertainty.

“What exactly just happened?” I croaked.

At that he sighed softly. “Humans never just roll with the punches do they? I simply made you the best version of yourself is all. Though you’ll never be quite as elite as myself.” He boasted.

I looked down at myself before shooting a glance at Grammy. “Ok… Well, what do you want from me? Why am I here, where is here?”

Kars stood from his spot and sauntered towards me, a slight sass to his movements. I noticed now, as he approached, a different scent to him. Something very alluring.

“(Y/n), you worry too much. I’m the ultimate being therefore I only make right decisions. All you need to do is relax and tend to your cat as you would have at home. The only difference being that you’re mine now.” His fingers threaded through my hair as he spoke, the world's smallest smile pulling at his lips. I looked at him, a knot growing in my stomach.

“Yours? Is that what you did to me? Are you some kind of vampire?” I questioned. He was putting this much too lightly. Just because he was some attractive god didn’t mean I could just accept being kidnapped. His fingers withdrew from my hair and found their place on my chin once more. His grip pulled me to meet his face directly.

“Exactly, you are mine. I transformed you and marked you as my own. And while you are very close, no, I’m not a vampire though I can show you some.” He paused, seemingly reading my reactions before continuing. “I’m what humans call a Pillar Man. Powerful, near immortal, and more intelligent than the smartest of humans.” My face scrunched up as I took in this new information. His grip loosened but our closeness remained. Though still shaken I couldn’t help but study him. From what I knew of him, he wasn’t so bad despite kidnapping me and turning me non-human without asking. I mean anyone who has compassion for animals was a keeper in my book and he had helped me rescue more animals in the last few weeks then I had helped in the past couple years. Not to mention he was very, very attractive.

I pulled away and sighed. Kars seemed to frown at this and trailed behind me as I absentmindedly walked back to the mirror. I could see him looming over as I looked at myself. “Are you not flattered to be chosen?” He questioned; a hint of irritation evident. I met his gaze in the mirror and shook my head.

“It’s not my intention to insult you, but you’ve got to know that this is a lot to take in. Besides, I barely know you, not to say you seem like a bad guy or unlikeable but still!” I looked at Grammy who seemed to be trying to get a sense of the room. “And what about Grammy! Will she be safe here?” I pointed. Kars glanced at the ancient cat.

“Of course. You’ve yet to meet anyone else here but know that I am the leader and what I say is law. Everyone is under order not to lay a finger on you or the cat.”

A small sense of relief washed over me with that new information and a sense of ease with the man began to grow. Turning to face Kars I pressed my hands to his unclothed chest and looked up at him. The smell I noticed earlier now fully invading my senses. My lids felt heavy again and I found my hands gripping the black wrap he adorned, using it to tug him down. His lips twitched into his signature smirk before finding themselves ravaging mine. I think I could make this work.

#jjba #jjba x y/n #jjba x reader #kars #jjba kars #kars x reader #jjba kars x reader #pillar men #fanfiction #sfw #sfw fanfic #jjba part 2 #HaleyWritesStuff

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noahtally-famous · 8 months

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'supernatural au thingie' 👀?

okay so first: I'm sorry for responding so late, readapting to college life has been quite hectic lmao

secondly: I did not expect this to catch on this much so I’m putting a disclaimer that this is only partially thought up and partially pulled out of my ass, so pls bear with me lmaoo

thanks for the asks and the comments!! and as desired, here it is! (heads up, it's kinda long 😅)

JASMINE: descended from the great women warriors, the mythological Amazons. even without her ancestry, she's truly a pillar of strength, both physically and mentally. people naturally gravitate toward her for reassurance yet are intimidated by her, alike. her ancestry shows in subtler ways, enhancing the skills she already has; her affinity for animals, particularly horses and other riding creatures; the strength and endurance that surpass an ordinary human; her combat skills that outpace even the strongest warrior. because she is a warrior, one who loves traveling, never being tied down, and who advocates for equality. women can be just as courageous as men. however, despite being equivalent to a show of strength and courage, her stature leaves her more of a lone wolf. (now she doesn't mind so much; she has her ragtag group of friends, after all. like, the phantom who's also a corporal human, in the throes of fear (and hatred)--a self-battle--of the opposite side of the creatures of the dead, an elf with a skewed perception of perfection that seeps at her very being like a parasite leaving her near-invisible compared to her sister, even a hunter who doesn't know what she's getting into setting foot in this town, and a seemingly ordinary guy with a lot more unordinary to him much to his utter dismay. it's far from perfect, in fact, with everyone's accumulating problems, things might get worse before they get better. but she's descended from the Amazons. she's a pillar of strength; she's there for them. she'll make sure everyone survives.)

SHAWN: best friends with Jasmine and Sammy; a ‘ghostbuster’ kinda guy except he doesn’t track down ghosts—he tracks down every other dead entity though. the reason? you can’t track down what you already have in you. along with being a hunter of the dead, ironically, Shawn is also a form of phantom. an accident gone terribly wrong, his physical body is never the same again. while he is a corporal human being, he can do the typical things phantasms can: walk through walls, move quicker and smoother, etc. he's a fantastic hider, only wishing to be found when he wants to be or when taken by surprise. it makes sense that he’d also entertain a deep distrust for the undead; ghosts and zombies are on opposite sides of the spectrum after all.

DAVE: an ordinary guy. totally, utterly, completely ordinary. right? yeah, no, that's what he thought (and hoped). he was ordinary, to give him credit, until a mysterious animal attack ("werewolf!" his best friend, Shawn, often whispered. "or a zombie!") caused his dormant unordinary genes to awaken. understandably, it's cruel irony that the one person who prides himself on being totally normal is actually a supernatural being that is the rarest and most abnormal. like a kick to the face, really. harbinger of death? seriously?! bad enough he gets premonitions of death and, on many occasions, though he's learned to control it over time, has to scream it out, but he's also part of the branch of supernatural that's predominant in women. come on, it's in the name, isn't it? banshee. alas for Dave, that isn't the case. he's going to have to learn to live with his oddity--the rarest of them all: being the male version of a banshee; a ban-he. even among the supernatural world, he's given a second glance. an oddity among oddities, concealed until he cannot anymore. (interesting parallel between Shawn and Dave in here, hm? one having a foot at death's door, the other literally being able to see death. makes sense that Dave's one of those few ppl able to find Shawn when he disappears). a tether, an anchor. he has one in the form of the girl he is closest to; he hasn't ever fathomed what would happen to him if anything drastic happened to her. he doesn't want to fathom it. harbingers of death retain emotional connections as a coping mechanism to ground them to reality, it can be hard for them to move on or let go at times; but he needs to learn to do so, to find a better way to survive, or else it will eat him up from the inside.

TOPHER: it makes sense that Topher would be a siren. an alluring way of words that makes the one spoken to preen; compliments upon compliments slowly luring them in. the catch, however, is simple but unconventional. whispers spread of a curse, (though no one knows if it is true and, if so, who was the curser); of the siren who is the epitome of the greek being Narcissus--only focused on himself even as people throw themselves at him. The Narcissus siren Topher puts his ambitions and fame over everything and everyone else; he would do anything to get on top. trust has no place in his worldview; the only person he does trust is himself. his reflection in the water is the only important, the only beautiful being, and if anyone dares cause some ripples, he'll make sure they regret it.

LEONARD: he's a fairly simple one. with a staff in hand, a penchant for spells and potions, and seemingly gibberish words leaving his lips, it's obvious he's bound for the path of magic. he can sense magical signatures--even potential supernatural ones within a person, though not the specifics. he's a magnet for abnormality, so it makes sense that he embraces it and is able to see it within the so-called normal world. and he does--he embraces the idea of being different, unique. magical. after his scientist father and an accident involving one of his inventions, getting these sweet powers was a pretty awesome deal for him! even if his father still, for some reason, doesn't seem to believe that magic exists. (it's a good thing his uncle, who has faint dwarven blood in him, does or else Leonard will go stir-crazy living with overly logical people.) and it's not just his family, magic is, ironically, the last thing people want to fully believe. aliens, the apocalypse, werewolves, everything else is fine. but magic? and, by extension, Leonard? no way. while it's amusing, it also disheartens him; that the world is so monochrome that such a bright thing like magic is seen as a faraway nothing. I mean, that's fine. it's not like he can show it off everywhere. there are some people who believe him (like the fae with a rose-tinted view of love, and the fiery girl whose supernatural signature is multiple shades of red and orange--like fire); but wherever he went, it seems like a lot of people don't like to believe him so readily (that one guy at school who scoffs at his displays is one of them; but Leonard can do one better: he can see the inhuman signature concealed in the guy's DNA. temporarily. not so normal after all. it'll be quite interesting to watch that blow-up happen--and it will happen soon.)

ELLA: with a musical voice that draws animals--and even people--toward her, her life and perspective are rosy and romantic. despite being a fae, Ella's far from mischievous like her companions. all she wants to do is help her friends and be a good friend in turn. flowers sway in her presence, they are soft and delicate, like her; but there are some plants that are deadly when truly provoked, and surprisingly, that is her as well. she doesn't use it often--if at all--but faes are known for their deadly anger, especially if scorned. Ella keeps saying she is nicer than her brethren, but how far can one really go, when pushed too far, to distance themselves from what's a part of them? (she's one of the few people to break down a frenzied Dave's walls from the start; perhaps it's because, in the end, despite their vivid differences, they both had similar intentions, but for different reasons; they both didn't want to acknowledge a part of them; the difference is that Ella embraced her difference compared to the other fae, Dave attempted to reject his.) really, she just wants to feel love. true, genuine love, unlike the illusions her brethren create.

SKY: truth be told, she's fully and utterly human. not a single drop of supernatural blood in her. no, she's not like Dave; there's seriously nothing hiding within her. however, that doesn't mean she doesn't have a foot in the supernatural world. similar to Shawn, she is also a hunter--though not just of ghosts and the dead; Sky hunts any and every supernatural creature. having grown up with a drive and passion to eradicate the dangers to the world and with an Achillean mentality on her shoulders, she sets out with the belief passed down by her family that the main (and only) thing posing a threat to the innocents are the supernatural. she's about to realize just how wrong she is and how far loyalties can go...

SUGAR: at a first glance, one might assume she, too, is a siren; with a deadly passion and alluring grace that has won her many pageant awards and golden crowns, she can make beauty look messy and deadly but in a defiant way. and that may be true; sometimes the blood and genetics of various supernatural creatures mix within one person. no one relly knows for sure if Sugar and her family hold traces of siren genes. perhaps she also has barbarian genetics in her as well--with her deadly rage and the fire in her eyes when she's scorned. or perhaps that's something different entirely; the fire in her eyes, the deadly rage--like a wildfire, the way her hair seems to glow and spark like embers if you focus on it; sometimes the temperature rises a bit. honestly, if you think abt it, Sugar being a fire sprite makes sense; as well as the traces of dragon ancestry--she hoardes those gold crowns and trophies like nobody's business, basks in pride like its second skin, highly possessive of what she deems her righteously deserved, she doesn't like being scorned; it only feeds the flames. living on a farm, she probably isn't aware of the true power within her.

BEARDO: he can do more than just mimic sounds; the sounds revolve around him. he can warp things, even reality, with just the noises he makes. 'sound manipulator' would be the best way to classify him; his power relies on sound, itself; making him quite a powerful being, indeed, as sound is everywhere, even in the slightest drop of a pin. it's a good thing he isn't vengeful or antagonistic or else there would be problems.

SAMMY & AMY: with their delicate features and light hair, their semi-pointed features, and light eyes, the elven blood runs prominent in the twins. it's said that with little effort they can merge together into one terrifying creature, an unstoppable force; but neither are willing to test that theory out. they hate each other, one unconsciously jealous of the other, while the other just wants to break free from the toxicity. they are each other's monsters, the unstoppable force. while Amy revels in the attention she gets--at the expense of her twin--using her willowy ways to obtain her twisted rose-tinted version of perfection (all elves are obsessed with perfection of some sort), Sammy is the outlier. slowly, she starts to slip away, become more and more Amy instead of Sammy. she cannot stop it, it's the bane of being an elf; Amy's version of perfection bleeds into Sammy, forcing her to believe the same. And elves will do anything to reach that level of perceived perfection. sooner or later, Sammy won't be Sammy anymore unless something changes. like maybe her version of perfection. (but that's something she ultimately has to do on her own; no one else, not even her friends, can pull her out of the merciless grips of the unknown if she doesn't feel like she deserves to be seen.)

