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glitterdragonthegreatprotector · 6 months

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Lore of demons in fnaftale

Lucifer

Was the Archangel of art

Was a seraphim

First sin of pride was committed when he had one of his paintings complemented by a god of art. Continued to commit the sin of pride by getting into competitions.

Suffered from genocide at the hands of his father for over 18 billion years

Was cast out of heaven at the age of 12

Was 18,243,014,674 years old when jehovah was defeated.

4,543,000,012 years old when the flood happened. There was a 13,700,014,662 year gap between Noah’s ark and 12026.

Is the oldest out of all the angels, being seconds older than archangel Michael.

Was created by a bright star being carved like wood to make a soul, then clay was used to make his body.

Acearo. He is good with relationships as a concept (can give you advice if you need it for either romantic or sexual relationships) but if you flirt with him, he will become a brick wall and take you literally. Not out of spice or because he thinks it’s funny, but because he genuinely doesn’t think of sex or romance when it applies to him. He/him pronouns.

He has some children, but they were conceived with experiments he’s done using blood. These kids were slaughtered by angels, and he has never tried to be a father since. One child did secretly survive, and his name was originally Spestella, but he changed his name to Miles, and continued his father’s bloodline in secret. He only vaguely remembers that Lucifer is his father.

Hyper empath, suffers from depression, anxiety, CPTSD. He experiences hallucinations, triggered by fire and extremely loud noises (seeing people he failed again, hearing cries for help that aren’t actually being cried, and he even can experience his fall at random. He can feel his wings getting ripped out all over again, and he can feel wind blowing past him even when the air is still.)

Original look: Short black hair, peachy skin, purple eyes, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals. He looked like he was in his 20s

New look: A red devil, with round horns, gray and black hooves, red eyes, animal skin kilt, and a long whip-like dragon tail. His face is similar to that of a cat with elf ears.

Full form: a mass of broken wings, eyes, and animal maws similar to a fanged goat. Many eyes are missing, and two large wings of blood stick out from his back. His main body usually takes the form of the witness’s nightmares, with a snake head tail wrapped around the neck. This form distorts the world around him, leaving it in black and white, and it fades in and out of comprehension.

Asmodeus

Original archangel of beauty

Was a cherubim

First sin of lust was committed when he saved Lilith and fell in love with her. The two ended up making the first nephilim together. They then continued to grow their family, till Asmodeus fell from grace. He was a naive father, due to his contradictory knowledge and experience. (Physically and intellectually an adult for the most part, with the experience and ignorance of a child.)

Nicknamed the “Father of hell” due to how many demons are his children.

Cast out at the age of 10, two years younger than lucifer.

Poly, pansexual, and demisexual. Genderfluid, and so is his form, but he’s mainly male presenting

Deliberately oversexualizes himself when he feels uncomfortable or threatened. (example: someone threatens his kids, or his spouses, so he brings attention to himself to keep fights from breaking out. This either gets himself attacked for being “gross” or makes the aggressor uncomfortable enough to leave. Another example is making a lot of sex jokes to avoid questions.) Has an inferiority complex, depression, anxiety, CPTSD, and he hallucinates occasionally and it ranges from destressing to annoying (hearing the voices of children that have been dead for centuries or the voices of his siblings asking him to do something from a distance, having random untriggered flashbacks to random events like deaths of loved ones or just something he ate centuries ago.)

Original look: Golden wavy hair, dark skin, bright blue eyes, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: A bipedal mostly hairless cherubim type demon with his faces more melted into one, with some eyes clawed out that are now dark blue, a snake head for a tail, and forced digitigrade legs that were forced in place, leech-like tentacles where his extra wings were as he was turned into a demon with his archangel form as a base. His golden mane was turned dark gray and red in a failed attempt to make him look uglier. He also has round horns.

He is always with his spouses clinging to him, not in a sexual way, though it would look like that at first glance, it is really because they constantly need to support him because of his unnatural legs. After jehovah’s death, he actually gets these legs completely removed, having a double hemipelvectomy. He uses his tentacles to move around, and likes wearing flowing robes as the legless ness gives him a mysterious aesthetic. When he needs to move around a lot, however, he keeps a wheelchair near himself at all times, as using his tentacles for too long will cause him pain, and overworking them makes him extremely clumsy. Doesn’t want prosthetic legs, as having them makes him uncomfortable (last time he had straight legs, he was under his father’s rule, and the legs that he had as a demon constantly hurt, so he didn’t want legs at all.)

Full form: A lion with broken legs bent forwards (though these legs vanish after his hemipelvectomy), and melting heads of a bull, bird, angel, and lion. His tentacles split to look like wing bones, and large blood wings sprout from his wounds. His lion mane turns into blue and yellow flames, with lava draping his shoulders from the base of his mane, like molten dandruff. Instead of having floating eyes beside him, he has floating bleeding eye sockets. His mouth on his chest is full of large leeches.

Satan

Was the Archangel of strength

Was a Throne, and was the strongest out of them

First sin of wrath was him being slightly sore after losing a sparring match with some mortals, and him getting too overprotective of his older siblings.

Was 7 at the time of the fall, and was one of the younger fallen angels, and is the youngest of the 7 main devils. He was the second one to fall, as he tried to fight to keep his older siblings safe.

Satan never thought about sexuality, nor cared for it after all the labels started showing up. He has been in relationships before, and has had many husbands and wives, dating back to when he was an angel. He doesn’t care if he is queer or not, or what people call him (gay, straight, bi, pan, omni, etc.) He just wants to be held, man! Hold this man, for the… well not for the love of god, just for the love of satan. He/him, but he also unironically likes being referred to as “the beast.” One thing he reclaimed as a demon.

Extremely paranoid and anxious, responds with violence for everything (scared? Punches a wall or someone in the face. Happy? Punches himself in the chests like a gorilla. Sad? Lots of wall punches till he collapses on the ground, where he will then continue punching the ground till he is hyperventilating. Disgusted? He will run over anyone that gets in his way of going the opposite direction of what grossed him out, while screaming like a girl. This, or he would punch the gross person in the face or kick them in the nuts. Mad? He will either challenge someone to an honorable battle, or he will go NUTS like a hissy cat.) Suffers from most of the same stuff as his brothers, but for being the most violent of the devils, he is also the most quiet, often isolating himself and his violent reputation comes from him being disturbed from small moments of peace. Leading to a cycle where he is scared of hurting people, but he doesn’t want to be lonely, but he also gets annoyed easily resulting in people getting hurt, which makes him stay by himself. Only thing that keeps him calm is having something in his hands to mess with. From other people’s hands, to rocks, to weapons needing polishing, he needs something in his claws to stay calm. His hallucinations involve the voices of war gods saying his intrusive thoughts and self loathing, along with seeing blood on his claws that aren’t there.

Only ones that can never piss him off are children, as he can never be mad at what he’ll never be again.

Original look: spiky black hair, fiery eyes with gold central heterochromia, chipped teeth, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: very similar to lucifer, but with a more deer like appearance, and a much spikier dragon body. Like natural armor. But outside of minor differences such as these, they look too similar. Hence why so many people get Satan and Lucifer mixed up. He also has “rings” and “bands” on his arms, near his ankles, and neck that are his halos from when he was a Throne (there are holes in the bands, making him partially blind. His father tore out many eyes from fallen Thrones, to reduce them to brutish demons, fighting blindly as they can’t see well)

Full form: a large dragon-like dear with a giant burning eye socket where his head should be. All his rings are missing eyes, and he only has a pair on his palms. His body is split at some joints, where many rings circle burning eye sockets.

Another one of the few things that don’t make him mad is the mix up, he loves his big brother, and reverts back to his seven year old self whenever he talks about him. (“I love lucifer THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS much!” *stretches entire body to be as big as possible*)

Uses hearing to get around, as everything is blurry for him (glasses can’t fix his sight, as this is linked to his missing eyes messing with his main eyes.). He also uses his tail to “see” what is behind him, as the underside is extremely sensitive. When jehovah is finally killed, his favorite weapon becomes the bow staff, as he uses it like a white cane when he isn’t fighting. Battles have always been a blur to him, so he often jokes about how his sight hasn’t changed for combat.

Beelzebub

Was the archangel of harvest

Was a seraphim. (insect variant)

Their first sin was taking part in the harvests, instead of not touching the fruits of his labor. He also partied with too many gods, and gained weight fast (not being allowed to eat for the first few years of your existence, then suddenly being told it’s okay to like more than the smell of food would do that to you.) She also enjoyed too much, instead of forcing themself to be satisfied with less than the bare minimum.

Was 11 when she fell from grace.

Pan and aro, intersex (lucifer distracted god in Beelzebub’s creation, and “ruined” the final product), genderfluid. Doesn’t care about what pronouns you use for him, but wishes people would switch it up since they’re known as a “prince” of hell, despite hell not having a monarchy.

Similar problems and mental health issues as their brothers, her hallucinations often involve taste and smell (food or blood are common hallucinations of theirs. He also sees what he’s eating as something else. Fruits as corpses or corpses as normal food, when it happens it’s usually because of guilty eating.), fast metabolism, bulimia (though this is not caused by issues with his body, she gorges for comfort and vomits out of guilt from eating food that could have gone to their people. His vomit is often eaten by other gluttony demons, due to his vomit usually being barely digested.), and addiction (any time he is summoned, they steal alcohol and drugs, and she is cursed to suffer withdrawal symptoms till jehovah’s death.)

Original look: patchy mixed hair that has two different textures, vitiligo, heterochromia with brown and green eyes, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: skinny praying mantis, with torn butterfly wings under the wing caps (shells?), a long dragonfly-like abdomen, that ends with a tail that resembles a large caterpillar, orange tinted fly eyes, moth wing “ears” that cover up his eyes. Below his main eyes are mantis eyes with his original heterochromia. His underbelly is exposed and is like a stretched out skinny human, till it gets to the caterpillar tail. His insect bodies have spotted patchy patterns similar to their original vitiligo, but the colors are her dual genders patching the skin in speckled patterns. On his head are round horns just like her brothers.

Full form: mass of many different types of “undesired” insect wings (moths, flies, mosquitoes, ants, etc.) that are broken or torn at different places., at the center of the mass is a humanoid figure made out of insect body parts from the main insects of their normal form, still following their original vitiligo pattern with different males and females. (think oogie boogie under his bag).

Belphegor

Archangel of Dreams

Seraphim

First sin was doing the bare minimum of work instead of overworking himself, and taking naps when he got tired.

Was 11 when he fell, didn’t fight and only cried as it happened. Was twins with Beelzebub and was made minutes after him, as Lucifer was kicked out during his creation.

Demisexual he/him. Never married anyone, has only partners, claims that he’s too lazy to marry them, but in reality it’s because he knows if you show that you love them they will be stolen faster.

Suffers from symptoms of insomnia and Hypersomnia that switch every few months, making him stay awake for months only to fall asleep for another few months. Has horrible nightmares and visions that he can’t tell apart, making him extremely depressed and constantly down all the time, along with being paranoid. His hallucinations involve seeing things that are normally anomalies in dreams, and smelling gasses and mold occasionally, which gaslights himself into thinking that he’s breathing in gas or mold, which causes him to have even worse dreams. Cannot sleep at all without his brothers staying with him, till his months of insomnia start. Constantly comfort eats with his twin, and DOESN’T throw up.

Original look: Dark skin, curly hair, brown eyes, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: a large naked barn owl with round horns, skinny human-like arms, relatively chonky, has seven eyes, but six of them are gouged out, but his seventh eye works too well, as it’s mainly used for visions (if he knows the plane, he will walk around with that eye closed for his comfort, preferring to be blind over seeing visions. It’s a coin flip on whether or not he sees an actual vision or hallucinations, so unfortunately his hallucinations are treated just as seriously as his visions, making his brothers prepare for things that won’t even happen. He is often wrong in guessing which is which, so he sometimes doesn’t warn his brothers about catastrophes thinking they are hallucinations, or he warns them and nothing happens because he guesses them wrong.) Has mismatched numbers of fingers (30 on his right, 14 on the left) on his hands that are ridiculously long. Was allowed to keep a couple of his weaker wings, but they were paralyzed by jehovah. His last eye is light blue, with a white “pupil” none of his brothers have. It makes him look blind, but this is his only non-blind eye (the whiteness goes away during a vision, but no one has figured that out.)

Full form: mass of owl wings and eye sockets, with body parts and broken mirrors in random spots in its form. He also moves like an AI animation, but in a way that looks human made in a way, as he tries to figure out how to make his form comprehensible outside of dreams, as over the years it has become difficult for him to tell dreams and reality apart. He looks fake, but in a way that your mind can still comprehend.

Leviathan

archangel of humility

Was a serpent-like dragon, a subspecies to thrones.

First sin was getting more openly jealous when he realized that he wasn’t being treated fairly, and complained more when he was forced to have less than his brothers.

Was 12 at the time of the fall, and was only a few weeks younger than lucifer. As second eldest, he takes care of hell whenever Lucifer is missing or unwell. A job, ironically, no one envies him for, as the “throne” of hell is not one a person would wish to have.

he/they/it, aromantic.

Similar issues as his brothers, but has grown to be more selfish and unempathetic over the years. It makes him look more “evil” than his brothers, but in reality he is the only one that really has the brains. All of them are smart, but Leviathan is the only one that caught on that things aren’t going to change if they keep letting their people be their weak point. He is the more tactical of the brothers, and is very blunt, making them come down from their spirals (usually by saying something blunt or cruel to confuse them. He loves them in his own way.) His hallucinations are usually of happy moments from the past, like laughter of angels or smells from happy moments. These hallucinations annoy him, and make him slightly more snappy than Satan.

Original look: brown long hair, green eyes, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: a large red and green serpent-like dragon, with a blindfold of animal skins over his eyes (not blind, his eyes are just sensitive, due to his neck being broken). His head is usually upside down, and his back is mainly red skin with only his head, tail, and the tops of his claws having scales. There are broken stubs where his original dragon horns were.

Full form: A large dragon with two floating heads circled by throne rings. Horns stick out from the blindfold on the main head, and horns are in the eye sockets of the floating heads. Horns have fire on them, looking like lit candles. There are floating eyes on balls of energy that look like venus. These eyes remain closed for the most part. The horns on the main head are broken, and replaced with round horns, on the floating heads they also have broken horns, but do not have the round horns. His legs vanish and are replaced by blood or water (if water is available in the air.)

Mammon

Archangel of Charity

Serpent dragon

First sin was taking more value in gifts given to him over his father (it wasn’t money, they were just trinkets and thingamabobs. Think Ariel's room. The mermaid, not the angel-)

Fell at the age of 11, was a little younger than leviathan.

Acearo he/they. Unlike lucifer, he’s actually acearo for everyone’s safety, as he can’t value anyone (sexually, romantically, platonically, etc.) otherwise anyone he cares about will turn to salt, as this is a curse from jehovah. Before his fall, he was pan, but seeing anyone that he loved turn into piles of salt he couldn’t touch discouraged him from ever loving ever again.

He has abandonment issues, and is terrified of loving anyone or caring about them. His care is usually shown through obligation, like he is obligated to protect his people as a “prince,” not because he cares about them. Gaslighting himself into not caring about others allows him to be near people. His act is so deeply ingrained into him, the sweet angel he once was is nearly dead. The only ones that he shows genuine love and care to are the fallen angels, as they are immune to his curse. Everyone else gets a cold, empathetic demon. He can’t even allow himself to die inside, cause that still counts as caring, so he’s been conditioned to act selfishly. His hallucinations involve seeing his trinkets that were destroyed sitting in the distance just out of his reach, and the feeling or smell of salt (these cause him to have full on meltdowns, cause he thinks he accidentally loved someone.) His emotions are almost completely shut down by the time jehovah is killed, and ends up being a role model for the angels, as they had no feelings whatsoever, and he needed to learn how to care again. He still has trouble loving others, but his affection is shown through materialistic things, like handmade trinkets and money.

Original look: dark skin, curly black hair, brown eyes with gold central heterochromia, white wings, blue robes, brown sandals.

New look: He is more like a naga than a dragon, compared to his brother leviathan. He has gems embedded in some of his eyes, along with pieces of metal. His teeth are made of gold. He has four arms and four legs, but he never uses his legs, so he keeps them crossed all the time. He has two large eyes for seeing, and precious stones and metals in his six other eyes on his face. He has red skin in the same places as leviathan, but he has gold scales instead, and a more humanoid face.

Full form: A large dragon with two floating heads circled by throne rings, the heads have humanoid faces. Horns stick out from the eye sockets on the main head, and horns are in the eye sockets of the floating heads, some of the horns are made of the same material as the gems and metal embedded in his other eyes (he has 24 horns in total). Horns have fire on them, looking like lit candles. There are floating eyes on balls of energy that look like Jupiter. These eyes remain closed for the most part, but they have irises made of stones when they do open. The horns on the main head are broken, and replaced with round horns, on the floating heads they also have broken horns, but do not have the round horns. His legs vanish and are replaced by blood, water or liquid metal.

Lilith

Was a woman made as a prototype/rough draft for humans, but she got sick of jehovah and ran away, as she was made with free will unlike adam and eve. She escaped the first time at a few months old.

Was caught once and brought back to Eden after Adam's creation, and forced to be his mate. Asmodeus, Lucifer, and Leviathan helped her escape again, and snuck her to the red sea, and sought refuge in egypt. There she learned how to make clothes and dress herself. She was about 4 at this time.

She became a prostitute and dancer shortly after, adjusting to human life well. She became well known, and traveled to many lands to see men and women alike.

She taught Asmodeus everything she learned, along with anyone willing to listen to her giddy rambles (she did not value sex the in same way she does in the future, it was like a game that made her happy at this point in her life, and her lust was relatively innocent.)

Lilith and Asmodeus worked together, and ended up being each other’s first real love, and they would end up creating the first nephilim (she ended up pregnant before she was transformed into succubus, and before Asmodeus’s fall.)

Jehovah learned about her whereabouts from Qadesh praising how much Lilith had learned, and also learned how she “corrupted” Asmodeus. He would then curse her, with a slow transformation into a demon. Asmodeus tried to comfort her as much as he could when she was transformed over a few weeks, but his skin burned her (she still has those handprints on her face to this day.) Unfortunately for jehovah, her demonic form was still beautiful, so he had to toss her into gehenna to further punish her, and anyone that cared for her.

Everyone mistakes her for Lucifer's wife, but she is actually Asmodeus’s wife.

Constantly grieving for hell, as she takes her title of “mother of hell” very seriously, and sees all demons outside of the devil’s as her own children.

Original look: reddish skin, dark hair, brown eyes (she actually looks a lot like Mary in this AU, she just looks older, as Mary in this AU is about 15-16.) She has had many outfits, but she was gifted many purple and red dresses by the gods themselves, as some of them even partook in her services.)

New look: she has horns that come to be seen as common amongst lust demons (see tumblr post about demon horns, to see example.) She is the only demon that has reddish brown horns, and by extension she has brown bones too (this is because she was made as a test, and was never completely finalized so her bones are a mix of bone and clay.) She has brown eyes, and wears a dress made of the fabrics from her old dresses over the years. Only demon that has kept their wings for centuries, as Asmodeus was very careful with hiding her each purge.

Her full form is a flaming woman, that can grow depending on how much power she has. If she had enough strength, she could stand taller than jehovah.

#fnaftale #underverse #fnaf au #undertale au #underfazverse #lucifer #asmodeus #beelzebub #mammon #leviathan #satan #belphegor #lilith #if you're questioning how literal children can do all this its because physically and mentally they are not children #or at least intellectually they're not children #they're created as adults with only knowledge pre programmed in them and no experience #they are born with knowledge and compression but no experience on how to use it

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majestyeverlasting · 3 years

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Could you do prompts 43 and 47 with fatws!bucky x reader? Thank you 😊

♡ Sure! Thank you for sending this request in, I appreciate your patience! These are quite the compatible prompts, and I tried my best to approach them in the most unique way I could manage. To give a summary as to what happens: Bucky and the reader attend a banquet in Washington D.C., but it isn't until afterwards that things take a peculiar turn as the result of a forgotten tube of lipstick. There's lots of cute moments and a little bit of a scare (but that's nothing a nice soak won't be able to ease away). Enjoy!

♡ Prompt 43: "Let me help you."

♡ Prompt 47: "Please let me take care of you, you’re bleeding.”

Remember the Good Parts

All around, there was dancing, talking, and laughter. Formality had been abandoned so that inhibitions could be released. The banquet hall of the hotel seemed elegant enough to have been fit for kings and queens. The paneling of the walls were trimmed with gold and each of the round tables were dressed in white cloth, floral centerpieces sitting in the middle. Hanging above it all were the most beautiful chandeliers. The crystals adorning them sparkled as if they were stars stolen from the night sky.

The invitation had been addressed to both you, and Bucky. Upon opening it, you learned that The Smithsonian Institute wanted to express their gratitude to the donors and sponsors who had shown continued support over the years. Especially in light of the new exhibits coming to the National Air and Space Museum. The evening itself was intended to be a time of meaningful dialogue and celebration.

The two of you didn’t hesitate to RSVP. Not only would it make for a well-deserved weekend trip, but was an opportunity to venture back to D.C. after being away from quite some time.

What came as a pleasant surprise that night was the moment in which you managed to coax Bucky up to dance. Not one word of protest escaped him as you led the way to where others had congregated and were moving to the rhythm of the music. A more relaxed song had started flowing throughout the room as the festivities were drawing closer to an end. You wrapped your arms around his neck and smiled when he placed his hands on your waist, squeezing gently.

“This has been nice,” he said.

You nodded. “It has.”

