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apocalypse-shuffle · 1 year

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RED HOOD | BATFAMILY (assorted canon)

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“Long Overdue” (Jason Todd & Batmom!Reader) and (background Bruce Wayne x Batmom!Reader)

| Reader was with Bruce in the past but grew distant after Jason’s death. No one tells her when he comes back from the dead until Bruce is forced to bring her in on a raid when they’re overwhelmed. -Jason and Batmom!Reader reunion.

| SFW, emotional?, referenced canon typical action/violence, cursing?

| This is like half fanon half UTRH/Batman:Hush. I’m really just fucking around with canon rn. Also the pictures used are just for aesthetics and have no contextual meaning to the story. (pic source - Gotham Knights video game)

| 1k+ words

| parts: one, spurt, two, three, four, five, six/six point five, seven.

“Hey, Hood, may I have a word with you?”

Hood - Jason. Jesus. - on his way toward the exit stalls and looks at you with what you can only assume is a grimace. He looks incredibly out of place for someone whose presence naturally takes up so much space.

It was getting that much easier to superimpose the showman he was on the field to the studious little smartass who used to ask you to “peer review” his essays for fun, but that connection was still something you needed to remind yourself of.

You wait, settling on your heels with your hands clasped in front of you. He doesn’t know it’s you under the mask and you almost fought him an hour ago, of course he’s reluctant.

Jason is just watching, body coiled like he’s weighing whether it’d be best to just cut and run, when Dick slides up and nudges him.

“I didn’t agree to this,” the younger instantly objects. “Just the med bay and Alfred not…Nightfall.”

He says your name like he’s cussing you out just by uttering it. It’s nasty and you can’t not smile. That sounds like your boy alright.

“I dunno,” Dick nods over at you with a coy little smile on his face. “If you give it a shot you’ll see just how much you two have in common. Just once and you can always leave if you really hate it.”

At his continual refusal to budge Dick delays for a few beats then that grin that always precluded a checkmate back in the day takes over his face.

“How bout I call in that favor early, then? You just…try to talk to her now - for me - and you’ll walk out of this cave with nothing to owe.”

His weedling finally pays off because Jason’s shoulders rise and drop dramatically as he sighs.

“Fine.” He levels the LEDs of the helmet in your direction, voice getting lower. Getting flat. “But you better not try anything.”

“Of course,” you nod.

Jason eyes you for a few more beats before giving a terse nod of his own then skulking off towards where you indicated deeper in the cave - because you did not need everybody in your business.

You give your oldest a quick side hug behind his brother’s back and he accepts the kiss on the cheek with a smile before you go after Jason.

When you close the door to the comfortably sized weapon’s room your hands tremble against the door knob; your body acting as if it’s cold in the warm space.

You clamp your hand on the knob until your knuckles pop to ground yourself. Five seconds you use not to breath but to force the shaking to cease, before turning fully in one movement.

Up close like this the sight of him makes your stomach hurt, or maybe your abdomen, you can’t tell. The fact that if you hadn’t been told you would never in a million years think to guess this was your son makes you shake worse somehow.

You ball your hands into fists and take a deep coiling breath that only serves to make the man in front of you more on edge.

He shifts a foot forward and then to the side; towards the emergency exit tucked into the back of the room. A trick you’d taught Jason a half a decade ago to trick people into thinking an escape plan was simply just nerves. To make everyone think you were about to bolt forward right before you booked it backwards instead.

No plan was truly crucial like an escape plan after all.

A few more seconds tick by and your mouth opens under your mask.

“Listen-” the other starts and a million potential conversation starters die in your throat.

“Jason…?”

The faint name doesn’t make him freeze, he’d been good at not getting caught in a lie long before Robin, but it does make him puff up for a millisecond before he catches himself and plants his feet.

Too defensive for a case of mistaken identity from his point of view but not a confirmation either. Your heart hammers.

“Who?”

The hammer pauses in mid air, your heart stutters.

For a moment it’s like the floor has dropped out from under you. Fuck the little signs he’s giving you. Fuck Bruce’s word that didn’t mean shit anymore. Your son was dead and you were being ridiculous. You’ve lost your mind. Come back from the grave? How stupid were you that you fell for that? You look the person in front of you up and down and the way nothing rings familiar makes you want to scream.

Then you see his boots - tactical grade, nothing to ride home about, run of the mill ass boots but they still ping somewhere in your temporal lobe despite their mundanity.

You remember to breathe alongside the burn of your saliva from your rough swallow. You nod to his feet.

“You got a knife in those boots?”

It was so stupid. A little line from a made up code, Jason and you’s made up code. One he’d created because he’d never forgotten about that little knife even though neither of you ever acknowledged it. One he’d made because your little man had trusted you, had wanted something just for the two of you. An action you’d taken for granted from a malnourished little punk gone too soon.

This time he does freeze and your eyes close together without your permission. The building moisture in them being squeezed and trapped inside. If this was a trick - if a strand of the black mercy or some rogue had gotten to you - you didn’t want to watch it melt away. You couldn’t.

“…You think I’m dumb enough to only carry one?”

You suck in a breath and the speed nearly chokes you.

One of two possible responses he could have given you and he didn’t even bother telling you to fuck off with the other. The code was for when people came over, when Bruce was being an ass, everything. A simple do you want to leave and a yes or no in reply.

The man responds so quietly the helmet makes his words sound like a failing humidifier. Soft gusts of words that aren’t sure if they want to be known or not. You bite the inside of your cheek so hard the faint appearance of blood shocks your mouth right into moving again.

“Is it really you?”

A breath. Two. He seems to be looking you over before he speaks up in that same broken humidifier tone.

“…Y/n?”

“Yes? No, yeah, I’m - goddamn!” you rip your mask off and fling it to the ground. “Yeah it’s me.”

Another pause but you’ll give him this one. You are by zero means under the impression that you look good right now, let alone like the put together woman he probably remembers. You didn’t like to let your kids see you cry on principle but right now you know there’s no other option.

“Jason?”

This time when you prompt him you get it out at a steady-enough volume. And this time he lets himself react, body going just that much looser and him teetering closer, fingers shifting at his side like he wants to reach out and touch. No matter that there was at least six feet of space between you two.

You’re already mirroring him when the creaky too soft proclamation of “Ma?” comes through the modulator.

…TBC

NOTES: Alright listen, I’m not splitting this up the way I am to be a dick I am simply just struggling to get everything down the way I want. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

if you’d like to leave a comment that’d be appreciated, but I won’t respond cause this is a sideblog. I read everything though 🫶🏾

Tagged: @aarinisreading

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ilikepjo24 · 7 months

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We all know that Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems if she tried...

...But she could solve some of them.

People love to say that Ursa was a victim of Ozai (which is true) and the fact that she has a bad relationship with Azula is exclusively Ozai's fault (which isn't). Ursa also shares blame. You can't act like she holds no responsibility when she's the one Azula keeps hallucinating. She's the reason behind Azula's abandonment issues.

"bUT iT WAs oZai tHAt foRceD hEr to leAvE, sO IT wAs hIS fAuLt 🤡"

Ozai did force Ursa to leave, but did he also force her not to say goodbye to her daughter? Did any of you ever heard Ozai say "You can wake up Zuko if you want, cause adding abandonment issues on top of all his other flaws would make him even more unbearable, but don't you dare disturb Azula, she needs her beauty sleep."? I don't remember that scene ever happening, in the show or in the comics.

"BuT azULa coUlD hAve snItcHeD oN heR 🤡"

Blaming the child I see, but you're forgetting sn important detail. Snitch on her to who?

Ozai? He already knew she was leaving.

Azulon? He was dead.

To some guard? The guards would just report to Ozai, who would do nothing because he wanted her to leave.

Iroh? In what universe would Azula willingly go to Iroh if she had a problem? Was Iroh even there at the moment or was he still in the spirit world? We don't know, we never saw him!

There was absolutely no reason whatsoever why Ursa couldn't wake Azula up. No reason whatsoever. Plus, Azula is baby, if Ursa were to wake her up in the middle of the night, Azula would tell nobody (at least not immediately) because she would just fall asleep again, just like Zuko did, because she's nine!

Do you even know what kind of natural disasters nine year olds can sleep through? You can't possibly believe that, Azula, a nine year old, would leave her comfortable, warm bed, in the middle of the night, to go find her scary dad, or scary grandfather, or walk around until she found a guard (where were the guards btw? How come nobody saw Ursa? It's possible that there wasn't even any guards patrolling in the inside of the palace) to tell them that her mom came to hug her in the middle of the night, when, realistically, her mind was still fuzzy from sleep and she didn't even know that the hug meant goodbye, since Ursa had no reason to give away that detail, since she didn't tell Zuko either.

But let's pretend that you're right, and Ursa couldn't wake Azula up for some reason. That still doesn't change the fact that Ursa could still do other stuff to be close to her daughter. Ask her to do an activity together or something.

"bUt ThE tuRtlEdUCKs...- 🤡"

Stfu about the turtleducks. Feeding the turtleducks is an activity Zuko likes, that Azula has no interest in. Just like with the walks in the ganders. That's not how responsible parenting is done. This is "I will send some quality time with one child and drag the other one along to not look bad, but during the quality time the second kid can buzz off, I won't even be paying attention to them." This is exactly what is happening in this picture:

And don't go all "What chance would she have? Azula would push her away!" Because that just indicates that you don't understand shit about Azula's character. She wants her parents to be proud of her. She wants her power to be recognized. That's canonically what she craves the most:

So no, if Ursa gave Azula a chance to feel like she's making her mother proud, Azula would rather die than waste it. And under what circumstances could Ursa give Azula a chance like that without being interrupted you may ask? Well that's very simple. During Azula's training.

In this panel Azula is speaking directly to Ozai about how her training went. Which means he wasn't there to see it. He wasn't the one training her. He wasn't observing her training. And he wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from observing Azula's training once in a blue moon. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from telling Azula that she has improved so much and she's proud of her. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from showing Azula how much she loves her. He wouldn't be there to stop Azula from growing up knowing that her nother does care.

And who knows? Maybe the presence of a parent that doesn't believe in burning people's pants when you're displeased with them would prevent Azula from misbehaving on those occasions.

So Ozai couldn't prevent Ursa from doing that. Azula wouldn't want to prevent Ursa from doing that. So what stopped Ursa from doing it? Nothing. Nothing at all. She could easily do it and chose not to. Because Ursa isn't as good of a mom as some of you like to pretend she is.

Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems, but she could save Azula from a lifetime of thinking her mom didn't love her and she selected not to do it because Ursa is not a great person.

Thus proven.

#atla #Azula #ursa #ozai #ursa is not a good mom #ursa critical #azula deserved better

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8-rae-rae-8 · 4 months

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Come back for me CH.3

A fic idea from an anon who I love dearly

Lost word count

Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Canon-Typical Violence, Violence, Blood, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Mild Blood, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Age Regression Little Simon "Ghost" Riley, Age Regression Caregiver John "Soap" MacTavish, Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, rewritten ending of 09, Age Regression/De-Aging, pet regression pet regression pup Gary "Roach" Sanderson, Little Space, Age Regression, Caregiver John Price (Call of Duty), Shepherd is the worst, Gun Violence, Face Slapping, Mocking, Men Crying, Crying, Gaz is dead already remember, i didnt forget him, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

It was just as dreadful for Ghost and Roach to wait so long.

The plane ride back wasn't even the worst part. The way Shepherd watched them like they were vile creatures had both of them on their heels. Well, vigilant but not exactly able to act on anything if it went awry.

Ghost would only sink smaller and smaller into his headspace throughout the plane ride. He occasionally cried. From the pain and seeing Roach hurt so bad.