MAX: according to him, he's an evil genius. a mad scientist who wishes to observe and pick apart the supernatural. unfortunately (or rather ironically) for him, despite saying over and over that he's a man to be feared, his abode has unintentionally turned into the main sanctuary, a home base for the supernatural. everyone somehow ends up there whenever they need assistance and he complains that he doesn't want to help him, but in the end he does (either via subtle threats, or bc of his own curiosity). over time, he becomes this disgruntled supernatural magnet who helps but is a bit eccentric with ideas that are even more eccentric than his personality). he wants to make himself into a supernatural creature too, invoke that kind of power, but fear holds him back from many things--including becoming part of the supernatural. you know the saying 'his bark is worse than his bite'? that is Max to a T. kind of ironic that the guy who wants to be a supernatural creature doesn't as opposed to some other certain people mentioned above who wanted the exact opposite. (although he is intrigued by that inventor who he asked to be his sidekick. pretty dull move on his end, but he will only realize this far later on. as of right now, he has not a clue why she suddenly despises him so much. he is the evil genius in the making, right? an inventor as a sidekick would be good! he just doesn't get why she's so against it. is he offending her? nonsense! evil doesn't offend...but is he? people are so unnecessarily complicated, ugh.)

SCARLETT: an inventor with quick, deft hands, and a faster and sharper mind, every bone and nerve in Scarlett's body hums to creation--of the mechanical kind. but the mechanisms in her body are not just of the human variety; there is a way of thinking that people often drift to the kind of hobby/career that describes them physically. in Scarlett's case, it is truth. first being experimented on by her overly ambitious mother (a trait she shares) and then testing her own inventions on herself (that is the only form of testing she knows and is used to, after all), and, as the cherry on top, an accident that left half of her body immobile had it not been for an emergency surgery that left one part of her body human and the other a working mechanism of gears and wires and other robotic parts; Scarlett thinks it's funny, really, when she says the only organ in her chest where her heart should be is merely a pulsing hunk of metal. she wonders, at times, if the heart in her is even her own; perhaps, during the surgery, the doctors had switched hearts to keep her alive. it's a thought that sometimes keeps her awake at night, pondering.

RODNEY: no one, not even him and his family, knows his lineage. it's tangled enough as is without bringing in the supernatural too. the phrase 'gentle giant' isn't lost on him; barbarian is too...well, barbaric for someone like him, and there have been considerations of fire sprites or merely forest nymphs and dryad ancestries. the truth is unclear. as said previously, the lineages of the supernatural can get mixed up; it can make sense that Rodney and his family retained several branches of the supernatural. if you ask him, Rodney would say he's just a guy with a love for the forests, the trees, and everything in them. most of all, he loves his family. he would do anything for them. one would even say they're like his pack, but they don't. the supernatural lineages are quite mixed up in this family without adding speculation...right?

#jas that ban-he post I said on q? yeah it was inspired by this lmao #okay but no I actually have a lot of thoughts just scattered abt for this #I was debating between phantom or zombie for Shawn tbh #its a pretty cool concept ngl if i do say so myself!!#just imagining how this group all coexist and learn to rely on one another overtime #oh yeah btw they all somehow end up in the same town bc it makes things cooler imagining the different perspectives #anywayyyy yeah!!#total drama #noahtally-famous #kit stuff #kit speaks #total drama pahkitew island #tdpi #i...am not tagging the cast lmaooo #anonymous #answered #attackjester #deeppeacegalaxy

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spiralcass · 10 months

Text

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 2, EPISODE 2

“I am pure blazing fire!”

We open in a high-tech paramilitary base where dozens of men and women stand lined-up, all donned in green and gray armor, and all giving the same fist-raised salute. They chant in unison.

“I deserve to be powerful!”

“I am the superior man!”

Standing above all these soldiers on a levitating platform is a good looking Caucasian man in his 30s, donned in a loose fitting suit, and sporting slick brown hair. The man’s name is John Sublime.

SUBLIME: “That’s right, ladies and gentlemen! And don’t you ever forget one word of our mantras! Evolution is the greatest scam in all of history! We are human beings! The greatest form of life to ever walk the Earth! Be proud! The Mutants think they’re better than us, but what are they?!”

“WRONG!”

SUBLIME: “That’s right! Dead wrong! Homo Superior? Please! What’s so “superior” about being born lucky? You, my friends, are the true greats. You are the dedicated and hard-working. You are the ones who deserve their gifts. And if you want something?”

“VISUALIZE IT AND OBTAIN IT!”

SUBLIME: “Exactly! You, the first class of U-Men, have already mastered visualization. You, the true next stage in humanity’s progress, have learned the skills you need for success. And now, all that’s left to do…”

“IS TAKE THESE MUTIES’ POWERS FOR OURSELVES!”

SUBLIME: “Yes! Yes, perfect! The only things in this world which are fair are the things which you make happen! Once you’ve completed your missions, Mutants will never be able to look down on any of you again! Just the thought of one looking at me with disgust makes my skin itch. Before you go, close your eyes and take a moment. Take a moment to imagine how they’re laughing at you right now.”

We cut to an island of metal in the middle of the ocean. It’s a rainy morning, and hundreds of Mutants, including many notable X-Men, though equally notably none of the current X-Men team, are gathered here, all with somber looks on their faces. In the middle of the island is a massive pillar. One with the names of every single Genoshan carved into it.

Floating above the crowd are Polaris, Quicksilver, and the newly introduced third Maximoff child, Wanda, the Scarlet Witch.

Polaris is forcing herself through a speech to all Mutants present. About how Mutantkind has never seen a greater tragedy than this genocide. About how it's the duty of all those who remain to live for those who cannot. About the greatness of President Magneto, who will be found, and who will lead Mutants into the future. And about how while they should never harm those who have not directly harmed them, they cannot forget that humans, all humans, are the enemy of Mutantkind.

LORNA: "It is not their fault for how they were born, but there is simply no good in them."

Throughout Lorna's speech, we focus on a single Mutant in the crowd, who looks like a completely average woman, standing in between Jubilee, dressed in all black like most attendees, and sporting oddly pale skin, and Chamber, who's always dressed in black.

Following Lorna's above line…

JUBILEE: "I thought this was supposed to be, like, a funeral for the Genoshans. Not a supervillain speech."

CHAMBER, telepathically: "Don't be too harsh on her. She's mourning more than any of us."

Focusing on the Mutant in between them, she receives a telepathic message…from Cyclops.

CYCLOPS, telepathically: "I should be there."

As she responds, the Mutant is revealed to be Emma in telepathic disguise.

EMMA, telepathically: "And I'd love to have you here with me, but now is not the time to be starting a ruckus."

CYCLOPS: "Yeah. I know. Is the service almost over?"

EMMA: "I believe so. And I have eyes on our target."

Narrowing her eyes, Emma stares further into the crowd at Bobby Drake AKA Iceman.

We cut to a new location, a New York City coffee shop called, “The Grindhouse”. It’s a small, cozy store, with a “Help Wanted” sign in the window.

Inside, Noriko and Sofia are seated at a table. Noriko is guzzling a disgustingly sweet frappuccino, while Sofia is drinking tea. However, the latter isn’t doing much actual drinking, as Sofia cannot stop crying hysterically.

Noriko tries her best to comfort her, attempting to be sweet and supportive. Of course, this is Noriko, so attempting this mostly means tossing out stock lines.

NORIKO: “You didn’t do anything wrong, Sofia. It’s gonna be okay. It’s not your fault he acted this way. Everything is gonna be okay.”

When this inevitably fails, Surge elects to take a more “Nori” approach.

NORIKO: “God! Enough crying, Princess! Keller is a piece of shit, and not worth crying over. You can have literally any guy you want! And all of them will be better than him.”

Sofia sniffles, managing to slightly calm down and sip her tea.

SOFIA, eyes on her tea: “Do you know why I became an influencer? It wasn’t intentional. I just wanted people to like me. No one at my old school did, so I turned to the internet. I am loved by thousands of people, but I do not know the first thing about any of them.” She takes another sip. “The video of Julian and I being crowned and getting together at the dance has gotten over one million views. But I did not have someone else record it. They did it on their own. I was too caught up in the moment. I was too happy, finally having someone who knew and loved the real me.”

Noriko groans. First off, Keller never loved her. Laura might, and she does as a friend, but that’s it. Sofia disagrees. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with Julian exactly, but she knows he never would have said anything like what he did to her before his injury.

NORIKO, slurping up the last of her frap: “Enough! I cannot stand one more second of you crying over this loser. When we’re done here, you go to your room, do a little dance, and get reminded how awesome you are by your thousands of followers.”

SOFIA, under her breath: “I decided to call them Wind Babies.”

NORIKO: “So not calling them that. And while you’re doing your thing, I’m gonna prove he never really cared out about you.”

SOFIA: “Please do not.”

NORIKO: “No! He doesn’t get to sleep with you and then dump you like you’re trash! No way!”

Noriko speeds back and forth to and from the trashcan to toss out her cup.

NORIKO: “You’ll see.”

Sofia chokes up and sniffles.

The post-funeral reception for the Genoshans is taking place at Wanda’s sizable house, one with mystical artifacts on display all around it. Inside, she and her siblings are toasting among themselves, while dozens of other Mutants mingle. Some still look miserable, while others are distracting themselves and finding joy and comfort in their community.

We’re properly introduced to Bobby as, when Lorna walks away from her siblings, he approaches her, appearing equally dower. They make pleasantries, Bobby offering his condolences and Lorna appreciating them. But then…

BOBBY: “Hey, listen, I know this won’t change anything, but we were always able to distract each other from our pain when we were together, weren’t we?” Bobby dons a cocky, shithead smirk. “Maybe we re-use an old strategy?”

Lorna proceeds to throw her drink into his face, calling him a pig as she walks off.

BOBBY, to himself: “Re-use an old strategy? Come on, Bobby, you have better pickup lines than that.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

Bobby turns around and, unlike everyone else, his mind isn’t being tricked by an illusion.

BOBBY, smirking: “Well, well, well. Emma Frost. I don’t think I’ve seen you since our date.”

EMMA: “Robert, it was a school dance, and I didn’t want my students badgering me about finding an actual date. Nothing more.”

BOBBY: “Whatever you say.”

Emma sighs and explains why she’s spending time on him. With Jean off in space and one with the Phoenix now, the X-Men are now their most powerful member. And while they still have herself and Storm as big guns, that’s not enough.

EMMA: “And as far as I’m aware, apart from the two of us and Charles, you’re the only other Omega to wear an X.”

Bobby laughs and shakes his head. He doesn’t like the whole “Omega Level Mutant” thing. Yeah, he’s powerful and awesome, but he’s still just another Mutant. As for what she’s getting at, sorry, but he isn’t interested in rejoining the X-Men.

EMMA: “Whatever could you be doing that’s more important?”

BOBBY: “Living my life. Right now, that’s all I want to do. You know who you should talk to instead? Rogue. She’s a big gun, and she’s been taking care of Destiny ever since you got Mystique locked up. Probably best to get her out of there.”

EMMA: “Cyclops and I do not want Rogue, Robert. We want you.”

BOBBY: “Yeah?” Iceman chugs back the rest of his drink. “Well, obviously you and Scott getting what you want doesn’t end well, right?”

Bobby turns around and makes an ice bridge to slide downstairs on, leaving behind an indignant Emma.

In the institute’s common area, Sooraya, Brian, Cessily, and Roxy are hanging out. Specifically, Sooraya is kicking Brian’s ass at chess as he questions why he thought this was a good idea, while Cessily and Roxy are making out on the couch.

Noriko barges in, shouting at her friends as she asks them if any of them have talked to Julian today.

ROXY, whispering: “Is she always so loud?”

CESSILY, whispering: “Pretty much.”

Brian tells Nori he managed to get a few words out of him, but nothing much. Sooraya, however, comments that she knows what happened between him and Sofia.

SOORAYA: “I assume that’s why you’re so full of rage. Apart from all your usual reasons.”

NORIKO: “Ding! Ding! Give it up for the girl in the abaya! Wanna tell me why you sound like you think I’m out of line for being pissed at that d-bag for breaking my girl’s heart?”

Sooraya is about to start answering, but Brian gets up and gets right in Nori’s face.

BRIAN: “Listen, we all obviously care about Sofia, but none of us can even imagine what Julian is feeling right now. Hopefully in a few days, he’ll calm down, apologize and say he didn’t mean any of what he said, and things will be back to normal. Try to have some empathy, okay?”

Nori just laughs for a moment before turning around to walk off.

CESSILY, irritated: “Nori, where are you going?”

NORIKO: “Just gonna go chat with Keller! Nothing wrong with having a nice little chat.”

Noriko exits.

There’s a brief silence.

ROXY: “So she’s not gonna kill him, right?”

CESSILY: “What? No. Of course not. Probably.”

…

CESSILY: “Can we go back to making out now?”

Emma rides in the back of her car, drink in hand, as she telepathically communicates with Scott. Scott, over at the institute, is working out in the gym, wearing nothing except his sunglasses, gym shorts, and socks and sneakers, his rock hard abs on full display. Emma informs Scott that Bobby was a bust. Perhaps they should take his recommendation and look into recruiting Rogue? Or maybe Bishop? He’s yummy.

Emma, in Scott’s head, looks at him working out on the pull-up bar and sweating from his perspective.

EMMA, grinning: “Speaking of yummy…”

SCOTT: “Keep it professional, Emma. And no, we’re not giving up on Iceman. I know where he’s staying. I’ll talk to him myself.”