Part of you still hadn’t gotten over the way he’d cleaned up for the occasion. The dark strands of his hair were getting longer, and he’d gelled them back lightly. And the all black suit he wore made his blue eyes appear even bolder. After the two of you had been swaying for a while, you spoke again, “You know what I think?”

Bucky’s eyes flickered to your lips. You wore a rich, burgundy lipstick that complemented your dress and complexion. “What?” He encouraged.

“We ought to take a nice, warm bath when we get back up to our suite,” you thought aloud. “The tub is worlds bigger than the one we have at home.” Your fingers had begun to gently scratch at the nape of his neck.

He hummed. “That already sounds like a dream.” Then he leaned in to kiss you. It was short and as tender as the music in the air.

The event eventually did wind to its end. A Smithsonian spokesperson went to the main podium and made closing remarks about the importance of living in a way worthy of being remembered. It earned her a hearty round of applause and a few high-pitched whistles. Minutes later, attendees were filing out of the hall in a steady flow, some turning around to capture a final picture of the grandeur space. You and Bucky left right along with them, arms locked.

Nobody else was in the hallway when the two of you exited the elevator onto your floor. It was a long, empty stretch lined with warm lights. Taking advantage of that, you paced a few steps ahead of him and did a twirl as you walked—in a sleek pair of block heels, no less. The bottom of your dress caught the air in a graceful flow. When you looked back at him over your shoulder, he was shaking his head but his eyes were filled with adoration.

The first thing you did upon entering the suiet was go sit on the bed to take your shoes off. But Bucky spoke up, “Let me help you, pretty girl.” So one at a time, you raised your legs for him and watched the careful way he unbuckled your heels.

You smiled when he finished. “Thanks.”

“Mhm.”

That’s when you noticed the faint hint of pigment that your lipstick had left behind on him. “Hey, lean in for a second, Buck.” He obliged without question. You were still sitting on the edge of the bed. “There’s some…” You ran your thumb over his lower lip a few times.

“Lipstick?” He finished.

“Yeah—I got most of it off,” you said.

“It's a nice shade on you, by the way,” he said. "Very classy."

“Isn't it? I bought it a few days ago.” You dug into your purse in search of the tube, but it was gone. “Uh-oh.”

Bucky had begun to take off his suit jacket. “What?”

“I think I set it on the table just before we left the banquet... When I was looking for the card to our room.” A huff of air passed through your lips. “It’s probably been thrown away by now.”

He was quiet for a beat. “Not necessarily,” he said as he walked to hang up the jacket. “I can run back down and see.”

“Do you mind?”

“It’s no trouble,” he assured. “I’ll be right back. And then we can get to that bath you proposed earlier.” The wink he shot you on the way out made you bite back a smile.

I'll be right back, you replayed his words. But it came to the point when he'd been gone longer than what seemed necessary. That prompted you to peek your head out the door. All you were met with was the same long hallway, but with three strangers strolling down it. More time passed, and you found yourself on the bed again, preparing to call him.

A gentle knock on the door broke the stillness.

Bucky stood on the other side, a slender cut running across his left cheek a short ways beneath his eye. It wasn’t too bad, but blood had been drawn nonetheless. Before you could make an exclamation capable of disturbing the other guests, he slipped past you to get into the suite. It wasn’t until the door was closed that you attempted to vocalize the mix of concern and confusion swirling within your mind.

“Bucky!” Your eyes followed him.

“M'fine, doll,” he insisted.

“What in the world happened?” His slight frustration was evident in the way he resumed undressing as if nothing had occurred. “Hold on, baby, wait. Seriously.”

Bucky froze and looked directly into your eyes. You decided to use an even softer tone. “Just… Please let me take care of you, you’re bleeding.” You hoped your gaze was conveying your sincerity. On your way to move closer to him, you grabbed a couple tissues and folded them. A soft exhale left him when you pressed them to the cut, gently applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Neither of you spoke for a while.

Finally, he said, “Two guys brought an outside scuffle into the lobby. Nobody else was stepping in to break it up so I did.”

You lowered the tissues from his face. Due to the accelerated healing rate of his body and the size of the wound, the bleeding had already begun to subside. “And you got cut in the process?”

He nodded. “One of them had something sharp. Didn't really catch what it was,” he recounted. “And I didn’t wanna hurt them, so I couldn’t just flat-out tear them apart from each other.” His voice was low as he continued to speak. “But I was able to get 'em to stop. Some security guards showed up after the fact.”

You shook your head, briefly stepping away to dispose of the tissues. “I wonder why they were fighting in the first place.”

Bucky moved to sit on the bed, shrugging. “I don’t know, but it turns out they know each other pretty well. Apparently they’d just come back from a bar.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”

With a small smile on your face, you went to go stand between his legs, looking down at his handsome features. The red cut stood out. "I'm glad it wasn't worse. Are you gonna need Band-Aid or something?"

He chuckled. "I'll live—check this out, though." he dug into his pants pocket and pulled out your lipstick. "Mission accomplished."

"My hero," you teased as you took it from him. There was a comfortable silence for a few beats. "What a night, huh?"

Bucky ran his hands over your hips. "I say we seal it with a good soak and only remember the good parts."

A laugh bubbled up out of you. "Deal," you agreed, starting to undo the buttons of his shirt.

Thanks for reading! Masterlist

#bucky barnes #bucky x female reader #bucky fluff #bucky x reader #bucky barnes imagine #sebastian stan #winter soldier #tfaws bucky #fatws bucky #marvel #marvel fic #tfaws fic

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candyopala · 3 years

Text

Stuck in his ways, Chapter 7

Chapter Summary: Y/N and Obito have to get around the awkwardness of the events from that night, and what better to help with that then team seven in all its glory?

Words: 2.3k

AO3

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After spending a whole day on the hospital, Obito heads home for some well-deserved sleep. It is only on the next day, on his way to the field, that he starts properly processing what happened that night with Y/N. Her bandaging him up with a weird look in her eyes, him crying in front of her… the warmth he felt when she held his hand. Why did he do that in front of her anyway? They barely know each other, she teases him to no end, but he can’t help to already feel close to her, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

The way she held him…. He hasn’t felt this way since long ago, he felt accepted in an intimate way, he felt genuine companionship with her. Obito feels bad when he remembers too the reason for that whole situation, he wanted to get rid of the girl; he wanted to make her go away without giving her a chance.

I’ve been so blind, shutting her off like that…

Without knowing anything about his failures and only knowing that ugly side he shows to everyone, she still helped him through a tough time. He can’t help but feel his heart flutter with embarrassment, he didn’t even give her much of a chance. She might not be from Konoha, but there’s still good in her. He needs to take his mission with her more seriously.

He walks down the market streets, instinctively analyzing every single action that happens around him, seeing the faces of the people going up and down the roadway busy with their things. It’s not long before he spots four familiar figures walking down the street together: team seven. Naruto and Sakura discuss loudly about a matter Obito doesn’t bother try rearing, followed by Sasuke and Kakashi tagging along. Obito tries to say hi to Kakashi, only to be attacked by a running Naruto that throws himself onto him with all his force:

“Big bro Obito!”

“Hey! Calm down now! It’s only seven a.m. for Kami’s sake!” He scolds while laughing aloud and hugging the thirteen-year-old back

“I’m learning something new, you have to come see it! Are you busy?”

“I’m going to the training grounds, I can’t Naruto, sorry”

“Come on! Train with us!”

“Hey Naruto, stop bothering Obito, all right? He’s busy” Kakashi tries to intervene in Obito’s sake

“Huh… actually…”

Obito’s mind starts functioning, he does need to teach some new stuff to Sasuke and bringing Y/N along would be good for her training. He decides to join them, he actually feels deep down the need to introduce her to new people, to get her more settled into the village.

“I guess I’ll come along. There’s someone I want you guys to meet”

“Oh, is it her?” Naruto says with a devilish sparkle in his eyes.

“Her? Are you dating?” Sakura jumps up, immediately invested into the conversation.

“Finally” Sasuke also joins to make it all worse.

“Guys, calm down…” Kakashi once again tries to save his friend from his hyperactive trio “He’s just training a new member of the village”

A collective “oh” is heard from the two in disappointment. Great, now even the kids are invested in his love life. Obito tells them a little bit more about her on the way to the field, and he notices that even Kakashi seems a little bit more enthusiastic than normal.

When they reach the training grounds, he finds Y/N laying back on a tree, with a surprised look on her face when she sees the kids. Obito tries to introduce them, but they end up introducing themselves, with a hyperactive Naruto leading the presentations followed by his teammates and his teacher.

“Nice to meet you guys! Are we training together today?”

“Yup” Obito tries to say in the middle of Naruto’s ramblings

“How’s your arm?” She asks him back in the midst of it, a bit of what seems worry flashes her eyes, only to be quickly concealed with a look to the side.

“Oh, feeling like new. Some medical ninjutsu quickly solved it.” He states as he gets more embarrassed by the minute, once the memory of their shared companionship floods his mind. He needs to try to actually be nicer to her.

Meanwhile, Sakura flies a sly meaning smile in Obito’s direction, to his utter desperation. Watching the whole scene develop, Kakashi once again intervenes, trying to get to the subject of training.

“So, Y/N, dumbi- ahem, Obito told me you need some help with discovering your chakra nature. Coincidentally, that’s what I’m currently doing with the kids, so we could help you with that”

“That would be great, thanks guys! Out of curiosity, what horrible things did my mentor say about me?”

“Only the most terrible embarrassing things I found on your file” Obito teases back in a flash, without doing much thinking, letting himself play around a little.

“Oh then I should tell you friend about your new nickna-“

“Let’s start training, shall we?” He interrupts her before she can say it, since letting Kakashi know about that would be the end of him.

Kakashi started trying to teach Y/N a couple of techniques, teaching her to concentrate her chakra and showing her the right hand signs. Obito also explained about the ideal state of mind each element requires, the type of energy each one of them consumes.

Raiton was immediately out of question, and despite her special punch technique, doton seemed to drain too much of her energy, as well as suiton. She was able to produce a small amount of katon, only achieving smaller jutsu still due to the immense amount of chakra these require, so the fireball jutsu was out of question.

Futton was their last attempt and the one they were more successful with. She could produce wind with her running speed, creating vacuum spots, using the element in a less concentrated way than the rasengan requires, since she is still inexperienced with chakra concentration at that level.

Obito was actually pleased with today’s developments; he thinks that she can become even stronger by actually doing jutsu in battle. Naruto was also overjoyed to learn that his new village mate had the same main element as himself, showing her his still developing rasengan, proud of his own training and giving her some tips.

Obito let the pair talking and went to oversee Kakashi and Sasuke, now training his chidori technique. His little cousin had also developed a lot, and was now opening up to be a wonderful kid thanks to Naruto and Sakura’s insistence on their friendship, and Itachi’s efforts to make him socialize more.

He then also let them train and sat down together with Sakura, who was watching her colleagues train too, while she herself studied some medical ninjutsu books. The small girl looked at him with curiosity, noting the different expression on her sensei’s friend, who was usually much more uptight and serious. With that knowing look again, she simply stated:

“Mr. Obito, your main element is katon, right?”

“Yes Sakura, why?”

“Ah nothing, I was just wondering… katon is compatible with futton, right?”

“Yes, both can be used together to create more powerful jutsu”

“So… we could say that you and Y/N are compatible”

Obito’s eye goes wide with the way the girl says it. Both of them know she is not talking about just jutsu here. The implication of what she said makes him go as red as a pepper.

“N-no Sakura, she is my colleague, we are just that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about sir, excuse me.”

The girl gets up and runs into Naruto and Y/N’s direction, winking back at Obito on her way.

~”~

The team gathers up for lunch, Y/N sits beside Obito’s friend Kakashi, opposite to her mentor, who sat in front of her. She avoided his eye contact, still feeling a little inappropriate for her behavior that night. She fears that what happened was too intimate for her own comfort, that she should not try to get that close to him. She should be his teammate, nothing else. She must ignore that pull that she feels from him, that desperate need she feels to talk to him about why he was crying that night.

She tries to strike up conversation with the ninja beside her, and he is very receptive, if not for his general lack of energy and relaxed demeanor. She sees a small little orange book protruding from his pocket, is that what she thinks it is? It is! The greatest book series of all time!

“Hey, is that Icha Icha?”

“Yes it is! I just picked up the latest volume!” he immediately assumes a whole different behavior, now fully invested in the conversation.

“What chapter are you on? Did you reach chapter 37 yet?”

“No, and no spoilers, please! I dying to know what she will do when she finds out about that thing”

“Dude, trust me, it’s going to be awesome”

They both strike up conversation about it for a couple of minutes, Y/N talks excitedly about the romance’s structure and how she finds it poetic in a way. They both discuss the general plots, praising the author despite Naruto’s loud complaints about him being a total pervert.

When she finally looks at Obito’s direction, she sees the jonin hunched forward, with an unimpressed look on his face, matching Sasuke’s that also seems to be bothered by the subject matter.

“Great, another one, they will talk about it forever” The young Uchiha comments.

“I don’t know what you guys see in this stupid book anyway” The oldest complements.

“He didn’t even give it a try; can you believe it, Y/N?” Kakashi teases in response.

“Sacrilegious! How could he say such things?” She retorts with fake shock.

“Shut up, you two perverts.” Obito says with a scorn forming on his lips, something he usually does that Y/N is starting to find extremely fun and… endearing?

Y/N, Kakashi and the kids laugh at his little tantrum, and later even himself. He is acting different today, more open, with a more lighthearted attitude, a lot less uptight and grumpy. Y/N feels a little happy knowing that he is feeling better, but she quickly shuts off the realization.

Concentrate on what’s important here.

They quickly fall back into training, with Y/N sitting back due to her extreme exertion during the chakra nature tests. After he has finished with his portion of the training with Kakashi and Obito, Naruto joins her. They sit together observing Obito discussing the fireball jutsu with Sasuke, Y/N can’t help but notice the proud look on her teammate’s face when his little cousin does a perfect ball of fire, making her let out a small smile. He’s not so cynical after all.

Naruto begins to talk about how he needs to be as strong as his father is, and Y/N learns that he is, in fact, son of the Hokage. He talks and explains a lot about the village and also talks about how his mom is always bothering him to make his bed in the morning. The kid is all over the place until he focuses on the subject of Obito.

He begins to tell her about how he is like a big brother for him and how he taught him his most deadly jutsu, something about a sexy jutsu, and how he is cool even if he has no girlfriend. Y/N, being the innocent thing she is, prods him for more embarrassing details about her mentor.

“One time he got stuck in the sexy woman form and Jiraya followed him around the village for a day! He had to hide from the pervert in the sewers! And once he choked with candy in the middle of a jonin reunion, Kakashi told me that”

Y/N cannot help but bust out in laughter at the image that forms in her mind, not being able to breathe while the kid continues to spill out embarrassing stories about the Uchiha. Naruto is suddenly stopped when Sakura lands a punch on top of his head, screaming in annoyance with her teammate’s attitude:

“Stop ruining everything!”

What she meant with that remains a mystery to Y/N. The discussion has to be separated by a tired Kakashi, holding Sakura back with all his force. Y/N is caught off guard by Obito’s presence by her side.

He helps her get up, giving his gloved hand in support. She accepts it, steading herself up.

“So, that’s all for today, sewer boy?”

“He told you about that, huh?”

“Of course he did”

“Yup, that’s all for today. Let’s head home”

“Let’s? I didn’t know you had moved into my broom closet, Obito”

“You know I’m not letting you walk around exhausted like that, Y/N”

The change in his tone scares her. He sounds serious, almost protective, and he calling her name like that sends shivers down her spine, in a not so bad way. He also didn’t call her a dumbass, is that an improvement?

She once again insists on walking by herself, but he insists on it so much that she eventually gives up and lets him accompany her. They discuss her new technique possibilities on most of the way, only for the subject to change as they reach her apartment.

“So, what did you think about them?”

“They’re nice kids, all of them seem to look up to you, Naruto especially”

“He’s a good kid, they are all like family to me”

Y/N agrees with her head, thinking to herself about the word family. She once had one, but lost them very early on. Moreover, once she found another person she could call that, she lost them too. The memories flood her mind, making her face go serious and eyes to go foggy.

“Take good care of them Obito, what you have here is… amazing”

“I will, I promised that long ago”

They reach her door, saying their goodbyes quickly. As Y/N closes her door, Obito calling her name again interrupts her.

“Oh! Y/N! I forgot; we have an important meeting with the Hokage tomorrow at ten in the morning. We will be heading out for our first mission, be ready”

#Obito #obito uchiha #obito x reader #Jonin Obito #obito x you #obito x y/n #uchiha obito #naruto fanfiction

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 3 years

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And into the cavalry battle we go! Can’t believe this is gonna take three whole chapters to get through… sports festival feels way too long already, man, and I’m only a handful of chapters into it...

[No. 28 - Strats, Strats, Strats]

We start off with Shouto speaking to his team, explaining that he chose them in order to make the most stable formation. Kaminari will guard the left and keep people away with his electricity. Yaomomo takes the right, makes the insulator, and shields and supplements their movements. Tenya takes the lead, since his mobility and physical stature make for good defense.

One of them (I think Tenya?) asks if Shouto will hold people off with his ice and fire. Shouto doesn’t reply right away, instead looking over to the stands - more specifically, towards where Endeavor is watching from. He tells them no, in battle, he refuses to use his left side.

Huh, they do have the same eyes here. Wind dude kind of has a point.

As the teams stand along the outside of the perimeter of the battle arena, Present Mic does a final, rhetorical check to make sure the teams are formed and are ready to go, then announces the start of the countdown to the battle royale. We jump around a bit as the countdown is given: Monoma tells Tetsu^4 no hard feelings, which Tetsu returns. Toshinori watches on from the stands.

We see team Bakugou and team Todoroki in formation and ready to go, both of them focused on a single target. Izuku himself has gotten over most of his nerves and now is focused on the moment. All of them have their point totals given and also broken down by members of the team, in case you weren’t able to do the math yourself from the previous chapters.

Since Hori is giving the team point breakdowns for our three main teams anyways, this is where I want to insert the team and point totals for all the teams, from most to least points on the headbands:

Team Midoriya [10,000,325 P]: Midoriya [10M] + Uraraka [135] + Tokoyami [180] + Hatsume [10]

Team Tetsutetsu [705 P]: Tetsutetsu [165] + Honenuki [190] + Awase [155] + Shiozaki [195]

Team Bakugou [665 P]: Bakugou [200] + Kirishima [170] + Ashido [120] + Sero [175]

Team Todoroki [615 P]: Todoroki [205] + Iida [185] + Yaoyorozu [130] + Kaminari [95]

Team Mineta [420 P]: Mineta [125] + Shouji [145] + Asui [150]

Team Hagakure [330 P]: Hagakure [25] + Jirou [110] + Satou [140] + Kouda [115]

Team Monoma [305 P]: Monoma [35] + Tsuburaba [100] + Kuroiro [65] + Kaibara [105]

Team Shinsou [295 P]: Shinsou [80] + Ojiro [160] + Shouda [50] + Aoyama [5]

Team Kendo [225 P]: Kendo [75] + Tokage [20] + Komori [45] + Yanagi [85]

Team Kodai [165 P]: Kodai [60] + Bondo [90] + Fukidashi [15]

Team Rin [125 P]: Rin [55] + Shishida [70]

Team Tsunotori [70 P]: Tsunotori [30] + Kamakiri [40]

Have fun keeping track of points in the canon event, or mix stuff up for your own teams if you wanna do alt teams or whatever. Anywho, moving on, as Mic announces the start of the match.

And of course, it’s no surprise that several of the teams immediately rush Izuku’s team, even though I feel like it makes way more sense for them to hang back and wait until there’s only a few minutes left in order to actually take the points. But I suppose competitiveness and all that. More specifically, it’s team Tetsu^4 and team Hagakure after team Midoriya first.

Tetsu is the first to acknowledge (loudly) that the whole match is really a fight for the ten million, and everyone knows it. Hagakure herself is just eager to be going after Izuku, which is inch resting. Competitive, she do be.

Tokoyami notes the two teams incoming and ready to attack, and checks with Izuku (in his own way) what their response will be. While the girls are a bit in wonder at Tokoyami’s choice of words, Izuku says that of course they’ll be running away. Honenuki, no doubt hearing this, attempts to prevent them from moving by causing the ground under them to soften into a gloop that they start to sink into.

Oh no, quicksand! Too bad it’s not movie quicksand. Izuku quickly realizes whose quirk it is (I think) and tells Ochako and Mei to turn away for a second. Then, once they do, he turns on the jetpack, and they all go flying up and out of the pit trap and over the heads of the teams going after them. Tetsu realizes that the support girl must have provided the tools for flying, still focused on going after them. Hagakure calls for Jirou to try and stop them, with Jirou sending out her earjacks to try and keep them from getting away - only for Dark Shadow to smack away the jacks, allowing team Midoriya to make a clean escape.

Tokoyami tells Dark Shadow well done, and to cover the teams’ blind spots. Dark Shadow accepts the task with great enthusiasm, twisting around to watch behind all of them. Izuku takes a moment to gush over Tokoyami’s quirk, talking about how its defensive power was just what they needed, and how now the team is covered at midrange from every direction. Tokoyami is the one to point out how Izuku is the one who chose him.

Ochako gives her team warning before they land, with her boots (from Mei) being the first to hit the ground with a poof of dust blown away from her landing site. Mei asks how Izuku is liking her babies, bragging about how cute they are and how she made them that way. Izuku complements the mobility they’re giving the team and Mei’s work in general, leading to her gushing more. Meanwhile, Izuku reveals in his thoughts that Ochako had made everyone except herself weightless, so that all the weight that’s being carried is her plus their clothes and equipment.