The two of them ended up cuddled together. Both wounded were checking each other for worse injuries. But there was nothing on either of them that could kill, Roach assessed. Simon was far too gone by then to even understand.

His head was placed on Roach's chest for the plane ride. Ghost tiredly allowed it. He desperately needed to rest.

Rest didn't come. They remained curled up together the entire time. Any time there was turbulence, Roach was the one holding them both still with the netting of the plane walls from where they sat. Simon would only whimper as the wind shook the plane.

To be regressed and injured, in a plane and without Mactavish, was a new experience for Simon. It lasted longer than anyone could've hoped.

It felt purposeful how long it dragged on.

By the time they landed, Soap and Price were already waiting for them on the air strip.

Soap's eyes were slightly puffy, indicating he had cried at least a little. While Price just looked angry and tired.

As soon as Mactavish could, he was inside, gathering up the boys. Simon knew he worked on his muscles just to carry him. But to carry both would be a lot.

A glimmer in Mactavish’s eye told Simon something was going to go down. And that must've been why he was trying to get them out of there.

It took a few tries, but Simon was securely on his left hip while Roach was on the other. Both of the boys leaned onto him, holding tightly.

The second he was in Soap's arms, Simon began to break down. Babbling nonsense into his shirt. He and Roach were whisked away.

Out of vision, but not earshot, Simon heard a gun fire. Then a thud. His body shuddered violently.

“It's okay now, m’ love…” Mactavish muttered to his little one. Though a small smirk was on his face. Revenge. No one would take their little ones without getting a bullet to the head.

“Bubba..!” Simon still cried into his shoulder. Heartbreaking sobs wracking through his body, every little movement hurt. Even though there were no serious injuries on him. The fear was finally making its way out.

“I’ve got you.” Simon heard him whisper. His arms couldn't even reach to hold onto Johnny at all. It hurt too much, those muscles cramping to high heaven from the position he'd been tied in.

The weight to his right was gone, and his head picked up quickly. Where did Roach go? Simon panicked for a moment.

But Price was walking next to them, injured pup in his arms. Careful as he heard almost the whimpers from Roach.

He settled. It was Price… just Price. No bad guys.

“Ye’r safe, Si.” Mactavish promised him, gentle.

Though he knew it was true, he didn't believe it.

He couldn't believe it. After all that. And from the general he was supposed to trust? How could he ever know he was safe again??

The sounds of his breathing picking up caught Johnny's attention again. The side of his face was gently cradled, and Simon looked up into Johnny's eyes. Even though his own filled with tears.

“Bubba will protect ye, I promise, lad.” The tone was soothing, just like the touch.

Simon whimpered. He pushed his face further against his Bubba's hand. Trying to feel him, needing to feel him close like that.

“Bubba…” He babbled, a hand coming to mess with Johnny's gear. Fingers running along the seams and whatnot.

“Bubba's here… we're gonna get ye to my room.” Mactavish promised him. His thumb softly stroked Simon's face in a repetitive motion.

It soothed him. Even after that hell, it got Simon to breathe a little. A lot of work would be needed to get him to actually ease up and sleep though. Not to mention stitches for his leg.

A visit to medical was in order, and so was a bath and lots of cuddles.

So that was the plan, all thought out. Simon even contributed by mumbling ‘bath’ to Mactavish more than five times.

For now, the little one would get every damn thing he wanted.

#call of duty #simon ghost riley #cod mw2 #cod #john soap mactavish #ghostsoap #soapghost #09 soapghost #09 ghost #cod agere #call of duty agere

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lurkingdoll · 3 months

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Little rant about mischaracterization in the COD Fandom (specifically with Ghost) because I haven't been able to draw much lately due to school and stuff

Just want to say that I'm not even that much of a Ghost fan, my favorite character is Gaz and I usually refer to Ghost as the "brit dude" but the mischaracterization I see with Ghost is absolutely atrocious

I've seen so many headcanon videos of Ghost and alot of them just straight up make him into some sort of heartless ab*s3r? Like what??? Did you even play the same games? Ghost was canonically ab*s3d by his father as a child and the whole "ab*s3d become the ab*s3r" trope is genuinely so awful for so many reasons. I am not saying that someone can't be a ab*s3r if they were a victim, but being a victim does not mean they will become a ab*s3r. Nothing he does in the games ever indicates that he would be ab*siv3 at all

While Ghost does act very reserved, he isn't some heartless a$$h0le. He may be pretty reserved and act professional for the most part, but he does actually show to have a playful side to his personality (EX: his playful banter with Soap throughout the mw2 Alone mission and how even in a serious situation, he still jokes about Price being ugly during the end of the MW3 Reactor mission along with more playful banter with Soap during the MW3 Oliarch mission)

Many people need to also realize that Ghost is a calm person. He knows how to keep his cool and control his anger, which is something soldiers like him NEED to be able to do. He wouldn't absolutely lose his sh!t and get v!ol3nt with someone over any little thing.

I feel like people should use the way he behaves with Soap as the building blocks for writing the way he would behave around anyone he's close with. The way he behaves with Soap is making nicknames (like Johnny for Soap), playful banter, and genuinely caring for the safety of the person he's close with to the point of making their safety a priority (like how Ghost stayed behind to wait for Soap in the Alone mission despite having the ability to leave and guarantee his own safety)

Ghost may be reserved, but he is a loyal and somewhat playful person who has a sense of humor and knows how to stay calm in difficult situations. He's not some v!ol3nt ab*s3r who would snap at any little thing

#cod #call of duty #cod mw2 #cod mw3 #simon ghost riley #simon riley #call of duty simon ghost riley #call of duty ghost #cod ghost #cod simon riley #call of duty modern warfare #modern warefare ii #modern warfare 2

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wowowwild · 8 months

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For my krisnix enjoyers. Pls accept my ramblings below.

Good evening. It's me, Mx. Wild. First and foremost, I don't think anyone does, but I definitely do not think they are health, just to be exceedingly clear. Also these are my mostly canon compliant musings, I have other 'if this, then that' headcanons I'm not shoving in here bc nobody has the time for all of that at once. Now, moving on.

Look, Phoenix has bad taste. Kristoph is known to make horrible decisions. Match made in a hell equivalent. Kris wants to keep Phoenix close bc he's paranoid, Phoenix wants to keep Kris close bc he's a sketchy mf (imo).

I think Phoenix would know Kris wanted something out of the relationship. Some random guy he doesn't know stands up for him and tries to be besties with him all of a sudden? Kristoph could absolutely spin it that he knew the legendary Phoenix Wright would never and he feels bad bc it was his little brother who exposed the fake and is so appalled that someone would frame Phoenix and he wants to get to the bottom of it. That's even believable. I don't think that takes away from the clear indication that Kristoph wants something out of the relationship.

And Phoenix isn't stupid. Don't get me wrong, mans is dumb of ass, but he's incredibly intelligent. I think fairly early on if not immediately he would expect that the relationship (at this point budding friendship) is transactional to a certain degree. And honestly, he would get a lot out of it, too. Someone definitively believes he's innocent and is helping him through the worst years of his life. At some point Phoenix figures out the truth, but I don't see any universe where him knowing that is immediate. There would be too much going on. They have time.

From Kristoph's perspective, he needs to keep Phoenix close and figure out what he knows at all times. Kristoph isn't stupid either, just spiralling further and further out of control. Once Phoenix begins to suspect, it's a matter of time before Kristoph suspects that he suspects. Whole lot of suspecting going on. But until then they have time.

So while they have time, they 're both putting into this relationship they have. They're 'friends'. From the outside it wouldn't look like it, but they care, Phoenix might care a bit more genuinely on purpose, but Kris would also have to care somewhat after all that time. Even if it was on accident, if someone is a big enough part of your life, even if you hate them, you start to care.

I think the type of person Phoenix is, is someone that Kristoph has not seen a lot of. Phoenix and Klavier are pretty similar, I can see him drawing some parallels, but he's not really close to Klavier at this point. I think Phoenix's true personality would be pretty disarming for Kris, he wouldn't know what to do, how to act towards someone like Phoenix. With that loss of control and stability, I can find him accidentally very quickly coming to care to Phoenix, despite also hating him. As strange as it is to say, you can hate someone without disliking them, just like you can love someone without liking them.

So taking this time, we've come to a situation where they care for each other. Depending on how long they have, maybe they've come to love each other platonically, romantically, and/or otherwise. But at some point Phoenix begins to suspect. It would be complicated for him. He doesn't want to suspect his friend of being a forger or eventually a murderer. It's hard to say exactly when those two dots might connect or which came first, but at some point he realizes these things. So what happens then?

Phoenix has learned his poker face by now, but Kristoph knows him fairly well at this point too. Phoenix can probably keep the fact that he's suspicious under wraps for a while. Even though Kris knows him well enough to eventually see through, Phoenix knows Kristoph well enough to know how to hide it. Kristoph can never get out of Phoenix anything definitive. Nothing that could be used as an admission. At this point they both know what game they're playing and that the other is in just as deep.

At this point, it would hurt them both deeply if they had fallen into a committed relationship (qpr, romantic relationship, exclusive fwb, etc.). Phoenix has to have some PTSD about the Dahlia situation, and Kristoph doesn't strike me as the type to have thought much about that type of relationship before if at all. He's honestly way too paranoid imo. I think it would cut them both deeply either way, but having someone you've committed to sizing you up like that hits a little different in most cases. (I am aroace but i've been in relationships, I am working based off of my own experiences which are not universal.)

They're out of time now. Any day the other shoe could drop. Kristoph could take Phoenix out of the game once and for all. Phoenix could find the one piece of evidence he needs to pull the curtain crashing down on Kristoph. In the end, it's the latter, but until that day they're frozen, stuck pretending everything is ok, playing their roles the best way they know how, time is standing still around them.

And then a hard rubber sole meets the concrete. That is my broad interpretation of the relationship between smarmy bitch Kristoph and shady asshole Phoenix (affectionate in both cases). I could pick all my little headcanons about this, that, and the other thing to show you, but I'll do that later if y'all want. (pls ask me questions, I would love to explore answers to them)

#kristoph gavin #phoenix wright #krisnix #ace attorney #ace's memes #ace's post #it's such an interesting concept to me. what if they DID love each other? what then?#i don't necessarily think they did in canon tbh. but if i only interacted with things that were strictly canon i would not be in fandom #they are just fascinating to me.#just want everyone to know regardless of when this spits out of queue i wrote this mini analysis at 2 am so idk if i actually did it good

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normal-paldean-student · 2 months

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Cerise 101

Name: Cerise Akasaki (née Rene/Renée, mainly relevant for flashback stories as Cerise was adopted as a name very recently)

Gender: female (transgender)

Pronouns: she/her

Born: February 27, 1986

Age: 17 (approximately)

Notable abilities: psychic foresight (about five seconds)

Languages spoken: Japanese*, French*, Unovan, Paldean

Canon counterpart: Red

*Notably, she's referred to the languages she spoke as a child as Japanese and French rather than Kantonian and Kalosian, as well as mentioning that animals existed back home, suggesting that her original universe may have been much more similar to the real world than modern Pokémon canon is.

Cerise was raised by a single mother in Pallet Town, Kanto, with her father out of the picture earlier than her first memories. She had a close childhood friend, a boy named Green, and a takeover event during Muse Mixup Madness indicated there was a girl named Blue around as well. (Her own family name, Akasaki, means red.) Green was friendly as a young child, only taking on the less savory traits of his canon counterpart after an unspecified incident when he and Cerise were about six years old. Cerise has stated that she considers the incident to have been her fault.