Scott asks Emma if she’s on her way back to the school, but she tells him she’s making a stop first.

EMMA: “Just imagine I’m doing whatever you think I do in my spare time. Eat babies, kick puppies, get creative with it.”

There’s a brief pause.

SCOTT: “You shouldn’t make those jokes about yourself.”

EMMA: “And you should follow your own orders and keep things professional.”

Emma “hangs up” on Scott as her car is parked, her driver informing her they’ve arrived.

Emma is helped out of her car as she thanks her driver, Bumpkin, a green man in a white suit with a large chin. We see that she’s entering a mental hospital.

Elsewhere, Bobby enters a penthouse apartment with a strong old-money aesthetic. He calls out to Warren, sarcastically calling out, “Honey, I’m home!”

BOBBY: “You should have come to the reception. Got to see a lot of old faces. And get a lot of updates on things I missed. Did you know Legion’s dead?”

Warren Worthington III AKA Archangel emerges from around a corner, having just come out of the shower. He’s drying himself off and is only wearing his wing binder and a towel around his waist.

WARREN: “Bobby…you were there when he was killed. We both were.”

BOBBY, on his phone: “Were we? Huh.”

Bobby starts to change the subject but as his eyes turn to Warren’s almost nude form, they widen for just a moment as he hiccups.

Plopping himself down on Warren’s couch and stretching himself out across it, he brings up that Emma Frost was there and tried recruiting him to rejoin the X-Men.

Warren begins dressed himself with clothes he had laid out, asking if she asked about him.

BOBBY, loudly noshing on a bag of chips: “Why would she ask about you?”

WARREN: “Because I…” SIGH “…never mind.”

Warren then questions why Bobby didn’t say yes. With everything that’s happened, they could use one of their best heroes right now. And it’s not like he has anything else going on.

WARREN: “No job, no hobbies, no girlfriend…” Warren steals the bag of chips away from Bobby before he can make any more crumbs. “And it would get you off my couch.”

Warren shivers as he’s overcome with a coldwave, dropping the chip bag back into Bobby’s hands.

BOBBY: “Yeah, well…I like it here.”

Bobby resumes eating and turns on the TV as Warren walks off in frustration.

In their armory, the U-Men are getting loaded up with weapons and gear, so excited for their first op. One guy though thinks astral projection is a pretty lame power.

U-MAN #1: “I want claws like Wolverine’s! Or fire powers!”

U-MAN #2: “Please, everyone knows telepathy is the genetic goldmine. Those are the luckiest Muties of all. You know I used to run a scam where I pretended to be able to read minds. If anyone should be a telepath, it’s me. I’ll fight you guys for that too!”

U-MAN #3, who’s a woman: “Relax, dude. Even with all the resources the Purifers wasted bombing Genosha, there’s still more than enough X-genes to go around for all of us.”

U-MAN #1: “And it shouldn’t be long before we’re taking them either. Once we prove to Mr. Sublime that we’re skilled enough to kill them on our own, we won’t have to wait with the rest of the team.”

On their way out of the armory, U-Man #2 is freaked out by a floating brain outside in the hallway. His friends laugh at him. It’s nothing to be afraid of. That’s just Martha.

U-MAN #1: “Lol dude, you were just talking about how cool telepaths are. Martha’s the best. She may not have her body anymore, but she can still use her powers to keep other Muties pacified while Mr. Sublime extracts their X-genes.”

U-MAN #2: “Huh! Guess that makes you one of us. I’d give you a high-five if you had, you know, hands.”

The three say goodbye to Martha as Sublime summons his U-Men over the speaker, with it being time to go, U-Man #3 patting her glass dome tank like a pet. Martha is just left floating there.

In his private medical room, Julian is still recovering in bed mindlessly changing the channel on the TV with his telekinesis, nothing seems good. His eyes are empty, and he’s still in immense pain.

NORIKO, kicking in Julian’s door: “Hey, Keller! We need to talk!”

Julian shuts his eyes and lets out the deepest sigh.

JULIAN: “What do you want, Ashida?”

Noriko shouts at him about how he broke up with Sofia, with her quickly winding up speaking super fast, and devolving into throwing a ton of insults his way. Julian asks if she’s REALLY doing this right now, and when she flatly says “Yes”, he asks why she isn’t happy. She never even liked them together!

NORIKO: “Imaynotlikeyou…” Noriko calms herself down so she can speak normally. “I may not like you, but you made her happy. I hoped you weren’t just using her, but you proved yourself to be as much of a jerk as I’ve always known you were. You chased her for an entire semester just do you could get some sex and break her heart. And I can see that! But she can’t. She thinks you’re just hurting and lashing out, but I know you better than that. So I’m gonna call her in here, and you’re gonna calmly own up to everything. Got it?”

Julian’s legs tremble as he continues to seethe. He turns the TV off. He then, with great strain, sits up.

JULIAN: “Or what?”

Nori lights her gauntlets up, surrounding them with a small, electric aura.

NORI: “You know what.”

JULIAN: “Seriously? You’re challenging the handless guy to a fight?” Julian laughs as he grins manically and telekinetically disconnects all the wires hooked up to him. Life returns to his eyes as he surrounds himself in his green aura. “Good thing I never needed hands to kick your ass.”

The two stare each other down.

We then cut to an exterior shot of the school, which is silent for a moment. Noriko and Julian proceed to blast through the ceiling, ready to throw down.

Back inside the school, Beast comes running into Julian’s room to see what happened, only to find him gone, and the hole the two of them blasted through multiple floors.

BEAST: “Oh, my stars and garters.”

Emma struts down the hall of the mental hospital, politely greeting various doctors and nurses she passes by, many of whom she’s on a first name basis with.

She soon arrives at her destination, the hospital room of her brother, Christian Frost.

Christian is slightly older than Emma, extremely good looking, and possesses a shaved, blonde head. He’s also restrained and strapped down to his bed, but that doesn’t stop his face from lighting up upon seeing his little sister.

CHRISTIAN: “Emi! How’s my favorite baby sister doing?”

EMMA, pleasantly annoyed: “Do you have to say those words verbatim every time I come to visit?”

CHRISTIAN: “I know it annoys you, so yes. You’re never gonna get too old or powerful for me to pick on.”

Dodging her brother’s question and not wanting to talk about recent events, Emma asks Christian how HE’S doing. Christian proceeds to mock the usual crappy food and praise the recent influx of hunky male nurses.

Through their conversation, we learn exactly what the situation here is: Christian has been trapped here by Winston for around 20 years, ever since he attempted suicide. While Emma became richer and more powerful than her father years ago, the difference isn’t SO great that she can override what he did, especially not with Adrienne and Cordelia also out there. Christian has mostly gotten used to life here, but he’s only still sane because, ever since Emma first became the White Queen, she’s been visiting him at least once a month.

Christian returns to what he asked originally and questions how his little sister is.

CHRISTIAN: “I see you dodging. You aren’t hitting the cocaine again, right? Cause everyone here has really enjoyed you not laughing maniacally these last few years.”

EMMA, embarrassed: “I…wouldn’t call the laughter maniacal.”

CHRISTIAN: “Very maniacal. At the top of your lungs. Often about the time you burned a horse to death.”

EMMA, completely flustered: “Let’s PLEASE refrain from discussing Butter Rum!”

Christian laughs, while Emma momentarily turns back into her mousy teenage self.

CHRISTIAN: “Seriously though. What’s going on?”

Emma composes herself and, with a heavy heart, is about to answer, when machine gun fire rings through the halls.

Christian’s face fills with fear.

CHRISTIAN: “Don’t suppose you brought henchmen?”

Emma’s face hardens as she stands.

EMMA: “Stay calm.I shall handle this.”

Emma marches out of the room to see what’s going on.

Above the school, Julian and Noriko prepare to fight. Julian mocks Nori for thinking she can take him even in his current state, considering he’s been stronger and better with his powers than her since day 1.

JULIAN: “And if you aren’t careful, you may blow up the damn school.”

Noriko counters back that she’s never one to run away from a fight.

NORIKO: “That’s more your thing, right? Well, that and getting crippled. I, on the other hand, managed to NOT get my hands blown off in that fight like a complete dumbass.”

Julian roars in rage, launching a telekinetic wave at Surge. Surge, with far more limited airtime than Hellion, only able to propel herself into the air through continued blasts, gets down to the ground as quickly as possible.

Hellion follows after her, launching attack after attack, destroying the front yard once again, while Noriko runs all around it, dodging.

SURGE: “What exactly do you think happens after this, Keller? Your crew’s got your back for now, but how long do you think they’re gonna put up with this?”

HELLION, unrelentingly attacking: “I don’t care! I don’t need any of you!”

SURGE: “Okay, that, that I know is BS.”

Surge takes carefully controlled pot shots at Hellion, but they can’t even get through his forcefield. This gives Julian an idea, as he expands his forcefield, focuses all that energy around his legs, and flies down to crush Noriko.

Noriko’s unsure if this is gonna work, or if it’ll work too well, but she expands her own electrical aura around herself, before focusing it all around her gauntlets, supercharging them.

Julian swoops down to stomp Surge into the dirt, but Nori blocks with her gauntlets. TK energy clashes with electricity as both teens sweat and grit their teeth nervously. The clash ends in an explosion, as a cloud of smoke surrounds the two.

In the mental hospital’s main entrance, dozens of U-Men, all armed with machine guns, march through, while doctors, nurses, and other staff are terrified, on their knees and bent over with their hands on the floor.

U-MEN COMMANDER: “We apologize for this interruption to your daily lives, fellow sapiens, but I assure you we mean no harm. We are only here to take the Mutant in your custody off your hands so that genetic reparations toward the human race can begin to be paid.”

“Oh, that’s a new one.”

The U-Men all turn and aim their guns as Emma enters the scene.

EMMA: “I’ve seen religious bigotry, I’ve heard replacement theory, and I’ve encountered those who see us as a threat to humanity’s continued survival time and time again, but I cannot say I’ve ever seen your kind openly admit to being motivated by your envy of our superiority. It’s refreshingly honest.” Emma sneers and sways her hips. “Not that that will save you here.”

The U-Men commander shouts at her not to compare them to the likes of the Purifers or the Friends of Humanity. They’re nothing like those racist monsters. They just want what’s fair.

U-Man #1 then puts his hand on his commander’s shoulder and, quivering, questions if he doesn’t know who this is. That’s Emma Frost of the X-Men! According to Mr. Sublime’s Omega List, with Jean Grey, Charles Xavier, and Magneto’s present statuses unclear, she’s one of only 6 confirmed Omega Level Mutants on the planet.

U-MAN #3, excited: “And one of only three Omega Level women!” She steps forward. “I am SUCH a big fan, Ms. Frost! I promise you, after I blow your brains out, your genes will be in good hands!”

U-MAN #1, sounding like he’s about to soil himself: “Guys, seriously, we should not be messing with her!”

U-MAN #2: “No can do, man. Like I said. Telepaths are the best.”

The commander steps forward and tells her that they weren’t expecting her to be here today. This was supposed to be a nice, quick and peaceful operation where no one got hurt. If she and her brother will surrender peacefully, they don’t need to put these good people in the crossfire.

Emma smirks.

EMMA: “Oh, don’t worry, darling. No good people shall be harmed today.”

Emma blasts every single U-Man’s mind with psychic lightning…only to be shocked when it has no effect.

U-MAN COMMANDER: “Surprised, Mutie? We came prepared.”

With everyone on the floor still terrified, Emma sneers.

Outside the school, Noriko and Julian are still fighting. Ducking and dodging around each other, Noriko is firing larger electric blasts at him, while Julian is tearing up the ground to launch chunks of it at her.

SURGE: “What’s your problem anyway, tough guy?! You already told Sofia how you feel once! Why not just do it again?!”

HELLION: “I dunno! Maybe because you asked me to? Better question: Do you think I can’t see what’s really going on here?”

SURGE: “As per usual, no idea what you’re talking about.”

As the battle continues, students pour out of the school, entranced by the flashiness of the fight taking place. Kids begin cheering them on and calling other students to come see that Hellion and Surge are having a rematch.

In her office…

DANI: “They’re what?!”

In Warren’s penthouse, Bobby is still on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching what sounds like an Avengers animated series.

Bobby laughs at the scene.

BOBBY: “HA HA! Oh…those douchebags.”

Bobby is startled, dropping his popcorn on the floor, when “ICEMAN!” is shouted in his head.

BOBBY, telepath: “Huh?! Who’s calling?”

In the hospital, we see Emma ducked behind a wall for cover as the U-Men unload their machine guns in her direction.

EMMA, telepathically: “Who else would be? I’m having a little situation at the Cockrum Mental Institute. I require immediate assistance, and you and Archangel are the only ones presently in the vicinity.”

BOBBY, telepathically: “Oh, sure, you ask me to rejoin the team, I say no, and then you conveniently need my help. Sorry, Emma. Not THAT stupid.”