Ochako, meanwhile, is a bit put out that Izuku hasn’t gushed over her part in all this, because the only part he gushed over her about was internal. Izuku, you should have complemented her work out loud as well, you dummy.

Team Hagakure prepares themselves to go after Izuku again, only for Sato to notice something important - the headband she was wearing is gone! Hagakure is shocked and freaked out, trying to figure out when and how it happened. Meanwhile, Monoma and his team are heading away, Monoma spinning said headband around his finger as he says to consider him an opportunist.

We get a bit of an overhead view of a number of the teams running around the battlefield (which was very helpful in putting together the team listings). Present Mic states that two minutes have just passed, but the battlefield is already chaotic. Everyone’s scrambling for headbands, but there isn’t just the ten million out there! Other high rankers are also worth a shot as well.

Just as an overview here, we see team Tetsu^4 and team Hagakure are still going after team Midoriya, with Shouji just there in the corner of the textbox approaching from behind as well. Teams Rin and Shinsou are rushing at each other, as are team Todoroki and team Kendo. Team Mindoriya, meanwhile, just seems to be trying to get out of the way on foot.

Shouji (or is it Mineta hiding inside the ‘bunker’ made by Shouji’s dupliarms?) laughs a bit, saying how this isn’t a scramble, but a one-sided massacre. Yeah, in retrospect, that sounds way more like Mineta. But also, Izuku thinking Shouji’s alone, even though this event is a cavalry battle, so maybe it was him? Eh, whatever. Tokoyami notes that they have to keep their distance, since fighting multiple foes is a bad idea. However, that plan goes a bit awry when Ochako steps on what turns out to be one of Mineta’s quirk balls, causing her to become stuck in place. Izuku quickly tries to determine where Mineta is, only to be surprised when he sees Mineta hiding inside Shouji’s dupliarm bunker.

Someone (maybe Ochako?) asks if that’s legal, which Midnight confirms it is. As if that’s not enough, Tsuyu, also on Shouji’s back, lashes out with her tongue, just missing both Izuku and Tetsu thanks to their timely dodges. As she retracts her tongue, she complements Izuku’s dodging; Izuku wonders how many people Shouji has hiding on his back.

Tsuyu quickly reminds Izuku to use her first name, but probably isn’t heard since team Midoriya make a strategic retreat back into the sky - breaking one of the hoverboots in the process, unfortunately. Present Mic comments on how team Mineta using the size difference of its members to form what can be more considered a tank than anything. Mei is distressed at the destruction of her baby, with Ochako apologizing but noting that they got away.

Too bad someone was prepared for their second takeoff, and really, really wants those points.

Izuku: Oh fuck I’m gonna die.

Katsuki, looking pretty gremlin-y, as per the norm, yells how Izuku is getting pretty damn full of himself (which is hilarious in its irony.) Izuku quickly calls for Tokoyami to react, and Dark Shadow takes the explosive blow meant for Izuku despite the massive discomfort in its expression. Katsuki is confused, but has no time to make a second attempt, as Sero tossed his tape and latches onto him, pulling him right back into the waiting arms of his team.

Present Mic wonders whether leaving one’s unit is allowed, which Midnight confirms is allowed on a technicality - aka his feet didn’t touch the ground. In the staff booth, Death Arms comments on how those class A kids sure are something else. In the crowds, people comment on how it’s fun to watch, what with all the flashy moves, and that it’s just the level the kids are at after fighting real villains.

Present Mic cuts back with with more commentary, stating how both the doggedly pursued first place team and the determined pursuers from class A are nothing to sneeze at. He then draws attention to the current standings, asking rhetorically how said teams are doing after seven minutes of play. There’s a moment of silence, the crowds and the two in the announcement booth shocked as they actually register the standings.

Why, it looks like almost all the points are being held by teams from class 1b! What a plot twist!

Monoma sweeps by, grabbing the headband right off of Katsuki, as he comments on how it’s too simple, really. Katsuki demands the head back back, threatening Monoma with death, while Mina comments on how easily he caught them by surprise.

Monoma goes into a bit of a monologue on how Midnight’s announcement of the first event made it obvious that the number of participants wouldn’t be thinned that much in a preliminary. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that a good number of students would be advancing to the next event - around forty or so. It was really the perfect opportunity to hold back and observe their soon-to-be-rivals’ quirks and tendencies, so it was only fair they ended up placing more modestly.

Kirishima asks if the whole class was in on it. Monoma says that no, not everyone was, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea, instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a horse going for a dangling carrot. Meanwhile, team Bondo approaching as well. How is Katsuki taking all this?

Not great. And of course, because Monoma has no chill, he turns back to give Katsuki a mocking look, commenting on how Katsuki’s already a celebrity - the victim of the sludge incident! He’ll have to ask sometime, how does it feel to be attacked by villains on an annual basis?

RIP Monoma, you fucking dead. Katsuki tells Kirishima there’s a change of plan. As Monoma glances back at him curiously, we see that Katsuki has gone completely feral and around the bend, and is probably actually going to murder a man by the end of this. Katsuki’s plan? Before going after Deku, he’s gonna murder every last member of Monoma’s team.

Izuku, apparently overhearing Monoma’s monologue, notes how class 1b threw the qualifiers and planned for the long game. Even before the sports festival, he had the impression that they were stronger than they seemed, and that they want to end class 1a’s supremacy. On the other hand, because of that, they aren’t quite so deadset on targeting Izuku.

Izuku starts to talk to his team about how it shouldn’t be too hard to evade - only to be cut off both physically and verbally by team Todoroki getting in front of them. As Present Mic announces the match being halfway over already, Izuku takes a deep breath and recenters himself, stating how it won’t be quite that easy. Shouto states kind of menacingly that they’re coming for him; other teams are shown briefly reaction to the loss of points in their own ways.

We close out on Present Mic noting that class B is on the rise, but in the end, who will wear the ten million point crown?

Anywho, glad to finally have that chapter done, even if there’s still two more before we get through this second event and finally move on to the finals. At the least, this sports festival stuff has actually gotten me thinking about the reasoning behind the decisions made for the entrance exam and sports festival, which I will probably end up making posts for after this arc is over.

See y’all next time! Character sheet will be up in just a moment.

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ghostdummieideas · 4 years

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A Grave Mistake 1/?

I wanted to write a comedic series involving a graveyard worker and Mary Goore. I don’t know how long this will be, but enjoy. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a desperate need to pick up a job before your last semester, you committed to any PM shift available on the posting. Your previous supervisor refused to adjust your shift to your school schedule. Thus, you had to part ways to prioritize your education. The only problem was the fact that you require money to survive, and out of the ten work postings you applied for, one replied: A position in maintaining and watching over the local cemetery.

Your first impression of your boss isn’t outstanding, either. An unwelcoming, scowling man with a cue ball head and stained uniform. He didn’t even look up at you from his security monitors, just jabbed his thumb over this shoulder.

“Even out the gravel, kid,” he grunted. Your eyes followed his gesture to locate a rusty rake and a headlamp hanging from one of the many hooks. You shuffled over to the corner and snagged the headband, then grasped the rough handle of the appliance and took the tool off the hook.

“Wear the jacket before you go.”

You turned back towards your new boss to see him now pointing to the coat hanger next to the office door, bearing a crusty-looking trench coat. Without another word, you grabbed the article of clothing and ventured out into the chilly outdoors.

The extra layer of the trench coat provided little to no aid into blocking the frigid winds swirling around you. You stuffed your free hand into the pocket, pausing when your hand met with plastic. You grasped the unknown item in your hand and brought it in front of you. A plastic bag with draw strings attached to the lip of the liner. “That’s nice of him,” you mumbled to yourself. ‘This will make the disposal process easier.’

Buzzing from the ancient lamps that flanked the gravel walkway illuminated with a pale glow. Rustles of dead leaves created a lullaby people could only find during this time of year. A sigh escaped your lips as you contemplated your options.

‘I’ll start around the outer perimeter, then work my way in towards the mausoleums,’ you thought.

You took your time to walk to the entryway of the burial ground, pushing aside piles of wilted leaves from the main path. The buzz of electricity and faint noise of the city beyond the iron gates provided the perfect white noise. Another gust of wind swept past you.

‘There are worse jobs out there, right?’ became your mantra, and you repeated it in your head whenever you felt a little spooked.

Your efforts in clearing the property quickly become visible. The once-obscured trail was now in sight after just a few hours’ worth of work. Without warning, a crash interrupted your work to push through the decaying fauna. You stopped your labor to find the source of the mysterious noise.

Shing

Pssh

Fump

With a glance around the area, you searched for any source of the ruckus. With no luck, you cautiously moved forward through the cemetery, trying to find whatever’s making that weird noise. There’s no mistake, you weren’t the only one in the gravesite. No way would a possum or a racoon cause that much of a disturbance.

‘What the hell is that?’ you wonder, anxiety spiking your pulse. You raise the rake from the crumbling earth to follow the commotion, deviating from the path and proceeding into the dark. The closer you stepped into the graveyard, the louder the sound of metal scraping mud became. You stopped for a moment to shut off your head lamp. The light would only alert the source of the noise to your location. Your steps eclipsed by the shadows, you steal deeper into the cemetery. The moonlight assisted your journey to the mystery that lies ahead.

‘Am I in a cliché horror movie? Ha, good one, me. I’ll run into some kind of murder and scream myself to death!’

The self-deprecating humor failed to extinguish the knot that had formed in your gut. As you looked up from your path, a moving shape caught your attention. In the near darkness, you can barely make out the silhouette of a male with fitted clothes hugging his outline, the handle of a shovel in his grasp. The cadence of the shovel’s blade meeting the moist terrain echoed with his motions.

With grace, you noiselessly crouch behind a gravestone without alerting the stranger of your presence. You gently put the equipment right next to you so it won’t appear in his view.

With a better vantage point, you can make the stranger’s features in the moonlight. Leather cuffs adorned his lean arms. A grime-covered shirt and torn jeans hugged his frame. Raven black hair draped to the front of his face.

‘I-is that blood??’ you asked yourself as you spy the specs of maroon painted on the side of the unknown figure’s skin.

‘Why is he digging at a gravesite in this hour? Is he graverobbing? Fuck, boss never gave me a protocol for this problem.’ Your mind filled with the plausible solution to this problem. Should you dash to the office and tell that prune what’s happening? Wouldn’t he have seen this guy trespassing on the security feed?

With your knees aching from crouching to remain hidden, you went to adjust your footing to find a comfortable position.

CrACK

‘Oh, fuck’ you internally screamed at yourself as your foot breaks a rogue stick.

The man halted his movement. Lifting himself upright from his excavation, he patrolled his surroundings. As he scanned the cemetery, you ducked to get out of his sight. In a state of frenzy, you didn’t know what the best choice was. Run? Wait for him to dig again so he’s too distracted to witness you scurrying away?

The sound of crunching leaves was getting closer and pulled you out of your thoughts. You pressed yourself against the icy marble and prayed that he doesn't catch you stumbling onto his grim activity. His footsteps stopped and you couldn't breathe. 'Please turn back, please turn back, please turn back,' you pleaded over and over again in your mind. From the corner of your eye, you saw a scrawny hand reach over the block of stone that hid your body.

The silhouette of the unwanted guest’s shadow loomed over you. Glancing to your right, you could see mud-caked boots. You scanned up to see the enigmatic man glowering down at your petrified figure. His devilish grin complemented the crimson fluid flowing from his forehead. The moonlight cast a haunting look on his sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. He looks like a walking corpse. The living dead. His manic looking face came closer to yours.

“Boo.”

Using whatever strength you have, your nails dug into the pile of leaves and threw the concoction of dirt, pebbles, and sticks at the man. A distressed grunt and the sound of shuffling let you know you had your chance. You scrambled to your feet and made a mad dash from the walking corpse, your shrieks of distress echoing through the silent field. One hand held down the first layer of coating while the other dug to find the lanyard containing your assortment of keys.

With a goal in mind, you ran past the iron gates, rushing out of the cemetery and into the parking lot. With your beat up Toyota in view, you slowed your dash to a jog. You did a double take to figure if they followed you. You couldn't see him, but you could hear the crunching of leaves from the direction you came. Yanking your lanyard out of the pocket of your coat, you arrived at the driver’s side of the vehicle. Pressing the unlock button, the sound of your door unlocking never sounded so sweet until this moment. Ripping open the door, you slide in and close it right behind you. You scanned the entrance to see any signs of the chaser. On cue, the man collided with the cemetery gate, gripping the bars as he tried to catch his breath.

When the key aligned with the slot, you revved the engine to life. Without looking back, you threw the car in reverse and sped towards the parking entrance. You drove until you found the first public parking space. You maneuver into the spot closest to the illuminated building. Setting the gear to park, you allowed your body to release the tension in your shoulders. The adrenaline started to wear off, and the dam broke. A whimper grew into a sob. Your palms covered your eyes as you crashed from the anxiety-inducing event.

‘Who was that guy?’

#there will be no romance #just wholesome weird beginnings to tolerable friendship #mary goore #thank you birdy and Madge for beta reading this

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aiorevelations · 3 years

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Our First AIO Fanfiction

We recently started writing our first Adventures in Odyssey fanfiction. We hope you enjoy and feel free to share your thoughts and reactions with us, we’d love to hear them!! ❤️

A Number, Not a Name

“A couple of months after Jason joins the NSA he is finally assigned his first field mission. Eager to prove himself not only to Donovan, but also to his new partner Tasha Forbes, Jason throws himself completely into the case. However, he soon finds himself caught in a complex web of treachery, deceit, and betrayal which will force him to answer a difficult question - who can he trust?”

Chapter 1: When Duty Calls

Jason sat at his desk quickly typing up an intelligence report which was soon due to be reviewed by the agency’s leading executives. The typical office sounds of phones ringing, clattering keyboards, and co-workers chatting in their small cubicles echoing in the background. This had been his daily routine for the last couple of months ever since he had joined the agency: writing documents of the intelligence gathered on the various groups and people the agency was actively monitoring. He was almost finished with the nearly 200-page government document when he heard a familiar voice call out his name from behind him, “Agent Whittaker.”

Jason immediately spun his chair around and his eyes came to rest on Deputy Director Donovan’s secretary, Ms. Connors. She continued, her voice in a formal tone “Director Donovan would like to see you now in his office.”

“Oh, of course.”

He stood up from his chair and followed Ms. Connors down a winding aisle lined with rows of cubicles on both sides, through a doorway which led into a corner office, and past Ms. Connors desk until they finally arrived at the door which led into Donovan’s private office. Ms. Connors then knocked.

“Come in” came an older man’s voice with a Scottish accent from the other side of the large oak door. Ms. Connors opened the door and entered the room.

“Director Donovan, Agent Whittaker is here sir.”

“Good, send him in.”

She then exited the room and motioned for Jason to enter. “Director Donovan will see you now.”

“Thank you.” Jason entered the room and Ms. Connors closed the door behind him leaving the two men alone to talk.

“You wanted to see me, sir,” Jason said somewhat nervously, his eyes fixed on the rather intimidating man sitting behind the desk in front of him.

“Ah, yes Jason. You have been working here for a couple of months now and I feel that you are ready to undertake your first field mission.”

“Really sir?” Jason responded with a slight grin on his face, unable to completely hide his excitement.

“Through your work here you have shown me that you possess all the attributes and qualities which I look for in a potential field agent. You’re hard-working, determined, and intelligent. Something which makes me believe that you will be able to successfully complete this mission” Donovan replied.

“Thank you so much sir,” Jason said, truly humbled and honored by Donovan’s words.

At that moment a knock sounded at the door. “Yes,” Donovan called out. The door then opened and Ms. Connors once again entered the room.

“Excuse me Director Donovan, but Agent Forbes has just arrived.”

“Perfect, just in time...send her in.”

“Of course sir.” Ms. Connors then exited the office.

A few seconds later a tall and very attractive woman walked through the door. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, white poplin shirt, black stilettos, and a pair of silver stud earrings. Her auburn hair, which beautifully complemented her deep green eyes, was pulled back into a sleek high ponytail. From the moment he saw her Jason sensed an air of mystery surrounding this woman and was instantly intrigued and even somewhat captivated by her. Donovan stood up from his chair and motioned with his hand towards her.

“Jason Whittaker may I introduce Agent Tasha Forbes. She will be your partner on this assignment.”

Tasha extended her hand to Jason “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Agent Whittaker.”

Jason took her hand in his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, but please call me Jason,” he said as he released her hand.

“Only if you call me Tasha.”

“I think I can manage that,” Jason said with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Please, have a seat,” Donovan said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of his desk as he sat back down.

“Thank you, sir,” Jason said.

“Thank you Donovan” Tasha replied as the two of them also sat down.

Donovan then opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out two yellow folders. He handed the folders to Jason and Tasha who quickly opened them.

“For quite some time now we have been monitoring events in Krudia as the country has been racked by economic turmoil and civil unrest. The perfect opportunity for an extremist political sect to overthrow the government and seize power. Recently several of our operatives have uncovered a new political group called the Krudia Liberation Front or KLF. We believe them to be a fanatical and dangerous faction as there have been reports of them buying massive stocks of weapons and recruiting numerous followers. Your mission is to gather intelligence about the KLF, particularly its leader Dalmar, their main objective, and where their weapons are stored. You two will travel to Krudia where you will be posing as Melinda Tylerson and Edward Delucas - the leaders of an illegal arms operation based in South Africa who are interested in securing a deal to supply armaments to the KLF. You both will be leaving at seven o’clock, Wednesday morning, on Air U.S.A flight AU1498 from Washington to Bulin, the capital of Krudia. Once you arrive there you will make contact with a man named Tarek Matthins, Dalmar’s right-hand man. He has been informed by one of our undercover agents of your impending arrival as well as the armaments and weapons agreement you are supposedly prepared to offer. His code sign will be Zeta Delta Gamma 7104. Do either of you have any questions?” Donovan looked towards each of them for their reply.

“No sir, no questions'' Jason replied.

“Same here Donovan” Tasha answered.

“Well, then you two are dismissed. Make sure you get some rest. You’ll need it.”

“Of course Donovan” Tasha replied.

“We will sir” Jason responded as he and Tasha rose from their chairs.

They began walking towards the door when Donovan quickly spoke up again while making his way to the front of his desk. “Ah, Tasha...can you stay back for a moment?”

“Of course Donovan” Tasha replied before walking back towards Donovan’s desk. Jason then exited the room and closed the door leaving Tasha and Donovan by themselves in the office.

“Tasha...I just wanted to ask you if you’re sure you can handle this assignment?” Donovan asked with a concerned look on his face.

“Why sure Donovan. I’ve handled far more serious threats than this before. You can trust me.”

Donovan looked down for a moment, sighed, and then spoke. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Tasha, believe me, I am well aware of just how capable you are.”

“Well then forgive me for saying this but what is the problem?... Why are you so worried about me being assigned to this case?” Tasha asked with a confused expression on her face.

“It’s not the assignment per se but rather your new partner...Jason.”

“Jason...what about him. You told me he has all the makings of a great agent, one of the best event analysts you’ve ever had in fact” Tasha said, still confused by Donovan’s apprehension.

Donovan nodded softly “Aye, Aye. that I did. It’s just that in my experience I have found that oftentimes new agents are so anxious to prove their skills as analysts that they recklessly take action without thinking. And I...I worry that the same thing will happen with Jason. Something which could have dangerous consequences not only for him but for you as well” Donovan paused and then continued. “Since you’ve only been partnered with experienced agents in the past I thought I’d let you know the risks of partnering with a new agent. In case you felt like you couldn't handle it and wanted to be reassigned.”

“I appreciate your concern Donovan but I can handle him. I haven’t spent this much time in the agency without learning a few things” Tasha replied as she attempted to reassure him.

“And that is what makes you one of my very best agents,” Donovan said with a look of sincerity and pride in his eyes.

“Thanks, Donovan. Hearing you say that means a lot to me...Well, I best get going. See you when I get back” Tasha said with a smile as she backed away from the desk, turned around, walked to the office door, and placed her hand on the doorknob.

She had just opened the door and was about to exit the room when Donovan called out to her “Tasha.”

She turned her head back in his direction, her hand still resting on the knob, and replied “Yes, Donovan.”

“Please...Be careful.”

“I will Donovan” she answered reassuringly before walking out of Donovan’s office, softly closing the door behind her. Donovan quietly sighed, walked around to the back of his desk, and sat once again in his office chair.

“I just hope I’m doing the right thing,” he said to himself in a low worried tone of voice before resuming his work.

#adventures in odyssey #fanfic #aio fanfic #jason whittaker #tasha forbes

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project-rebirth · 4 years

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An Analysis of the Supernatural in Toaru & Imagine Breaker’s True Nature

Greetings

This post will analyze the world of Toaru with a focus on Kamijou Touma. Thus, this post will contain spoilers up to the latest volumes of A Certain Magical Index, New Testament: A Certain Magical Index, and A Certain Scientific Railgun. If you have not read the source material, I recommend that you press the back button to avoid spoilers. Also, this analysis is 100% made of my delusions. *Analysis posts are delusions based off of the source material in the first place. Be aware that there may be some contradictions with the source material. If you are fine with that, please read to the end.

Kamijou Touma, One of the main characters of A Certain Magical Index and New Testament: A Certain Magical Index. Enrolled in the first year class 7 of a certain high school in Academy City's Seventh District, he is an Aquarius born between January 1st and February 18th. That kind of normal high schooler that can be found anywhere. He has short, spiky black hair (note, it is not natural, but styled that way)and has both an extreme case of bad luck that continues from his childhood and a popularity with girls that was passed down from his father.