When Cerise was ten years old, well... she's a Red. I'm sure I don't need to rehash the entire plot of Pokémon Red Version to you. Her starter Pokémon was a Charmander, which she named Charm, and the first Pokémon she caught was a Rattata named Whisker, which was in her party at least long enough to evolve into Raticate before being replaced.

As proper rivals along their respective journeys, Cerise and Green were able to begin healing their relationship, and they became proper friends again after she defeated him at the Indigo Plateau. Cerise's final team was Charm (a Charizard by that point), as well as a Raichu, a Tauros, a Slowbro, a Fearow, and a Primeape.

Well... friendship wasn't the only thing between them by the time everything was over. Both of them were around the age to start having their first crushes, and there was something mutual between them. However, it was the 90s, and as far as both of them knew, they were both boys. It's unknown how Green processed his feelings (though in a timeline where Cerise never left her home universe and Blue was the protagonist instead, he did end up marrying her at some point), but Cerise, well... between the spotlight she was getting as Champion and the growing realization that she might not be straight, she eventually decided that the best way to handle the situation was to disappear to Mt. Silver for a while while she tried to process everything.

End Act 1.

Cerise didn't end up staying on Mt. Silver for long. Definitely not long enough for a certain Johto protagonist to come by and challenge her. Unfortunately, though, that wasn't because she decided to return home. It was because was pulled through space directly out of her home universe and into... her home in Pallet Town? But it wasn't her home. It looked like it, but everything was off, and even the people weren't the same as the versions of them she knew.

Cerise hasn't elaborated much about what happened in that second universe. She especially hasn't talked about what happened to her mental state when she realized she had no way to get back to anything or anyone she knew, though it can be reasonably inferred that it was nothing good. There are, of course, some things that we do know happened, but I'm sure I don't need to rehash the plot of Pokémon Green Version to you.

End Act 2.

Again, Cerise woke up in "her home" in an alien Pallet Town. She hasn't said anything at all about what happened in this universe, though logically it must have been another blow to realize being pulled out of one universe and into another wasn't just a one-off event. Other than that, all we can know is that overall, events must have followed the plot of Pokémon Blue Version.

End Act 3.

There's an obvious pattern here, isn't there? Cerise hasn't said anything about it, but it can be reasonably inferred that this universe followed the plot of Pokémon Yellow Version.

End Act 4... actually, end the acts completely. There have been so many worlds, so many universes. It's hard to keep track of the numbers after a point.

Obviously, her first universe after Yellow clued her in that it wasn't always going to be variations of the same story. Then she got to Crystal, and finally decided she was going to be a girl. And so on and so forth, through universe after universe, living through the stories of every main series game and several side games as well—the Ranger and Mystery Dungeon games have been confirmed, but they're not the only ones. And always as the protagonist.

She's gotten several injuries along the way, ranging from minor nuisances to disabling ones that should have been permanent, only for her body to be back in pristine condition in the next universe without even a scar, as if none of what she'd just been through was real. She's not ungrateful for having a fully functional body, but the disconnect between her experiences and her physical reality causes a lot of distress at times.

At an unspecified point during one of her many journeys, she went back into the closet, pretending to be a boy from that world on and only coming out as a girl again in this most recent universe. She hasn't pursued more than social transition, though, as the physical reset isn't limited to unwanted injuries—any and all physical changes disappear in each new world, regardless of the type. She can't pierce her ears, for example, and the few times she managed to get HRT, the few months' effects she was able to get disappeared the next time the cycle advanced. Without being able to access the long term effects of anything, it doesn't feel worth going through all the effort it takes to get it.

Cerise isn't actually completely certain of her age. She knows her birthday, and the year she was born, but she's definitely not in her 30s. 17 (18 on February 27, 2024) is the age on this world's legal documents, so that's what she's going with. It's not wrong—she is an older teenager at this point—but the amount of time she's experienced feels like it's been longer than seven years.

After the events of The Way Home in this Violet universe, Cerise ended up staying in Paldea much longer than she expected to. She got involved with Pokédex research with Mr. Jacq—both filling out the complete Pokédex and some more in-depth work with Dudunsparce and the Pokémon in Area Zero—and also may or may not have done a few things with Ms. Raifort. Nothing can be proven on that second front.

She also became close friends with Ella @oh-shinx and Mare @aura-acolyte, though her relationship with Ella is more sisterly and her relationship with Mare is, well... after a long mutual pining period with both of them being silly about their feelings, they eventually had to talk about it after a heat-of-the-moment kiss happened between them between the events of The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disc. Cerise isn't comfortable dating when she knows she's going to disappear any day and lose her, but everything's out in the open now.

The most notable things about The Teal Mask were as follows: Cerise thought Carmine was pretty, Kieran had latent psychic abilities that resonated with Cerise's during his breakdown and caused her to lose her composure too, and after Cerise tracked down and caught the Loyal Three to prevent them from causing any more trouble, she temporarily got replaced by a younger version of herself who somehow managed to rehabilitate them through the power of friendship and the power of knowing absolutely nothing about the situation, much to the normal Cerise's confusion when she returned.

The events of The Indigo Disc more or less followed canon as well, though Cerise expressed a strong dislike of Unova before going to Blueberry. Carmine was particularly upset about Drayton referring to his cafeteria meeting with Cerise as a date, on top of her normal dislike of him. Cerise did not notice this, as she was too busy thinking both Drayton and Carmine were cute. Cerise was also able to recognize Kieran's psychic abilities during their Championship battle. She hasn't said anything about what happened in Area Zero during the DLC's events, besides saying that the group was successful in what they were trying to do and there were no major injuries.

Also this world's Arven is basically a were-Lycanroc and I couldn't find anywhere to fit that in properly.

On February 27, 2024, Cerise disappeared, pulled into her next universe. Nemona, Penny, Arven, Kieran, and Carmine took over maintaining the blog, though none of them made very many posts.

Almost a month later, on March 26, 2024, Cerise was discovered to have been pulled into Kalos when one of her friends from her new universe, Tierno @santalune-swords-dance, made a post about how she'd chosen to name a Luvdisc Mare. So far, this journey seems to roughly mirror the plot of Pokémon X/Y, though with the timeframe updated to be in 2024 and with some of the cities now having contest halls. Her other new friends are Trevor @pokedex-parfaite, Calem @friendly-neighborhood-calem, and Shauna @poke-mon-amie.

Caught in Paldea:

Cerise's current Pokémon are as follows.

Caught in Kalos:

???

Blossom (Meowscarada F) (with Hazel @grass-pokemon-appreciator)

Ribbon (Annihilape F) (with Nemona)

Tim (Dragapult M) (with Nemona)

Lady (Palafin F) (with Nemona)

Cheese (Espathra F) (with Nemona)

Chonk (Clodsire F) (with Nemona)

Chime of Eternity (Iron Valiant) (has not been seen since Cerise's disappearance)

Gluttonous Beast (Miraidon) (with Arven)

entirely too many Dudunsparce (with Jacq)

Caught in Kitakami:

Ember (shiny Arcanine M) (with Carmine)

Ogerpon (with Kieran)

Munkidori (with Mare)

Fezandipiti (with Mare)

Caught in the Terarium (all currently unnamed and currently with the League Club):

Okidogi (with Mare)

Pecharunt (with Mare)

Alolan Dugtrio F

Dodrio F

Alolan Ninetales F

Duraludon M

Whimsicott F

Flygon F

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tirsynni · 11 months

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I’m unsure everyone’s thoughts on TotK spoilers at this point, but just to be on the safe side, putting my thoughts Sidon and Link and other under a cut. Just ramblings and some mild cackling.

Okay, so TotK presented a new fun facet for Sidon: they gave him a bride. Obviously, Sidlink fans went completely nuts. Makes sense. This is a big change from the BotW dynamics. So first things first: my thoughts on the betrothal itself.

Some people went batshit and accused Nintendo of queerbaiting. Of all things, they insisted that Nintendo saw people so excited about Sidlink that they inserted Yona to break up the pairing. I have multiple thoughts on that, which will be split up a bit through my flailing meta. Most obvious first, though: Sidon is the Prince of the Zora. He is the only heir left. A betrothal makes sense! Yona was known to him, trusted, and she seems to have a solid head on her shoulders... and is also good for not taking Sidon’s shit. She is a good choice for a Queen, both for the Zora people and for Sidon personally.

I love Sidon to death, but he absolutely needs someone to balance him out. The Zora people are a monarchy. While they lack the divine rule of the Hylian Royal Family, they do have a definite strictness and structure. There is a great deal of respect for the royal family, for the structure that is in place, and the Zora people also rely on the royal family for multiple things. The Zora royal family is clearly not symbolic or there for show: they are the guardians, protectors, and leaders of the Zora people. Whoever would be paired with Sidon would need to fulfill those roles.

From what we’ve seen of Link, he has two sides: feral little warrior or duty-bound Knight. He doesn’t try to take leadership roles: he hears of a problem, sighs a little at how the problem isn’t being solved, and does it by himself. He works with teams, but there’s no indication of him ever leading. He’s the Tony Hawk of Hyrule. He’s the guy who does things so quietly that people are baffled when they’re successfully done.

So where does all of this leave Sidlink? I think there are a couple takes on it.

While Sidon is canonically marrying Yona (and absolutely no Yona bashing on my blog: I adore Yona), I think if Sidon married her and Yona acted as his queen and the Queen of the Zora, and yet he still had a full relationship with Link on the side... he would do so with everyone’s blessing. Dorephan’s, the Zora people’s, Yona’s... Fuck, he literally put a ring on it, and he was congratulated. He has a statue of him and Link, and everyone honors it. He has it literally in writing on the wall how much he adores Link and wants everyone to know how awesome Link is. And fuck, did everyone talk to Yona after Link successfully finds the Zora greaves? Sidlink isn’t even my ship and it seems like she is giving her blessing and sounds thrilled that Sidon found such a great side piece.

Seriously, my favorite pairing is Revalink, and every Zora interaction seemed like Sidon was madly in love with Link, and despite marrying Yona, everyone in the kingdom was cheering Sidon on. Wouldn’t be the craziest thing, really, and would require no effort to make Sidon/Yona a political, if happy and respectful, marriage, with the King (and really, the Queen, providing no children come from it) having concubines/lovers/etc. Which makes the second possibility for this subject even funnier.

This is my go-to, although, again, even for a non-shipper, Sidlink is amazingly easy in TotK: Sidon and Link have nothing going on. It’s completely platonic. It never occurred to either of them that people interpret their interactions and Sidon’s comments as romantic. Everyone -- Dorephan, Bazz, Yona, everyone -- is convinced Sidon and Link have been fucking for months, if not years, and they’re okay with it. Hell, they’re thrilled by it. Yona adores Link and is fine sharing Sidon with him. Hell, she encourages it (with neither Link or Sidon understanding it but happy to have some time to hang out together). Dorephan is convinced that he has a pseudo-son-in-law and couldn’t be prouder. He expected to have Link as an actual son-in-law a century ago, anyway. Everyone thinks they’re screwing, and everyone is happy with it, with Sidon and Link never catching on.

Bonus points if Link is actually in another relationship, and one day, I might write that little bit of crack.

More bonus points if Sidon is actually ace (which is really, really easy to headcanon, honestly) and Yona attributes his struggles with babymaking to his love for Link.

There’s possibly Link struggling to figure out where he fits with Sidon after learning about the engagement, with most of the kingdom (including Yona) taking it for granted that of course Link would stay with Sidon. There’s Sidon struggling with figuring out how to insert Yona in his life and the canon struggling of having someone else to lose. (At least he’s confident that Link can and will survive, even though Link vanishing must have scared the shit out of him.) There’s possibly Link knowing that such things exist due to his travels and his own history with royals but not connecting it to himself, especially when he sees Sidon struggling with his relationship and upcoming marriage to Yona. Multiple opportunities for both fluff and plotty tension.