EMMA: “I KNOW you aren’t stupid at all, Robert, no matter how you present yourself.” Emma shows Bobby exactly what’s happening right now. “Now, are you going to help me, and everyone else here, or have you given up on helping others entirely?”

Bobby bites his lip before relenting. He gets up, transforms into his ice form, and tells Emma he’s on his way before exiting via an ice bridge out the window.

As Hellion and Surge continue to fight, and more and more students continue to come out to watch, Mercury, Bling!, Dust, and Tag arrive on the scene.

MERCURY: “Oh my GOD, you guys! Really?!”

BLING!: “She actually is gonna kill him.”

TAG: “Soo, you’re the only one here on their level! You gotta get in there and stop them!”

Sooraya just glares at Brian.

TAG: “SOMEONE has to get in there and stop them!”

“KIDS!”

TAG: “Oh thank god.”

Dani, Nightcrawler, and Northstar race out of the school. Dani shouts off how these two are in big trouble and have some serious explaining to do, but all three teachers’ jaws quickly drop.

Completely engulfed in their respective bright green and electric blue auras, Surge and Hellion are dashing around the front yard at such great velocity that no one can even see them, only their power signatures and attacks.

No one except the super speedster Northstar that is.

KURT: “Teach your kids some new tricks, eh, Danielle?”

Dani has no idea how they’re doing this. She of course knew they’d made a lot of progress, she was even the one to teach them some of the tricks they’ve been using lately, but they’re only getting stronger and stronger at an even faster rate.

DANI: “Four months ago, Surge wasn’t even capable of going half this fast with her gauntlets on, and she could only maintain the top speed she could manage for ten seconds. Hellion’s telekinesis didn’t allow for much super speed at all.”

NORTHSTAR: “Anole’s a good kid, but I am jealous no one on my squad is even close to this.”

In the hospital, Emma is still trying to figure out what to do about the U-Men. As the soldiers cease firing for a moment, the commander laughs and mocks her. She may be one of the most naturally powerful people on Earth, but no Mutant can stand against human ingenuity. Their suits and weaponry are all based on the same scientific principles as the ones behind SHIELD's power-nullifying handcuffs. Mutant powers won’t work on them.

Emma, buying time, questions how sad and pathetic the lives of these men and women must be for their, albeit wholly justified, envy to have driven them to militarization and murder. Just how entitled ARE they?

The commander spits back that that’s rich coming from her. Emma and all of her siblings won the genetic lottery more than maybe anyone else, being born billionaire Mutants. She had everything handed to her. They’re just trying to claim the privileges of what the circumstances of their birth denied them.

Emma quickly flashes back through a montage of her horribly abusive childhood. Her father smacking her for bringing home a “B” on a test, Adrienne setting fire to her dolls, and walking into Christian’s room and finding him attempting suicide. This is then followed by an equal montage of how hard she worked prior to becoming White Queen.

In the present, Emma snickers. Is she privileged? Undoubtedly so. But nothing in her life was handed to her. Least of all the body they’re all so jealous of. She understands doing whatever it takes to become the person you want to be, and, apart from her X-gene, there isn’t one circumstance of her birth she’s happy about. She gets why they’re doing this. Unfortunately…

Emma floats out of cover and is immediately barraged by a hailstorm of bullets. Having assumed her new diamond form, these bullets meant to completely bypass Mutant strengths only mildly wound her.

EMMA: “You’re all just a bunch of nerds.”

Emma flies toward the platoon and uppercuts the commander through the ceiling. She swats away at the others until U-Men #2, grunting that he’s no nerd, he’s a future telepath, releases a gas which temporarily neutralizes her powers entirely.

Powerless, Emma is kicked around by the U-Men and eventually restrained.

U-MAN #1: “Look at us! We beat an Omega! Someone go grab her brother and let’s get out of here!”

Suddenly, the front doors blow open and a freezing chill spreads through the hospital.

Iceman appears on the scene, ice-bridging into the hospital before hopping off.

ICEMAN: “Never fear! Iceman’s here!”

All of the U-Men point their guns at him .

ICEMAN: “I know, I know, cliche entrance line. But I don’t think it’s worth killing me over.”

Still restrained, Emma laughs with honest amusement at his antics.

Outside the school, the fight has escalated even further. Julian and Noriko, who barely seem to be in control of their own bodies at this point, are wrapped in wide fields of their respective auras, in mid-air, and simply clashing over and over again, with the excess energy from both of them flying off in different directions.

Cessily questions why the teachers are just standing around doing nothing, with Dani explaining that with how fast they’re moving and how much energy they’re charged up with, Nightcrawler and Northstar can’t even get near them, and with how sensitive their minds feel right now, Dani doesn’t feel comfortable throwing their worst nightmares at them right now. Northstar says they need to do SOMETHING. Those kids are gonna kill someone, either themselves or someone else, and he does not want to be the one to explain dead children to Cyclops and Storm when they get back.

As the fight intensifies, Julian and Noriko’s clothes are torn and blood runs down their sides…

NORIKO: “YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A SCARED LITTLE BOY THROWING A TANTRUM BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU AREN’T PERFECT ANYMORE - AS IF YOU EVER WERE!”

JULIAN: “AND YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A LOUD-MOUTHED PUNK WHO NO ONE LIKES LOOKING FOR A BEATDOWN TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER BECAUSE YOU FEEL GUILTY YOU WALKED AWAY FROM THE SENTINELS UNSCATHED! BOO HOO!”

NORIKO: “YOU’RE ONLY ALIVE BECAUSE OF ME YOU ABSOLUTE…”

There’s a deafening explosion, all of the students having now stopped cheering, and instead become as concerned as the teachers.

Kurt snaps his fingers. He has an idea. Dani tries to get him to explain, but he’s already BAMFED away.

The U-Men, specifically U-Man #1, freak out that a second Omega has shown up unexpectedly, with some of their younger members eagerly questioning if everyone else on the list (Scarlet Witch, Storm, Exodus, and Proteus) are going to show up.

U-MAN #1: “Exodus is SO hot.”

ICEMAN: “Gross. Anyway you’re all going to jail now.”

U-MAN #2 laughs as he puts a gun Emma’s head. They aren’t afraid of him! Their suits will protect them from his ice, and if he so much as moves, he’ll kill Emma.

EMMA: “Basing your strategy on someone caring if I live or die. A risky move.”

U-Man #3 steps forward and tells Iceman to power down now and surrender. There’s nothing he can do to stop them that Emma couldn’t.

U-MAN #3: “I’ve seen you on TV since I was a kid. One of the original 5 X-Men. But you never belonged in the same class as them, bro. One’s leading all you Muties now, one’s a god, one’s a billionaire CEO, and one’s among the greatest scientists on Earth! And you? Just the class clown. The run of the litter. According to our files, jobless and homeless. You are EVERYTHING the U-Men stand against! People like you do not deserve the powers you have!”

Bobby…freezes up.

One of the U-Men shouts to open fire, and Iceman is knocked back and sent to the floor by a barrage of their bullets. While still in his ice form, he groans in pain.

EMMA, telepathically: “Iceman, what is the MATTER with you?!”

BOBBY, telepathically: “I…I can’t…they’re right.”

EMMA: “Excuse me?! What do you mean they’re right?!”

Bobby makes a getaway further into the hospital on an ice bridge, just trying to put space between himself and the U-Men are now his persuers.

BOBBY: “Not about their bogus philosophy. Obviously. But about me. I’m supposed to be an Omega! An elemental god! And yet what am I doing with my life? Where am I when people…where was I when Genosha needed me? It doesn’t matter how powerful I am. I’ll always just be the goofball. No point in fighting it.”

Iceman takes more and more hits, eventually falling over as he runs out of the stamina necessary to make more ice. U-Man #3 proceeds to use the same gas used on Emma on him, reverting him to his normal form, as she and her friends kick him while he’s down.

As Bobby is about to accept his fate…

EMMA: “Don’t you ever say that that there’s no point in fighting to be more than you are. Don’t you ever say to me that one should roll over and accept how others perceive them. I did not come to speak with you today simply because you’re an Omega, or because Scott wanted his “little buddy” back. I came to recruit you because there isn’t a damn X-Man I’d rather have at my side. “Omega” just means limitless potential, and you have far from fully achieved yours, but I have an eye for talent, and I see what you can be. When I was teching Generation X, you were one of the only X-Men who didn’t constantly treat me as a monster. I’ve always appreciated that. And if you’d like to feel guilt over Genosha, jolly, join the damn club. But the fact you blame yourself for not doing more when there was nothing you could do? That’s what we need right now. But only if you have the dedication to back it up.”

Bobby has been getting beaten to a bloody pulp this whole time, but as Emma finishes her speech in his mind, his eyes light up, and then…

*SMASH*

Bobby is smashed into a million little pieces by the U-Men’s kicks. The U-Men freak out. U-Man #3 can’t believe she actually just killed someone…but only because she’s pissed she wasted an Omega.

U-MAN #1: “Oh well. At least we don’t have to worry about him, right?”

The U-Men are then startled as they hear the screams of their comrades from back down the hall.

They rush to investigate what’s going on, only to find the remaining U-Men standing completely still, while both Bobby and a now freed Emma stare them down with confidence.

U-Man #3, now nervous, questions how he’s still alive, and why no one else is moving. Bobby explains that he isn’t just a man of ice. He IS ice. What’s other form ice can take? Water vapor. And after they shattered him, his microscopic particles bypassed their suits’ defeneses.

Iceman knocks on one of the U-Men’s helmets.

ICEMAN: “Your fellow nerds are frozen solid inside their cosplays.”

U-MEN #1: “What?! Wait, why aren’t we frozen yet then?”

EMMA: “So we could hear the terror in your voices first, darling. Ta ta, now.”

With the camera inside their helmets, we see ice coat the U-Men’s skin.

Emma and Bobby exchange cocky smirks.

As the sun sets, Surge and Hellion scream at the top of their lungs as the spheres of their energy around each of them as they throw everything they have at the other, resulting in a beam clash. Here, the two are completely evenly matched.

Cessily is terrified, with Roxy holding her in her arm, Sooraya also appears nervous, and Brian is biting his fingernails.

DANI: “Come on, Kurt.”

Speaking of the devil, Kurt arrives, and he’s not alone.

KARMA: “Holy moly!” Xuan coughs. “I go to visit my little siblings for one day, and you all let THIS happen?”

NORTHSTAR: “Do not even try and blame this on us. Now, come on. Do your thing.”

Xuan takes a breath before her eyes glow purple, and purple blocks surround her head.

JULIAN: “DIE, ASHIDA!”

NORIKO: “YOU FIRST, KELLER!”

The beam clash continues, with each fighter claiming the edge for just a moment before it’s taken by the other. The intensity in the air is palpable.

Which is why Noriko is shocked when Julian flies up and away from her, and turns off most of his power.

NORIKO, turning her powers mostly off: “What the Hell do you think you’re doing? We’re not done yet!”

“JULIAN”: “Surge, this is Karma. I’ve taken control of Julian’s body. Stand down. Now.”

Emotions rapidly pass across Surge’s face as she wants to keep fighting, is pissed she can’t, and is also afraid of how she’s about to get punished.

SURGE, her head held down: “Sorry, Cao Thi Manh.”

As the students all cheer on Karma and how cool possession is as a power, Karma returns to her body, where Kurt and Dani pat her on the back.

At the hospital, SHIELD has arrived to take the frozen U-Men away.

SHIELD AGENT: “You know, a lot of the guys the X-Men hand us end up getting off on a lack of evidence, but you have to be pretty stupid to think you can get away with shooting up a hospital.”

Emma asks Bobby how that felt, with him answering that it felt good doing something like this again. Though, if he’s gonna be doing this regularly, he hopes he can get more challenging opponents.

EMMA: “Does that mean what I think?”

BOBBY: “I guess it does. I’m in.”

EMMA: “Splendid! It’ll be wonderful to finally have an adult on the team other than Scott who doesn’t loathe me.”

BOBBY: “Yeah, about you and Scott…”

EMMA: “Let’s not ruin the moment, shall we?”

BOBBY: “Fine. Let’s talk about something else. You really had nothing to do with organizing this attack?”

Emma cackles.

EMMA: “Robert, I’m Emma Frost. At least one person per week attempts to assassinate me,, unrelated to the X-Men. With my penthouse nearby Warren’s, I was simply planning on waiting for an assailant to come after me, playing helpless, and summoning you then to help you rediscover yourself. The U-Men simply sped things up for me, although them coming here is regrettable. Rest assured, I’ll be covering all of the damages.”

The two walk in awkward silence for a moment.

BOBBY: “Right. By the way, I do care if you live or die. And if your new students are anything like your old ones, I’m sure they do too.”

Emma smiles peacefully at that. She then suggests introducing him to her brother, believing they’ll get along.

Surge and Hellion are back in the medical bay, both heavily injured and bandaged up and, as Beast puts it…

BEAST: “If you’re feeling well enough to try and destroy the school, Mr. Keller, you clearly don’t need the private room anymore.”