He is a Level 0 boy that has in his right hand the Imagine Breaker that can, if it is a supernatural power, erase anything from a nuke-tier explosion to a military grade railgun or even miracle from God with just a touch, and with that an (unconscious) ability to sense the small effects a person has on their surroundings and predict their future attacks called Perception of Premonitions, *This is purely a natural skill and not a supernatural power. and Dragon Strike, the biggest ongoing mystery of the series.

As for why I made this analysis post, I wanted to try my hand at that famous theory that has existed since the dawn of the series. If you have ever viewed a Index analysis board or blog, you've probably seen it before.

The Kamijou Touma = Hadit Theory

There are things that can be found only because so many mysteries have been explained in the source material. (Railgun is also source material). There may be some that are hearing about the Kamijou Touma = Hadit Theory for the first time.

What is Hadit?

To explain simply, Hadit is the second principal deity of the cosmology of Thelema. (The series transcribes Thelema as Telema instead of the more standard Selema), Complement and consort of the highest deity Nuit, the god associated with the direction of South, The infinitely small point and the center of all existence.

Thelema: [Hadit: South, Right, Fire] [Nuit: North, Left, Wind] [Therion: East, Front, Earth] [Babalon: West, Back, Water] Archangels (Distorted) [Michael: South, Right, Fire (Water)] [Raphael: East, Left, Wind (Earth)] [Uriel: North, Front, Earth (Wind)] [Gabriel: West, Back, Water (Fire)] Hadit's symbol is the Pentagram and in ritual is placed to the south and to the right and is symbolic of fire.

And, on the cover of every novel, for Old Testament there is a Reverse Pentagram and for New Testament there is an Upright Pentagram. *However, OT 1 which has Kamijou Touma before he lost his memories and NT 1 which treated Kamijou Touma as if he had died do not have the symbol of Hadit, the Pentagram, on their covers.

The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis)

Chapter 2 Section 6

I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is theknowledge of me the knowledge of death.

Chapter 2 Section 7

I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

Hadit is also known as the winged snake of light, the Kundalini serpent, and the fire snake. If you read Index, you've seen this phrase many times.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

This is a Thelemic concept and is the fundamental axiom underlying Thelema. Thelemic philosophy first appears in OT1. *SYSTEM, that which reaches the will of heaven without the body of a God, first appears in OT 3. In this post, we will assume Kamijou Touma to be Hadit as defined in Thelema and analyze Kamijou Touma and the world of Toaru using this as a base.

But before that, we will be devling deeply into concepts of Supernatural Power in the World of Toaru.

First is magic.

Magic is the technique of expending mana to apply the laws of other worlds (Phases) to the real world and cause supernatural phenomena. As for how, first, by methods such as breathing, meditation, exercise, and fasting, the user takes control of their own blood flow and the activity of their bodily functions to change their life force into mana. *If the lifeforce (Mana) of humans is to be likened to crude oil, mana is like gasoline. TL Note: 生命力 (Lifeforce) is to be read as Mana, while 魔力 is commonly translated as mana and I don't know a better word for it to disambiguate this.

Once you have gained mana, you can put it through your blood vessels and nerves or tools such as spiritual items and activate your magic by forming symbolic meaning through the motion of your body, chanting of words, writing of letters, usage of tools, etc. This world has a law of equivalent exchange, but magic is a convenient technique that deceives the world into giving 10 results for 1 expenditure. However, the world doesn't just let it go. When a magician uses magic, they interact with the "man-made" Phases placed on top of the world of pure physical laws. This interaction causes the many Phases to come into contact. As a result, Fate, called Sparks (or Spray), is created and makes all humans slaves to fortune.

The heads and tails of the flip of a coin, the order that dishes come out during a meal, the coming together and separation of people, and life and death. In other words, all of the misfortunate events in the world are caused by the Fate created by the collision of Phases. *Although this doesn't only create misfortunate Fate, there are those that die to Fate nonetheless.

This is the greatest flaw of magic.

Second is Esper Abilities.

Esper Abilities are the power to of those who observe their own Personal Reality to distort the world on the micro scale through laws that are different from those of a normal person and cause supernatural phenomena. Personal Reality is established by administering drugs, applying electric shock to the brain, using hypnotism, and many other methods to apply psychological damage or extreme stress to purposefully distance the student from standard reality according to Academy City's ability development program. The possibility of producing fire from one's hand, the possibility of knowing what someone else is thinking, the possibility of an object moving without touching it are all things that exist as a possibility. However, for a normal human, even if there is a slight possibility for such a supernatural event to happen, since they have a standard reality, they can only choose the possibility dictated by common sense.

Someone who has successfully observed their Personal Reality can choose the unlikely result regardless of probability. As a result, they can distort the micro world as they see fit. The changes introduced on the micro scale cause macro scale supernatural phenomena that would not normally occur. This is likened to the Butterfly Effect.

Magicians distort reality by applying the laws of other worlds that lie on top of the world of physical laws. Espers distort the micro scale world using the Personal Reality constructed within them. These powers have long been treated as two separate things,however, it is now known that these can be explained by a unified theory and that there should not be a clear division between the two.

Magic -> Distort reality through the laws of other worlds (Phases). Science -> Distort reality through laws that are different from normal people (Personal Reality). Both of these distort reality through laws that are not normal.

Personal Reality = Personal Phase Both Magic and Science distort reality through the laws of Phases. This is the source of supernatural power. *The 2 differences are the scale and location of the Phase and the point that Espers don't produce sparks. See Shadow Metal. Also, given that Personal Reality is the power of belief, it can be understood that at the base these powers are the same.

Magic distorts reality though "external" Phases that exist on top of the world of physical laws. Esper Abilities distort reality though an "internal" Phase that exists within of the world of physical laws.

However, we'll leave powers that have not been elaborated in the source material such as Ollerus and Sogiita Gunha's unexplainable power, Kamijou Touma's Dragon Strike, Accelerator's white wings, Phase5.3 Misaka Mikoto's mysterious black ball, etc. aside for now. Therefore, Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker is a power that disables (erases) these Supernatural Powers and supernatural phenomena created by these Supernatural Powers. The area of effect is from the right wrist down and erases supernatural powers by direct contact. Another way of putting it is that it can't erase anything it doesn't come into contact with. *However, things like Divine Punishment, Recovery Magic, Teleportation, and Mind Control (depends on angle) that target Kamijou Touma as a whole do not need to be in direct contact to have their activation cancelled or erased.

However, Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker doesn't fit into either of the Magic or Esper Ability categories. Not Magic, not an Esper Ability, not a Gemstone.

Then what is Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker?

Chapter 1: The Power of Wishes

Kamijou Touma's right hand has already been explained in the source material. Imagine Breaker is the aggregation of the fear and wishes of all magicians (Magic Gods). *The phrases Aggregation of Dreams, Aggregation of Desires appear. Not Magic, not a Esper Ability, not a Gemstone. Though it was a mystery in OT, the answer was revealed pretty early in NT. *However, at that point it was only the opinion of the Magic Side (Ollerus). Afterwards, it became more credible with Aleister's explanation of the Power of Wishes at the end of the movie, The Miracle of Endymion, and was finally confirmed by the appearance of World Rejector.

Then, what kind of power is an Aggregation of Wishes? How is it different from a Supernatural Power?

An Aggregation of Wishes is different from Supernatural Powers that distort reality through the laws of Phases in that it is given form by the wishes of people. According to Aleister, "Multiple wishes being given a singular direction can become a power that can alter causality."

Kamijou Touma is not the only one who has the Power of Wishes. At the moment, there are about 5 things that have appeared in the series that can be called an Aggregation of Wishes.

Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker

The Treasure of Blythe Road, the Previous Imagine Breaker

The last boss of OT, Fiamma of the Right's Holy Right

The heroine of the movie, Meigo Arisa (Shutaura Sequenzia)'s Miracle

Imagine Breaker's counterpart, Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector

Given that Fiamma's Holy Right is a similar power to Imagine Breaker, it can be speculated to be the aggregation of the wishes of the Roman Catholic Church's 2 billion or all of Christianity's believers. The Holy Right has the property of automatically adjusting its output to the optimal amount according to the level of the enemy to be defeated or trial to be overcome.

Speed. Durability. Intelligence. Strength. Range. Numbers. Weapons. When a wave of the right hand guarantees victory, such things become unnecessary.

In other words, it is an almighty right hand worthy of "The Likeness of God" Michael.

However, it couldn't decide how much power to output against Kamijou's right hand. Whether it was because it is inherently the same type of power or because Kamijou's right hand contained so much more power, the reason is unclear. Meigo Arisa's Miracle (and her own existence) was born when during the Orion Incident, the passenger's wishes were given direction by Shutaura's song that has been imbued with magic-like power and the magic placed on the Orion spaceplane by Ladylee. Her Miracle always incurs some cost and this cost becomes greater along with the Miracle. For the cost of her ability to recognize music (splitting one girl into two) and the life of her father, the Miracle of 87 passengers of the Orion surviving occurs. Miracle level: Strong

For the cost of her consciousness for a few hours, the Miracle of the debris falling towards Kamijou Touma's head splitting in half occurs. Miracle level: Weak

For the cost of an injury to Kamijou Touma's head, the Miracle of 0 injuries in the crumbling stage occurs. Miracle level: Medium

For the cost of Meigo Arisa and Shutaura Sequenzia becoming one again and going into a state where she can no longer be recognized (not even by Aleister or Lola), the Miracle of avoiding the collapse of Endymion occurs. Miracle level: Strongest

It can be speculated that Meigo Arisa's Miracle works by (unconsciously?) controlling the Fate that would have struck and making it hit someone else.

This cost probably exists because unlike Imagine Breaker, it cannot erase Fate. Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector is the wishes of the Magic Gods (except Othinus) that spilled out of Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker and were drawn to the shining soul of Kamisato Kakeru. *The point that it was drawn to the soul and housed itself in the right hand is the same as Imagine Breaker. With the phrase, "Do you wish for a new world?" as a trigger, it forcibly erases anyone who has conflicting desires, even a god, from the current world and exiles them to another place called the New World. According to Kamisato, "This new world is extra space within this timeline." Even accounting for the Phases and such, only 10-20% of the world is being used. Nobody will realize if 2-3% of the remaining 80% were used to create a new world. This world made of the extra space that nobody will realize is the New World. *Be aware that this explanation is most likely wrong. This touches upon the theory of time within the world of Toaru, so I would recommend understanding the comparison to frames of film.

Unlike the Imagine Breaker, it is activated by the shadow cast by the right hand and has no need to come into contact. Also, it doesn't only target people, but things created by a person that has a conflict of desires as well. *It erased the Phase Nephthys tried to implant. It is also known that when Imagine Breaker and World Rejector come into conflict, World Rejector works on Imagine Breaker, but Imagine Breaker doesn't work on World Rejector. If Imagine Breaker is said to be the Reference Point of the World or the Restore Point of the World, couldn't World Rejector be called the Singularity of the World or the End Point of the World? *Kihara Yuiitsu called it the Edge of the World.

The Previous Imagine Breaker, the Treasure of Blythe Road. The head is made of bone, the feathers of leather, and the shaft of grave wax. It was the ultimate exorcism item created from the right hand of a saint. Given that it's effect is almost the same as Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker, we can speculate it to be, "the aggregation of the fears and wishes of all magicians."

We know that Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker is an Aggregation of Wishes or a Power of Wishes, so how does this relate to the second principal deity of Thelema, Hadit?

Imagine Breaker is theorized to represent Hadit's Exorcist side.

Hadit has two sides. The Magician and the Exorcist.

In The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis) Chapter 2 Section 7 as well as Liber HAD, Hadit is called "the Magician or maker of Illusion, and the Exorcist or destroyer of Illusion", That Kamijou Touma is the destroyer of Illusion probably doesn't need any explanation at this point. However, this is an analysis. To assume correctness and stop thinking just because it feels right is no analysis. Therefore, I will present a number of pieces of evidence that point to Kamijou Touma having the Exorcist side.

Evidence #1 The original usage of the Previous Imagine Breaker.

As explained earlier, the Previous Imagine Breaker, the Treasure of Blythe Road was the ultimate exorcism spiritual item created from the right hand of a saint. Exorcism is the practice of expelling evil spirits and demons. *Was done by the Imperial Palace yearly, but nowadays refers to throwing beans on Setsubun in Japan. According to Mina Mathers, "Imagine Breaker. The ultimate exorcism spiritual item created from the right hand of a saint. The most secret weapon prepared to send back beyond the magic circle those that would not retreat when a summoning went wrong."

Given that the Previous Imagine Breaker and the Current Imagine Breaker have the same type of traits, it is clear that they can be used the same way. Begone Evil Spirit Given that the Previous Imagine Breaker and the Current Imagine Breaker have the same type of traits, it is clear that they can be used the same way.

At the end of OT22, in the Arctic, Kamijou Touma sends back the Archangel Misha Kreutzev. Begone Evil Spirit *Not an evil spirit. At the end of OT22, in the Arctic, Kamijou Touma sends back the Archangel Misha Kreutzev. After crashing the Star of Bethlehem, though not depicted in text, since it can be seen in the illustration that Kamijou Touma has his right hand pulled back, we can imagine that Imagine Breaker was used to send the Archangel back to the correct Phase.

Evidence #2 Kamijou Touma has been referred to as the Exorcist.

The title of Chapter 4 of OT1 is The Exorcist Chooses the End (N)Ever_Say_Good_bye.

Kamijou Touma has been referred to as the Exorcist from the very beginning. The reason he was referred to as the Exorcist is probably because in destroying Index's collar, he saved her from the hands of a demon. The one who put the collar on Index is the Archbishop of the Church of England, Lola Stuart. That's right, the brain-dead-raw-garbage-spit-jar-bastard, the Great Demon Coronzon. At that moment, Kamijou Touma destroyed, although incompletely, the collar placed upon Index by the Great Demon Coronzon.

In other words, he saved Index by freeing her from the Great Demon's control. Couldn't this be why Kamijou Touma was referred to as the Exorcist?

It can also be taken that Kamijou was referenced to as the Exorcist simply because he is Hadit. *Though it's just a guess as I haven't seen the inside of the writer's head, since there is reference to Aleister, Golden, and Thelema (Thelemic Philosophy) in OT1, it can be speculated that the stuff about the Great Demon Coronzon and such already existed in the author's head. (Since these things to hand in hand with speaking about Aleister, it's a natural conclusion) Therefore, I think it has both meanings.

Evidence #3 Kamijou Touma's Catchphrase.

As you know, Kamijou Touma's catchphrase is "I'll kill that illusion" *As a variant of the above, "I'll destroy that illusion" There are also a number of other offshoots. Why is this Kamijou Touma's catchphrase? That is because the Kanji for Imagine Breaker is written as Illusion Killer. But this brings the question of why Imagine Breaker is written as Illusion Killer in the first place, Though this may be getting repetitive, in Liber HAD Hadit's Exorcist side is written of as, "the Exorcist or destroyer of Illusion." I speculated that the reason Imagine Breaker is written as Illusion Killer and the reason for Kamijou Touma's catchphrase is this quote. If so, this becomes evidence that Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker is Hadit's Exorcist side.

As a side note, in Liber HAD, Hadit is referred to as, "the Unity which is the Negative." In NT14, Othinus claims Kamijou Touma's greatest power is his power to connect (NT14p37) and in NT15 Kihara Yuiitsu calls Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker a denying power. In other words, what I want to say is as such.

*There are other interpretations that can be made about "the Unity which is the Negative." As Kamijou Touma is the Negative, he used his denying power representative of this and with his right fist saved those who should have been cut away starting with Accelerator and continuing to Magic God Othinus and Academy City Chairman of the Board of Directors Aleister Crowley and unified them. *This is only my personal interpretation.

Place the side note to the side, I think these three pieces of evidence make the probability that Kamijou Touma contains Hadit's Exorcist side quite high. *Keep in mind, the right hand is only a bonus to he who purifies god and conquers demons. However, This alone is not enough to say Kamijou Touma is Hadit. For Kamijou Touma to be Hadit, there are more questions that need to be answered. From here on, I will answer unresolved mysteries one by one and see how they affect the Kamijou Touma = Hadit Theory.

Chapter 2: The Mystery of World Rejector and the Contradiction of the Current Imagine Breaker

To continue with the Kamijou Touma = Hadit Theory, we must first dig into World Rejector. Why? There is a theory that Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector is Hadit's Magician side, however, in analyzing World Rejector, I began thinking this is a red herring. But before I get into why I came to that conclusion, let's solve the mystery of World Rejector.

Mystery The mismatch between the reason for and time of World Rejector's birth.

As you know, World Rejector is said to have been born due to Kamijou Touma becoming Othinus' sole understander and having diverged from the path of salvation of all of the Magic Gods. And it was the beginning of November that World Rejector entered Kamisato Kakeru's right hand. But doesn't that seem off? The start of November was right after the end of World War III and Kamijou Touma hadn't even met Othinus or any other Magic God at that point. *Kamijou Touma returned to Academy City on November 5th. He went to Hawaii on the 10th. For World Rejector to have been born from Kamijou Touma becoming unable to hold the wishes of the Magic Gods (by becoming the understander of Othinus), it would have to be at least after NT9 and 10. If you want to say that Fate was determined the moment Othinus and Gremlin decided to act, the issue goes away, but even still it doesn't seem right.

I thought about it, and ame to the conclusion that, the true reason for the birth of World Rejector is something else. In the first place, it was only Nephthys' speculation. There is no doubt that World Rejector is an Aggregation of Wishes of the Magic Gods due to it's output and the fact that the Magic Gods are 99.9% of what makes up the Magic Side. (That it is a counterpart to Imagine Breaker is another piece of evidence) It's probably correct to say that it spilled out of Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker. *I'll explain later. However, the idea that it was created because Kamijou Touma diverted from the path of saving all Magic Gods is wrong.

Then what is the reason?

Or better put, who is the reason? I think three people were involved in the birth of World Rejector.

First, Othinus. Let me make it clear at the start that it wasn't Othinus' wishes that shaped World Rejector. Othinus was simply one of the people that created the cause for World Rejector to be born. While the other two are only speculation, I'm almost certain about Othinus. Why? Because it's clearly shown in the novel. I was also able to pinpoint the time World Rejector entered Kamisato's right hand. November 13th, Saying this much, I'm sure many readers can realize what Othinus did to have a hand in its creation. In her first appearance at the end of NT4, just after crushing Kamijou Touma's right hand in Baggage City. Until now, I had thought the one that had taken damage was Dragon Strike. *Accordingly, I thought Dragon Strike had changed in NT14(15). However, the one that was damaged at this point was Imagine Breaker.

How can I say it entered Kamisato Kakeru immediately afterwards? The evidence is in the Chapter title.

Severe Damage RU9NI1bKAKErSA991MA

First part aside, the second part of this Chapter title was a mystery for a long time after the release of NT4. However, with the appearance of Kamisato Kakeru in NT13, it was made clear. It's not the angel language, but it's the same type of thing. Start by getting rid of the alphanumerics. Doing so makes this Severe Damage, RUNIKAKESAMA and if we move the RU and NI...it becomes Severe Damage, KAKERUSAMANI.

Kakeru-sama ni (To Kakeru-sama)

This creates two problems.

First, November 13th is a little late to be called the start of November, clearly being in the middle of November. I'll put this to the side for now.

The second is that Kamijou Touma's right arm was damaged just two weeks ago, at the end of World War III. So why did it happen in Baggage City and not at the end of World War III? There's only one answer here; World Rejector did not appear naturally but was made to appear purposefully by someone. But who? The answer is pretty clear. It has to be the one person who knew of the World Rejector Kamisato Kakeru's existence.

Second, Archbishop of the Church of England, Lola Stuart, The one who created the World Rejector that did not exist up to this point was the shit-mound-barf-bag-toilet-brush Great Demon Coronzon. Some may think, "Can she really do that?" It may sound like it came out of nowhere, but the means by which a Power of Wishes is born is already in her head. At the end of the movie, The Miracle of Endymion, Aleister explained to her, "Multiple wishes being given a singular direction can become a power that can alter causality." At the end of World War III, Coronzon was able to confirm that Aleister was still alive.

Perhaps Coronzon wanted a power to combat Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker (which is under Aleister's control) in order to kill or draw out Aleister? *This plan did succeed. To do this, she found some means to move the Magic God's Wishes away from Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker and as a result, the Magic God's Wishes spilled from Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker and gave birth to Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector.

*She wasn't trying to have it go to Kamisato specifically, but induced the Power of Wishes to go somewhere else. But there's another way to think about this. Even if Coronzon didn't choose Kamisato, she could have been aware that the Magic God's Wishes that spilled from Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker would go to Kamisato Kakeru. Like how Aleister predicted the Imagine Breaker would end up in Kamijou Touma's right hand. If so, we can explain why Kamisato Kakeru began to sense something was off at the beginning of November. This as well is the same as how Aleister Crowley prepared Academy City for Kamijou Touma.

"Imagine Breaker cannot even be recognized if those with Supernatural Power do not gather around it. Kamijou Touma cannot show his tendency to fight if those seeking help are not within reach. ...and yet you were able to stand out more than anyone. Why? It's obvious. The stage set up in Western Tokyo was an Esper development institution set up to maximize the accomplishments of the Kamijou Touma that would one day appear."

The cause for the odd feeling Kamisato had was the stage Coronzon had prepared so that he would recognize the World Rejector in his right hand when he gained the power. *She caused an incident (that could lead Kamisato to recognize his power) or something like that. After all, Kamisato Kakeru has the shitty trait of saving anything in the shape of a girl. With this, I think most of the mysteries surrounding World Rejector's birth have been solved. But there's still one left. NT14 Chapter 3 Page 220 Kihara Noukan's line to Aleister.