But yeah... at no point do I see Yona actually being a barrier to Sidlink. It’s amazingly easy to see her as a fucking Sidlink shipper, whether the pair or actually together or not.

(And honestly, I think she did what it wouldn’t have occurred to Link to do: yell at Sidon to put aside his personal feelings and fears and fulfill his damned responsibilities. I think Link would have just accepted Sidon’s actions and tried to solve the problem on his own, as he does. It is Yona who recognizes that it shouldn’t just fall to Link and that Sidon has to take care of his own responsibilities, too, and get out of his head.)

Of course, for the people who want to write Yona and Sidon breaking up the marriage, write Link taking up a leadership role and stepping up as a fellow ruler, whatever... this bit of meta absolutely is not critiquing any of those takes. I’m of the firm mindset that people should write what they want, that fanfiction is amazing for exploring, and if people dislike a certain writer’s takes, they should just leave the fic instead of going “Well, I disagree with what you did here and here’s why.” Hell, even if it’s not with my headcanons or whatever, Sidlink writers are awesome in this fandom and write many solid fics, both with worldbuilding to back up their choice and with fics without the details and background and just happy fluff (and porn). If you like the above takes, awesome! If you prefer for it just to be Sidlink (no Yona bashing, please, though), also awesome. It’s fanfiction. Have fun with it.

#sidlink #totk spoilers #yona #meta #fanfiction thoughts

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maifazcomics · 4 months

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After a little discussion i had about if the ARG is important to understand and appreciate Sea of Stars and the Saboverse as a whole, i have some thoughs

Mainly that: no, you don't need to read the ARG

It was always planned as something only for the most hardcore of fans, the ones actively searching for more stuff

There are only three informations that are at the moment ARG exclusive:

- the Demon King in The Messenger (AKA Dweller of Strife + the Acolytes) is a pale copy, and the real one's remnants are inside Clockwork Castle

- Resh'an and Aephorul were lovers, and created the Elixir of Life to escape until society accepted them

- the Shopkeeper is a woman, and she descended from The Watchmaker

The rest is just community fluff and Resh'an being incredibly emo, nothing essential

I feel like these informations are important, but they just weren't able to be explored yet.

Continued ramblings below:

About the DK, with Picnic Panic being part of a planned three-act DLC (Barma'thazël's Revenge) that they stopped working to prioritize Sea of Stars, and the final one presumably having you reach Clockwork Castle, this could have been explored there. Or maybe in another game. We still have 3 more books to go, in the end

Shoppy descending from the Watchmaker... with the DLC being called "Throes of the Watchmaker", this has the potencial to be explored there. Or not. They are characters so far apart, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS APART, knowing this information would change your whole perception about the games? This only happens because of the curse of knowing stuff lol, and as someone that knows I would like to see this being explored. But my point is that this isn't fundamental.

And Shoppy's gender... people misgendering her after playing The Messenger bothers me, but it isn't the devs fault IMO. They never use pronouns with her in the game for a reason (iirc Thierry said he didn't want anyone to assuming stuff about the Shopkeep, and that's one of the main reasons behind him writing first in English and having ENG as the only canon language), and people using he/him are taking that out of their asses. Just a one minute Google Search and you find that information, you don't need to read all the ARG logs

There are other stuff like Primals or Shoppy being the first Messenger, the Artificer giving the scroll to Monk that Bowman got because she got transformed into the Queen of Quills and then gave to Ninja, or the entirety of Void Logic being explained and still making us confused to this day, and this is all fluff. Like for real, all that was needed to be in The Messenger for the BIG LORE is already there, and for Sea of Stars too

And for the big elephant in the room, Resh'an and Aephorul being really gay for each other. This is something not even the ARG explored further! Resh'an said that at February 2019, when we didn't even knew who a Fleshmancer/Aephorul was, then when he got to tell the community about him Resh'an explicitely said that he didn't want to elaborate further on his personal past with Aephorul. And with Sea of Stars, we got a taste of that, but it was only their introduction to the world!!!

More like anything else, this feels like something to be explored on the next books (just explaining this better, Thierry Boulanger, aka Creative Director and Writer and some other stuff, has come and said that his dream is to tell this grand story in 5 arcs/books (books because Sabotage works directly with Resh'an, translating the books he writes into videogames) book 1 being TM and book 2 being SOS). This narrative, at least for me, feels like it is about them. About these "gods", the harm they created to this world, and how Resh'an wants to redeem Aephorul. It feels... like a slow burn. And that's why i think they didn't want to tell this right now

Like, Time Shards. We didn't have much lore about them in TM, then SOS comes and BOOM, Time Shards indicate the presence of a timeloop. And maybe Resh'an created them too?? This recontextualizes the nature of the Messenger narrative. And them being More Than Friends can be that too, both for the general public and the Lore Nerds. We still don't know about their society back then, or if the flashback cutscene was pre or post elixir, or why specifically Aephorul became evil, etc. This all feels intentional, ya know

The rest of the ARG is just a bunch of fun interactions the characters and the community had, and a buuuunch of foreshadowing to what we get to see in Sea of Stars. Either Clockwork Concierge (AI Core) hinting about his past with Caël and the Kids, Arty saying he was a robot, or Resh'an literally infodumping about the Guardian Gods, Dwellers and World Eaters. We see all of this in Sea of Stars, and that's amazing!!!! It's so cool to see all of that being real, and that makes me confident that all of this unresolved stuff is something thar Sabotage wants to make real too

/rant over

But would i recommend reading the ARG? oh sure i do. It's very fun. The narrative framing of the games being books written by The Archivist and SaboTeam working for him is so interesting. And also, we get tons of insight into Resh'an's mind and how he's just extremely depressed, how he misses Aephorul and yearns for being loved but doesn't know how to deal with that when people love him back

Also Clocko's adorable

---

EDIT: After chatting with someone, they pointed something about Shoppy's gender that is really relevant to bring out. Yeah yeah, Sabotage wrote the game with English in mind and in ENG they didn't pronoun her at all. But two things

First: in many languages got translated into, including Quebecóis which is a script Thierry himself wrote, since you need to gender stuff, the Shopkeeper got treated as male because of defaulting. So if you played the game on those languages, and didn't follow any stuff related to it, you just assumed Shoppy was a man and moved on with your life.

Which, by the way, is something I MYSELF made. I stopped following the ARG in 2019, so I didn't see the conclusion about her gender for years until some months before SOS came out. And as something I still haven't told, I come from the forbidden land of Brazil, and the PTBR translation of TM is one that suffers from that, so I defaulted her as a dude for years and years

And second: even if you played the game directly on english, if you speak a language that also does the male-defaulting, you probably did that too, and that is not your fault

In the end, this isn't anyone's fault. I may have been too mad at seeing native english speaking redditors calling her a dude? Yeah maybe. But yeahhhhh we live in a society in the end, and them being explicit on the text about her gender on the future would help that at lot

Thankfully on the easter egg she's referred as a woman on SOS in PTBR, which is GREAT

#sea of stars #the messenger #resh'an #aephorul #the shopkeeper #long ass rant #random saboverse thoughts

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mayfay · 6 days

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Hardening Analysis

To preface this, this will be my first proper analysis of a canon character, so be patient with me here. Also Kirishima Did Not cooperate on this one. 2 days and multiple hours of digging and research for Just this.

To start with a brief overview, Kirishima has a transformation quirk called Hardening that allows him to “harden” his body. This is usually indicated by his body becoming a series of flat edges, with incredible durability and strength added on. When pushed to the extreme in his “Unbreakable” form, sections of skin rise up and overlap each other as well as gain “cracks” all along his body resembling the metamorphic cleavage lines of some minerals. Another aspect that should be brought up is that his quirks limit is based on stamina drain. The “harder” he becomes over more area, the greater the drain on his stamina. Damage to these hardened areas also eats into his stamina pool, though it seems like by training his quirk he becomes more efficient and has a larger stamina pool to drain from (as evidenced by his growth between the Sports Festival and the Overhaul arc).

Now this all seems like it lines up very well. No inconsistencies, no strange happenings to pick at, just a simple consistent transformation quirk. Well Guess What! I Got his ass! There is More to Hardening and I have Found it!

First off there are some minor inconsistencies. For one Kirishima's Unbreakable form has raised skin all over his body, and yet this doesn’t cause him any damage and goes away after de-transforming. Also the lines that appear during hardening aren’t given any explanation, they’re just there and act to highlight how far hardening has spread. More damningly is the Overhaul arc though. In it Kirishima fights Rappa, who severely damages him, to this point that he’s missing a large section of arm. However that section doesn’t experience Any bleeding, whereas the wounds on his slightly hardened face do. And after the fight ends? Kirishima Just had a large section of arm torn off and doesn’t have access to Any healing quirks, and yet he Lives. He lives and doesn’t have Any physical therapy afterwards. No lasting damage, no bleeding out, Nothing.

So how? How does he do it? Well the only explanation I can think of that doesn’t require a bunch of coincidences is if “Hardening” comes with an extra healing aspect to it. But wait! How the hell does “Hardening” = Healing?! Well what if Kirishimas quirk Wasn’t Hardening. What if it was something incredibly similar but with far different mechanics? What if he had, for lack of a better term, “Crystallization”. More specifically what if Kirishima's quirk allowed for some measure of control over the atoms in his body. The ability to change them into a more crystalline pattern and Keep them there.

This would certainly explain some things. First off keeping everything together would cost energy, which his quirk processes his stamina to produce. And as crystalized sections are hit? As an outside force tries to Shatter him? His quirk would fight back, Forcing the atoms to stay put and unbroken. This kind of power would take energy, energy that would need to be taken by the quirk in the form of his stamina. If Kirishima had simple hardening this likely wouldn’t be the case, damage simply hurting him rather than eating away at his limit. His healing is in a similar situation. Regular Hardening wouldn’t grant any form of recovery, but if his quirk is forcing everything into predetermined shapes then inconsistencies would need to be patches, inconsistencies like wounds. Of course this would eat away at his stamina pool and we can’t risk the damage from outpacing his healing. If that were to happen then sections of Crystallization would need to be dropped or the whole body might fracture. How to combat this? Well if the body is forming crystal structures, it would be ridiculously easy to simply shave off sections if too much force to counter is applied. By shaving off sections of damaged tissue the underlying sections would be exposed, but could be quickly crystalized in specific areas to limit bleeding until de-transformation when the stamina pool can be safely drained for emergency healing. Of course this implies that Crystallization also redirects damage across crystalized sections to prevent internal damage, but considering the hits Kirishima takes throughout the series that’s not really up for debate (barring his Whole body crystalizing, but that would take stupid amounts of energy and the lack of blood from the arm wound during the Rappa fight indicates crystalized sections don’t operate as fully as they do when de-transformed).

Crystallization also explains some more minor inconsistencies, specifically his strength and overlapping skin in Unbreakable form. The strange skin formations could be Crystallization increasing the area's volume, but not having the required space. This could be handled by “lifting up” and overlapping over other sections of skin, creating the effect seen in Kirishima's new form. The strength aspect has ties back to the “reset-healing” aspect of Crystallization. By “resetting” his muscles they would spring back, causing the associated movement. This would cause a massive increase in speed and strength at the cost of potentially damaging the muscle. However, when combined with the healing portion of Crystallization this damage from hysterical strength would be healed up without trouble, and potentially even leave the muscle Stronger than before seeing as micro-tears in muscles cause an increase in their strength.