Noriko laughs at that, but doing so hurts. As Beast leaves, Dani comes to see the two. Both kids immediately start shouting at her, trying to defend themselves, but Dani tells them to save it. What she saw out there today? She knew her kids were the best, but these two in particular are not normal. The amount of raw power they have at their disposal far exceeds what most X-Men are capable of, and they’re not even done growing.

Julian and Noriko grin.

DANI: “And that’s why your actions today are all the more unacceptable.”

Julian and Noriko’s faces fall.

Dani knows these two have been through so, so much more than they should have, but that’s no excuse to use their powers so recklessly and destrictively. Especially when the two were clearly both fighting over their heads.

If either of them wants to talk about their experiences and what they’re feeling, she’s always here for them. But in the meantime, they both need to learn some responsibility. Julian tries to interrupt and question how it’s fair for him to be punished when Noriko came to his medical room looking for a fight, but she tells him to zip it.

Starting tomorrow, Noriko is going to be spending everyday after class helping Beast, Northstar, and Kitty repair the school and its grounds. And after that, she thinks she saw a “Help Wanted” sign in that new coffee shop in town. She thinks working there will be good for her.

As for Julian, she and Emma will figure something out after he’s recovered. Unfortunately, it seems like today’s little spat will be extending his stay.

Both kids groan at the top of their lungs.

DANI: “Listen, I know you probably hate me right, but, one day, you’ll thank me. I promise.”

Julian and Noriko both roll their eyes at this, as Dani exits the room, with Noriko following behind her, shooting one last dirty glare at Julian.

While Xuan appears to hook her arm around Dani’s…

XUAN, doing her Dani impression: “One day, you’ll thank me.”

DANI: “Be quiet.”

XUAN, laughing: “You sounded just like Magneto!”

Surge meanwhile runs into Sofia and Laura, Sofia seeming to actually be in a better mood.

NORIKO: “The Hell have you two been all day?”

SOFIA: “Well, I did what you said and made a video, but it wasn’t in my heart to practice ballet today, so I asked Laura to do something else with me.”

Sofia pulls out her phone and shows Nori a video of she and Laura doing a TikTok dance. Sofia has her full public persona on display with her plastered smile, while Laura could not look like she wants to be there less.

Laura isn’t as good as Sofia, but she isn’t bad either, which only makes this funnier for Noriko, who belts out laughing, further hurting herself.

Laura snarls.

SOFIA, giggles: “Mending a broken heart will take time. But I think I will be okay.”

Noriko, in between laughing, doesn’t seem happy to hear that.

In the back of a limo, we return to John Sublime. He’s talking to someone on the phone who’s concerned about his operation, but Sublime assures them the chips he implanted in all the U-Men’s brains should have exploded by now. SHIELD won’t be hearing his name from any of their lips.

There’s a pause.

SUBLIME: “Oh, the X-Men? Not to worry. I have a plan for them.”

Sublime hangs up, and we see that Martha is in the limo with him.

SUBLIME: “I’m going to need you to be a very good girl soon, okay Martha? No disappointing your best friend.”

The water in Martha’s tank bubbles.

Sublime smirks as he sips his drink.

SUBLIME: “Good girl.”

#New X-Men: The Animated Series #New X-Men #Academy X #Scott Summers #Emma Frost #Ororo Munroe #Kitty Pryde #Roberto Da Costa #Laura Kinney #Bobby Drake #sofia mantega #julian keller #noriko ashida #sooraya qadir #cessily kincaid #Brian Cruz

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goatpaste · 2 years

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So imagine if Jotaro DID eat Dio. Like, Dio manages to piss him off enough that he goes Batshit Feral. (Angst? Maybe? I'm not good at writing angst)

The others find him standing over the corpse of Dio, they think they've won only to realize the state Jotaro is in. Poor boy is completely out of it. His hat came off in the fight showing off his horn. His horn used to be small enough to hide under his hat, but now it's much bigger. Long sharp fangs and talons for claws, drenched in blood. He's growling and snarling, trying to do his best to keep his instincts at bay - they're screaming for more blood, for him to eat his friends - and to tell the others to back off before they get hurt. As Joseph gets closer to him he starts whimpering, he's scared and utterly traumatized because by what he's done. Joseph is trying to comfort his grandson the best he can, but Jotaro is too far gone. Joseph hates himself for resorting to even the smallest shock of Hamon, especially with the scream that it rips from his grandson. Thanks to his heightened pillar man senses, Jotaro is more sensitive to Hamon. But it also helps snap him out of it. He breaks down in tears, he's only 17 after all and I'm pretty sure that losing yourself to untamed instincts he's not used to and eating something that looks and acts so human is sure to crack him. Especially when he realizes that he defiled the body of his Great Great Grandfather. He tires himself out and konks out.

By the time he wakes up he finds both Joseph and Wamuu by his side. When Joseph told Wamuu what happened, he left his post at Holly's bedside knowing she was now safe and had Kars and Esidisi. Wamuu quickly realizes they sent a Baby - compared to him - who has no formal training what so ever out on the battlefield. And he's quick to try and comfort the shaking boy.

I just, want Jotaro to get a hug from his grandpas.

OGUh yeaH like, i dont touch much to the like idea of jotaro EATING dio but its totally there and its SOmethiNG to think about

and the idea of like, Dio getting eaten knowing this will leave a worse scar than any wound he could psychically leave. To let Jotaro know that he's the same kind of monster as him, eating and hurting everything around him.

And wham who while spending many years around humans at this point, learning to understand them but still struggling to overcome the way he is. As a pillar man who will probably never die, and raised to not mourn death the same as a hunan might. Himself especially thinking the height od death is especially to die in combat, to die glorious in battle.

Raised by pillar men who killed their own race and shunned out one of the two they spared in santana. Yes he's learned love and many thing that make human special, almost 50 years he's been by their side as a companion. But when he holds that 17 year old jotaro in his arms as he shakes and mutters about the way Dio LOOKED at him in that final moment. How all his friends are dead and gone, all the people he's hurt or killed. Wham really see's just how small and young and different Jotaro is from a pillar man or human. Even his own Holly who trembles just from seeing her son like this. They should never have gone through this, what a horrible thing to happen to creatures so young. God he would give anything to done better for them.

#pillar fam #long post #jojo #jjba #jotaro kujo #dio brando #holly kujo #wamuu

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alias-sam · 5 months

Text

Pierced by a Golden Soul

Chapter 3. High School Never Ends

Platonic Jojo's x Reader

Summary: Fate is a bizarre concept with countless more bizarre implications. In life sometimes such extraordinary events happen that the only reasoning left must be fate. The tragedies that constantly befall the Joestar bloodline for example may be the unluckiest series of cards drawn in human history, or perhaps the work of a greater power. There is no way to tell for sure. Had Dio Brando or Jonathan Joestar moved slightly on a divergent path the world itself would be left very different. The fate or luck of the noble Joestar bloodline has led to destruction of evil likes of the Pillar Men and DIO. This story is of a similar caliber to that of the other Joestars (as I am sure you are familiar with them). This is a story of lost souls, compassion, hope, and above all fate.

Word Count: 2,243

(Crosspost from Wattpad, full fic is already posted there.)

What had you done to piss the universe off so badly? As you tried to enter school you were halted by a teacher that you didn't even recognize.

"And why may I ask are you skulking around here?" She drawled, standing to block you from getting past.

"Excuse me ma'am but I need to..." You tried to sidestep her but she moved back into your path.

"I asked you a question. Do you have a reason for being late?" She was obviously not interested in whatever answer you were planning to give. She was already pulling out a notepad and pen.

"I slept through my alarm." You lied.

"Do you understand how many times I hear that excuse in a day?" She sighed dramatically as you watched her write out a detention slip. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at her attitude. "I hear it every day from attempted skippers." She sneered accusingly before placing a one-day detention slip in your hand. "Now get to class." She ordered, waving you off.

"Ma'am I didn't even-"

"Talk back and you're getting another day."

........

Yeah, needless to say you walked to class with a two-day detention slip in hand. Thankfully your punishment didn't start until tomorrow which left you at least a day to come up with an excuse for your maternal guardian. You trudged into Biology class and quietly made it to your desk. Listening to the random flow of conversation among your peers was entertaining. The main topic today was your up-and-coming group project, something you had heard about already. The reason it seemed to be so interesting was that the teacher was assigning partners randomly.

With your recent luck.... you could totally see this was going to end well for you.

The teacher had everyone take their seats, and went over details for the project again. Most of your fellow students were just waiting in anticipation for their group members to be announced. He listed off several people's names, often they were followed by groaning. From what you could gather he paired people who would otherwise never interact.

"Y/n Jones you'll be with Blake Greenmin, Timothy Buggles, and Vita."

Yep, people who you would otherwise not volunteer to work with. You weren't friends with them, but you were intimately aware of their reputations.

Blake Greenmin for example. An incredible student known for his near flawless grades. (At least to the teachers) Everyone in the student body knew that he sold answer sheets for homework, tests, quizzes, and even exams in the boys' bathroom. The one thing nobody could figure out was how he always managed to get the sheets without staff noticing. He also had a nasty habit of being late to classes, resulting in frequent detention. You were 99% sure you'd be joining him there tomorrow. When you looked over to his seat, he gave you a mocking wink and smile, you looked away with a groan. In your experience he was a self-centered prick. He loved messing with people for no discernible reason.

Timothy Buggles. He ran the music club. An average student, just a bit of a wallflower. You looked over to where he was sitting, he was quietly scribbling something in a notebook. You had actually didn't mind being paired with him in comparison to the other two. You'd worked with him before and found he was a reliable partner. Unfortunately, Tim was like you in many respects. He was marked a 'loner'. Sometimes when students were giving him trouble you would tell them to knock it off. Tim never asked you to do it, and he never talked to you after each ordeal. You could never tell if he appreciated you interfering or not.

Then there's Vita. Most teachers called him by his last name. Now that you were thinking about it, you didn't know his first name. Vita was a student that missed an inordinate amount of school. When you looked around, you found his seat to be empty. The times he did show up he scared people off. Many outlandish rumors surrounding him claimed he was a vampire or something. You weren't anticipating he'd be much help for this project.

You were expecting to start working immediately, but the teacher stopped everyone when there was a knock at the door. You were greeted by a pulling sensation; you couldn't place when but you had the inkling you'd felt it before. The teacher answered it and happily led in a familiar man.

"Everyone this is Mr. Kujo." He introduced the newcomer. "He's the marine biologist I said would be visiting us to teach about the recent fishing problem." You didn't remember the name but you instantly recognized the face. It was that guy you pulled out of traffic just yesterday. "You will most likely be seeing him around the school. Mr. Kujo is working with the science department to spread pollution and endangerment awareness."

Your teacher continued to drone on about your project and the marine biologist. All of the monotonous chatter left your mind to wonder off. You tried to figure out what that pulling sensation was, it wasn't your clothes or the chair, did it have to do with that stand thing? Before this morning you had no idea what your ability was called, but now you were curious beyond belief. You had so many questions about these so called 'stands'.

Your mind continued to generate questions surrounding this morning's incident and formulating educated guesses. This caught the attention of your teacher who noticed you distracted look.

"Y/n. Please pay attention in my class." You jolted from your daydreaming, immediately shooting a quick 'sorry' to him. A few students around the room laughed. You sunk into your seat and quietly wished for the school day to end.

The period did eventually finish, but only after a lecture boring enough to put the entire class to sleep. When the bell finally rang you started to move on to your next class. The hallways of the school filled with a hum created by many voices chatting at once. You were placing a book in your locker when two voices rose up above the normal volume.

"Buggles!" Someone roughly hit a locker near you. "What are you up to today?" The tone of this person was teasing, and blatantly meant to intimidate.

"N-nothing." Came a quieter voice. This one you immediately recognized.

"Oh yeah? Then what've you been writing in that notebook all day?"

You looked across the hallway to see your newly assigned project partners, two of them at least. Blake was leaning against a locker; Tim was hugging a notebook to his chest.

"Please. I don't want any trouble." Tim muttered, quietly shrinking underneath Blake's scare tactics.

"Give me that." Tim looked deflated as Blake snatched his notebook from him. You watched the interaction from the sideline before deciding to intervene. Blake had a big reputation, so usually people were hesitant to stand up against him. Students didn't pay any mind to the scene. They all just moved from class to class.

"We're supposed to be working together for the foreseeable future. Why don't we start our partnership on good terms?" You stood yourself between Blake and Tim. Blake gave a suave smile, turning on a more welcoming persona.

"My! Y/n, you make a wonderful point." Blake took a step closer to you. "We should try being friends. I guess I can start by giving this back." Blake held out the notebook, proceeding only to drop it at Tim's feet. "Woops." Blake then sauntered off down the hallway, chuckling as if what he had said was clever in some way.

Tim dejectedly picked up the book. He glanced at you before walking off to the opposite hallway. That left you alone. You weren't mad about Tim walking off or anything, you just wondered if he was okay. Ultimately there wasn't much for you to do about Blake, so you continued on your day as well.