"It's quite the outlier if it doesn't get caught in your surveillance net. Since it isn't something a cyber attack could do, it must be pure stealth or some oddity that forcibly wipes out and denies everything that originated from you. Though I can't even imagine the theory behind it."

Third, Aleister Crowley.

Since 99.9% of the Magic Side is emcompassed by the Magic Gods, there's no mistake that World Rejector is the Aggregation of Wishes of the Magic Gods and what spilled out of Imagine Breaker.

Though Aleister Crowley may be a magician even capable of killing a Magic God, he is human.

To be honest, I don't know for sure if Aleister is part of the reason for World Rejector's birth or, if he is, how much of an effect he had. *Even if he did, like Othinus, it was not his intention. I think the probability is low, but it's high enough that I can't just ignore it. *Which is why it's in this post.

The reason is as such.

Though Aleister is categorized into the 0.1% of non-Magic God magicians, a large portion of that 0.1% is taken up by the magician Aleister Crowley. 1 billion, 83 million, 90 thousand, and 287 possibilities. If Aleister has an effect on World Rejector, it is probably the World Rejector's activation trigger being the conflict of desires. *It could be that it works like this because Aleister's desires are mixed into World Rejector. After all, I think the one who is most susceptible to the conflict of desires is not any of the Magic Gods, but Aleister Crowley. We know World Rejector works on Aleister since at the end of NT14 when Kamisato Kakeru fought Kihara Noukan he erased A.A.A, which was created by Aleister.

Even though Aleister left his life preservation machine, he didn't directly face Kamisato, but sacrificed Kihara Noukan to create a confrontation with Kihara Yuiitsu and dealt with Kamisato by having her steal World Rejector. If one were to take the viewpoint of a skeptic, this could be taken as Aleister avoiding Kamisato.

To put these three things on a timeline:

October 31st, end of World War III Coronzon confirms Aleister is still alive.

Coronzon begins testing methods to create a Power of Wishes to kill Aleister.

Coronzon begins tampering with Kamisato Kakeru's surroundings. *Causes some event to tie the girls to Kamisato.

Kamisato Kakeru realizes something is off around the beginning of November.

November 13th, Kamijou Touma's right hand is damaged.

Part of the Magic God's Wishes spill and Coronzon interferes with these spilled Wishes. The spilled Magic God's Wishes are given new direction and as a result come together in Kamisato's right hand. Kamisato Kakeru's situation becomes even worse. December 1st, Kamisato Kakeru recognizes World Rejector as a power he now holds and travels to Academy City for vengeance against the Magic Gods.

That resolves the mysteries of World Rejector.

As for why we had to resolve these mysteries... I wanted to make certain that World Rejector was born of the Magic Gods' Wishes that spilled from Imagine Breaker. Why did it have to be made certain? By making this clear, I can refute the theory that World Rejector is Hadit's Magician side. As for what this means, let's say Kamijou Touma is Hadit. Hadit has two sides, the Magician and the Exorcist. Kamijou Touma is Hadit, so he has both sides, the Magician and the Exorcist.

Imagine Breaker is Hadit's Exorcist side and World Rejector was born from the Wishes of the Magic Gods that spilled out from Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker, his Exorcist side. Did you catch that?

If Kamisato's World Rejector were to be one of Hadit's sides, that would not be the Magician, but the Exorcist.There's probably some people who would ask, "Then what if for some reason Kamijou Touma did not have the Magician side in the first place? What if he couldn't for some reason?"

Kamijou Touma does say World Rejector isn't a fit for him.

However, if we were to say, "World Rejector is Hadit's Magician side and Kamijou Touma only ever had Hadit's Exorcist side," we have a contradiction. In this case, Kamisato Kakeru would have needed to have had World Rejector from the beginning. There are many other things that refute this.

Refuting Evidence #1 World Rejector is an affirming power. In NT15, Kihara Yuiitsu calls Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector, "An affirming power, but it works more like a data wiping software."

Hadit is the Negative. Kamijou Touma and Kamisato Kakeru. If you look at how they save others you can see that Kamijou saves by denying their illusions while Kamisato saves by affirming their ideals. If Kamijou Touma is the Negative, wouldn't Kamisato Kakeru be the Positive? Refuting Evidence #2 World Rejector works like a data wipe software. This connects to #1, but Kihara Yuiitsu says World Rejector, "works more like a data wiping software."Overall, I think this is another piece of proof that World Rejector originated from Imagine Breaker.

In other words, since World Rejector is the same type of power as Imagine Breaker, when fitting them to Hadit, it doesn't fit to the Magician side, but the Exorcist or destroyer of Illusion.

Refuting Evidence #3 World Rejector isn't making Illusion. If we take Imagine Breaker to be Hadit's Exorcist side, we can define Illusion = Supernatural Power (or Supernatural Phenomena caused by Supernatural Power) With this definition, let's take another look at Liber HAD. The Magician or maker of Illusion, and the Exorcist or destroyer of Illusion, World Rejector is a Power of Wishes and is not a Supernatural Power. It can't be said to be making Illusion. Even if we take the Magician and the Exorcist to be referring to different things with the word Illusion, World Rejector is a power that affirms ideals, not a power that makes illusion. After all, it's the person Kamisato's pointing his right hand towards that decides what to desire, not him.

Refuting Evidence #4 Vengeance

One trait of Kamisato Kakeru is that he wants vengeance, However, Hadit has no such trait. If you were to look in Thelema for the trait of Vengeance, it would not be Hadit, but Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis)

Chapter 3 Section 3

Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with them.

Explanation Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the third deity of Thelema's cosmology. The child (twins) born of Hadit and Nuit, also known as Ra-Herakhty or Horus. *One side of the composite deity Horus.

Back to the main topic.

Due to the preceding evidence, I think Kamisato Kakeru's World Rejector is not Hadit's Magician side. Then, where is Hadit's Magician side? The perceptive viewers probably realized upon seeing the chapter title, but the hint to Hadit's Magician side was in the contradiction of the Current Imagine Breaker. That is, Kamijou Touma's misfortune.

As you know, the greatest magic cabal, the Golden, owned the Previous Imagine Breaker, the Treasure of Blythe Road. The Treasure of Blythe Road was used to protect the members of the Golden from the Fate born the collision between phases until it was destroyed on April 13th 1900 when Aleister Crowley instigated the Battle of Blythe Road. The owner of the Imagine Breaker should not be a Slave to Fortune. And yet, Kamijou Touma is Misfortunate. Though some of it can be explained as clumsiness or carelessness, when looking at his childhood, there are many events that can't be brushed off like that. This would mean that, "Kamijou Touma is not erasing all of the Fate that comes towards him."

According to Index he has bad luck due to erasing the grace of God, but Imagine Breaker erases Fate, both good and bad, so he shouldn't be misfortunate. Additionally, in NT15 Kamijou Touma begins to question whether his bad luck is really caused by Imagine Breaker. Though that train of thought gets cut off by the High Priest flattening a certain high school. But why is Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker in such a half working state? Imagine breaker has a processing limit. A limit to the variety, number, and amount of Supernatural Powers it can process in a unit of time. An overwhelming amount Supernatural Power.

Supernatural Power that is sent out repeatedly, whether continuous or not. Supernatural Power that is both of these things. Normally, Imagine Breaker erases Supernatural Power Instantaneously but these things take time to erase and either get stopped in place or, in some cases, reach Kamijou Touma. That's right. When Imagine Breaker reaches its processing limit, the Supernatural Power reaches Kamijou Touma. I came up with a hypothesis. What if Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker were constantly erasing some Supernatural Power and had some of its resources constantly used for that? Let's say Imagine Breaker has a processing limit of 100. Then if 100 Fate comes his way, Imagine Breaker should be able to erase all 100 Fate instantaneously.

However, if 50 was always being used for something else, even though 50 Fate would be erased instantaneously, due to the processing limit, 50 Fate would not be erased and would stay where it is. Of the remaining 50 Fate, wouldn't it make sense that some of it would reach Kamijou Touma? In other words, since Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker is constantly spending its resources erasing some Supernatural thing, it is unable to completely erase Fate as it should, leaving him misfortunate. I think this is the reason for Kamijou Touma's misfortune and the cause of the contradiction of the Current Imagine Breaker.

Then, what could be eating up the resources of Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker?

Dragon Strike.

The existence of Dragon Strike that becomes clear with the contradiction of the current Imagine Breaker. The truths that become clear by analyzing NT. The theory that comes into view with the conclusion of the Kamijou Touma = Hadit Theory?

When science and magic cross paths, an analysis begins.

#ooc #Really long post #Just figured I could share this since I've been thinking #about Imagine Breaker for a while

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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ASM vol 5 #25/826 Story 1 Thoughts

Wow!

Now THIS is how you do a milestone issue...even though the milestone was last issue but whatever!

In some ways this issue reminded me of a lot of DC’s recent milestone issues for the Trinity. Wonder Woman’s 75th Anniversary special, Action Comics #1000, Detective Comics #1000.

By this I mean you have multiple artists contributing and the story feels like vignettes.

The difference though is that most of these vignettes are in fact part of the same story.

The downside of that is that it does make the main story ‘Opening Night’ feel somewhat disjointed because there are 3 or 4 endings. It could’ve been easily fixed by simply presenting the Syndicate pages and the Gleason pencilled pages as their own stories (which functionally they are) or at least as clearly labelled epilogues.

That’s a nitpick though because the main story over all was fantastic, no pu....actually pun very much intended. Why not Spencer likes his puns and meta jokes and there was plenty of the latter in this issue. Case in point Kindred’s jabs about continuity.

Let me get some minor negatives out of the way.

The changing artists really, really didn’t complement one another exempting Kev Walker and Ottley’s work. Ramos’ artwork wasn’t well integrated with the rest of the art at all, as was the case with his work in the Heist arc back in the earlier issues. Gleason’s work I will give a little more of a pass too because as presented it feels so much like it’s own separate story and has consistent art within those pages it’s not really a problem. But with Ramos and Ottley it’s very jarring.

Now it is the lesser evil because I’d rather have Ramos draw some pages and panels rather than the whole issue. Reserving him for, let’s face it, the less important B-plot of the main story whilst Ottley does the heavy lifting on the main story is a great compromise.

Other small complaints I have involve Mary Jane herself and her storyline.

For starters...Carlie Cooper is back. Now she isn’t used badly, it’s just...I hate that character. I don’t think many people have many positives to say about her and there is baggage associated with her. So if she is destined to become MJ’s go to buddy then that’s going to grind my gears (especially when we consider she let MJ risk her life by dating Otto in Superior, what a jerk!) and I’d infinitely prefer a wholesale new character or an old established character (Liz, Glory, Jill Stacy even?).

Buuuuuuuut on the flipside Carlie was better suited to being MJ’s sidekick in this story given she got involved in some of the action. Possibly even seeing her get zapped was Spencer putting in a piece of catharsis for the many fans he knows honestly hate this character.

Secondly we got MJ’s acting career. Now there are three little problems I have with it that might not even be problems. Let me explain.

a) MJ claims she lost her Secret Hospital job because of the nature of her life. I took that very much as an implication associated with her connection to Spider-Man. Problem is...she didn’t lose her job because of Spider-Man. Her role just happened to be cut back and eventually if I remember correctly she either quit following a deranged fan assaulting her or she was outright fired. Now in defence of her comment and of Spencer, the line doesn’t explicitly mention Peter or anything like that so it could easily be taken as her life being in general crazy regardless. Bear this in mind for something else I’m going to bring up

b) MJ claims she never liked being famous. That really struck me because of course MJ wanted to be famous from day 1. Now you could easily argue that when we first met MJ she was younger and had yet to experience fame, so now she feels differently. Buuuuuuut she was a model in her adulthood. She pursued acting as a soap star, and as a movie star and as a stage star and took a job at Stark industries and at various points was modelling during those jobs. Soooooooooo what gives? I mean....maybe you could say she hated aspects of being famous but the speech seems weird and inconsistent in and of itself even. I’m hoping I’m just missing something

c) MJ says she had trouble fitting in and then over did it in social situations. I dunno if that’s really true. It could be bad phrasing on Spencer’s part but really MJ always did fit in, her facade helped her to fit in, it was partially engineered to help her to do that. Is that what he means though?

d) MJ becoming a famous actress again gives me mixed feelings. Spider-Man is the everyman and whilst temporary fame that comes crashing down is one thing, if she is long term famous it kind of meddles with the everyman aspect of Spider-Man. An aspiring actress, even a low key soap star is different a more if you will ‘domestic’ form of fame. But that’s more a criticism of where this might lead so it could wind up being fine.

One final, final little problem I had was another example of worried where this MIGHT lead. In Kindred’s lair we see a wall depicting different Spider-Heroes and so now I’m facepalming that the climax to his storyline will be a huge crossover event affair that demands I read Miles and Gwen’s and Jessica Drew’s titles.

Again a nitpick at best, at worst something to worry about in the future not the present.

Everything else in the main story was beautiful.

MJ’s connection to acting is restored. Wonderful. It’s my preferred profession for her because it taps into Peter’s double life and her own history with her party girl facade.

The speech was well written and delivered and I liked the meta aspect of her giving it whilst disguised as a famous super hero wife!

Spencer continued to find a way to handle the old criticism lobbied against MJ/the marriage that it Mary Jane simply waited by a window (even though I think that’s fine sometimes) or just got stood up on dates all the time by having MJ have friends she can hang out with. This is one aspect where Carlie, because she is in on the secret, helps a lot I must admit.

Spencer also renders Mary Jane very well rounded.

Look I LOVE seeing instances where Mary Jane shines as cool, as bad ass and the like, but sometimes if handled poorly it can come off as idolizing her.

Spencer avoids this by giving MJ flaws.

She’s jealous of Melanie’s success which she sees as something that could have been her’s.* She has tiny doubts about Peter’s sincerity. She admits she struggles to fit in and feels uncomfortably exposed in the limelight.

But she’s also, brave, self-sacrificing, resourceful and, most importantly in this story, a good actress (apparently being able to impersonate Melanie’s voice...or maybe that’s something no one thought about because this is a non-audio medium).

The effect is to make Mary Jane truly the hero of the story, not just because she is ‘taking point’ in the main story but because she feels complex and nuanced, just as Peter is.

My quibbles above aside, Spencer really is a good Mary Jane writer and for Spider-Man that’s an important consideration for a writer (just as being a good Lois Lane writer or good Alfred writer is for Superman and Batman). He’s done her justice 99% of the time he’s written her and it says an awful lot about him and his priorities for this title that he’d give the lion’s share of a milestone issue over to her.

It also says a lot of his abilities to make good stories out of well...clean up duty.

Let’s be brutally honest here the majority of Spencer’s issues have revolved around stories really designed to fix things after BND and Slott’s run.

Back to Basics fixed Peter and MJ’s relationship and mostly reconstructed Peter’s character by having him own up to the diploma debacle and zero in on who the man was and who the spider was by literally separating the two.

The Heist reconstructed Peter and Felicia’s relationship and fleshed out why MJ and Peter were getting back together as quickly as they did.

Those poorly drawn Bachalo issues fixed Ned Leeds not being dead.

Hunted fixed Kraven not being dead and Shed and more stuff with Felicia

Now this issue has fixed MJ and Peter’s future’s to some extent. Peter is back at ESU and MJ is back to acting. Not only does she now have a Stark free job situation but it’s a job that’s her home away from home as I discussed a bit above.

The issue also does some clean up with Curt Connors, restoring the pre-Hunted status quo and by extension facilitating something else comfortingly familiar by having Connors teach Peter.**

Speaking of Connors, I can’t recall off the top of my head (having not eaten breakfast yet) if Connors had safehouses before now to keep him safe from his family. I know that has been the case in other stories, such as the Forever Young novel from a couple of years ago, but in the comics I can’t recall. If not then it’s a great thing for Spencer to integrate. If so it’s a great thing for Spencer to have remembered and gives Spider-Man a meaningful subplot to work with whilst Mary Jane takes the limelight in the main plot.

Now let’s move onto Mysterio. As I predicted last issue the doctor was Rinehart but I was mistaken in believing it was the real Rinehart. Spencer, and Mysterio, were so good at their jobs that I was successfully fooled into thinking Mysterio really had died last issue. The idea that Rinehart was really Mysterio and Mysterio was really someone else never occurred to me and was an ingenious twist.

But like all good mysteries it had clues right there for us to see as last issue signposted the disappearance of Mysterio’s former doctor, who we now know was tricked into becoming Mysterio so beck could escape. What sold it was the inner monologue of Rinehart talking about Beck as a separate person. This would’ve been a cheap trick under a lesser writer but Spencer justifies it by claiming Mysterio was method. Just brilliant. As was tying in MJ’s agent and new found fame to Mysterio and his film script.

We also get some more tantalizing tidbits about Kindred. He doesn’t like killing innocent people if he doesn’t have to. The idea of him being an established villain now looks much less likely. And did you notice that when we first see him in the issue...he’s sticking to the wall...surrounded by spiders...and later has them crawling out of his bandages...and is targeting other Spider people...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????????

That about does it for what I call the ‘main main story’, we move now onto what should’ve been epilogues.

There isn’t much to say about the Syndicate pages beyond they were good for what they were, they eloquently tie into the main story and set up the next arc.

Much more interesting are the Gleason pages, and not just because the art looks so nice and so much better than Ramos.

On the one hand I am wary of Spider-Man comics bringing in too much of the shared universe because it messes up a lot of the drama and stakes. But as a little side story meant to set up something else that’s fine and what a set up.

Spider-Man 2099 is back!

Now I feel like I should really catch up on his solo book. I kept buying it but stopped reading it around Civil War II!

I honestly have NO IDEA where this is going beyond thinking it might have something to do with Kindred’s interest in all the other spider people??????

Beyond all that...not much to say.

I’m not going to tell you that I recommend you pick this issue up because....c’mon...you know you already did...and loved it!

*Importantly, if Spencer intended it this way, MJ missed out on Melanie’s success because of something not connected to Spider-Man. I was worried the story was going in for this idea that being with Peter has cost Mary Jane a successful career, but in this issue, through Melaine we see that wasn’t the case.

MJ’s life led her to quit a role that was already being reduced but it wasn’t because of Spider-Man stuff at all.

This is not just refreshing and healthy for their relationship, it’s also realistic. Take that every bullshit AU about MJ being famous by not dating Spidey!

**By the way I was going to criticise Connors having both arms in human form but then I double checked issue #2 and that was the case there too. I keep forgetting that he has both arms now it’s just so weird to see.

#Spider-Man #mjwatsonedit #mj watson #Mary Jane Watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #Peter Parker #Nick Spencer #Lizard #the Lizard #Curt Connors #patrick gleason #Ryan Ottley #Humberto Ramos #Spider-Man 2099 #Mysterio #quinten beck #Kindred

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mariequitecontrarie · 5 years

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Cufflinks

Summary: Christmas crazy Belle French has more than a little crush on Mr. Gold, her firm’s workaholic senior partner. After she worms her way into being his Secret Santa in the office gift exchange, she decides the office New Year's Eve party is the perfect time to tell him she’s hopelessly, desperately into him, but the office elevator and a mix-up with the presents have other plans. Will Belle still snag her man and her midnight kiss? Notes: My (late) Christmas/New Year’s present to you all! Please enjoy the fluff. Rating: T Word Count: 6700

On AO3

“A mandatory office party on New Year’s Eve?” Ruby groaned. “Ugh! Regina is such a witch.”

“It’s not so bad,” Belle countered. She dug her hands into the pockets of her winter white coat, bracing herself against the wind for the last block of their walk to the office. It was a blustery cold night, but the snow that was expected to blanket Storybrooke, Maine, when they woke up tomorrow morning wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 4 in the morning. By the time the flakes flew, most New Year’s Eve revelers would have already dragged themselves to bed, drunk on champagne and midnight kisses. “Besides, we have tomorrow off.”

“Not so bad?” Ruby grimaced. “The only thing not bad about this situation is the open bar. I’m gonna get completely shitfaced, take my free vacation day, then follow it up with a week of sick time.”

“That’ll teach Regina to have a party.” Belle grinned, knowing the opposite was true. Regina Mills, the owner and CEO of Regal Marketing and their boss, had a deeply held philosophy that social events brought her team closer and made the workplace more productive. And as a result, she hosted outings and parties often. “Did you remember to bring your Secret Santa gift?”

Each holiday season, the gifts for their Secret Santa exchange were placed under the huge, glittering tree outside Regina’s office on the last Friday before Christmas. The idea was for everyone to take their gift home, open it at leisure, and bring it to the New Year’s Eve Party. As the team rang in the New Year together, Regina would reveal the identities of all the Secret Santas.

“Yep.” Ruby unzipped her leather jacket to reveal a red sweater featuring a sequined reindeer with a bejeweled red nose. “One ugly ass Rudolph sweater.”

“I think it’s cute!” Belle nudged her self-proclaimed work wife with her elbow. “Where’s your holiday spirit?”

“Christmas is over, Belles,” Ruby said flatly. “What’d you get from your Santa?”

Belle smiled. Sometimes it was hard to remember not everyone was as enthusiastic about the holidays as she was. Most years she was hauling a fresh evergreen into the house before the Thanksgiving turkey had even been carved. She loved the lights, the smells, the sounds of the season. Christmas was a magical, cozy time, and she wanted to stretch out the anticipation for as long as possible, and if she could carry her Christmas cheer into New Year’s, so much the better. She was fortunate her parents were as crazy for Christmas as she was; throughout December, the three of them packed in as much decorating, cookie-baking, and holiday light viewing as possible.