Now of course while this Seems like an upgrade from Hardening, and it certainly Is, there are some weaknesses Kirishima's quirk brings with it. The first one would be that Crystallization offers little protection against more elemental powers. Don’t get me wrong, he would certainly be better at taking a hit than a random passerby, but powers like electricity or mental quirks would still have some level of effect. This is actually supported in canon as the One(1) non-physical quirk Kirishima goes up against is one called Meatball, which immediately incapacitates him. Now this isn’t Entirely fair seeing as this was meant as a moment to make Bakugo shine and Meatball directly counters Crystallization (even more than it would Hardening), but it’s worth bringing up.

The second and equally important weakness is that the body was Not built for straight edges, and that has consequences. The first one is very hypothetical, seeing as I don’t believe Crystallization goes to far below the skin when possible, but if the lungs were to crystalize they would be Far less effective at delivering oxygen. Specifically the alveoli are a small circular portion of the lungs that’s responsible for oxygen distribution to the lungs, and that circular shape is to maximize how much is distributed. By crystallizing they become all sharp edges, reducing oxygen efficiency. At first this low oxygen would simply cause cells to produce energy without oxygen, known as anaerobic respiration, which produces lactic acid. Lactic acid sets off nerves like Crazy, which is that burning sensation you feel when exercising. As things intensify though Kirishima would begin to suffer from oxygen deprivation, which has a variety of symptoms but most notably includes wheezing, disorientation, and confusion. Very similar to his state after the Rappa fight, though that’s explained by the adrenaline crash and likely concussion.

Now the second major body weakness due to Crystallization I found was in the eyes. See, the eyes are circular for a reason, mess with that and light reflection gets wonky. More specifically, while flattened (as seen in the Rappa fight) the outermost sections of eye, known as the cornea, would reflect light further back instead of where it’s supposed to, leading to farsightedness. And the cornea isn’t the only part away from the iris, you also have what’s known as the anterior chamber. Flattening this chamber causes its own issues, but most notably its been found that prolonged flattening of this specific region causes damage to the organs in the eye. Now this Would be handled by Kirishima's healing aspect (further supporting its existence), it does mean that prolonged transformation risks worsening vision if healing can’t keep up.

Now every quirk comes with natural mutations to better handle it, but Kirishima is quite lacking in this department. The only major mutations I could think of is potentially thicker skin to give Crystallization more to work with, a larger mouth/lungs to more efficiently take in oxygen when fighting (especially if Crystallization affects the lungs), and some sharper teeth. Now the teeth could very easily be a vestigial mutation from a family member, but it could also be an expression of his Crystallization, with his teeth being permanently crystallized. This would result in them being far harder and sharper than average teeth of a similar shape, and potentially slowly train his quirk over time as it keeps up the mutation.

Some quick side notes that didn’t easily fit in elsewhere. Thanks to how hardness is measured, how much flakes off when scratched, Kirishima's quirk keeping everything together when possible means that he would have a Much higher hardness than his skin would naturally have, even while transformed (so “Hardening” in a sense) (he would also be highly resistant to fire for a similar reason, as heat wouldn’t be able to vibrate the atoms to damage or melt him as planned). He also displays some control over his hardening on the bus to USJ when he sharpens his fists rather than bulks them up, something I never caught him doing in battle when it might harm someone. It’s also worth pointing out that higher Crystallization levels might be an indicator to the quirk to up the healing in that area, rather than being an automatic process. This is most supported by the fact that while the arms were heavily crystallized and suffered no bleeding, his face was only lightly crystallized and Did bleed.

#quirk analysis

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damagedintellect · 10 months

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Trafalgar Law x reader

💌 Try not to panic: Chapter 4 💌

Summary: You were used to the absolute chaos that came with being a Straw Hat but nothing could have prepared you for the battle at Sabaody Archipelago. Not when Bartholomew Kuma could yeet you anywhere at his will. Your blood ran cold as you watched your crew disappear one by one. Frantically searching for any trace left behind to indicate where they’ve gone you didn’t see the paw coming down on you. Waking up in the Heart pirates care was the last place you’d expect to be.

Tropes: Canon compliant, mutual pinning, Crew swap (reader is a straw hat & power user)

💌 Word count: 4,408 💌 <= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

Everything was going fine, until it wasn’t but that was the calling card of the straw hats. You’ve missed this chaotic energy so much you couldn't help but smile. At dinner that night everyone was recounting what happened on their adventures. Although you felt like you had the most normal adventure out of everyone you pretty much just swapped crews for the time being. You left out most of the details but Sanji and Nami refused to believe you were telling them everything given that the day everyone showed up you were still parading around in Torao-guy’s hoodie. That was the moment you realized that you had called him Law the entire time you were there mostly because his name is a fucken mouthful and you were so used to dropping formality with your crew. At the same time it didn't seem to annoy the surgeon since he never bothered to correct you but you'd never know unless you asked.

The weather was giving you all a rough start in the New world but you all did the best you could. It wasn’t until you got a distress signal that you were only half paying attention to and ended up at an island engulfed in flames that you were really concerned for the next part of the journey. You all drew straws for who got to go explore the island. Luck was on your side allowing you to stay on the boat or so you thought. Someone gassed the ship and you were too late to do anything you fell unconscious with the rest of your crew. You woke up in this weird facility with a talking head and you started having this weird sense of deja vu but you didn’t say anything. There was only one person you know who can sever a head and have the person still be alive. You swallowed hard, not like this. You needed to get the hell out of here.

This was Punk Hazard.

You were conflicted, yes you wanted to save the children but you knew you’d eventually run into Law and that would complicate things for him but they were insistent on saving the kids. You were too but your head or maybe it was your heart that was preoccupied. You were running behind everyone watching their six when you heard screaming from the front and everyone turned around. Nami, Sanji, Chopper and Franky were all acting weird, almost like they switched bodies or something. Then it hit you, they ran into Law.

You’re so fucked.

You acted like nothing happened when everyone reconvened. Law came offering an alliance. You stared at him in surprise wondering if this had alway been part of the plan or if it was pure coincidence. Most of the crew were against it but Luffy insisted “He saved my life of course we can trust him! You trust Torao right (Y/N)?”

You nodded not trusting your voice at the moment you didn’t say how long you stayed with the heart pirates for. They don’t know about most of your two year gap since half of it you either made up on the spot or just didn’t say at all. “With my life.” you said very firmly taking Luffy’s side. He seemed happy with the justification. Law’s expression however didn't change; it was as neutral as ever.

“An alliance is fine but there’s a chance that he could betray us.” Robin added making sure Luffy knew what he would be getting into. Nami still wasn’t convinced “How do you know he’s not going to betray us!”

Luffy turned to Law “You’re not going to betray us right?”

“No.”

“See it’s fine! Even if he is not a good guy, I trust in the strength of my nakama to handle anything thrown our way.” These words seemed to put everyone more at ease about your captain's choice. Although you can understand everyone's concerns. Luffy trusts people way too easily.

You could feel Law burning a hole in the back of your head as you tended to the children almost ignoring him. You would rather let the others explain what is going on and how your captain is about “Alliances” and the like. You mostly avoided conversing with him because you were unsure of where you stood with each other. How casual is too casual.

As Law left with Chopper you sighed. Why did everything have to be so complicated? You frowned as Nami tried to question you about Torao. “He saved my life too, he didn’t have to but he did.” Nami still looked at you suspiciously but she couldn’t argue because you were right he genuinely didn’t have to save you or Luffy. She mostly wondered why he did but you were also in the same boat. Though if you had to guess he probably saved you specifically because he couldn't say no to Bepo. That made the most sense in your mind.

Of course shit hit the fan rather quickly and you were surprised everyone managed to work together to close the doors of the facility to keep the gas out. Law directed everyone to find a door with “R building 66” that it was the only way out. He also added that you would have two hours at most before something would happen rendering the rest of the facility unsafe. You had a bad feeling about how he worded that bit. He was going to do something reckless and you could feel it. Everyone was about to split up again but you said fuck it following after Law and Robin who went the same direction. You’re confident they don’t need your help at the moment and with how much panic was going on in the room you’re sure you can take certain liberties even if they did.

“Burrow”

You dove into the floor to follow behind Law without him knowing. He went to go fight Vergo, of course he did. It took all of your control to wait for the right moment to jump in and take Law’s heart back. It was hard to watch him scream in pain groveling on the floor but you had to be patient and you would die if you made things worse. Once Smoker came in it made finding an opening a little bit easier. You phazed back out of the floor ducking down out of sight before whispering “Camo” blending in with the rest of the room. Vergo was squeezing Law’s heart when Smoker attacked from behind and you jumped in and snatched it dropping your cover only to get the fuck outta dodge “Burrow!” Now you could rest easy and focus on helping everyone get out. You just hoped Law wouldn’t scold you for getting in the way. He shouldn't but you were being reckless.

By the time you all made it back to the Sunny and everything was said and done you were exhausted. You went to go take a bath with Robin and Momonosuke after all that running around you felt gross. When you were disrobing you felt something in your pocket. You forgot you took Law’s heart. You’d have to give that back at some point but you were already naked so you guess he could wait a little while longer. Against your better judgment you pressed your lips to it and set it down next to you while you sunk into the bath.

—

While Luffy and Franky were giving Law a tour of the ship he froze for a split second when he felt a strange sensation against his heart. Neither of the two noticed they were too enthralled with showing off every room. When they showed him to the guest room Franky went to check on the others saying that the two captains should get some rest before dinner was ready. Leaving Law alone with Luffy he might as well ask “Do you know where (Y/N)-ya went she has my,” he stopped himself before saying heart. He didn’t want the other to misunderstand what he was saying as Luffy often misunderstood things. “Something of mine I should probably get back.” Luffy quirked an eyebrow before the lightbulb went off “Oh you mean your hoodie? I think she said she was going to take a bath but good luck trying to get that back. She really likes wearing it.” that’s not what he meant but Law wasn’t going to correct him. It wasn’t worth the effort but he smiled regardless. It was reassuring that after all this time you still seemed to cherish his hoodie.

—

By the time you got out of the bath Law was waiting outside for you. You smirked “In my defense I didn’t have a good time to give it back.” Law only offered his hand out avoiding eye contact. You hesitated for a minute because you could feel how fast his heart was beating in your hand. You marveled at it. It was weird. Honestly you couldn’t tell if it was endearing or gross. You were jaded to a lot of things, blood and gore never crawled under your skin but this was different. This was Law’s still beating heart and you were holding it without a second thought. Final verdict as much as it was oddly satisfying knowing you had this effect on him it was still weird that this is just a thing that you could do. He must have noticed you connecting the dots because he took it from you patting your head, probably his way of saying thank you. You smiled and watched him walk away. You understood you really did but there was so much left unsaid sometimes you wished it could have been simple.

At Dinner you unconsciously choose the seat next to Law which was fine no one was questioning it. You haven't given them a reason too, there was no need for you to overthink your actions or to panic for that matter. You were both comfortable sitting next to each other but Luffy remembered his conversation from earlier and the man had no filter. “Oh Torao, did you ever get your hoodie back?” The man in question almost choked on his water. You smirked, deciding to make a joke “I already gave you back your heart. If you want your hoodie back you’re gonna have to pry it out of my cold dead hands because that shit is comfy.”

Luffy cocked his head to the side “You had Torao’s heart?” Robin grinned as she wiped her mouth with a napkin “So that’s what you were kissing in the bath.” she said it very matter of factly as everyone nearly fell out of their chair a chorus of “EHHH!” filling your ears.

Law’s mouth fell open “You what!” You failed your arms about trying to explain yourself. You cursed under your breath, you thought no one was paying attention to you when you did that.

