#this is really just a set up chapter

[faytelumos]

Fishing Fiasco

cw: use of alcohol

---

She probably should have realized when she'd had a fourth beer, gathered up all of her fishing equipment, gone to the deepest pier on the beach, and sat down in a folding chair in the middle of the night, that she was asking to get her ass kicked by a giant fish. But she cast her line after nearly forgetting to set the spool, leaned back, and continued to kiss the bottle.

Really, she could probably justify it by the extreme amount of emotional fatigue she was experiencing. Not that she believed in that sort of thing. But some people did. So it was maybe a good enough excuse some of the time.

Either way, it was probably her own damned fault. The line went taut, and she grabbed the reel and started tugging it in, like any other catch. First of the night, and it hadn't even taken that long. It didn't feel like a heavy fish, and she calmly set aside her drink and put both feet on the pier to better brace.

The line went slack for half a second, and just as she was reaching to take up the slack, whatever was on the other end heaved.

She fell from the chair, glass clattering to the wood as she scrambled to get back to her feet, but never once did she let go of the pole.

At least she had good fishing instincts.

She managed to get her feet under her just in time to brace wide-stanced against the final posts in the pier, but even then she nearly toppled ass-over-teakettle into the water. Whatever was on the line now, it was big. She pulled the pole hard, but she was starting to wonder if the thing on the other side was too strong for it. She slackened the line to reel, but it was so fast she barely got any in before she had to pull again.

"C'mon, you slippery bitch," she growled, using her legs to get the damned thing in. The pole felt like it was straining, and it was by God's grace she hadn't lost her balance yet, leaning back hard enough to touch the wood.

Which is why, when the line went dead, she fell right on her ass.

And looking out over the water, with the line still moving at the end of the pole, her "good instincts" should have told her to run.

The thing burst out of the water with a high-pitched scream, and she screamed back, dropping the pole and clawing to get away and up the pier. It fell on her, claws raking her arm and catching her ankle, and she fell again, snared. She turned, looking into the dark eyes of some kind of woman as it (she?!) opened a mouth of needled teeth and turned to her leg.

The fisher screamed in shock and kicked the fish-woman-monster in the face. It let go of her leg and she clamored upright, running over the dock with the horrific screaming and scrabbling and scrambling sound following her. She screamed again, just in case it helped, and then there was a sound like the folding chair joining in the fight.

The fisher turned around, panting as the chair crumpled and tumbled, a four-foot fish tail waving in the air with the raspy, angry screeching as the chair and fish went overboard. The splash in the water below was decidedly unimpressive, and then the entire dock was silent.

The fisher stared, chest heaving, heart pounding, hands shaking. Whatever the fuck that was, it hadn't been willing to end up in her cooler. She glanced down at the spilled bottle on the wood, dripping into the water below.

Yeah. That was probably for the best.

The fishing pole was still there, on the far end of the pier, knocked to the side, teetering on the edge. It was a miracle it hadn't been dropped into the water, but at least the line seemed to have finally snapped. With weak legs, she crept over to retrieve the sole survivor of her late-night endeavor.

She hadn't made it halfway when the thing breached a second time, landing on the pier like it had done so a million times, blood on its face, and hissed.

She was so stunned by the prominent cheekbones, red hair, and shimmering scales that she didn't even run at first.

But as soon as it started hand-running at her, she turned and took off like a shot, and she didn't stop until she got home and slammed the door.

---

next

[firehose118]

okay but something about a major theme of 9-1-1 being that people can really thrive and be their best selves when they’re given the right environment

and lou indisputably doing the best acting we’ve ever seen from him in s7 of this show. giving layered, nuanced performances

lou saying that he’s usually typecast as a “beefcake” and isn’t given the opportunity to play deep characters

but also lou saying now that he’s playing tommy, people are seeing him for who he really is

because lou is hot, yes, very intentionally so—but he’s also sweet and sensitive and silly. and him getting to play any of that is such a rarity in his career so far. and tommy is all of that

something about tim seeing him in s2 and bringing him back because he remembered how charming he was. tim seeing potential in him to flourish and give this storyline the weight it needs

9-1-1 being a force for positive change not only within the show itself but also for its actors

[buwheal]

I'm sorry, Spamton. I know you won't believe me, but I'm sorry we hurt you.

[hauntdoesthings]

for anyone who likes mascot horror, i honestly cannot recommend Indigo Park enough! it just released chapter 1 today and i can't believe i never heard of it before! it has a ton of talented content creators i love working on it and it's just amazing! you can tell how much thought was put into it and it paid off splendidly. the ambience was on point, it genuinely felt unsettling and unsafe from an early point, and i loved the setting and can't wait to see where they take it.

and if that's not enough, just look at your companion:

his name is Rambley and i would kill for him

[deiaiko]

#21 - Wall

Masterlist

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Let me know your thoughts in the reblogs <3

☕ Buy me coffee ☕

[thyandrawrites]

man. what was even the point of all the parallels the villains (esp. shigaraki, dabi and toga) to the heroes just to have them all die. what's the point. I'm glad i dropped bnha when i did, that's so damn frustrating. they should have been saved. the set up could have resulted in such a good pay off, just for them to throw that all away.