She patted the knapsack slung over her shoulder. “A gift card to the bookshop around the corner, tea tagged with literary quotes, a mug with the phrase “Bookmarks Are for Quitters,” and an old books candle—it smells like an ancient library, all aged paper and dusty shelves.” Impressed, Ruby whistled. “Generous. And whoever they are, they know all about you and your obsession with books!”

“Isn’t it great? I’ve brought it all with me, plus one of the books I bought with the gift card. It might be the best book I’ve read all year.”

“Nice.”

Ruby dodged a small patch of ice, dragging Belle around it, too. When Belle started talking about books she tended to get distracted and walking into walls or slipping on black ice were distinct possibilities. “It’s called Hyperion Heights,” Belle continued. “There’s this police detective, Weaver, who’s looking for the love of his life. She’s missing and he’s tearing the town apart looking for her. Oh! But he’s not really a detective. It’s this elaborate curse cast by a witch that makes him believe he’s someone else. So romantic.”

Ruby wrinkled her nose. “I guess if you like that sort of thing. Any wolves in it?”

“Not so far.” Belle shook her head and opened the door to their office building. She and Ruby’s heels clicked in unison as they crossed the lobby toward the elevator.

“Are they ripping each other’s clothes off yet?”

Belle pulled a face. “Wolves ripping each other’s clothes off? Now that would make for a fascinating love scene.”

She punched the button for the seventh floor where their office was located. Normally she took the stairs whenever possible, but tonight’s party heels were particularly towering. Besides, she didn’t want to be flustered and out of breath when she was seeing people.

Ruby feigned a bored yawn. “No sex and no wolves? Boooriiiiing.”

“Well, I think it’s wonderful.” A dreamy sigh slipped past her lips.

She’d never admit it out loud, but something about the hero of her novel, Detective Weaver, reminded her of the company’s senior partner, Mr. Gold. He was Regina’s second in command at the company, and the only executive on staff besides Regina. Besides being the general counsel, his specialty was terrorizing the team into doing their work. And if you weren’t a hard worker, he was positively terrifying. Last week, right before the team was dismissed for Christmas break, Ashley Boyd had run out of the office sobbing after she’d failing to complete next year’s advertising plan for the Storybrooke Community Bank. Fortunately, Belle was both talented and diligent. Not only did she complete all her projects on deadline, but she’d also helped land the company some of their most prestigious accounts. She wasn’t sure Gold liked her, exactly, but she knew he appreciated her work. Sometimes he was grouchy, but she figured his sour attitude was the product of loneliness. He’d been divorced for years and his son was away at college. While she had the company of her parents and plenty of friends, Gold appeared to live a solitary existence. Night after night, she imagined him wandering around his dark, rambling Victorian all alone. With nothing but empty rooms to look forward to, it was only natural he threw all his time and energy into work and spent 18 hours a day at his desk.

Or maybe she was simply making excuses because she had a huge, ridiculous crush on him.

“You’re in an awfully good mood.” Ruby punched the elevator button and smiled slyly. “Does this mean you’re gonna make a move on your work crush tonight? Maybe a New Year’s Eve midnight kiss?”

Belle’s stomach flipped at the thought of kissing Gold.

“Did you know according to German and English folklore, a New Year’s Eve kiss strengthens a budding romance?” she explained, dodging the question. “The first person you encounter in the New Year—and the nature of the encounter—sets the tone for your relationship for the next 365 days.”

“Did your Detective Weaver say that in your novel?” Ruby rolled her eyes and ushered her onto the elevator. “I can read you like a book, girl.”

“Ha! Shows how much you know.” She gave Ruby a triumphant smile. “It was in the January issue of Time magazine.”

Ruby snorted. “Whatever.”

Belle’s stomach jumped again as the elevator lurched and began a slow, lumbering climb. The ancient elevator box was affectionately known by the building’s inhabitants as the Dinosaur because it could take a full five minutes to get to the floor of your choice. The machine wasn’t dangerous, by any means, just slow. The old cliché about molasses in January definitely applied.

“You could have brought Archie along,” Belle said. Archie was Ruby’s latest boyfriend. Regina always encouraged them to bring a spouse or family member to the New Year’s Eve party, especially with the tradition of giving and receiving kisses at midnight.

Ruby shook her head. “Archie’s with his dad tonight. Marco’s under the weather. But why didn’t you bring a date?”

Belle blushed, imagining an angular face and whiskey brown eyes. Gold. Since Christmas Day, she’d thought of little else but seeing him here tonight. Cornering him at the office holiday party did seem a little desperate, but what choice did she have when he insisted on being all business all the time.

Gold eschewed most of their work outings—he’d already managed to dodge the pre-Christmas ice skating, hot chocolate bar, and Sunday afternoon charades and cookie exchange at Regina’s house, but the New Year’s Eve party wasn’t optional.

And this year Belle held a trump card: she was Gold’s Secret Santa, so he would be forced to acknowledge her in a personal way, even if only for a moment.

She’d traded with three people and bribed Killian Jones in order to finally get his name in the exchange. It had taken her weeks to land on the perfect present, but she’d done it. Something useful but personal to complement the expensive suits he was so fond of wearing—a new pair of cufflinks fashioned to look like stacks of antique books.

“Poor Marco.” Belle tsked, thinking of Archie’s elderly father. She should make it a point to bring him some chicken soup tomorrow. “I hope it’s nothing serious.”

Ruby narrowed her eyes. “It’s only a cold. And don’t change the subject. Your mystery crush does work here! That’s why you didn’t bring a date!”

Belle grinned and pretended to zip her lip.

“Come on.” Ruby stomped her foot and the Dinosaur groaned. “Your New Year’s resolution is to tell your work wife all about it.”

“Hmm.” Belle pretended to consider. “I don’t remember making any such resolution.”

Ruby tilted her head. “Is it Gaston?”

“No, won't be dating any chauvinist pigs this year. Next?”

“David Nolan?”

“He’s married!”

“So what? It happens.”

Belle rolled her eyes. “So I like Mary Margaret, I’m not a homewrecker, and he’s not my type.” “Regina?”

“She’s engaged! You do remember Emma used to be a bail bondswoman before she was sheriff? The New Year is just starting and I’d kinda like to be alive to enjoy it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ruby held up her hand and admired freshly polished nails studded with tiny rhinestones. “Confession time, Belles. I’m bored with guessing.”

Belle bit her lip. Ruby had been after her to give up the identity of her crush for weeks and she was tired of keeping it to herself. “It’s Mr. Gold,” she blurted, butterflies exploding in her stomach as she finally admitted her feelings out loud.

Ruby gaped like a goldfish, her green eyes as round as the lush winter moon.

“Put that look away!” she ordered, hands on her hips. Her best friend’s shock hurt more than she expected and was putting her on the defensive fast.

“Belles-”

But Belle wasn’t having any arguments. “You’re telling me you don’t see it at all? Those tailored-to-fit-like-a-glove suits? That lopsided smile? And what about his soulful caramel eyes? They say so much about a person.”

“Well-”

“Mr. Gold is totally sexy!”

“Thank you very much for the compliment, Miss French,” said a dry, male voice. “But holiday bonuses have already been distributed. So you see; flattery will get you nowhere.”

Belle snapped her head to the front of the elevator. Somewhere in the middle of her passionate case in favor of Mr. Gold, the Dinosaur had arrived at their destination. The doors were open. Directly in front of her stood the man himself, leaning over his cane. He was wearing his blackest pinstripe suit and his blackest scowl to match.

“Ruby!” she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. “A warning would have been nice!”

“I tried to tell you,” Ruby whispered in her ear. “But there’s no predicting what the Dinosaur will do. Just act natural and head toward the bar.” Belle stepped out of the elevator to follow Ruby, but she caught her heel on the metal lip of the elevator. She toppled, falling toward Gold.

His arms flew out to steady her, his hands grasping her upper arms to keep her from smacking her face on the floor. The weighty warmth of his fingertips seemed to brand her through the fabric of her coat and dress, all the way down to her skin. Goosebumps broke out across her shoulders and neck and she caught her breath.

When she dared to look up into his face, his mouth was twisted like the red and white stripes of a candy cane. He released her like a retracting spring, stepping back as if he’d been burned. An awkward silence filled the air, punctuated by the ding and whoosh of the closing elevator doors.

Belle looked over her shoulder to glare at the Dinosaur. She was taking the stairs from now on, no matter how high her heels were.

Forty pairs of curious eyes were glued to their every move. She’d just announced to the entire office—not to mention Mr. Gold himself—that she thought he was sexy. A few of her co-workers were already suspicious about the handstands she’d done to be Mr. Gold’s Secret Santa. Now, not only did everyone know she had a massive crush on him; now they also knew the feeling was most definitely not mutual.

Her heart screamed like an approaching freight train and the pattern on the carpet danced in her head.

Was December 31st too late in the holiday season for a Christmas miracle? Because she could really use one now.

“C’mon, Gold.” David Nolan saddled up beside him carrying two cups filled with punch. He thrust one into Gold’s open hand, then jabbed a finger in the direction of his office. “Let me show me those proofs for the country club summer program. They’re due next week.”

“Oh, I don’t need to be reminded by you that we have a deadline, Nolan.” Lured away by the promise of completing a project, Gold allowed David to lead him toward the rows of offices lining the back end of their floor. David sent her a secret wink, and Belle breathed a sigh of relief. David was a good guy.

Maybe the evening could be salvaged after all.

But as Gold passed by, she caught a flash of metal on his wrist and her heart plummeted. He wasn’t wearing the antique book cufflinks she’d given him for the Secret Santa exchange. Instead, he wore a familiar pair of plain silver knots he’d worn at least once a week for the past two years. Not that she was keeping track of his wardrobe.

She’d gone from panicked to relieved to depressed in the span of thirty seconds. Gold didn’t like her gift and when the time came to reveal who everyone’s presents were from, she would look like a total idiot for the second time in one evening.

Tonight was shaping up to be the worst New Year’s Eve ever. Dejected, she slunk away in the direction of the refreshments.

Gold stood at his desk and flipped through the advertising artwork for the Storybrooke Country Club. “This looks fine,” he told David. “Brilliant, actually.

“Don’t thank me. Thank Belle,” David said with a smile. “Most of this was her doing.”

“Indeed.” He coughed, then wrapped his scarf around his neck. The last person he wanted to discuss was Miss French and her odd pronouncement on the elevator. He knew he wasn’t a bloody heartthrob—he owned a mirror for God’s sake—but hearing her poke fun at his looks was more painful than he could have imagined.

Such careless remarks he would have expected to come from the vapid Ashley Boyd or the brash Ruby Lucas, but Belle? Never. Belle cared about people. Apparently, he just wasn’t one of them. He massaged his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. Lord, he was tired.

“I’ve been at my desk 15 hours today. And now I’m off before the snow flies. See you next year, Nolan. Enjoy the evening.”

“Wait.” David stepped in front of him. “Why would you want to head home to an empty house when there are people here who want to spend time with you?”

“And what people would those be?” He barked a humorless laugh.

“Me, for starters. And I’m not the only one.” Nolan ran a hand through his hair. “You do see what’s going on here, don’t you?”

He tapped the folder holding the marketing prospectus and slid it into his briefcase. Nolan was a good director of advertising and the closest thing he had to a friend after Regina, but sometimes he could be a touch thick. “It’s a fairly simple ad campaign.”

“No, you knucklehead. I meant Belle. She likes you. I mean, really likes you. You heard her. Why else would she…” Nolan trailed off with a frown.

Gold could feel a flush creeping up his neck and was thankful his scarf was wrapped around his throat. Belle couldn’t possibly have meant it when she said he was...what was the word? Oh yes. Sexy. He set his teeth on edge. “Why else would she what?” he demanded.

“Nothing.” Nolan shoved his hands in his pockets. “Forget it. Just maybe try to enjoy yourself. Loosen your collar and have a drink. Or three. And stay until the Secret Santa reveal.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll think about it.” He wasn’t going to think about it. He hadn’t received a gift in the exchange. On Christmas Eve, long after everyone else had gone home, he’d looked under the tree for a present bearing his name. It was nowhere to be found. Considering the time, care, and expense he’d put into selecting his gift, reality came as an unexpected slap. Many times he’d heard the adage that it was better to give than to receive, but there was nothing more humiliating than publicly admitting you were so despised by your coworkers that your Secret Santa had neglected to even wrap up a crappy, polyester necktie.

For the hundredth time since Christmas, he chastised himself for caring. What did it matter? The Secret Santa exchange was just another one of Regina’s stupid holiday traditions. He was content to stay behind the scenes and let Regina have the limelight she craved.

Honestly, with her penchant for being adored and showing the team a good time, it was a wonder any work got done at all. Good thing he’d been here all these years to keep her on task. When she opened Regal Marketing during a snowstorm ten years ago this February 12, they’d had only one client—the Storybrooke Grocer. From there, thanks to him, they built the business together by helping businesses up and down Main Street, even moving several into online sales. Storybrooke was somewhat behind the times, but they were catching up with the rest of the world, again thanks to him.

“Are you done thinking about it yet?” Nolan took an impatient slurp of punch and gestured through his office door. “Belle’s been sitting in the corner alone for the past fifteen minutes looking like she lost her best friend. Have you ever known her to say a mean word about anyone?”

Gold peered through the glass. Belle was indeed holed up in the quietest corner of the office, wedged between the terrace doors and the old grandfather clock. She was nursing a cup of punch and balancing a plate of hors-d'oeuvres on her lap. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was hiding. Usually, she was so animated he half-expected her auburn curls to catch on fire, but tonight she wasn’t talking or laughing with any of her friends.

“Go over there, man,” Nolan urged. “Talk to her.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, wavering. Seeing Belle look so sad tugged at what remained of the hollow old husk of his heart. “Perhaps I’ll wish her a Happy New Year on my way out.”

“There’s the spirit.” Nolan grinned and clapped him on the back.

Gold didn’t want to startle Belle again so he moved toward her slowly, the tap-tap-tap of his cane announcing his approach. He came to a stop a few feet away, folding his hands over the handle of his cane to observe her from the opposite side of the grandfather clock.

She was turned toward the balcony window and he could just make out the outline of her reflection in the darkened glass. She seemed to have folded herself into a sad little ball, unaware of the laughter and chatter swelling around her.

He cleared his throat. “Good evening, Belle.”

“Mr. Gold. Hi.” Her voice was small and void of enthusiasm and her clear blue eyes were downcast.

He winced, regretting his earlier quip outside the elevator about ingratiating herself for a larger bonus. Belle worked hard regardless of compensation and had proven herself time and again. Hadn’t she worked overtime the week before Christmas to perfect the country club’s new tagline? Perhaps he’d jumped to conclusions and wasn’t seeing the whole picture, as Nolan had suggested. There was only one way to know for sure. He pulled up the chair next to her and sat.

He cleared his throat and leaned his cane against the edge of the chair, realizing too late he should have asked permission before making himself comfortable. “Mind if I join you?”

“Of course not,” she said, but the wideness of her eyes seemed to shout what are you doing here?

Nonetheless, he persisted. Making her feel better suddenly seemed far more important than beating a hasty retreat to his dusty old house. “This isn’t like you, Belle. Why aren’t you having fun with the others?”

“Others?” Some of the staff had started line dancing to a country version of “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,” but Belle gazed around the loud room like she didn’t even know she was in the middle of a party. “Oh. I guess I’m not really in the mood for a party anymore.”

The pained look she gave him stabbed him in the gut. “I see.”

“It’s my own fault.” She swiveled toward him so her knees collided with his thigh and she reached out to touch his shoulder lightly. A tingling rush swept down his arm at the feel of her fingers against his body and sweat beaded along his hairline. Clearly, he’d been staring at the computer screen for too long today. Besides, she was a tactile little thing—always hugging her coworkers. He tried to dismiss the jolt that passed between them. Certainly, everyone who touched her experienced this peculiar reaction.

“Mr. Gold, I’m so sorry about embarrassing you earlier. I didn’t mean to announce my feelings in front of everyone. Ruby...the Dinosaur...it all came tumbling out.” Her neck turned a mottled shade of pink and she forced out a breath that made the hair on her forehead fly up.

Feelings? Now it was his turn to stare. Hadn’t it all been a joke? He wanted to ask more questions about these feelings she’d reference, but his nerve had fled. “It’s no matter,” he said, waving the apology away.

Her frown bloomed into a smile, the tiny worry lines on her forehead smoothing. “Then you forgive me?”

He couldn’t help but smile at the giddy relief in her voice. Belle possessed such a sweet spirit and was one of the most genuine people he’d ever met. It was one of the reasons all their clients loved her. Forgiveness was easy. “Of course. Nothing to forgive, really.”

He began to stand, prepared to excuse himself and head home, but she caught his arm. Those strange, wonderful tingles returned, peppering his arms with goosebumps, and he held his breath. She would want to rejoin her friends and he had overstayed his welcome.

“Will you stay for a while longer?” she asked, looking as hopeful as a child on Christmas Eve. “It’s bad luck to be alone before midnight.”

“Is that so?” He arched a skeptical eyebrow but relaxed in the chair once more. Belle was smart and beautiful and likable, and if she wanted his company heading into the New Year, he would enjoy these few, fleeting moments and bask in the sunshine of her presence.

“Yes!” She leaned forward, warming up to an argument she had already won. “And what will Regina say if you leave? She’s gone through all this work to host a party and you can’t just walk out.”

“Ah yes, Saint Regina,” he quipped with a teasing wink. “Calling an event planner who handles the food and the decor is hardly a groundbreaking effort in the world of party planning. Besides, she can’t fire me for leaving a party. She’s known me too long.”

A dimple danced on Belle’s cheek, making his lips quirk at the corners. Her good humor was infectious and he made a show of stealing a slice of cucumber from her untouched plate of party food. Besides, the Secret Santa debacle wasn’t her fault. What did he need with another pair of ugly socks, anyway? When she rushed to offer him more snacks, he accepted a cracker and a square of cheddar cheese. He took a bite and she did the same, beaming at him around a mouthful of cheese. He couldn’t fathom how or why, but somehow he was improving her mood.

“Did you have a nice Christmas?” she asked. He swallowed the cucumber round and shrugged. She didn’t want to hear about his lonely little existence. Neal was busy with his studies and had decided to tackle an accounting internship between semesters rather than come home. He couldn’t blame his son for being driven especially since it was his father’s own workaholic example the boy was following. “Same as any other. You?”

“I did, but I was also a little preoccupied.” She broke a cookie, offering him half, and wiped the smattering of crumbs off her skirt. “You see, I’ve been looking forward to this New Year’s Eve party for weeks.”

“That’s natural,” he rushed to assure her, eager to focus on anything but himself. “The New Year can be an exciting time. Full of promise. You’re young, Belle. You have a life, plans, goals. Tonight represents a fresh start and a chance to see those things come to fruition.”

“You’re right,” she said. “But that’s not why I was excited. May I tell you? The truth?”

“Of course. ‘This above all; to thine own self be true,’” he quoted from Shakespeare. He couldn’t imagine where she was going with this.

She looked surprised. “Funny you should mention that. I was given a box of tea with inspirational quotes on the tags and that was one of them.”

“Intriguing,” he murmured, feeling his cheeks burn. Did she suspect who the tea had come from? “You were saying?” he prompted.

“Right. Sorry. Got off track.” She laughed nervously and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, catching a blue sugar crystal from the cookie they’d been sharing. “It was because I was anxious for an excuse to see you.”

“Me?” His heart stuttered and he almost choked on his cookie. “Miss French, don’t you see enough of me five days a week?”

“No.” She shook her head. “We see each other, but we don’t talk unless it’s business.” She reached for his empty hand and laced their fingers together. “Wasn’t I Belle a moment ago?”

“I uh…Belle,” he corrected with a gulp while he stared down at their joined hands.

She fluttered long, ink-black eyelashes. “I like you. I want to know you. Not as my boss or someone I work with, but as a person. I want to know what you eat for breakfast, which authors are your favorites, whether you listen to music or talk radio in the car on the way to work.”

He was dumbfounded. No one except Neal had ever cared about his interests or preferences. And no one—not even his ex-wife—had ever looked at him the way Belle French was looking at him now. Under her gaze, he felt attractive, like he had something to offer beyond sage business advice and a primer on how to work one hundred hours a week.

When he saw himself reflected in her eyes, he didn’t hate the man he saw staring back.

“Have I completely shocked you?” she asked, the adorable worried crinkle reappearing between her eyes.

“Yes. No. Yes,” he croaked. She was still holding his hand and he squeezed her fingers, trying to communicate with his touch where words failed. “In the best way, Belle.”

“I’m so glad.” Her eyes shone she leaned closer and brushed her thumb over the corner of his lower lip. “You had a little cookie crumb,” she explained.

He looked at her mouth, fascinated by how her lips glistened in the low light. What might it be like to kiss those sweet lips when the grandfather clock chimed twelve tonight? The idea left him as breathless as if he’d just run a marathon.

She gestured toward the opposite corner of the office floor, where the Christmas tree stood sentinel over Regina’s office. “I’m sorry you weren’t a fan of your Secret Santa gift.”

“What do you mean?” He gaped at her. How did she know? “What present?”

“I know we aren’t supposed to reveal ourselves, but I guess it doesn’t make much difference at this point. It was me.” She shrugged. “I’m your Secret Santa.”

He shook his head slowly. “Belle, I’m sorry. I never…” Embarrassed, he trailed off, but what did it hurt to be honest with her now, especially when she’d shared her heart with him? “I thought I didn’t have one,” he confessed.