The day ended after a few more grueling hours. When the dismissal bell rang you collected your bag and started your walk home. As you passed the courtyard of the school your 'fan girls' gawked and whispered to each other about you. Thankfully none of them followed you around today. After leaving the courtyard you were left to a quiet solitary walk, that is, before you got to the intersection. The light cleared people to walk but traffic continued to flow, you glared at the light, almost expecting it to fix itself if you did so.

A figure next to you started to step off the curb, you stuck your arm straight out to stop whoever it was from becoming roadkill.

"Hey watch it buddy!" A distinctly feminine voice growled. You looked over at the person, about to explain yourself, but you weren't faced with a tourist. No, you had seen this person very recently. "Oh! Y/n?" She was a bit shocked to see you but immediately the blonde gave a smile. "Hi! I didn't know you walk this way!"

"Umm. Hi?" You awkwardly looked up to see that traffic had stopped and motioned for Jaya to cross with you. When you both made it to the other side of the street you continued. "Of course I walk this way, I live right over there." You motioned to the bakery just up the street from where you were.

"Huh. Guess I didn't really register that yesterday!"

"You should really pay attention to that light. Everyone in the area knows what kind of a hazard it is. Are you new around here or something?"

"Sort of? Iv lived in town for a few months now. My brother usually takes me but, I just...had to start walking to school recently." A saddened expression came over Jaya's face. A silence fell between you two but it was soon broken by Jaya "So.... Are you like- okay?" She was eyeing you up and down. You knew what she was referring to. She was looking at the bandages peeking out from your jacket sleeve. You gave her a once over, she looked no worse for wear, especially considering she had almost been mugged. When you saw her forehead, you were perplexed. There was no bandage on it, and it looked almost completely healed. Maybe her cut was even shallower than yours? No. Something felt off about the fact there wasn't a scratch or bruise to be found on her.

"I'm fine, but how are you doing?"

"I got away ay-okay thanks to you. I more meant like are you...okay as in....."You gave her a questioning look. What was she getting at?

"I just said I'm fine." Jaya looked like she was biting back a question. She almost looked embarrassed. "If you have something to ask me spit it out. I don't bite."

"Are you like-... part of a gang or something?" Jaya blurted out. "Its not like I'm going to call the cops or anything! Its just, some people at school were talking about you. It sounded strange since you seem really nice." Jaya rambled on. "You also jumped directly into a fight which is kind of weird? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything! You really saved me back there. I-" She cut herself off when she saw your bewildered expression.

"No. I'm not in a gang, not yet at least." You actually laughed at the absurdity of the question. "Man do people at school love to gossip. Wonder what inspired that one." Jaya was relieved that you weren't offended by the question. She had indeed noticed how opinionated her fellow students were. "As for the ordeal this morning... it was a bit of a fluke." You admitted, but you thought back to all the times you had seen people antagonize those weaker than themselves. To be frank it made you sick. "I took quite the beating but that's all right. I saw you in danger, and it was my decision to jump in. A truly good person has no fear when it comes to helping others. Those who watch and do absolutely nothing are useless. At least that's my take on it."

Jaya held back a laugh, poorly, before just letting it bubble past her lips.

"That's so cheesy!"

You rolled you eyes but agreed with her. It was defiantly an odd thing to say, and to a stranger no less. But it was indeed how you felt. You were always compelled to help people as if it was a deeply engrained part of you. Jaya's laughing halted when you both got closer to the bakery. She looked concerned.

"Did that guy get arrested?" Jaya was looking down the alley where you had left the mugger that morning.

"No......he uh got away." You explained, internally freaking out over the fact he disappeared. The fact he was gone was a good thing...right?

"Well, I guess this is your stop." Jaya remarked. "Guess ill have to be careful walking home with the guy still around."

"How far away do you live from here?" you asked. Jaya responded by pointing up the road to a massive apartment complex. "Why don't we walk to school together then?" Jaya lit up. It was never hard to make her happy about something, she seemed easily excitable.

"I'd love that!" Jaya waved as you entered the bakery. "See you tomorrow then!

"Yeah. Bye." You waved.

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ted616 · 1 year

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Psychology in CSM: Denji's relationships and how they affect his character. Also a bit of how he affects them.

So. I was really bored and haven’t stopped thinking about CSM since finishing the manga more than a month ago. So here comes a big essay in well, what it says on the top. Just kinda letting my thoughts out about stuff and my interpretations. I think (!) I mostly understand everything well, but who knows.

Beware. This is LONG. a LOT of text is coming. a LOT.

First of all.

Denji is presented as a somewhat relatable, teenage MC. What this means is– Even if his life experiences are really specific, specially because of how absurd CSM is as a whole– His way of thinking and living is one that easily resonates with any teenage boy reading this manga. His kinda stupid, charming, genuinely kind-hearted and just wants people to love him. It is all throughout Part 1 that he tackles his own feelings and humanity, and learns from all the shit that happens to him. So let’s get a recap on all the people in his life and how each character affected him to become who he is in Part 2. (This is being written after the release of Chapter 120, so yeah).

The most important person to understand Denji’s psyche I believe is a character we do not know much about. No name, no design, almost nothing–

Denji’s Mother.

As it was said before, we know little about this character. The only data we have is that she died when Denji was still young (probably aroud 1 to 4 years old or so), and that it was from a heart disease he inherited and was “cured” of when Pochita fused with him.

Why is this character so important? Because it is her death that sets up one of the “pillars” of Denji’s personality and story.

Denji never had a mom, truly. Because she died when he was so young, he doesn’t hold memories of her. From a young age, he was robbed of a maternal figure and left with many men who made his life all the harder and shittier. It is the lack of a maternal figure that makes Denji initially fall in love with Makima, as he finally found the comfort and “love” of a mother in her, one he doesn’t fully understand; as he never once had it and only thought of women as people to please him until that very moment. That is why he seeks Makima’s affection, why he decides to join Public Safety and the hunt for the Gun Devil, because then Makima would do anything he wants! And because he loves her, that’d be perfect, right?

The lack of a Mother is what made Denji the perfect target for Makima, a young boy who had never really felt *love* and who had the Chainsaw Devil inside her. It is because he was robbed of that affection at such a young age that she could manufacture it for him and later on destroy it. Sure, if he actually had a caring mother everything would’ve probably gone a similar route! But it is because he didn’t have one that it was so easy for Makima to do. It’s grim, and fucked up! But everything in CSM is like that, and I think it’s really interesting to think and talk about.

Denji’s mom is truly an enigma of a character, and we don’t really know anything about her as a character. But I think that’s what makes the mysticism around Denji’s past so interesting and intriguing, and why I personally love to write/read about it in fanfiction. I really hope we see more of that past in the future, but at the same time feel like it’d be hard to do/and we really don’t *need* it to understand Denji’s character further.

Anyways. To the next asshole.

Denji’s father.

We don’t know much about his dad either, but we do know more about him than about Denji’s mom.

Denji’s dad was a drunk asshole, who had a multi million yen-worth debt with the yakuza for a reason. For what we know, he abused Denji physically and verbally, probably as a result of his mom’s early passing? And it was because of that abuse that Denji responded, defending himself and killing the man by his own hand.

It is here where Denji faces his first trauma. He runs away from the reality of him being his own father’s killer, taking advantage of the set-up made by the yakuza to fool himself into thinking of it as a suicide for what was most likely around a decade. It’s a fact that would break him if he ever remembered, and it’s one of the triggers that Makima pulls to awaken the Chainsaw Devil from him at the end of Part 1.

I see this event as the first in a series of different happenings that feed onto something– Denji’s guilt. In Part 2 we see a sadder, more tired Denji; who’s eyes look almost empty and who probably isn’t getting nearly enough sleep as he should. That can be for many reasons, and one of the reasons I believe is the sheer guilt he feels after the events of Part 1. Because he caused everyone around him to die, becuase he killed his own dad. He’s really different to the Denji from Part 1, because he has to face the reality he’s in; one where everyone he cared about has died, one where he sees himself as at least a partial reason for their deaths, and his father’s death is what “starts” this. His mom died of a heart virus, so that couldn’t be his fault– But he killed his dad. In self-defense, and we do know that the bastard deserved it– But he still killed a man. Not a fiend taking his best friend’s body, not Power being killed because he was controlled by Makima to open a door.

With his own hands, before even becoming a half-devil, when he was fully human, he killed a man. It doesn’t matter the reason, that weighs too heavily on anyone’s shoulders, and that’s why his subconscious hid away the memory for so long, and why Pochita tried to bury it further once he became one with Denji; because it would completely break him. And, as an audience, we know what happened when he finally remembered.

And lastly, I won’t linger long on his relations with the yakuza, because most of what could be said is clear in the manga. For years, he was used and beaten around for a debt that wasn’t his, and finally he was betrayed by the same people that used him and “killed”.

With these three examples a lot of stuff is clear, but one is most interesting to me.

Denji, in his 16 years he’s lived before the start of CSM, has never felt truly loved by a human. In his entire life, all the people around him have used and abused him, and the only who didn’t and who would’ve possibly loved him died when he was too young. Denji doesn’t have any real reasons to have any attachment to Humanity. The same humanity that wronged him, made him feel like shit, that starved him for weeks, that the best it would give him was stale bread and trash food– For all we know, without Makima in the picture he probably would’ve stayed by his own after the Zombie Devil fight and probably made himself an enemy of both Devils and Humans, possibly killing a bunch of the latter (especially if Public Safety tried going after him, something that surely would’ve happened).

Anyways. This goes directly to one of the most important characters in this manga.

Pochita.

We enter the field where I could make a specific post talking about each of these characters, so I’ll try not to make it too long and just talk about his relationship with Denji and all that. Sorry if it ends up being a slog.

Pochita meets Denji right after the death of his father, and makes it so Denji isn’t alone anymore. Pochita is widely different to everyone Denji’s ever met, as he indeed is, a Devil. Denji clearly didn’t know too much about devils at this point, and so seeing one like Pochita– A little dog, bleeding out in the open and whimpering in fear– He takes the initiative in helping the little mutt in exchange for help.

Via their contract, they become each other’s first ever friend. Pochita finally fills the hole within Denji’s heart, the one of a caring person who would listen to him and make him feel loved, even if he were a mere dog; while Denji finally fulfills Pochita’s dream of having a friend to hug him, something that was impossible for him until recently as we would later on learn.

Pochita is another reason for my point of Denji not caring about humanity. His only friend, ever, was a devil. The only one who listened to him, cared about him and made him feel loved, and gave him warmth in the cold nights in his shack, and who he shared every meal with– A devil.

Finally, it is Pochita who makes one of the biggest sacrifices in the whole of Chainsaw Man. Pochita gives away his own free will, his life in a sense, for Denji’s sake. Pochita’s dream was already fulfilled, so now he merely desires to see Denji’s come to fruition, and experience those moments with him, even if Pochita isn’t really *there* anymore. Furthermore, even when the Chainsaw Devil is reawaken and Denji’s mind totally breaks, what Pochita tries to do is completely opposed to what one would think a devil like him would do. Totally opposed to what Makima would’ve expected, too.

Pochita tries to run, tries to do all of the things Denji dreamed about when they were still with each other physically, all the things Denji talked to him about. He tries to eat a burguer at a fast food place, tries to go on a date with the only girl Denji knew at the time, anything that would trigger Denji’s humanity and would bring him back.

Finally, Pochita trusts on someone else to Denji. After all his attempts are ruined, after Makima has them pinned down– Pochita locates the little bit of blood from Power, and “revives” her with that. Pochita trusts Power, because he knows Denji loves her like he loves Pochita, because he trusts that at least she could do what’s right to help their friend. And, finally, it is by Pochita’s trust on her, and Power’s own trust in Denji, that he can come back.

Something to be noted is that Pochita isn’t *dead*. He lives within Denji, talks with him in dreams, and they even somehow interact within his mind. Pochita still actively cares for what’s best for Denji, and wishes him to do what’s best for others (Like in the case of Nayuta). Pochita is, to some extent, a figure that still helps Denji out in his journey, even though he can’t be there with him anymore.

I could really write a whole different essay on Pochita as a character, but that’s for some other day. Anyways, I’m gonna leave Makima for the end, so the next character’d be–

Aki.

Aki is the first actual instance that Denji has of someone, *a human*, caring for him. Aki cooked for Denji, gave him a roof, a bed, clothing, etc. Even if it was all somewhat fabricated by Makima, Aki and Denji learned to love each other like siblings nonetheless. They sadly didn’t have too much time together, but we, as an audience, know that the time they did have was the happiest one for the both of them. Denji had a family, a brother and a sister, who cared for him and who he cared for; who watched TV with him and enjoyed having him around.

All the while, for the first time since he was a child, Aki gained a family. After all those years, he slowly stopped caring for revenge, and now only cared to make sure that those two’s lives were safe and sound, even after his inevitable death. It reached a point where he was willing to pull away from killing the Gun Devil, because he didn’t care about the mission anymore, or at least cared less about it than he did about Denji’s and Power’s wellbeings; because when he was faced with the possibility of them dying, he got scared. Afraid.