Hi! Sorry for the late reply. I spent most of last night working on my fix-it todofam fic, haha

Anyway, I've been wondering about the same thing. Despite everything, I don't think this is the ending Horikoshi originally had in mind. He has many flaws as a writer, but I do believe him to be a strongly compassionate person. The main problem with bnha imo is that he always seems to struggle to put his foot down and see through his choices all the way. Enji's arc in particular is full of this type of problem. One moment he's depicted as an unredeemable, unchanging monster, and two chapters later he's someone whose journey to self-betterment we're supposed to cheer for—a misguided guy who is trying his best and still failing. You get what I mean?

If it's true that the theme of DV is dear to Horikoshi (and I think it is, from how intimately he writes its intricacies), then I can understand that duality, at least. The fact that he can't quite make up his mind on who he wants to humanize more. But it's still disappointing. It feels insincere, the way he's wrapping up this story by pretending this is where he was always meant to go. For all of his indecision, at the very least he's never denied the Leagues' humanity, not until this very abrupt, tonal-shift ridden ending. And a part of me wonders if it's just Horikoshi's way to cater to the part of the fandom that's always loudest, the one that's been arguing for bloody 'justice' all along. If he's unable to handle that criticism on a work he holds so dear. And yet, by responding to it, by changing tracks on his own set up, he still managed to invalidate everything the story ever said about compassion, and that's the worst part.

[fictionadventurer]

"If the structure of your world ever evaporates, I will still be here."

I think The Q might contain one of the greatest declarations of friendship/love ever.

[moonpaw]

fun fact, chapter 171 was the first chapter to not show a single member of the straw hats as the entire chapter focused on koza and cobra

[somegrumpynerd]

Started reading The Bad Wingmen by @topazshadowwolf and @paddie-ut and it utterly possessed me for a few days so I needed to draw some of my favourite bits

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[lostxmelody]

ah yes. right on time for pride month - what do you mean it's almost over?

my apologizes for the delay again but as you may find, it is quite long. 40k words long, to be exact. please take your time reading as i will now hibernate for the rest of the year (/j)

happy ch.3 !!!

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

I just spent like two hours lying around uselessly and scrolling on Pinterest, then sat up and said aloud to myself, "Okay, I need to do something productive. And by productive, I mean write fanfiction."

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 6!!!

[skania]

I just spotted ANOTHER parallel between the Love Now arc and the later AquaKane arcs??

The wording is even closer in Japanese:

Yuki: Do you like this [kind of] Akane~? Aqua, 67 chapters later: I'll like you no matter what [kind of Akane you are]

[good-beanswrites]

🎬: About Es being a past prisoner and the secret 11th prisoner in your AU. But advance apologies if I'm overstepping into your AU!

I had this idea from a story that pretty much did the same thing. Going off there are novels/manga on Milgram and there being another Es and their own prisoners running another Milgram (but differently) I imagine this Milgram projects has been going on for a while, and our Es was from a previous project who might have gotten the worst verdict (or the most spared out of everyone), and was given this final task as a warden for the next group of prisoners. This is why they so readily agreed and had their memories wiped for this Milgram project instead of being weary on a shady project on judging an almost crime, they've already been through this.

(BTW is it bad and worrying for one of our ten fav prisoners to be the next Es if this is legit...)

Anyway, that's why Es is in Milgram in your AU, I guess? And the lore drop that Kotoko picks up on them being the 11th prisoner, I can imagine her also talking to Kazui since he's a policeman to see if she could cross out any theories on who Es is (Did they look familiar. Possible missing child. Any cases to do with an almost crime by a child other than the 10 of them here). Kazui knows Kotoko wants to investigate, but reminds her that, like in their prison while the trial is on, the facilities they're in have high security too. They do have the freedom to move about, but still limited.

If they're trying to investigate Es, maybe Fuuta, Kotoko and Mikoto can try to do the hacking on the comp Mikoto's allowed to use to Photoshop some shots for the MVs and photos (Fuuta and Kotoko seem to be able to search up info they need I think...). Yuno, Mahiru and Muu can work on charming the staff to see if they can spill more deets on Milgram. Not sure how much the group can gather, but oh boy fun times in Milgram can turn into another sort of stress in this AU...

No worries!! Like I said before, this whole au has been a fun collaborative project, so there's no overstepping :) I am sorry I won't be writing a lot on the ending until we get more info, but that's just the perfectionist in me who doesn't want to be proven wrong 😅 Still, I love tossing around and digging into ending scenarios, I really love this!