“I was not kissing it! I just didn’t want to leave it on the floor but I also didn’t want it to fall in the bath! Vergo already squoze the shit out of it earlier. I didn't want to make it worse.” Luffy clearly wasn’t following “Wait does that mean (Y/N) is dating Torao?” Law’s face blushed red as he raised his voice “Really that’s what you got out of this?!” Zoro, who hadn’t said anything to this point casually sipped his drink asking “Well are you?”

You and Law exchanged glances before both speaking at the same time.

"No?"

"No!"

You both grimaced at each other questioning your choices in punctuation.

"No!?"

"No?!"

You furrowed your eyebrows "The question was for me why did you answer!"

"Why did you say no!"

"YOU SAID NO TOO DUMBASS!"

Ussop laughed hesitantly "Ah, it's complicated then." You rolled your eyes and Law gritted his teeth "Let’s get this straight we are not dating!"

You wanted to say yet, you had the strong urge to but then you would start the argument over again. This is why you hated having so many things left unsaid. You didn’t know if you wanted to laugh, cry or disappear. It seems most of your crew understood your situation but it still appeared as if your Captain was confused. "Shishishi, is it too early to give Torao my blessing? If he married (Y/N) then he would have to join my crew!" Nami punched his shoulder "Stop trying to add people you just met into the crew."

Law facepalmed himself "Is it always like this?" Sanji walked up from behind putting another tray of food down on the table "Pretty much. And Luffy you have it backwards it's the other way around! If they got married (Y/N) would join his crew." Luffy made an exasperated sound "What really! I take it back. I don't give Torao my blessing."

"As if I even asked you for it in the first place!" Law was irritated, why did it seem like everyone was so interested in his love life. He gets this enough from his own crew. You only laughed at his frustration. You knew your nakama would go overboard with the smallest information. He glared at you, giving you a "This is all your fault" look. You couldn’t hold back your giggling as you mouthed a "sorry" to him as you smiled.

The conversation eventually changed and you excused yourself to go help Sanji clean up in the kitchen. Law continued to glare at you every now and then but you knew how he was. So what if he was embarrassed, he’d get over it soon enough. They had a mission to accomplish.

Sanji waited for everyone to leave before asking you "Would you actually join his crew if he married you?"

You were caught off guard "I think you're skipping a ton of steps in this hypothetical."

Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette "I can tell you like him that's why you were on edge at Punk Hazard right?"

"Am I that easy to read?" You frowned as he chuckled "Please you think you can hide your crush from a fellow hopeless romantic." He had a good point, you hummed "I'm loyal to Luffy so I wouldn't want it to come to that and I know Law, he wouldn't force me to leave the straw hats if I didn't want to." Sanji motioned for you to continue "But I don't know what I would do and I think that's why Law refuses to accept his feelings for me. We both know the other has things they want to accomplish and we don't want to get in the way of that." You sighed it was a big weight off your shoulders to finally say it out loud "Which is why we've never talked about it and I don’t think we ever will."

"That’s rough." You laughed at him "Tell me about it" You both want what's best for the other even if it means you don't end up together despite your feelings towards the other. Why were you both so logical?

As you were finishing up you started hearing a commotion from outside only to find out that Luffy, Law and Chopper went to rescue Caesar from…, actually no one was quite sure what kidnapped him. It was some sort of animal. The most you could do was hope for the best and wait for their return.

You tried to get some sleep and you think you were for an hour or two but you were restless. Knowing that this was Law’s last stand and he had actively asked for help. You were proud of him for that but you didn’t want to let him down. You had faith in everyone else but were you really strong enough to provide any assistance? You decided to take a walk to clear your mind. You noticed that Law was sitting on the bench by the stairs, they must have just got back. Your worries faded away the closer you approached Law.

"Hey, you should get some rest." He looked up at you while you sat next to him "Especially after the night you had or else Doffy's gonna kick your ass tomorrow."

"I was resting." He frowned, closing his eyes once more.

You sighed stubborn as always "I mean like sleeping in an actual bed kind of rest." You pulled on his arm "Come on, I'll even join you." You smiled at him as he adjusted his hat pulling the brim down. You made your way to his guest room in silence as you laid down looking at the ceiling.

"(Y/N)-ya I may die tomorrow." He trailed off as you chimed in "I know but I promised Bepo and the guys that I wouldn’t let that happen."

"You don't understand," He gritted his teeth "What he's capable of he-"

"Law I know you," you shifted your position to be on top of him, hands on either side of his face "You wouldn't have made an alliance with us if you didn’t think we had a chance. You don't take those kinds of risks." You smiled at him "Have a little faith okay?" You know you said those words for Law but you needed to hear them too.

He pulled you down tucking his head into your neck turning to lay on his side "Why are you always so annoying." You wrapped your arms around him and smirked "It's one of my many talents." You're sure Law can feel it too, how safe and comfortable it is being this close in each other's arms. You both fell asleep like that.

The next morning you swapped yourself with a pillow hoping Nami or Robin didn't notice your absence but with the way they were grinning at you? “Believe what you want but don’t say anything to the guys.” They both laughed at you but you knew they were just teasing to tease. There was no evidence anything happened because nothing like that happened. You stepped out to join the rest of the group who were crowding around the newspaper.

"Doflamingo resigned from the Warlords."

—

As soon as you landed at Dressrosa Law reviewed the plan and divided everyone up into teams. That's when you noticed something odd. It was strangely quiet. You confirmed your suspension by looking behind you.

“Uh, Law,...they already left.” Everyone turned around “Those idiots!”

“Do you think they heard the plan?” Nami looked at Chopper and shook her head “Not a chance.” She brought her hand to her face. Honestly you should have seen it coming.

“Yohohohoho, Sanji would have stayed if he did.” Brooke added. This wasn’t fair you were the one who was supposed to go with them into town but now you were taking his place protecting the sunny. Law gave you a face that read “It’s probably for the best.” and you scoffed at him but you made no move to follow after him. You wanted to tell him “Don’t die” again but you didn’t.

—

Your hands were full at the moment but you could hear the Den Den Mushi ringing. Luckily Chopper managed to answer it while you were preoccupied with Giolla and her stupid art fruit. Law needed you to swing by to pick up Caesar saying it was a trap and the trade has been compromised. That's not good.

You made it there as fast as you could but Doffy was faster. Stupid string fruit. You were about to brace for impact when Sanji flew in out of nowhere pushing you out of the way. You tried to help Sanji but the Marines were also on your ass too. This was going as well as you thought it would but maybe you should stop being so pessimistic. When you had a moment after talking it over with Luffy, Law ordered you all to go to Zou saying he'd buy you the time to escape while you guys got away with Caesar and Momonosuke. As Nami told everyone to get ready for a coup de burst, you looked wary about leaving Law behind. It didn’t sit well with you and at the last second you apologized to your crew but Nami and Sanji nodded knowing what you were going to do.

“Mimic”

—

When you finally caught up to them Law was struggling on the bridge. Doflamingo could have finished him off at any point, luckily the man liked to monologue. That bought you some time. Right when Doffy was about to shoot Law again you dropped down in front of him deflecting the bullets.

“Not on my watch.”

Doflamingo smiled at the intrusion and Law yelled at you “You idiot! What part of leave did you not understand!” you growled back “What part of don’t die do you not understand.” Doffy only smiled wider as he made you his new target. “Oh how sweet, you made a friend.” You cursed under your breath trying to evade his assault to the best of your abilities.

You shouted “Hysteria!” and started your magical girl transformation. Your hair turned white and your eyes turned red. You took a similar form to when a mink goes into sulong. You went toe to toe for a bit, mostly deflecting attacks. Doflamingo liked to play with his food. You knew you couldn't win the fight but that wasn't your goal. You were trying to stall as much as possible. He was strong but that only made you stronger as you could feel Law's panic sending you energy. Although you were running out of time you could only hold hysteria for so long. You grabbed Law shouting “Burrow!” the two of you phased into the ground before popping back up further along the bridge running as fast as you could. Luckily in hysteria you were much stronger you couldn’t imagine trying to carry Law normally with him being taller than you and all.

“What are you doing?!”

“I’m buying you time! The longer Doffy is occupied with us the better right?” You felt something wrapped around your leg causing you to trip throwing Law in the process “Shit, Mimic!” you used Buggy’s power to free your leg “Burrow!” you phased back into the floor before Doflamingo could touch you. How long could you keep this up.

—

Moments later you could only fight for so long before you and Law were yeeted at the foot of the colosseum. You tried to cushion the fall but it didn’t matter too much because Doffy shot him three more times anyway before taking him while you were still trying to catch your breath. You punched the ground as he got away “Goddamnit!” Zoro helped you up. You switched gears once again as Luffy joined the group and you headed for the palace.

—

You wanted to say something you really did but you were all devil fruit users so what difference did it make. In the end you shouldn’t have let Luffy have the key to unlock Law but Viola gave it to him and you weren’t about to fight your captain for it. What you weren’t expecting was to loose the damn thing when you needed it most. Law was having a very bad day today. The good news was that Viola can find the key with her powers, the bad news was you had to find it and once again reconvene with them at a later time.

You, Rebecca, Robin and Bartolomeo were on your way to meet up to pass the key off, for the second time. Once you got Law out of the restraints you stayed at the flower field. Your job was done, all that was left was to offer whatever support you could from here.

—

You didn’t really have a good view of the action from where you were but eventually Luffy threw Law back down to the flower field. You were relieved he was alive. Losing the arm was a non-factor; he had performed the same surgery to Penguin when he was thirteen. Leo had helped by stitch his arm in place and you had asked Princess Mansherry if there was anything you could do to help him heal faster. Law protested but you didn’t care you had made a dandelion from your lifeforce and gave it to him. If the only thing you could do was sit and watch, then this was the least you could do. Especially since he wasn’t going to stay put anyway. You knew him too well. Sure enough you looked back to where Law was supposed to be laying and he was already gone.

—

It was coming down to the wire you were trying to help stall for Luffy but then Rebecca got hit with a parasite string. Currently you were trying to prevent her from slicing Viola. In the nick of time Luffy was swapped with Viola and you landed in Law’s lap on the roof next to the action. You slump back into Law’s chest practically deflating at the touch staring at the surgeon who wasn't paying you no mind. All his focus was trained on Luffy at the moment. Hopefully there would be no more close calls.

The moment Luffy finished Doffy off, Law shambled him up to the rooftop next to Rebecca. It was over. You turned around to hug Law being careful of his arm. He took the opportunity to kiss your cheek and you pulled away flustered holding your hand where he kissed you. You didn't think he'd ever initiate anything. Especially not with others around but you guess they were all focused on Luffy so he didn't care. You were still looking at him in shock when Law ruffled your hair grinning at you. Your face was beet red but Law liked the view.

After everyone was properly tended to Kryos let you all use his old house to rest for the night. Law ended up using your lap as a pillow and before you could protest he was already out like a light and you didn't have the heart to move him. That's when Sabo walked in you decided to stay up a bit longer anyway. When he left you grabbed Ussop's pillow that fell on the floor and put it next to Law.

You whispered a "Mimic" and cuddled into his side as sleep overtook you.

#trafalgar d law x reader #trafalgar law x reader #trafalgar law x y/n #onepiece x reader #one piece x reader #completely forgot I never posted chapter 4 here haha whoops

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hoothalcyon · 2 days

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Ruthari + Nonsexual Kink

After reading this post by vaspider about nonsexual kink in a romantic dynamic, the wheels of my brain began to turn before finally landing on Ruthari, and not only Ruthari, but the fact that they already demonstrate some signs of nonsexual kink in their relationship.

note: I don't think they were intentionally written this way, I'm just having fun :)

The most easily noticeable instances take place in the graphic novel Bloodmoon Huntress, but it also represents their entire dynamic as a couple, so I will go through both.