Her eyes widened. “Wait. Are you saying you never got your present?”

“That’s what I’m saying.” He sounded feeble, even to his own ears. Lonely, pathetic old man.

“But that’s impossible! Unless—” She shot up out of her chair and charged across the office toward the tree, determination in every step. A shiver of hope coursed through him and he followed her to the tree.

Belle knelt at the foot of the Christmas tree and picked around the fallen needles, her heart leaping with expectation. Gold hadn’t hated her gift. He simply never received it! The box was small, but it had to be here somewhere. She patted the area around the tree and sure enough, her fingers seized on a square, hard lump. She peeled back a corner of the tree skirt and there it was—her present for Mr. Gold.

She sat back on her heels and smiled down at the little package wrapped in red foil paper. Other than the slightly crumpled gold bow adorning the top of the box, it was no worse for wear.

“What are you doing on the floor, Belle?” Gold asked from behind her.

Still clutching the gift with one hand, she grinned up at him and accepted his proffered arm. “I found it!” Excited, she jumped to her feet and pressed the gift into his palms. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Gold.”

“For me?”

“Yes, for you!” Belle wished she had a camera to capture the expression of wonder reflected in his eyes. “This is your Secret Santa gift. It somehow got lodged underneath the tree skirt. Maybe when it was being watered? Anyway, mine was one of the first ones and it must have gotten lost. It was there the whole time.

“'Better three hours too soon—”

“—than a minute too late,'” she finished with a laugh. She was so excited she hopped up and down and clapped. “Shakespeare again! Will you open it now? Please?”

Together, they stood beside the tree while he tore into the paper and opened the box. He grinned down at the little cufflinks, tracing the outline of one with a fingertip. “Why, Belle, these are extraordinary. Thank you.”

“Then you do like them?” She clasped her hands together, feeling like a little girl who’d received a bicycle on Christmas morning. “They’re old books. If you look closely, one of them is a volume of Shakespeare.”

“So it is! They’re wonderful. Would you put them on me, sweetheart?” He held out his arms with his wrists turned up.

Sweetheart. The endearment had her heart beating wildly in her chest. “I would love to.”

Careful not to pinch him, she removed his plain silver cufflinks and replaced them with the new ones. She brushed her fingers over the pulse-point on his wrist, flattered when it seemed to be a little quicker than average. It thrilled her to know she wasn’t the only one affected by their closeness.

When she finished locking the second cufflink into place, he held onto her hands and kissed her palms, one at a time, his eyes burning into hers while his soft lips warmed her flesh. “I’ll cherish them always,” he said huskily. Not only were the cufflinks far and away the best Secret Santa gift he’d ever received, but there was also the gift of Belle herself, who in two short hours had made him feel cared for in a way he hadn’t been in years. Maybe even never.

Arm in arm, they returned to their chairs in the corner and nibbled on another plate of snacks. For the next hour, the rest of the world fell away and they focused on nothing and no one but each other.

“Fifteen minutes till midnight,” Belle observed when Regina and Mary Margaret Nolan began to pass out sparkling hats and decorative noisemakers.

“So it is.” He nodded, feeling selfish for taking up so much of her time. “Would you like to join the others?”

“Let’s not.” She touched her fingers to the sliding glass door that led out onto the ocean-facing terrace. “Let’s ring in the New Year together under the stars—just the two of us.”

He suppressed a thrilled shiver, loving the way she automatically included him in her plans. With Belle it was never “I,” it was always “we.” Suddenly the lonely New Year’s Eve he expected to face had been transformed into something enchanted and sweet.

“What about the Secret Santa reveal? Don’t you want to know who your gifts are from?” Gold’s smile was mischievous.

“I have a feeling I already know,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for all of my presents. They were wonderful.”

“How did you figure me out?” he asked, opening the sliding glass door and gesturing for her to proceed him onto the terrace.

She threw a wink over her shoulder. “Tonight’s inspirational Shakespeare quotes matching up with the tea I was gushing over? Kind of a giveaway. And you have a lousy poker face.”

He laughed and followed her outside. The sea air was crisp and fresh, and high above the waves, the stars twinkled as bright as peppermints. The winter wind was more like a gentle breeze, giving away nothing of the impending snowstorm. Gold removed his overcoat and settled it around Belle’s bare shoulders, then tied the scarf in his pocket around her neck. He stood behind her, lending her the warmth of his body while he buttoned the coat.

“Perhaps,” he whispered in her ear, enjoying the way she shivered at his touch. He grasped her earlobe between his fingers and gave it a teasing tug. “Or perhaps I wanted you to guess it was me. Luck of the draw, sweetheart."

“Not for me!” She whirled around and poked a finger at his chest, pretended to be outraged. “I’ll have you know, Mr. Gold, I was forced to trade names and bribe people to earn my position as your Secret Santa!”

“Belle, be serious.” She’d traded with other co-workers to get his name? The number of surprises he was trying to wrap his head around tonight was staggering.

“I am being serious! I had to agree to take the Zelena Mills account off Killian Jones’ hands before he would let me have your name! People like you more than you might think. Give them a chance to get to know you. Maybe even attend one or two of Regina’s famous icebreakers?”

He grinned. “Zelena Mills? You must really like me.”

She swatted his arm then turned toward the water again. He drew her back against his chest and pondered her advice.

He’d never thought of relationships this way; that the people he worked with could become his friends or that he could even date someone who worked for him. He’d always believed keeping his business and his personal lives separate was best, a major point of contention between him and Regina. She knew of his failings with his ex-wife, and so they agreed to disagree.

In the past, opening himself up to know and be known had only brought heartache. Yet in the span of a single evening, Belle showed him that his life could be more than a cautionary tale. If he opened his heart he could have friendship, maybe even love.

All he had to do was follow Belle’s example and be brave. He wasn’t quite ready to step off the elevator and declare his feelings in front of the entire office, but he could manage to ask her out on a date or even hold her hand at Regina’s next office adventure.

“Will you help me be a better man, sweetheart?” he murmured against the side of her neck.

“Mmmhmmm.” Belle let her eyes flutter closed with a contented sigh, welcoming the warmth of his arms around her. “Since it’s going to be a new year soon, would it be alright if I call you Darach from now on?” She felt his nod against her hair and smiled.

It was too dark to see the beach, but from their vantage point on the seventh floor, she could hear the ocean waves crashing against the jagged rocks while the sweet, minty fragrance of the night air tickled her nose

From inside, she heard Regina over the microphone beginning the one-minute countdown to midnight. Gold pulled out his pocket watch and they peered at it together in the dim terrace lighting.

Fifteen seconds until the New Year. Belle’s heart pounded with anticipation and she pressed her forehead against his. “Will you count it down for us?”

“Here we go,” he began in that husky timbre that would make reading from a telephone book magical. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

Through the glass, the grandfather clock rang out the hour of midnight and time stood still. Inside, the festivities paused for a fleeting moment to listen and reflect as one year became the next. Belle lifted her chin, closing the small distance between them. As the last stroke of the clock died into silence, their breaths mingled and their lips met. She sighed into the kiss while his arms tightened around her back, the twin pleasures of his lips against hers and his strong arms holding her making her blood sing.

When they parted, noisemakers were announcing the start of the New Year, confetti was flying, and Belle savored the joyful shouts of her friends before they launched into a happy chorus of “Auld Lang Syne.”

For auld lang syne, my jo For auld lang syne. We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet. For auld lang syne. “Darach?”

“Hmm?”

She squeezed his waist. “Your eyes are still closed.”

“’Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,’” he quoted, then opened his eyes and treated her to a sheepish smile. “Eggs over easy, Shakespeare, and classical music. She blinked at him. “Sorry, what?"

“I believe those are the answers to your questions from earlier.” He nuzzled her cheek. “My favorite breakfast, author, and morning radio preference.”

She giggled, then grabbed his lapels and hauled him against her for another kiss.

“Happy New Year, Darach,” she whispered. “It is a Happy New Year, isn't it?" he asked, and the smile he gave her was something she knew she would never forget—not this year or in all the years to come.

-fin-

Notes: The office grandfather clock, in Regina’s family for three generations, was a gift from her father, Henry when she opened the company.

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #mr. gold x belle french #new year's fic #christmas fic #marie's gift to the fandom #rumbelle fluff #cufflinks #mqc writes

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tonightinthewasteland · 5 years

Text

(Almost) all my Fallout OCs

because I can

Casey Lee Loomis

Location: Appalachia, Vault 76, Forest Region

Age: 35

Casey is outgoing, hyperactive, a social butterfly and sexual liberated little minx. He entered Vault 76 with his parents at the age of 10. (Rumor had it that Casey had his way paid but Casey passed the examinations fairly and properly) However, he never performed exceptionally in the vault career programs and was remained childish in personality in the close-knit village environment. Life was comfortable in the vault and the outside it seemed a million years away. Romantically, he had multiple partners. Bordem, a perpetual need for attention, and raging hormones had him starting his exploration at 15 with the vaults library intern and he experimented from then thereon. He married the head physician, Robert Covington, at 29. They separated at Robert’s request one month before Reclamation Day and left Casey stunned and hurt.

The Vault doors opened in late October, Casey left alone and met Nate Cortez mid-November by sheer accident. Being his first human interaction outside the Vault, Casey sticks to this half-feral man like Wonderglue and regales him with cheerful word vomit day and night. One way or another, they spend the rest of their lives together. They rejoin the Brotherhood in the west and eventually abandon it for a life similar to what they had in Appalachia. Casey leaves behind his two children and their mother.

Canonically, Casey kills Robert early 2103 out of unexplored hurt and rage then conceals the crime in the nearby river.

Senior Scribe Grise

Location: Commonwealth, Prydwen, Citadel

Age: 38 (yikes)

Grise is a cryptic, zealous, and eclectically perverse snake of a man whose sees both his existence and eventual death as plights of a martyr. He is a direct descendant of Casey Lee Loomis but, as with the entirety of his family line, has disowned his name. Grise is the last in a long line of scribes with little over 150 years of generational dedication to the cause. He has no children or spouse.

He’d always been an outspoken fundamentalist and loyal Maxson-line supporter, earning him the chance to join the transport party that escorted the young Maxson to the highly-respected Lyons. At the Citadel, he faded int the background of a well-established hierarchy, slowly making a name for himself by fair means, waiting all the while the day the young Maxson might take control.

His slow descent into madness began after Squire Maxson’s encounter with the Deathclaw. Feeding off the buzz over this seemingly impossible victory, he discreetly shared his views on the dynamic purity of the Maxson line and its necessity for a successful future. Under the cover of back-door think tanks turned sermons and coded radio chatter, the Cult of Maxson grew. Grise did not directly influence any political maneuvers but cultivated a volatile environment.

His views of Arthur Maxson had gone from respected prince to indomitable diety, unable to see Arthur Maxson’s true moral code and regards the Elder’s distaste for him as a test of loyalty and passion.

Anita Stallworth

Location: Appalachia, The Mire, Cranberry Bog, Watoga

Age: 39

Anita is confident, sharp-witted, hard-boiled by necessity, and hungry for control of her future. She was born in Maryland but moved with her family to West Virginia while she was still young. Appalachia was an up and coming area that attracted her family with its scenic landscape and lively political circle. The bombs dropped when she was fourteen and home alone. Her father was away on “business” and her mother was having spa treatments done at Whitesprings. Neither one was heard from again.

While ransacking her mansion, members of the Free States found, took her in and raised her into young adulthood at Harpers Ferry. Despite her dispel of them, she grew to respect their tenacity but hated the isolationist life. She left them for an exhaustive journey to investigate Whitesprings for info about her mother and found the place clean and empty. After that, she spent a decade wandering in and out of Appalachia, mostly sticking to the Mire and Cranberry Bog, assisting the various groups for a quick cap and never committing to any one creed. She worked as a hired gun at Fort Defiance until orders got too expensive for their taste.

Out to find the next bigger and better thing that might give her the edge, She finds her way into the Enclave after Robert(who is supposed to be dead but I can have AUs okay) has already established his position and quickly rises past him in rank to General. She remains in power with Enclave.

Robert Covington

Location: Appalachia, Vault 76, Enclave Bunker, transient

Age: 47

Robert is cold, analytical, immensely reserved about his predilections, and cares more for prestige and security than anything. He entered the vault at 21, not entirely finished with medical school but flash trained at the last minute by VTU for the role of Physician in Vault 76. His parents: Mother being an investment broker and father a steel mogel with a military contract, did not make the cut for entry. Leaving them behind, and their constant pressure for acceptance, was a small relief to Robert.

In the vault, he was private and kept to himself in downtime. Interacting briefly with others only at social events and holidays. An occasional drink and rare sweet were his small pleasures, along with old westerns and jazz music. Casey and he met by way of a routine eye exam with Casey complaining of poor vision. Casey’s impulsive energy, bold speech, and flash-bulb eyes attracted and excited him. Going against his limited morals and instead of recommending Casey’s to another doctor, he forged records to reflect necessary medical treatment to allow for extended private time and constant access to his patient, much to Casey’s enjoyment. At the peak of their secret affairs, he placed Casey on a homebound quarantine with access restricted only to himself. The Overseer caught wind of the quarantine by word of mouth and demanded an explanation as to why the quarantine was not reported. When she seemed unconvinced by his excuses and suspicious “records”, he attested that Casey and himself were in love and feared they’d be judged too harshly for their relationship. She believed him only after speaking with Casey directly but, only barely so.

To keep up appearances, Robert remained with Casey as a husband for six years until a month before Reclamation Day, considering Casey a liability to his survival in the wasteland. Canonically, he is killed by Casey within a year. Nonconically, he joins the Enclave after failing to be a successful wasteland doctor with Nate as a hired bodyguard and becomes Anita Stallworths personal chew toy.

Horace Beaufort

Age: 58

Horace is an ex-resident of vault 51. How he managed to escape the vault continues to be a matter of discussion and debate. I speculate that his role in the vault was to stir the pot or take advantage of chaos. He killed several of his fellow vault dwellers before leaving the said vault.

His prewar life was not glamorous. He enlisted young and was dishonorably discharged for fighting a fellow soldier in a bar. He called it “working out their differences” and they called it misconduct. The whole thing became a monkey he let sit on his back his whole life and refused to come back from. He saw pockets of brief jail time for more public disturbances and drunken disorderly, “dabbled” in drugs and tried his hand at married life. He has two adult children he barely knows and an ex-wife that hates his guts.

A post-vault world led him into an equally unglamorous attempt at raider life. He fell in with the Gourmands for a brief period as a “hunter”. He abandoned them all as the gangs began feuding. Somewhere in there, he met his best friend, Duke. @avaleon

He now lives in the forest region in an old shack selling old armor and eating anyone that happens to come around when he is hungry. Did I forget to mention he is a cannibal?

Milo Orson

Location: Commonwealth, Spectacle Island

Age: 36

Milo is career-minded (Elder Maxson’s favorite flavor of solider), a dry-humored freelance mercenary turned passionate Knight. His hobbies include killing undesirables on and off the clock and building secluded settlements for R&R.

While Paladin Danse had tank-like capabilities, Milo was more stealthy and the two complemented each other’s styles to make for a powerhouse two-man team. Sharing similar past times, the men enjoy each others company outside the battlefield at Milo’s personally designed Spectacle Island settlement for fishing, sparring, reading, and in-depth discussions. Milo designed and built a top floor suite for the Elder in the Airport, complete with its own shooting range and full bathroom. The Elder politely refused the gift and repurposed it for storage.

Despite his odd and indirect advances, Milo was the mastermind and main supporter of a black-body-suited shadow squad that gained Elder Maxson’s approval. Unofficially consisting of Paladin Danse, Knight-Commander Alton, Elder Maxson himself, and Senior Scribe Grise, this squad was loosely inspired by and created to emulate the disbanded Lyons Pride. The mission remained constant: eliminating hostiles seemingly overnight when no other squad would prevail. The shadow squad was titled Purity Control.

Senior Scribe Grise was forcibly removed from the squad after being caught taking night watches on missions just to stare at the Elder while he slept.

Vance Ainsley Alton

Location: Commonwealth, Citadel, Prydwen

Age: 38

Vance A. Alton is fiercely loyal, gentle in all things but war, cautiously private and confident in his skills as a soldier. He is a second generation Brother that has three constant loves: his Elder, his parents, and jogging.

Full bio here.

Jacob or “Jay”

Location: Commonwealth, Prydwen, Sanctuary

Jacob is somewhere between a blown fuse and a Furby with dying batteries that cheerfully declares your impending death from the closet you tried to suffocate it in. He is immensely charismatic and flawlessly disarming with the best of intentions. Until you have something he wants, of course.

After surviving the end of the world to wake up childless, spouseless, and alone, he became numb to consequence and moral choice. Joyfully, he played all factions against each other, bringing them together at the Battle of Bunker Hill at the cost of lives, intelligence, valuable resources, and relationships. He was commanded to choose his loyalties and he chose the Brotherhood for it’s unapologetic adherence to its duty to humanity. He attempted to continue relations with the Minutemen and lost their respect after participating in the killing of innocents in the attack on the Institute. He became Elder Maxson’s first Sentinal and drinks with Proctor Teagan in his downtime. As a side project, he oversaw the creation a tavern just outside the airport with the Brotherhood reaping benefits from the small economy that surrounds it.

“Jelly”

Location: Commonwealth, The Castle

Jelly is known only as thus and was previously married to Jacob. She is trusting and fair in her judgments and has a strong sense of justice for both the human and nonhuman. She survives the cryogenics unbeknownst to Jacob and joins the Minutemen after the fall of the Institute and the Brotherhood assumes control of the Commonwealth. Provoked to rage and hurt by their narrow-minded views, she attacks the Prydwen single-handedly, separate of any faction or companion. She massacres the entirety of the ship, sparing only children, and takes the Captain’s hat and Elder’ s Jacket as trophies. She is appointed the new general of the Minutemen and wears her trophies boldly as proof of her conquest. She finds new love and comfort with Preston and long-lasting friendship in Curie and MacCready.

#fallout oc #fallout ocs #fallout 4 #fallout 76 #my new vegas kids aren't here sorry

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bbaba-yagaa · 5 years

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Pleasure Before Business

A/N: I wrote this last Thursday but finished it too late to post. It was another one of those days.... a thirsty Thursday.

Summary: Post ILB, Pine Springs is at peace, but trouble is brewing elsewhere. What does that mean? Road trip!

Pairings: Danni x Harper (M!MC)

Rating: 18+ NS*W!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I'm only borrowing them.

Word Count: 1650

Tagging: @brightpinkpeppercorn @queerchoicesblog @edgydepressedchoicesthot @sceptilemasterr @bhavf

A newer model, compact sedan steadily navigates the narrow winding road just outside of Hood River, Oregon. In the driver's seat is Danni Asturias whose eyes are fixed in concentration on the path ahead. Beside her, Harper Vance is quietly mulling over information the two of them had been collecting from local newspapers. Events similar to the ones that transpired in Westchester and Pine Springs had begun to make headlines in news articles originating from the relatively small town. The Pine Springs group had fully expected the power to resurface at some point, but they had hoped it wouldn't happen so soon. Now on their way to turn over a few rocks and see what they can dig up from the local happenings, the tense, young couple share a nervous anticipation of what they may find. These events always centered around a group of people shared a mutual fascination with a power they could never hope to understand or control.

Harper scratches his head in frustration, rolls down the passenger side window and sticks his head out to enjoy the cool mountain air.

“You alright over there, Vance?” Danni casts a sideways glance at her companion while keeping full attention on the road ahead.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit wound up.” He pulls his head back inside and runs a hand through his windblown hair.

As Harper rolls up the window, a sign reading: Welcome to Hood River, Oregon! Population 7,000, comes into view. When they drive past it, the idyllic little town begins to materialize off in the distance.

As they enter town and begin to make their way down a main street, Danni takes notice of her companion’s growing anxiety. “Hey, there's a cute local shop that I saw online that has great reviews and I think it really fits my m.o. Do you want to check it out and unwind a bit before we get into full blown, monster hunter mode?”

Harper smiles at her enthusiasm and nods in agreement. He knows that if Danni is interested in something, then it's sure to be good for laughs and possibly a fun conversation topic later.

********

As Danni brings the small sedan to a halt, Harper looks around in confusion. The two of them are parked curbside, in front of what appears to be a house. On the front most eve is the name: ‘Duddy Ruck.

“What the hell is this? It looks like a house.” Harper laughs aloud and turns to his girlfriend who is wearing a huge smile.

“Right? Wait till you see the inside, you'll hardly believe your eyes.” Danni throws open her car door and hops out, prompting Harper to follow suit. Together, the couple descends the stairs from street level and heads inside. Once inside, Danni stands back and relishes the look of amazement on her boyfriend's face as he takes in the large interior of the store. On the outside, the Duddy Ruck appeared small and quaint, but on the inside, it was indeed a full blown clothing store. Every shelf, rack and display is filled to the brim with flannel shirts, denim jeans; along with an array of brightly colored spring attire and activewear.

“Wow, you weren't kidding. This store totally oozes the same energy you do.” Harper flinches reflexively as Danni playfully slugs his shoulder before pulling him toward the first rack of clothes. Unsurprisingly, the first thing that catches her attention is a circular rack of assorted flannel shirts.

Harper chuckles as his girlfriend excitedly flips through them while searching for her size and a color she likes. “You could at least try to be unpredictable once in a while.” He quickly ducks around the opposite side of the rack as Danni shoots an angry glare his way.

“What's wrong with flannels?! You know they are my favorite.” She hangs a shirt back on the rack before circling around to confront her boyfriend.