All in all, the Denji we’re seeing now in Part 2 is a lot like the Aki from Part 1. He’s keeping up a house with a devil and 8 animals, cooking, getting all the money he can get to sustain them all and pay for Nayuta’s tuiton, while having to take care of all the dogs around and such. I’d imagine that many of the things he has to do daily now would be impossible if not for the influence Aki had on his life, and the imprint he left as an actual (somewhat) responsible adult.

And again, Aki’s death feeds into Denji's guilt and current mental state directly. Even if it was most likely a lie and impossible, he may still believe that he could’ve done something to prevent it. That he could’ve saved Aki, that he could’ve reciprocated all the love and care he gave them, but didn’t. This may enter the headcanon field a bit too much, but I do believe that we’ve seen him mention Power but not Aki for a reason– Because he had closure with Power. Because he promised to find the Blood Devil and turn it into Power again. Meanwhile, the last time he saw Aki was the day he left their home and came back as a fiend. Never did he have the chance to say goodbye, to make any promise to hold to, anything. Aki left their home, the Gun Fiend came back knocking and he had to kill it. He had to give in, to lose all belief that the Aki he knew was still there, because he had to. Even thinking about him probably damages Denji like nothing else, to think of the brother he lost, the one he killed. The one person he could’ve saved.

Anyways. Aki’s character is also a deep one that I’d love to talk about some other day, so let’s keep going.

Power.

I’ve seen many people interpreting Denji and Power’s dynamic as a romantic, and while I wouldn’t *judge* people over it, it does rub me the wrong way. Because many times it is established that they do not hold any romantic feelings for each other. They do find comfort in one another like they don’t with anyone else, but it is always claimed how Denji doesn’t feel any attraction towards her like he does with the likes of Makima or Reze.

Anyways. As it is said by Power herself, Denji is her first friend. The first human to care about her in any way, to help her out even after she wronged him, fooling him to be food for the Bat Devil. Even after that, he sticked with her, ultimately finding in Power the sister he never had, someone even more fucked up and dirty and asshole-y than himself, who hid away her care for others in her own pride; but clearly needed him and Aki to persist.

It was Denji who helped Power through her PTSD of the Darkness Devil fight, while Power was one of the people who stuck with him through everything, who *cared* about Denji.

It is with her sacrifice that we can see this to the fullest extent. At that point, most of the people around him cared about the Chainsaw Man, and the Chainsaw Man only.

Devils wanted him dead because he was the Chainsaw Man. Reze, for all Denji knew, just wanted to get the Chainsaw’s heart. Makima only cared about Chainsaw Man, and thought of Denji as a repulsive insult to the Chainsaw’s “legacy” or “mystique”, of sorts.

Power cared and believed in Denji. She believed in him, she knew he could defeat the Control Devil, and she knew he could continue his life forward. Without Aki, and maybe without Power herself; because she knew Denji. She knew Denji could withstand the worst of shits and come back from it, and she believed in him to find the Blood Devil and turn into “herself” again.

And with that comes another point that I raise. Maybe also a little bit too headcanon-y, but I want to get it out.

When Devils die and are reborn, they forget their previous lives entirely. That’s why Nayuta can be raised to be a better person than what Makima was, the whole nature vs. nurture thing. Why am I bringing it up?

When the Blood Devil comes back, it won’t be Power. If Denji gets the Blood Devil to befriend him, and he gets to tell her all about her past life, it may turn into something *like* Power. Dirty, egotistical, but caring and loving of her family. But the memories won’t be there. The experiences Denji, Aki and Power had together would still only survive in Denji’s mind.

The Blood Devil may be capable of being like Power, but it isn’t capable of *being* Power. And that’s alright, because I believe that’s what Power wanted when she made her contract with Denji.

Power knew she’d die, and she knew she wouldn’t remember her past life. I believe, and remember, this may be a little too headcanon-y, but I believe that Power doesn’t plan on “coming back”. Power planned for the Blood Devil to come to Earth and learn to love, learn to live happily with a family, just like she herself did. She wants Denji to have someone there for him, someone like Power, even though Power herself isn’t really *there*. She merely wants the new Blood Devil to have the chance to experience the beautiful life Power had with Denji and Aki, because as a fiend and devil herself, she knows how great it truly is. To have people caring about you, to share your meals with others, to sleep in the same bed with no true romantic intentions. To have a family.

Now, what do we get from all of this?

First, all of these people showed and taught many things to Denji.

Aki taught him that humans can be kind and caring out of their own heart, not expecting anything in return. Pochita helped him be himself, live life at its fullest just like he dreamed for so long. And Power taught him why he shouldn’t merely chase women for romance, why and how anyone can just be your friend, or even something far beyond than a mere friend, while not being in a romantic relationship.

But most importantly, Power and Aki are what ultimately proves something to Denji; he’s human. It may’ve been said by Makima originally, and maybe it was with her that he cried for the first time, but it’s not truly the same.

He came into Public Safety doubting if he was truly human anymore, doubting if he’d ever cry for people or himself ever again. When Pochita “died”, he didn’t cry. When Himeno died, it stung, but he didn’t really care that much. He thought it’d be the same with Aki and Power, both because maybe he just didn’t have a human heart anymore, and because, who would care for those assholes?

But alas, he did care. He cared, maybe too much, just like they also cared about him. Their deaths were what broke him, what changed him, what somewhat killed Part 1’s Denji and his innocence and his persona, what birthed the more laid-back, depressed and guilty Part 2 Denji. Because he truly cared about them like no one else, because they were the world for him, because it was with them that he truly was human. In a way, Denji opened many doors, and let these people into his life, let them change him and shape how he is as a person, and even though he loved them and they loved him back, that is what made everything hurt so much in the end.

That is why he wanted to give up. Why he wanted to just die, because his life had already been too good, it had reached its peak and then it had crashed down directly to the ground. It is Power’s words and contract that rekindled something within him.

Power’s sheer belief in him was what made him want to go on. Live, and defeat the monster that had broken his family into pieces. Even though he still loved that monster, he had to keep going and defeat it, for Power’s and Aki’s sake, for his family. He couldn’t give up, because that would mean all the love the three of them shared was in vain, a mere fabrication made by someone else in a twisted game, and that just wasn’t true. Because he loved them so much, because they gave everything for each other, their bond was real, and he had to fight for it.

yeah i love the hayakawa sibs a lot. miss them too.

Anyways, we’re reaching the end (i think). there’s not many characters left for me to go over, but who knows.

Here comes a big one. I may not be the best person to describe this relationship, but I’ll try to, at least.

Reze.

Reze and Denji’s relationship is a tragic one, probably the most tragic out of Denji’s friends and such.

Reze, like Denji, was a child who was treated harshly and used by those around her, growing up as a weapon for her government, not too unlike Makima herself. It is because of that that she’s sent to take the Chainsaw Devil’s heart, and so, she meets Denji. Not the Chainsaw Man, but Denji.

She was supposed to get close to him first to take his heart, and so, she did. She met Denji, a kid awfully similar to herself, with a charming personality and level of innocence that was awfully odd on someone like himself. He merely wanted to have fun, to love, to learn– Slowly, as Reze understood more and more about Denji, she fell in love with him. In how similar they both were, how he’d always try his best to make her happy, how stupid he could be at times– But, alas, she was still a weapon of the USSR. And so, she had to do as her job commanded, and try and take the boy’s heart for using it as a weapon like herself.

It is after a long fight, in a moment where she can see how he still cares about her, even giving her his own shirt– She presented him with an option. She so deeply wanted to go away, to be left alone by Public Safety and her own countrymen, that she proposed to Denji the idea of just escaping. Leaving and never returning, something she thought he would love! Because they were so alike–

But he couldn’t. Even if he loved her so much, even if Reze meant so much for him, he couldn’t leave Public Safety like that. Not only would they find and kill him, no, he probably never thought about that too much… He couldn’t leave his family behind. He was just discovering what Aki and Power meant to him, how comforting it was to have them and a nice house to live in, and he was still in love with Makima. Even if it hurted, he couldn’t leave with Reze.

Even so, he still tried amending that. He tried to get her to meet him at their usual place, to have a normal date and maybe sort things out with Public Safety, but alas, she never showed up. And I believe this is something really important to understand about Denji’s POV;

From his perspective, Reze never came back. For all he knew, she wasn’t truly in love with him, and didn’t care to show up for their date. Denji didn’t know what really caused her to stand him up that day, and the next time he saw her– It was as a mere puppet of the Control Devil, trying to kill him. I may have the facts wrong, and I kinda hope I do because this is so fucking sad srsly I hate fujimoto– But Denji never learnt the truth. He never learnt that Reze too didn’t go to school, that she loved him, or that Makima was the real reason why she wasn’t there when she had to.

Here, Denji learns more about himself. He learns what true love is, even if at the time he hadn’t realized it yet; it is with Reze that he understands what the companionship he yearned for so long really was. Not a warped, controlling maternal love that was never reciprocated, but an actual, teenage romance of two people that are so differently similar. And it is with Reze that, for the first time, Denji has his heart broken. Maybe he turns away from it quickly, goes back to just trying to impress Makima, but that is still something that stays in a teenager’s mind, no matter how hard one tries to suppress it.

The thought of what could’ve been, of what would’ve happened if. It’s something that would nag at anyone’s head, and I imagine that it probably still hangs around Denji’s, taking into account that in Chapter 120 Nayuta mentions how “every woman he meets tries to kill him”, I do believe that may imply that he’s told her about much of his past, including Reze. Again, maybe a little too headcanon-y, but that would mean she still holds a place in his mind, which is not really far-fetched or anything, so–

Anyways! We’re coming to a close. I would love to talk about Kishibe, and do love his weird father/uncle-like relationship with Denji, but I don’t believe it holds anything too important aside from having teached a lot about Devil Hunting to Denji. I’d love to talk about it more deeply once he comes back in Part 2 and more stuff happens though! He’s easily in my top 5 CSM characters lmao

Anyways. Here comes the big one.

Makima.

Makima is to Denji many things.

His first love, his greatest opponent, a mother, the person that gave him a purpose and then shred it into pieces.

In a way, they’re similar. They both were confused, lost children once, that needed help and care from others. It took Denji long before he got it, but he did; and that saved him. Makima, on the other hand, never truly had it. She grew up a weapon, someone who couldn’t understand companionship that wasn’t formed by control and manipulation, and so she seeked for someone of her caliber, someone at her own level. That someone was the Chainsaw Devil, the only one who posed a substantial threat to those like her, the Horsemen.

She fantasized and dreamt of the Chainsaw Devil, as her equal, as the one who could give her her perfect world, or, if not, that would give her the most honorable of deaths.

But Makima never understood the Chainsaw Devil. How it never wanted to harm, to kill; it only ever wanted friends and affection, just like she did. Maybe she never realized, because she held it so highly, but the Chainsaw Devil was the most human of devils.

But the one who understood the Chainsaw was Denji. He understood Pochita, and gave him a house, food, warmth, protection, and a friend. He gave him lots of hugs, and pats, and always shared with him, and always talked about the dreams that Pochita loved to hear about.

Makima couldn’t begin to understand that. She never once saw the Chainsaw Devil as Pochita, but as the Hero of Hell. She was jealous, jealous of a kid who was similar to her, but who could get that affection and connection with her idol, her equal. She couldn’t begin to understand the Chainsaw Devil as anything but almighty and powerful, as a beast of destruction, one that kills any that it finds on its path.

Makima gave too much to Denji. She gave him a home, food, a family and friends… She gave him hope. She tried to take it away, but she couldn’t. His relationships with those around him were far too strong for them to be broken like that.

Denji, finally, killed Makima. But everything was still too hard for him, because after everything, he truly loved her. She used him, manipulated him; killed everyone important to him, even weaponized them. But she gave him everything he ever wanted, she gave him his first hug, his first bowl of udon…

Many people loved Makima mindlessly, because of her powers. Aki doesn’t remember *why* he even loved her, and the fiends only remember her “saving” them. The Hybrids too, were clearly mindless as she used them, the Katana Man, Reze and Quanxi all having many reasons to despise her to the core, but her control was just that powerful.

Maybe it influenced Denji to a point too, but something is clear. Denji truly loved Makima. He wasn’t controlled, at least for most of it, like the others. He had reasons to love her, many in fact. All of them may have been fabricated, acted, a lie– But they still were there, and he still remembers all of them. Denji was the only person to truly and wholeheartedly love Makima, but she never cared about that. She merely cared about Pochita, the Chainsaw Devil, who in return merely loved Denji.

Makima hasn’t left Denji’s mind yet, and she probably never will. Because he HAS to remember her, remember all that he went through, for the sake of the ones that died, and for Nayuta’s sake. To be sure she never ends up like that, to be sure she knows she’s loved.