Firstly, it's easy to see how well this dynamic would fit the both of them. Runaan has an incredibly stressful life or death job where he has to take the lead and do very difficult, fatal things. He can maintain this pressure for the amount of time needed for the mission to be completed, but he can't carry that weight forever, everyday. It's been said that he is the most emotionally open he possibly could be when he's with Ethari.

Which brings me to why it fits Ethari. He is a misfit in Moonshadow society, or at least in the Silvergrove. He's "not as strong as the others", he's a creator and inventor in a friend group full of assassins. I bet he would want to feel some control and power, even if only behind closed doors, but not so specific as to only in the bedroom. And what better way to feel control than consensually dominating the leader of the assassins, am I right?

In borrowing from the original post, I will highlight these key parts: "surrender[ing] control to someone whom they can trust...because in their everyday life, they have a lot of responsibilities and stress, and going into that space where nobody can ask anything from them, where they have no responsibility to make any decisions at all, is a relief to them."

And, vice versa, "for some of us, that kind of service allows us access to a feeling of power that can be hard to access in our daily life, and that feels really good."

So, now onto canon examples...

The way Runaan goes from lightly ribbing Ethari for his over the top welcoming party for Rayla before quickly changing his attitude when Ethari gets serious and says darling...

I'm 100% imagining that the use of "darling" with a serious demeanour is one way Ethari signals to Runaan that he needs him to behave/follow his lead without question 😈

2. The market scene where Runaan is all petty and acts up, causing dysfunction between him and Rayla. Ethari swiftly puts him in his place and Runaan doesn't challenge him. He knows he's overstepped, and his dom is putting him in his place. He literally shuts up and goes all doe eyed at him.

Ok, but consider that for a second. Runaan is singlehandedly the most stubborn character in the entire show, and yet, Ethari can boss him around with no questions asked. Kinky.

3. Ethari bringing Runaan his weapons. To me, this indicates, again, that they both enjoy when Ethari wields control over Runaan's actions. He is the stepping stone his sub needs to complete tasks, he needs Ethari's care and attention. Runaan could just grab his weapons himself and head out, but he waits until Ethari has prepared them, put them in a sack, and handed them to him with a kiss.

4. Ethari instantly getting authoritative and grumpy when Runaan is badly injured, and investigating with his hands before Runaan gently lets him down.

When Runaan is injured, all of Ethari's emotions come rushing to the surface: grumpiness, protectiveness, worry, affection, etc. All the ingredients that make him a good dom. He wants to protect Runaan from danger and angst. He feels helpless watching Runaan fling himself into battle, so the moment it stops, he rushes over to inspect him for injuries and tow him away somewhere safe. He is the caretaker. It's his responsibility to keep his sub safe and healthy, and he doesn't take that lightly.

But the fact that Runaan is insisting it's 'nothing' is frustrating. He needs Runaan's yellow light signals--the soft smile, holding his hand--and also Rayla distracting them, to help him cool off.

And so I'm picturing that when Runaan is injured, Ethari has him kneel (if he can), bow his horns, and take off any clothes that are covering the injury and reveal it to him before he can begin to tend to him. It's his act of submission, of showing Ethari he is ready to relinquish control to him.

And that type of dynamic, of Runaan admitting his vulnerabilities to Ethari, who will only use this information to help him heal, is immensely beneficial to them both. Runaan gets to vocalize where and how he feels wounded, and Ethari gets to have control over healing him and being the only one who knows about these wounds.

Other, smaller canon findings:

Runaan being covered in different things Ethari has made, which have his signature swirlies on them (i.e: his bow, hair cuffs, horn cuffs). Yes, the other members of the moon fam have smatterings of these on their bodies and weapons as well, but Runaan's design features them most frequently. He's literally COVERED in them. This is a visual representation of how he belongs to Ethari.

One major exception to this dynamic is when it comes to assassin stuff (unrelated to injuries).

The way Runaan doesn't mention it when Ethari stealthily steals a sip from his tea (nor when he mentions that said tea is bad, lmao).

Headcanons:

When Runaan comes back from a mission and doesn't know what to do with himself, Ethari tells him different things he can do for him, and that helps put him in the mindset of things different than constantly training, and reminds him that he wants quality time

slightly silly hc where Ethari in his workshop and he whistles for Runaan to come down and Runaan is there in a flash to model something for him or give input on a weapon lmao

#runaan #ethari #ruthari #this is MY self indulgent headcanon UwU

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corvus-ace · 3 months

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Okumura Haru, aka Noir: an analysis

so, my friend Keeper wanted me to help them get a sense of Haru's character because they missed her introduction and a fair amount of her confidant, and the result was this analysis. fast forward like a month and I realized "hey, this would be fun to post online actually" and here I am lol. fair warning, it's long and also in bullet point paragraphs cause I was trying to write quickly at the time and have since fleshed a few of them out a bit more (I have a lot of feelings about Haru lmao)

without further ado, here we go!

Haru's past

-first and foremost, Haru is the heir to a fuck off huge corporation. her father basically owns the equivalent of mcdonalds. though she doesn't always act like it, she is fundamentally a rich kid

-now in my original analysis, it had been a while since I'd actually gone through Haru's confidant, and I had mistakenly believed that Haru had at least to some extent been raised to take over the business. pretty sure I thought that cause I can't tell the difference between actual canon and stuff I've read in fics lol. but after playing through her confidant again and realizing she actually had zero business experience whatsoever actually makes her even more impressive in my eyes, because she more or less had to teach herself how to run an entire corporation, and by the end of her confidant she has a pretty solid handle on things already (doubly impressive because her confidant starts so late game, so depending on how fast you play through it... she's learning all this in like, two months max if you're getting through it before 3rd sem)

-in addition to that: rather than her father retiring and placing her in charge, she is literally thrust into it by her father's death. so she's learning all this business management, getting used to phantom thievery, and grieving her father all at the same time???? I could never

-presumably Haru inherited everything after her father's death, putting her in full control of his wealth? (I don't really know how businesses and shareholders work.) Haru's mother doesn't appear to have been in the picture, although to be fair that could mean she's either dead, has left, or is just never shown on-screen. I don't remember any distinct mentions of her

-her father's view of her: the conspiracy has obviously been in action for at least around two years (based on the timeline of the mental shutdowns and psychotic breaks inflicted by Akechi after he joined the conspiracy). Okumura Kunikazu's view of his daughter would presumably have become distorted during this time; obviously we don't necessarily know the timeline of any Palace formations except Futaba's and Sae's, since one was shown on-screen and the other discussed more than once. by the time we begin Okumura's Palace, he views Haru as nothing more than a tool for him to use in his financial and political ambitions ("subservient puppet" and her cognitive form's appearance as an obedient and extremely weak robot). he also is ignorant of her wants and needs, evident by him arranging to marry her off to Sugimura for his own political gain

-now, because Okumura becomes so distant from Haru as his Palace develops, whether intentionally or not, Haru is kept fairly far away from her father's unethical business practices. obviously she has her own suspicions as indicated in game, but seeing as her father doesn't really tell her anything, she presumably still had at least a decent opinion of him up until his Palace

Haru's character/personality

-Haru is very kind by nature. her childhood initially encouraged this (the cafe her grandfather used to run) but because of her father's distortion and changed parenting style she has mostly retreated into becoming a "seen but not heard" people pleaser. this results in a very reserved persona, but she isn't exactly shy - she is willing to reach out to help people, is generally friendly when approached (if you go up to her in the Shujin hallways before you even start the Palace, she's very polite, even if not explicitly cheerful), and as proved not long after we formally meet her:

-if a core belief of hers is challenged, she will stand up for it. one of our first interactions with her in game, she isn't afraid to tell us that after listening to our flimsy explanation of our motives as the Thieves, she cannot work with us. she calls us out immediately on not helping our own teammate, and tells us she cannot work with people who aren't certain of their motives/goals (I don't remember her exact wording but I remember it was definitely something along those lines). in short, she cannot trust us to truly want to help her father

-first proper meeting: other than the seconds immediately after her entrance alongside Morgana in her father's palace, she is very flustered and constantly getting things confused. based on my understanding of her as a person, I believe this is because although she already considers Morgana a friend, he's clearly established a role for her to play as well (replacing the Phantom Thieves with her, taking the spotlight for future changes of heart, etc) and she knows, deep down, that she is still being used, even if Morgana does have good intentions and wants to teach her to help people. deep down she knows this isn't the real her either. her full Persona awakening showcases this pretty clearly with all the fucking guns and rocket launchers hidden in Milady's skirt that are finally revealed (aka Haru's full, true strength simmering for a long time, hidden beneath the surface, because who in her life would have ever wanted her to be anything but obedient and weak?)

-she's also the one to push Morgana to be honest both with himself and the other Thieves, to admit he doesn't really want to leave and that he feels like this is the only place he belongs. she's struggled with being honest with herself in the past, accepting her true self and especially displaying it, and the Thieves helped her finally do that; given her kind nature I'm not surprised she wanted to be able to return the favor

-as we get to know her, we learn Haru is still very naturally kind and genuinely friendly. the thing is, she doesn't have a lot of friends. we don't see her interact with anyone (other than her father and fiance) beyond basic pleasantries until her formal introduction, including at Shujin. I'm fairly reasonably certain this is because almost everyone she's ever met has only seen her as "Okumura's daughter" rather than just Haru, her own person

Noir

-Haru is one of the strongest physical damage dealers, alongside Ryuji and Yusuke (both in terms of normal melee attacks and her powerful gun-type skills). she's also the only Thief other than Akechi who has gun-type skills on her Persona - and it's important to note that Akechi can only use gun-type skills in the third semester, with Loki and eventually Hereward, so Haru having gun-type skills significantly earlier in game than Akechi (especially with high crit chances) is quite useful. also her weapons are a grenade launcher and a large battle axe so that says a lot about her

-her Persona uses psy magic and ailment skills in addition to the gun-type skills. psy is particularly important since it triggers many kinds of technical hits, extra useful if you have a wide variety of ailments you can inflict via Joker's Personas. this also makes sense given the identity of her first tier Persona, Milady de Winter, the uncommonly beautiful and extraordinarily cunning female spy featured in The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Milady is also described as ruthless, which I feel is a good representation of how Haru acts as a Phantom Thief. now in addition to the other skills, she does have the ability to cure certain ailments and also recover more quickly from ailments, and can use heat riser to give significant buffs to a party member and makarakarn/tetrakarn to protect a party member from a magic or physical attack respectively. obviously the specific skills she has available to her depends on how you choose to build her in game (I personally tend to lean towards emphasizing her gun-type and support skills over her ailment usage/curing, since I have no shortage of ailments in Joker's Persona stock and prefer to use Haru as a damage dealer, but that's not really relevant lmao)

-also, Haru is a sadist who loves killing/destroying Shadows. probably all that repressed anger and unresolved trauma. as rich as her father is, I seriously doubt he paid for a therapist for her. rich and emotionally distant fathers are just like that

The Empress

-I have some issues with her confidant that I think are about to become very evident

-Haru is the Empress Arcana (number III) and it shows. she is a girl in a position of power (head of a corporation) and as mentioned before, she is very kind by nature, and quite nurturing as shown by her love and skill for taking care of plants. the people in charge of assigning cards did a particularly good job with her