“Nothing, nothing at all! I only meant I saw that coming a mile away.” Slowly, Harper lowers his hands from their defensive position as Danni mulls over his words. A wide grin crosses her face as she catches sight of a particularly inviting shelf of clothes.

“Predictable, huh? How about these?” Practically bouncing over to a table of bright colored sundresses, she reaches for the mannequin standing nearby. After snatching the broad, flat brimmed hat from its head, Danni twirls it between her fingers and puts it on.

“What do you think, Vance: is this predictable?”

“Yeah, but only a little bit. Now I'm getting the vibe that you are putting some effort into it.” Harper ducks away laughing just in time to avoid another playful slap from his flustered girlfriend.

Before Danni can give chase, her eyes land on a bright yellow sundress. She picks it up tenderly, checks the tag and giggles happily upon seeing that it's just her size. While Harper hovers just on the other side of a circular clothing rack, Danni folds up the garment quickly and heads toward the changing room nearby. Her boyfriend notices the dress in his girlfriend's hands just as she steps inside the booth and closes the door behind her. The young man plops down into a chair nearby and waits anxiously to see what Danni has in store.

Harper's jaw drops in disbelief when Danni reemerges a few minutes later. The bright yellow sundress perfectly complements her curvy figure as she struts out of the small booth toward her boyfriend. Atop her head sits the bleached white hat from earlier, but now she's pulled the brim down low over her eyes. As she comes to a stop in front of Harper, the mid thigh length hem of the dress catches his eye. Never before has he seen Danni show off so much of those long tan legs without them being hidden under the thin veil of her usual tights; in public at least.

“Well, don't leave me in suspense, Harper. How's this for predictable? Should I make a duck face too?” Danni puckers her lips and pops a hip out to one side before placing an open palm on it.

As Harper runs his eyes along every sensual curve of Danni's body, a familiar tightness begins to grow in his pants. He quickly checks to see if anyone is watching him and his girlfriend before standing up and pulling her back into the changing booth. The brunette doesn't have time to utter a single word before her boyfriend brings his lips crashing into hers. Quiet moans escape from the two of them as Harper picks her up, wraps those long legs around his waist and sits her on a small ledge in the back of the changing room.

“I just want… to say… that I totally expected this.” Danni's words come between kisses as her hands quickly undo Harpers pants. She slips her hand into his boxers and begins to stroke his hard length. While working him just the way he likes, Harper’s hands work their way up her dress and quickly do away with the panties beneath. As their kisses grow in passion and desperation, the young man slips a hand between her thighs. He then begins to gently run his fingers through her slick folds; spreading her growing excitement through them before starting to tease her clit. An approving moan escapes the brunette’s lips and Harper instinctively cups a hand over her mouth. While trembling in excitement, Danni pulls her boyfriend's pants down to knee high height and starts to massage the entirety of his manhood as she continues to stroke him. When the anticipation between them reaches a fever pitch when Harper slips a finger inside his girlfriend while the circles he traces around her clit grow smaller and faster. Teetering on the verge of release, Danni pulls Harper close and positions the tip of his erection at her entrance. He enters her with one, single thrust and the brunette claps a hand over his mouth as he hisses in satisfaction. The two of them begin to rock their hips together aggressively: both of them desperate for the sweet release only they could provide for each other. Muffled breathes and stifled moans slip from the couple's cupped mouths as the thrusting grows more aggressive and erratic. As Danni's walls tighten around Harper's length, signaling her release, he withdraws and finishes on the yellow sundress unintentionally. While the two of them catch their breath and struggle to redress, the brunette once again slaps her boyfriend on the arm.

“Way to go, Vance,” Danni's voice comes out as a semi angry whisper, “Now I have to buy this dress.”

“Hey, I'm not complaining. It looks really good on you. Come to think of it, you should get the hat too.” Harper grins in satisfaction as his girlfriend's cheeks redden at the barrage of compliments.

*******

After the two of them manage to exit the dressing room and pay for their clothes without drawing suspicion, Danni and Harper leave the shop. When they sit down and close the doors of the car, a fit of uncontrollable laughed breaks out between them. The couple tries and fails to recompose themselves several times before finally succeeding.

“That was great Harper; we should do this more often.” Danni wipes away a stray tear of joy as her boyfriend rubs his aching sides.

“We could totally make a thing out of finding random clothing stores to have sex in.” Another chuckle escapes the young man as he rubs his face with both hands.

After a quiet moment of relishing their daring feat, Danni turns to her boyfriend with determination. “So, are we ready to go monster hunting now?”

“Hell yeah, let's do this.” Harper grabs his seatbelt and clicks it into place as Danni starts the car, throws it in gear and quickly speeds off toward their destination.

#ilb fanfic #choices ilb #danni asturias #danni x m!mc #ns*w

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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No Time to Die Trailer Teases Bond’s Struggles in a Changing World

https://ift.tt/3jspead

James Bond has spent nearly sixty years on the big screen consistently overcoming elaborate, seemingly-insurmountable attempts on his life from an assorted array of ostentatiously megalomaniacal madmen. However, pandemic-era delays clearly have his number, having forced No Time to Die, the franchise’s long-heralded 25th official film, into over a year’s worth of release date retreats, now leaving it to finally face the music in October. Interestingly, the film’s new trailer seems to thematically parallel its potential box office plight, since our out-of-retirement MI6 agent seems perplexed against an unseen, intangibly-operating global threat.

Daniel Craig’s long-heralded curtain call in the Bond franchise seems ever-imminent with the opening moments of the latest No Time to Die trailer, which retrospectively recalls Agent 007’s earliest moments with a freshly-issued license to kill in 2006’s Casino Royale before quickly chronicling the events of the three subsequent sequels, notably the ominous line from 2015’s Spectre, in which Christoph Waltz’s evil mastermind, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, said Bond was merely “a kite dancing in the wind.” Likewise, the trailer-showcased return of an incarcerated Blofeld feels equally ominous, since he further implies that Bond’s love, Madeleine Swan (Léa Seydoux), has a secret that will prove to be “the death of you.”

With that set, check out the brand-new trailer for No Time to Die just below.

Perhaps summarizing Bond’s status in the film, Ralph Fiennes’s returning M provides a rather inauspicious briefing to the aging, freshly-reinstated MI6 agent, stating, “We used to be able to get into a room with the enemy. And now, they’re just floating in the ether.” Indeed, the film seems to lean into the notion of Bond’s increasing helplessness in the face of an unseen ubiquitous threat; a threat personified in this film by Rami Malek’s main villain, Lyutsifer Safin, an eccentric, facially-scarred scourge who brings unprecedented intelligence and an unconventional skill set to the table for this cinematic spectacle. Additionally, Safin seems to see himself through an oddly-heroic lens, through which he somehow draws direct personal parallels to Bond—apparently even when it comes to his amorous feelings for the potentially-dubious Madeleine.

However, the trailer also seems to convey the idea of Bond being an Austin Powers-esque agent frozen in time—a notion that arguably mirrors evolving cultural attitudes. This will apparently be conveyed not by his enemies, but by his newest ally, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), one of MI6’s newly-minted “00” agents, who happened to inherit the 007 designation of the retired Bond. Consequently, what stands to be the central relationship complementing the film’s action dynamic will focus on the recently un-retired Bond’s interactions with the agency’s new hotness, potentially setting up a generational struggle—even if Lynch, currently at 33, is only two years younger than Seydoux, who plays the onscreen love interest of the now-53-year-old Bond actor. Yet, the trailer also seems to tease an overall watershed moment, almost akin to the way GoldenEye felt upon its 1995 arrival, in which Pierce Brosnan’s debuting version of 007 initially seemed out of place in a post-Cold-War world.

Movies

No Time to Die Festival Premiere Confirms James Bond Is Not Moving Release Date

By David Crow

Movies

Casino Royale and GoldenEye Director on What’s Next for James Bond

By Don Kaye

Nevertheless, despite No Time to Die being finished for the better part of two years now, studio MGM, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, along with star Daniel Craig and the rest of the cast have managed to keep a lid on spoilers. Indeed, the film was first slotted for a February 2020 release date; one that, upon the arrival and surge of the pandemic, would get kicked back several times in increasingly-longer intervals. The false starts have been frequent, even manifesting with last year’s premature dropping of the film’s Billie Eilish-performed theme song. However, the studio and its distributing partners have exhausted its options past the point in which it would be financially feasible to continue delaying the release.

Thusly, as the new trailer confirms, the film is forced to stick to its latest October domestic date. It’s not far removed from the current Delta-variant-attributed anemia of the box office, which, tellingly, was topped this past weekend by the Candyman reboot’s meager $22 million haul. Indeed, we are at a point in which last year’s once-scoffed-at $363.6 million box office haul of Tenet has since become an ignominiously aspirational benchmark for much bigger movies.

The pandemic-era predicament is one that even continues to affect the mighty, money-printing Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having now eschewed the day-and-date premium streaming strategy of Black Widow, the Disney subsidiary will premiere the hyped tentpole title, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, this Friday, Sept. 3, for what would normally be a booming Labor Day weekend—a release that now almost feels like a walk down the proverbial Green Mile. However, it might not be wise to discount the built-in fanbase of the James Bond franchise, which maintains a remarkable staying power that not only crosses generations, but even transcends the typically segmented genre interests of audiences. Consequently, No Time to Die has as much of a chance as any blockbuster to break box office ennui and, in the very least, take its place as the year’s top hit.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of business No Time to Die drums up at the box office when it hits U.S. theaters on Oct. 8.

The post No Time to Die Trailer Teases Bond’s Struggles in a Changing World appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2WGnIZi

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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thesportssoundoff · 6 years

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“Short Notice PPVs are always wacky” The UFC 222 Preview

Joey

February whateverdaythisis

UFC 221 and UFC 222 sort of drink from the same bath water if we're being honest. The difference is that UFC 221 was an example of the worst of the worst case scenario short of cancelling a show. UFC 222 is the rarest example of doing the absolute best case scenario with the worst case scenario as the loss of a big time title fight somehow gave us a deeper card overall. UFC 222 has a very poor main event---but it's got a "star" and having a star is winning half the battle. The co-main event is a fantastic fight between two of the top 5 featherweights in the world with a title fight in the balance with a FRESH title challenger emerging for Max Holloway. You have big dudes Andrei Arlovski and Stefan Struve who add some size for those of us folks who like to see big dudes do big thangs. The rest of this card has a very distinct prospect feel as you have a heaping of good fights BUT a very clear direction where the fights that matter outside of those three are prospect building fights. For instance Sean O'Malley is the THIRD fight on the card, challenging a capable veteran test in Andre Soukhamthath in what should be a damn good fight. The top FS1 fight on the card is a fight designed entirely to get Mackenzie Dern over, drawing Ashley Yoder in a prospect tester fight. The one elite prospect at 135 lbs, Ketlen Vieira gets a massive step up in former title challenger Cat Zingano as well. Even Fight Pass has that kind of fight on it as prospect Jordan Johnson draws a HW dropping down to 205 in Adam Milstead. This isn't a great card but it is a card worthy of being on PPV, even if the main event isn't.

Fights: 12

Debuts: 3 (Yanit Kunitskaya, Mackenzie Dern, Alexander Hernandez)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 2 (Bobby Green OUT, Alexander Hernandez IN vs Beneil Dariush/Max Holloway OUT, Brian Ortega IN vs Frankie Edgar)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 8 (Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega, Stefan Struve, Andrei Arlovski, John Dodson, Cyborg Santos, Bryan Caraway, Beneil Dariush)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 4 (Cat Zingano, Hector Lombard, Mike Pyle, Ashley Yoder)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 7 (Cyborg, Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega, Bryan Caraway, Ketlen Vieira, Jordan Johnson, Cody Stamman)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 18-11 Cyborg- 4-0 Yana Kunitskaya- 0-0 Frankie Edgar- 2-1 Brian Ortega- 4-0 Andre Soukhamtath- 1-2 Sean O'Malley- 1-0 Andrei Arlovski- 1-5 Stefan Struve- 2-1 Cat Zingano- 0-2 Ketlen Vieira- 3-0

Too High Up- CB Dollaway vs Hector Lombard

A lot of people would point to Struve vs Arlovski and I can hear you out there. The problem with that argument though is that Struve/Arlovski on a card with two featherweight fights (one male, one female) and two bantamweight fights (one male, one female); you kind of need two big guys to entice people who only like big dudes. As stated before, there ARE fans who object to the lighter weight classes almost on principle and that in turn you probably could use a big boi fight for some much needed card variety. Instead I'll turn to Lombard vs Dollaway where both guys are in rough shape in their respective careers. Lombard is the ultimate example of the busted signing and since the start of 2015, he's 0-4-1 with 3 stoppage losses in the last 4 fights. On the other end of the coin, you have C.B Dollaway who is 2-3 in his last five fights and the last time he won at middleweight was in 2014 vs Francis Carmont. The last time Dollaway beat a dude coming off a win? The same year in March of 2014. Long story short, this fight being on the FS1 prelims just doesn't seem right.

Too Low- Bryan Caraway vs Cody Stamman

I know it's sort of done in by the fact that 7 of the 9 fights on the FS1 slate are at 155 lbs or lower BUT Stamman vs Caraway is a really intriguing fight. Since getting into the UFC, Stamman showcased his wrestling en route to a big decision win over Terrion Ware and then followed that up by upsetting Tom Duquesnoy in a fight where dude pretty much did everything he wanted to do vs the more athletic Duquesnoy. Cody Stamman's overall game is about physicality and toughness complemented by some orthodox striking and top heavy wrestling and at this point, he's due a step up relative to divisional relevance. As such, this Caraway fight is a PERFECT clash between a good prospect and a good veteran----but it's basically buried as NOT EVEN THE FIGHT PASS HEADLINER. I disapprove.

Stat Monitor for 2018: Debuting Fighters (Current number: 4-8): Yana Kunitskaya, Mackenzie Dern and Alex Hernandez

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 4-2): Brian Ortega, Alex Hernandez

Second Fight (Current number: 7-9): Sean O'Malley

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 5-5): Adam Milstead, Bryan Caraway, Mike Pyle, Cat Zingano

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 6-8): Kelten Vieira, Sean O'Malley, Jordan Johnson, Brian Ortega, Mackenzie Dern

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- So why should we care about this main event? What necessarily is the appeal or the allure of this fight? I know there's a sizable segment of the audience that's gonna want to see this title fight but I gotta admit that this is the first title fight in a long time where there's really nothing I care about. I'm not one of those folks who thinks dudes are right to walk out before a main event they don't give a shit about and I find it pretty unfortunate that I'm on the fence about even watching this main event. It's just hard to see anything about this fight that I feel any sort of general emotion about.

2- Is it fair to say that Yana Kunitskaya is the worst UFC title challenger since Chris Cariaso back in 2014?

3- I know a lot of people think that Cyborg stepped up to save this show but it seems obvious to me she's just trying to fight her way through her contract as quickly as possible. Works out best for both parties!

4- Frankie Edgar vs Brian Ortega is going to test how many MMA fans actually follow prospects vs the ones who pretend to follow prospects. I've seen a few knuckledraggers do the whole "The Answer is gonna derail the hype train!" bit and I've seen enough "Ortega will get exposed!" talk to the point I'm left wondering when MMA fans stop considering a dude to be a prospect. Brian Ortega is not a prospect. He is 27 years old with wins over Clay Guida, Renato Moicano, Thiago Tavares and Cub Swanson without spending more than five seconds thinking about his resume. He has showcased every skill necessary to ensure that there isn't one significant area in his game that is such a glaring unproven untested area as to put a cap on his ceiling as a pro fighter. We've seen him tested and we've seen him face adversity. Ortega isn't a prospect! What he is is a young PROVEN in his prime 145er facing another proven 145 lber. The idea that Ortega is some prospect who will eventually get exposed is flawed because if that's the case, it would've happened by now. You're no longer a prospect if you're seven years into your MMA career, have had six fights in the UFC and have main evented an event. As much as people want Brian Ortega to NOT be a thing, he is a thing and will continue to be a thing no matter what happens between Edgar and Ortega.

5- NOW if you wanna talk a hype train in some danger; Andre Soukhamtath vs Sean O'Malley. Let's briefly point out why this is the right idea; O'Malley is fighting in a division where everybody is pretty good. This isn't a 155 or a 170 where there's a sizable underbelly of fluff that exists to sort of allow certain fighters a chance to eat up on the mediocres. A lot of those dudes have either retired or been cut, leaving a really thick division with a lot of fighters who can all beat one another. Soukhamthath is probably at the very bottom of that totem pole; a guy who looks good in spurts but can be outworked and hurt. Stylistically he's a bit what O'Malley wants; a guy who will come forward at him in a straight line, not exactly give you a ton of craft and ultimately can be taken down or hit at will. NOW for why it might be a bad idea; Andre Soukhamtath has three UFC fights but in those three fights he's lost two split decisions (Albert Morales and Alejandro Perez) and iced Luke Saunders in a fight he was losing up until that point. He has dropped all three opponents he's faced so you know he hits hard. O'Malley CAN be hit, giving us an imminent sense of danger right off the jump. Soukhamtath also works at such a slow pace that he's probably not going to tire out compared to O'Malley who was sucking wind in a frenetic second round before finding a big energy jump in the third. This is, in many ways, a sneaky tough fight for a flawed prospect.

6- Andrei Arlovski staved off retirement by upsetting Junior Albini in a showcase fight for the diaper wearing Brazilian in November and his reward is a more appeasing stylistic matchup with Stefan Struve. The weird thing about Arlovski's fights these days is that he's not entirely faded to the point where you'd say he's done (he gave Overeem some tense moments against the fence, had spurts of success vs Josh Barnett and almost finished Marcin Tybura) but those glimpses are becoming less and less frequent. The same could be said for Stefan Struve who battled back from a broken jaw and some serious heart related issues to resume his MMA career to modest success. Struve had success vs Alexander Volkov but couldn't keep it up and in what has become a Struve habit; faded when the pressure got too hot and he couldn't get the fight to the ground. I guess my question is whether this is less a test about who has more to offer the heavyweight division but rather which guy has the most left?

7- So what's going to be our fight that gets cancelled the week of? Bonus points if you with "the day of" and get it right!

8-Fun debate to be had; is the UFC rooting for Ketlen Vieira to win so they have a new 135 super contender OR are they hoping for Cat Zingano to win knowing that Cat coming off a win probably makes for the most appealing 145 lb title fight Cyborg can have outside of a Nunes/Cybrog clash?

9- John Dodson has never lost two fights in a row BUT it feels like his career is heading in a pretty precarious place now. He's 3-3 in his last 6 with just one finish in those six fights. His calling card was "the smiling guy who moves really fast and hits really hard" but that loses its luster when you stop putting people out with frequent regularity. Now he's just the smiling guy who moves really fast and loses split decisions. Dodson vs Pedro Munhoz is the perfect fight for both guys as Munhoz needs a really legitimate win and Dodson could really use a dynamic performance to get his career sorted out. Both guys have something to offer the other which creates for, on paper at least, a really compelling clash with high stakes involved.

10- Does a finish get Jordan Johnson any sort of attention at 205 lbs?

11- Beneil Dariush has one of MMA's low key elite resumes at 155 lbs with Edson Barboza, Michael Johnson, Evan Dunham, James Vick, Tony Martin and Rashid Magomedov all on the resume. He just lacks the chin (and the requisite consistent pop in his hands) to really be considered among the tops in his division. I also think he probably earned the win over Dunham in hindsight.

12- Wonder if Mackenzie Dern gets the strawweight division out of this prolonged funk it's been in.

Must Wins

1- Frankie Edgar

At 36 years old, Edgar really really needs this one. A loss to Brian Ortega and you almost have to close the book on Frankie Edgar ever getting the 145 lb crown. Edgar is a hall of famer but at some point he's going to wake up and fight like a 36 year old who is heavily reliant on timing, explosion and quickness. Ortega is a really big dude for 145 lbs in build and bulk. He's more reminiscent of former Edgar rival Benson Henderson than any opponent that Edgar has faced recently at 145 lbs. He's massive, deceptively slick, a frequent powerful kicker and blessed with a wide array and assortment of submission tricks that Edgar will need to be mindful of. This is a toss up fight for me but for Edgar, if he doesn't win, you're left realizing that the bar has been set at 145 lbs and he's no longer in the necessary class to compete with the elite.

2- Sean O'Malley

The first name out of Dana White's mouth when he talks about star building is Sean O'Malley. I'm not as on board. O'Malley is a really fun fighter who has good fights and does have a bit of that star power vibe in the package. The problem is that conversely, I feel like O'Malley flaws are a lot tougher to get away with at 135 than it would be at 185 and up. Soukhamthath is basically bottom of the barrel and he's still pretty damn good. This is an unforgiving division to be learning on the fly but O'Malley's gotta do it.

3- Mackenzie Dern

The UFC Is trying to jolt some life into their WMMA rankings and so Dern who is in that "good enough to beat 99% of the regional chicks but still too raw to make serious noise soon" is being tasked with...well...making serious noise soon. Dern's striking looked better but is a ways away---but her ground game is absolutely the key to her success going forward. Dern's job is going to be to beat up the sort of women who make up the "nameless faceless opponent" rankings at 115 and 125 lbs. Let's just hope the UFC learns to take it slow.

Five Can't Miss Fights

1- Brian Ortega vs Frankie Edgar

2- Andre Soukhamtath vs Sean O'Malley

3- Pedro Munhoz vs John Dodson

4- Andrei Arlovski vs Stefan Struve (even if it's bad, it'll still be fun enough to laugh at)

5- Cat Zingano vs Ketlen Vieira

#MMA #UFC #UFC 222 #Cyborg #Frankie Edgar #Brian Ortega #Yanit Kuniskaya

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