Makima traumatized him like nothing else in his life. The Gun Fiend attack, the memory of his father’s death coming back, Power’s own death, Reze never showing up for their date, etc. All of it was her fault, and he may stop loving her some day, he may already have; but he will never stop remembering all of those moments. How sad, pitiful and broken he felt, how depressed he may have been, how guilty he still is. All of it is her fault.

Yeah. I’m a dramatic bitch.

Anyways, now I should talk more about Part 2’s characters and their relationships with Denji, but I believe that’s best to do some other day, when Part 2 ends or is reaching a conclusion.

I will say, though. Asa is a perfect fit for him, and I truly want to see them learn and grow together, because Denji really deserves *someone* that won’t die on dissapear on him now. Yoshida is a mystery, truly; and I cannot for the life of me decipher what the hell is going to happen with that asshole.

And his relationship with Nayuta is really cute and I love them, but I feel like the way he treats her is probably going to backfire eventually. Not a Makima 2, but something else; that they can solve at the end and so they won’t have to repeat the cycle of just killing the Control Devil and trying again on its next life.

anyways if you read through all of this 1. youre kinda cool 2. you may like to read some other stuff (?!) hit up my AO3 i have a lot of CSM fanfiction there https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddd11

#csm #csm denji #denji hayakawa #csm spoilers #power csm #aki hayawaka #aki csm #makima csm #reze csm #csm rambles #character essay #i think idk

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larrythefloridaman · 2 years

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Opinions on the obvious Larold of Florida Residence

you've made a critical mistake by asking me what i think about larry generally when my power limiters (discord message size limit) are off.

(spoilers for cpuk20 and onward under the cut including the nccts)

Larry as a core cast member of cpu kerfuffle is so perfectly potent for a series that makes multifaceted identity and the foundationally important human obligation of supporting one another central themes, because his entire character is built on masks and forms and titles and facets of the self, utilized as needed or wanted, sometimes lost and sometimes gained, but all a part of a unified whole, excellently portrayed through the character progression of Florida Man > Larry, the erratic shapeshifter > Home MD > Lawrence "Larry the Florida Man" Home, MD, from hapless barely-adult who scoffs at anything less than stardom, doesnt really Understand the danger of risk despite constant risk-taking behavior and doesnt even accept that he likes men yet to Talented and Well-known Medical Researcher Homeowner Pillar of The Community, who is Extremely Loud And Proud about his Beloved Boyfriend and Steady albeit Stressful Work In the Medical Care Profession

already fascinating before the nccts, but fleshed out even more seeing how uncertain of himself he was when he first arrived- not even accepting his attraction to other men yet, thinking it probably a phase, J0hn implies he freaked out a little the first time they really talked about it! their little interaction in the dream about it also leads me to assume their time adjusting to their altered selves after the experiments wasnt the first time J0hn helped Larry to see himself in bold and honest terms. Florida Man sees his future self and bemoans the boring normalcy of getting older and doing something like deciding to go to school and pursue a career in the medical field instead of becoming a big champ star of the tournament or some such other starry-eyed fantasy, as such though the idea of curing death itself as a personal achievement DOES manage to thrill him into reconsidering that a little. he is... understandably skeptical of a lot of the weird shit we tell him comes to happen in his adult life that surrounds all that, despite how cool he thinks parts of what we told him is. his future powers excite him, even if the havoc it wreaks on his body when he watches his future self change does... unsettle him. the idea of the time travel he takes with a grain of salt- joking about 'the simulation,' unaware of the irony of this tongue-in-cheek comment and its truthful element to the nature of his reality. this is a weird dream he's having, it doesn't mean much else to him yet, seeing what his future holds is... meaningful in a way, but it hasnt yet come to pass and he cant yet imagine it realistically because its not real to him yet. a dreamed up hypothetical which sits on the horizon which only we understood fully has already been carved in stone. his feelings are those of a not yet mature perspective of someone that can only barely be considered an adult looking on a future he can barely envision with any real weight because he's got his eyes set on the stars, uninterested and unwilling to make eye contact long with the mundane and painful long enough to worry about them, convinced he won't have to deal with them if he succeeds. "don't need insurance if you never crash!"

this doesn't last, of course. for reasons and through circumstances left largely undescribed as yet, Larry as well as his boyfriend fall victim to Dr. Order's experiments, experiencing life-changing trauma. they support eachother through learning to cope with their altered selves and deepening the closeness of their bond. Larry develops a... complicated relationship with his new powers, loving them and yet thinking them also a kind of curse. Unsurprising, considering the circumstances that lead to obtaining them and certain drawbacks they have. and in this period too one can find the implication of an internal conflict between a love for performing as part of the tournament, and being more authentically himself by seperating things that pertain to his personal self from it. with his initial re-debut with his powers, as a result of the improv, he uses them as a strange kind of anonymization from his initial stage title, using an unrecognizable neutral form, only going by his normal first name with the descriptive tag of his powers. (until hamhel makes him mad enough to try to beat his ass 'unmasked' in full view of the camera, lol.) larry, the erratic shapeshifter. they talk about how he works like. at the grocery store. Larry makes more appearances in tournaments in this period than any other, revealing more and more of himself while also kind of hiding himself, (again because of the improv often deciding these things after the fact.) Larry and Order are in the same tournament in cpuk14, and Larry's like I Do Not FUCKING See It because we dont learn his transformation is her fault until gaiden 2, which also has j0hn and larry in the same episode with no acknowledgement of a connection between them and their relationship is confirmed in cpuk17 to be 1) 2 years old and 2) the subject of some local rumor/gossip but never previously made public. At the same time, he can't RESIST the bullshit, the performance, the spectacle, the fun of it all. after being the guy who made headlines just to make headlines and ending up a dehumanized human experiment guinea pig, the guy wanted a little privacy to just be respected as himself in peace, even if he loves the show too much to stay away. he's trying to keep his personal life and the show separate, only allowing them to interact on his terms, but his personal life and feelings can't always be kept out of the show. In a way, one can read his shapeshifting and its functionality (controllable but only sort of, and a default self that can definitely be him but also is a malleable molten dripping goop at the same time, forms typically thrown at him like prompts) as part of a metaphor for the improv style of performance the show is based on- its... controlled but it isnt, theres a part of it thats driven by adapting to what you're given, playing your part whatever it might be, but theres a part of it that just comes from the gut, from who you are, and if youre doing it right somewhere amid the hashing of those things to achieve what you're going for you might find something real made of both. And larry can find himself a little lost in both sometimes. Larry's implied to sometimes dissociate and get a little lost in it when he takes a form (see: full rat mode moment), and similarly Larry gets REAL carried away with a bit sometimes, until something knocks some sense into him.

Forged from circumstances, Home MD is a facet of himself like the others, created like diamond by a steady, weight-of-the-world pressure, and Larry hatches from seven long years in the superheated chrysalis of this persona into his most modern self. It was, to continue a metaphor, a part he played so long and so well he came to embody it and it became a part of him. Home MD is all-business, the part of larry that responsibility and obligation summons to the forefront. Grim and straight-laced and patient. Uptight, even. Becoming Home, taking on the responsibility of what has already been set in stone by the loop, was the only way to stop the Doctor, a stain on the profession her title typically implies, without irreparably altering the course of history, possibly for the worse. Home is a doctor, and he's good at what he does, and what he does is what needs to be done, no matter how ugly and unfortunate it might be, even to great personal suffering, death and injury, a thing which... embarrasses him a little, given he once liked to think himself practically invincible, and now is coming to understand that while he can endure just about anything as long as theres a glimmer of light, a punchline, on the other side, it's not gonna be... a clean ordeal. Home MD must stare death and failure and illness and tragic inevitability in the face every day. There is no option to be naive or to look away. That is the nature of his profession. He witnesses himself changed in third person, and witnessed similar change for everyone else. But he's also compassionate, relentlessly so- never succumbing to thoughtlessness about the pain inherent of the grim task set before him, resilient both physically and psychologically. He was made to play a direct bystander as history unfolds, unable to change it's forward march without risking everything falling apart, but he learned to take pride in what he can do for people. Being a good doctor is about caring for others, after all, and he can do his damnedest to be there for everyone, even if his ability to change their fates for the better is... limited, for now.

This compassion is not a newly formed trait of Larry's- he's been known to reach out to people in kindness even before the Home years, Hamhel after his whole demon stunt and Google (mentioned offhandedly in G2, that he spoke with Google offscreen following his defection from Order) come to mind for examples outside his beloved boyfriend- but becoming a care professional turned this self-effacing empathy for others into a second nature, a duty, a willingness to endure anything to help someone. Even the Doctor got an opportunity to apologize, even if Larry was ultimately relieved she didn't take it and he could continue hating her to death and send her to her bitter ironic fate without ever having to consider a world where she chose to be better. (Until susan showed up, at least. We never did get to see his first reaction to her arrival when they thought she was her her, only weeks later, glaring and weary. i can't imagine it was pretty.) The only person he doesnt seem to extend that kind of compassion and understanding to much is himself, Home not really taking all that kindly to Larry until he's 'in on the joke,' so to speak and, after the loops completion, failing to realize (or refusing to acknowledge,) choosing not to seek therapy to give therapuppy a break from her overwork is silly when they're in the same boat of 150+ revolving patients with little professional backup and he hardly expects similar from her. He's happy to be someone others can rely on and not worry about, regardless of whether they like him, and it's... embarrassing for him, to admit when he cannot bear a weight by himself, as grateful as he is for support where he can get it he will not ask for it, beyond perhaps a snarky remark. "Damn, Grunk... how about a 'thank you,' maybe?" "Hey, man, it's alright, I get it. Gotta keep the tough guy look up. Either way, it was my pleasure to bring ya back."

And then there's the truth of their reality. During the loop, Home becomes aware of the nature of their world. A fiction, crafted into existence. improvised into being, becoming intimately aware of the functional implications of this. The world, the story, lives and breathes. It remembers and forgets itself as it pleases. colored dots and schrodingers cat. Many things in the past remain undetermined, only becoming fully true as it is spoken credibly into truth in the Script. Larry's intimate awareness of these 'obscure theories' as he frames them which we understand as just part of the nature of the telling of the story is something which I think informs his worldview and decisions considerably, while he doesn't tell anyone what he knows without these kinds of obfuscations to spare them the dread. I think the sephiroth incident may have been an attempt to determine what the narrative tone of the world would be going forward. not determine in the sense of trying to choose, although i think he did have a preferred outcome, but in trying to find out. Observing a schrodingers cat. Will cpu kerfuffle return to lighthearted low consequence fun, or continue to be a dramatic and consequential affair, even following the end of the story arc he'd brought to a close? The Grunk, a murder victim resurrected, had killed two people just for the bit recently, and either sephiroth's funny resurrection would have consequences because of his inherent dramatic weight, or it wouldn't, because we've become a full comedy again that can freely mock its own flirtation with weight. Larry really wishes that bloody note had been from the tootsie pop owl, but he'll take on the consequences of his little experiment without complaint. This is a dramedy and it will remain one. He recognized the possibility of this outcome. Observing schrodinger's cat does often end with a dead cat. Larry used to be shyer/more private about his relationship, but after years apart and knowing the world may forget or reinterpret that which doesnt remain firmly established, theres a part of me that wonders if the increased amount of public romantic gestures despite j0hn's mild embarrassment with them might be influenced by a degree of insecurity that the world may reinterpret their relationship because of their time apart and damage it somehow, or if he believes that by refusing to acknowledge his trauma as being as serious as it was, he can make it go away by convincing the world to think of it like a joke hes gotten over. Larry likes being the funny guy that isnt taken too seriously, despite the weight of his achievements, his burdens and his mistakes. 'Laughter is the best medicine' patch adams sad clown type bitch

Larry conducts himself nowadays knowing full well the potential for his chosen actions to go terribly, looking that potential for messy consequences dead in the eyes, but knowing as well that a lot of times, a good idea was a bad idea that worked out in the end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Home MD was the most batshit looney tunes painful idea he'd ever gone through with, and its transformed his life and others' for the better, ultimately, despite everything. That's life, baby! Love and support eachother, dare to be stupid and earnest and take risks, take the good with the bad, everyone contains multitudes and You are the unique and multifaceted and even sometimes contradictory self you compose from these many parts, we are mask and wearer, every me is me every you is you, We Never Stop Becoming!!!!!!!!

A core thing i do think larry after everything does still need to learn is a little self-compassion, not just in accepting that regardless of whether or not he can shoulder everything and anything thrown at him as the resilient fucker he is on his own, he shouldn't necessarily have to, (a sort of tardigrade's dilemma- if you know you're uniquely capable of surviving in nightmarish extremes, how obligated are you to do that in the place of others who might not be able to survive as well, if you'll still be suffering all the same?) even if it was self-inflicted by the consequences of his own decisions. After all, it'd be cruel to deny a sick patient treatment just because their habits caused their illness. but... well. being in your twenties is about forgiving all the dumb shit you did while you were growing, the same way being in your thirties and forties is, from what i understand, lol. maybe he needs to forgive his past self's naivety a little too.

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