-her confidant is less based on personal relationships like Ryuji's or Makoto's; instead it focuses on professional development and relationships with subordinates and corporate associates and shareholders. she spends a lot of time throughout her confidant events figuring out who to trust and how to shift Okumura Foods into something she can truly be proud of, with a strong focus on undoing all the unethical practices her father put in place. though she of course wasn't expecting to be put in charge so soon, she does a very good job managing the sudden responsibilities. we also have no reason to believe her grades were slipping during this time, so she appears to be able to manage her schoolwork (from a prestigious high school, no less) right alongside her new responsibilities

Miscellaneous

-Haru has no qualms about spending large amounts of money on her friends - we literally went to the equivalent of fucking disneyland after her father's Palace and she thought it was no big deal, although to be fair to her, that was technically a special situation as the park had already been rented out by her father for a company event that ended up being cancelled due to his change of heart, so she really just took over the reservation. it's worth noting that this point is heavily represented in fanfics (based on what I've seen across ao3), as fanon Haru is, for example, often willing to give Yusuke in particular plenty of money for food, train fares, etc. I have seen at least two fics (though I don't remember the authors or the titles) where she happily spends lots of money on the other Thieves

-out of the Thieves, Haru is one of the most vocal about her hatred and mistrust of the police. this is very, very evident in Strikers, and remains consistent throughout that story (and, side note, it's fucking hilarious seeing how offput Zenkichi is about it every single time)

-she also later embraces her brief stint as the "Beauty Thief" and it's something of an inside joke amongst the Thieves (not sure that's the right term but idk how else to describe it). there aren't any hard feelings; the Thieves are already pretty chill about it the moment she joins the group anyways. the other Thieves affectionately call her the Beauty Thief in Strikers, particularly Futaba and Morgana, and Haru is happy to really lean into it sometimes (Zenkichi does not understand this either and I think she enjoys that)

Final notes - based on my impressions of her; not really analysis

-Haru is one of the most willing to fight god, and one of the most likely to win

-mixture of cottagecore lesbian and warrior princess

-her association with purple is partially rooted in her psy abilities, of course, but it's also a color associated with royalty and elegance, particularly fitting for the Empress Arcana

-Haru is not allowed to drive and should never be allowed behind a steering wheel (Keeper, if you're reading this, you'll understand this much later)

-kinda already mentioned this but she's very good at gardening (can grow hp and sp restoratives for the Metaverse)

-she took ballet for years and was good at it, which makes sense since she's quite flexible, as well as having natural grace

Conclusion

well, if you made it this far, I hope you liked this self-indulgent analysis! I relate to Haru a lot, so I like to think I have a good sense of her, and hopefully I've done a good job of representing her in this post. there are a few other Thieves I have enough thoughts on to write analyses similar to this one, so I'll probably be making those pretty soon. and again, although this is very personally motivated, I do still hope someone out there will like reading them!

(and Keeper - I know you already read the first version of this and still wanted to read this version too, so a big thanks for enabling my brainrot lmao)

#haru okumura #okumura haru #persona 5 #p5r #persona 5 royal #persona 5 strikers #i have not played p5 tactica so i can't analyze her there #character analysis #self indulgent

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kotopeachii · 4 months

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Okay, okay this is gonna sound insane but please just tell me anything about Kaneshiro as I need *something* for him. I cannot write for this man to save my life and i desperately need more than canon has for him and I feel like youre a good person to ask considering the whole roleswap rulers au

i totally get where you're coming from because i've struggled with characterizing him as well. he's lowkey just the money money money man but i'll share my notes for your homework

tbh kaneshiro and okumura are pretty similar to me, except okumura craves glory, and kaneshiro craves luxury.

kaneshiro's whole obsession with wealth comes from being born poor, where he learned to fend for himself and spare no one. being selfless is a bad thing in his eyes, because you gain nothing from it, and only lose. so to prevent ever during such suffering again, he starts taking from others.

the victims of his scams are primarily young people, and he looks down on that group because he sees them as naive and gullible and easy to manipulate. a part of my personal interpretation is that he might see a part of himself in that youthful innocence and maybe just maybe feel a little bad but no, it's their fault for being so oblivious, they had what was coming to them!

sounds like you're speaking from experience my guy

his philosophy and how he developed it is the easy part for me to write. but his personality is. um. hm

usually he acts very intimidating and sophisticated, like how you would expect a crime lord to act. but once he transforms into a fly for the boss fight, you could say he starts... well...

"acting fly".

funnily enough that type of behaviour is associated with younger people, and since boss forms are like. their truest form i guess since even their normal shadows act a little guarded, that could indicate that he's still childish no matter how mature he makes himself out to be.

he's obviously insecure, what with the whole "i'm weak if i even dare show mercy", and it's clear that he's so afraid of falling into poverty again that he overcompensates by being this filthy rich.

kaneshiro probably wouldn't have turned out this way if he had a wealthier upbringing but like the other palace rulers, like our main cast, he is a victim of the system.

if you care, rulerswap!junya is a little different to kaneshiro but still has the same beats, with the poor background and the tough shell protecting a paranoid, pathetic child. however, instead of going down the dark path of giving into rules he hates so much, he decides to advocate for those suffering like him and stops basing his self worth on his net worth. haha

reading into palace rulers is always a little difficult since they don't have a lot to show but i manage, and i hope something i pulled out of this helped!?!? yeah

#persona 5 #junya kaneshiro #koto.txt

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respondedinkind · 4 months

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Headcanon: Khan's mind (Main Alien Verse & MCU-Alien Verse)

It is mentioned very briefly in Khan's bio, but only 'grazed upon' so to speak. It's also mentioned in a few other posts here and there, scattered along headcanons and muse-ish things, but:

Khan's mind is incredibly powerful.

Heads up: This information cannot be known by any muse, with a few exceptions being made (for example, by muses who possess a powerful mind of their own, they might sense that Khan is different / powerful, or by muses who can do magic and see his aura being of different kind etc - but they would only know that, nothing more, no details).

While Khan does not possess the ability of reading another one's mind, or do tricks such as telepathy, or to take over someone else's mind to control them, he can do other things.

Back on his home planet, he was bred to be superior; His abilities were honed from the very beginning and his mind sharpened for what leads his kind to success most of the time. Not only is Khan incredibly intelligent, he is also meant to use his mind to kill.

In fact, the division he was meant to become a part of are the specialists in that regard - elite soldiers who conquer for their rulers. Next to physical combat, being so much stronger, faster and more resilient than most of their opponents, they also use their minds to gain the upper hand in what is known as a 'dirty technique' by nations who are aware of his race and the great devastation they bring.

Here is one part of what Khan can do, and what highlights the strength of his abilities:

Khan can, in theory, basically 'drill himself' into another person's mind; He grants himself forceful entry by sheer willpower, no need for any physical connection. Holding intense eye-contact during the whole act intensifies the sensation and makes it easier for him to do it, but it's not needed. However, once that intense eye-contact is established, and once he's managed to first enter another person's mind, they won't be able to disconnect from his own gaze (unless they are extremely powerful and have abilities of their own that would be able to make it happen)

Once inside another person's mind, he can force his way to the very core. Not many know about it, but a body does not live without it being connected to the host (the mind, also called the soul) that drives it. Khan can find said core, the most vulnerable part, and he can break it, which results in instant death to whoever he is doing this to.

'Fun' fact: This is actually the last 'test' he needed to go through back on his home planet, the one he failed: Because of him not having successfully disconnected himself from his own emotions, killing another individual caused him great stress and took a toll on his own brain. Heavy nosebleeds are a indicator for such to happen, and one cannot control them - so, despite Khan managing to kill the person he was meant to kill, he was deemed a failure because of his nose bleeding, meant to be executed - that is when he managed to fight his way out and flee from his home.

Next to that, Khan's mind is powerful in other ways: It's extremely good at blocking off intruders, so in case someone wants to enter it, it will be incredibly hard for them to do such. It's fierce and trained to withstand a lot of torture, and it takes a great amount to break him and gain access (in his main Verse, Alexander Marcus managed to do that; One can assume how much force it took and what it did to Khan in return)

For MCU verses and muses: His mind seems to be able to do some 'tricks', in a way, which he is also quite unaware of; With how powerful and unique said mind is, it might be able to connect to certain kinds of magic in ways, leading to some... interesting things happening. Not always, not all the time, but under certain circumstances Khan himself is (mostly) not aware of.

Happened in another thread, but is very much canon: In case someone uses a spell or any other technique to look into Khan's memories, his own past self - which is a literal memory and therefore everything that can be seen has already happened in the past - can realize that someone does this to him and, in rare cases, interact with whoever watches. How this happens is unclear, as it should not be possible; Whether Khan's future-self remembers that interaction happening or not depends on a case-to-case basis. It shows, however, that Khan's mind is made in a way that's probably impossible to explain, able to break 'the fourth wall', so to speak.

All of that being said: As much devastation as Khan's mind can bring, as much as it can cause death, this is only the result of what it has been shaped into during his upbringing. His mind is trained to become that sharp, dangerous and powerful weapon; However, by nature, his mind is meant to be an incredibly sensitive instrument and all of its abilities stem from what, in the past, once meant to be of entirely positive nature.

This means he can also do another thing:

Khan's mind can connect to other people's minds in the most vulnerable way, create a bond that will last until he cuts the connection himself or either one of them dies (Khan or the person he bonds with). This bond is extremely powerful and strong; It allows communication on an emotional level, lets both Khan and the chosen other one experience feelings and sensations of one another. For example, if one were to feel frightened, the other could sense it. If one were to experience deep happiness, the other would feel - and experience - it too. Love is also thoroughly shared through that bond, so is affection and any other feeling that they might have for one another.

That bond also allows partners to be incredibly close at all times: Even if separated by a great physical distance, they would still be able to feel each other's presence and experience what the other might feel.

In some cases, if one is (or both of them are) experiencing great emotional stress, the bond might even go as far as allowing them to communicate with more than just emotions. It means they could, in theory, talk to each other through their connection (for example, if one is in great stress and thinks of Khan within their minds, calling his name, he might be able to hear his partner call his name through their shared minds).

Also, when Khan is connected to his loved one, they can share close and intimate moments through their minds. Their minds can basically touch each other in loving embraces, very much similar to their physical bodies, which gives both a very calm, soothing, warm and intense sensation, bringing them even closer together. Sometimes those mind-touches can even manifest in a way that they will see each other inside their heads as their actual self surrounded by a warm glow, and they can interact with each other in that way too.

This might be the true reason for Khan's powerful mind to exist: It's meant for lovers to connect and keep a bond up that will bind them in ways no other can ever be close to one another. It opens up Khan equally as much as it opens up his chosen partner, the most sensitive parts of him, and the intense connection is unlike anything that is usually experienced between two individuals who cannot share such a bond in any way. It's the most pure form of love that Khan's kind can give.

The downside is that, should that bond be forcefully interrupted by either of them dying, the other will experience a devastating sensation - the loss of a bonded partner oftentimes results in the leftover one to fall into insanity, which can manifest in a lot of different ways... even drive them into suicide. It can be overcome if the person who is still alive is strong enough to deal with the feeling of a ripped mind, of a hole that can never be fixed, but it's hard to do and not many, not even of Khan's own race, would manage to do it.

Since this bond is meant to connect lovers, Khan can only connect in such a way with one person at a time. There's one exception: If he ever were to have offspring, his children would also automatically connect to the bond, to both parents, and keep them all together as a close-knit family. The children could choose to separate themselves if they want to however, without any side-effects happening to any of them - this allows them to then, in the future, seek out a partner to connect with.

#alienheadcanons #tw mentioning of unaliving someone #tw mentioning of people might unalive themselves #(only mentioned not deeply explained)#(this is an intense and very interesting one.)#(This might also explain some things happening in MCU threads ;)))) )#(so in case you know then you know.)#(I know this is insanely long I am so sorry I couldn't shorten it ;; )

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