Because that would make a lot of sense why they're so willing to subject themself to the whole experiment! They remember how tough their experience was, and are confident they can care for the new set of prisoners while doing their job. I'm imagining they get the opportunity to return as guard, and get to have a nice talk with their own guard first. Once they fully understand what it's like, they're know they can handle it and sign up. It adds a bit of drama, too, since they must have been really young committing their crime in order to complete a years-long experiment prior to this one. They would have been like 10? Oof. (Now I wanna see their three trial songs 👀)

And like you said, that also brings up the question of the new warden. Though I think it's based on verdict results, I can just picture Jackalope keeping an eye on everyone during filming. He studyies their interactions and personalities, keeping his own set of notes on who would make a good successor. (I'm not going to go through every character but there are pros to any choice, it's very fun picturing them all taking the job.) Haha, on the other hand, maybe the reason Kotoko keeps bringing up her role as Es' partner/bringer of justice is because she did discover the truth. She drops as many hints as possible so she can be chosen next 😅

Ooh, I love her working with Kazui on an investigation! The fact that eh may know details on recent crimes (and almost-crimes) is super fun to work with. He's the last person who's going to spill a secret, so the group could go several trials without realizing Kazui had actually heard all about their situation this whole time.

(Getting sidetrack for a sec, I'm suddenly realizing that he and Kotoko may have heard things about the crimes in canon, too. They're a bit unclear about how much time passed between the murders and arriving to Milgram, so maybe he heard some things. I don't know how well-connected Tokyo police departments are, but Yuno, Fuuta, Muu, and Shidou are all nearby. There's definitely a chance he caught word of the vigilante nearby, and she heard about the odd policeman's suicide. Both of them could have heard about the tragic housefire, the disgraced doctor, or horrible schoolgirl murder nearby.)

Anyway, I like that idea of Kazui wracking his brain for any similar cases. Though, if he had, Milgram may have had the foresight to wipe parts of his memory, too. Maybe he does end up using his call to reach out to Hinako and have her look into it from the outside. Sadly, Kotoko seems the type to sacrifice her personal call to reach out to a connection who can help as well. I'll have to think about how closely Jackalope monitors those calls, hm.

I'm going crazy over prisoner investigation team !! Kotoko and Fuuta had the online knowledge to find some good info, and Mikoto and Kazui seem like they'd have a huge network of people they can ask for info and favors from. Haha, I'm torn whether Mahiru would have flirting down to a science or if she'd refuse to do it since it wasn't real love 😂 Still, she's very good at reading people and could definitely help the others charm and bribe their way into some restricted areas. Amane and Haruka can also charm with their innocence/cuteness (though I'm not sure Amane would). Shidou seems very organized, he'd have a plan and backup plan and backup-backup plan ready, no matter what happens. I think it's even funnier, then if Milgram had run several experiments prior. Jackalope would think this was just another runthrough, and for the first time the ten subjects decided to organize together and Cause Problems.

I think there's a beautiful irony in a story featuring ten prisoners planning a jailbreak to save the prison guard...

[valeriefauxnom]

Chapter 14 - Bad Writing or Something Else?

So, as you may or not know, there was, to put it mildly, a lot of bonafide discourse regarding chapter 14 when it first released. While quite a bit revolved around Elisanne, with the short scene that initially seemed to some that she had given up Zethia to Nedrick voluntarily, the true centerpiece of debate was Euden.

Specifically, him in the big scene of the chapter with Morsayati.

Now, I'm not here to tell you chapter 14 is a perfect masterpiece, because it most definitely isn't, along with the rest of Dragalia's plot. However, I will make the claim that Euden's actions here were inevitable and destined to fail from the start.

Let's take a look at what had people so up in arms about Euden in chapter fourteen, first:

In this scene, Euden near-instantly capitulates to the Other offering to free Zethia, offering himself up to free her and, in his view, save her life. Now, there's plenty of fair critique that could be made here from a logical observer- why trust a demon overlord's words to begin with? What about his previous claims that saving and protecting the kingdom is his primary goal instead of Zethia?

At first glance, it understandably looks that Euden has conveniently flipped course between ch.9 and 14 for the sake of drama. I really can see where there were a lot of people up in arms about Euden not exactly being the brightest bulb in the overwhelmingly blond family (among other insults).

Nevertheless, I'd like to present a bit more nuanced view than just 'Euden did a 180 in values and ruined everything, chapter bad' opinion that many seemed to have.

For starters, it is made as clear as chapter 7 that the Other now has the explicit goal of making Euden his next possession victim, even if not spelled out explicitly:

Valyx and Harle are rightly advising the Other that if one wants to stop Euden's growing momentum, it needs to be put down soon and with excessive force. Morsayati, however, pish-poshes this, and actually is invested in letting Euden gain power. That seems stupid on Morsayati's part, and initially would likely come across to players as just the villain setting up their own downfall as so many stories write.

But no, not with Morsayati. As glad as he was to jump from King Aurelius to Zethia to gain some sweet sweet magic power, he's already looking for the next biggest thing to accomplish his ultimate goals of destruction, and has found it in Euden. However he can, Euden has rapidly assembled many dragons' power, all surviving Greatwyrms included, which are formidable in their own right. And with his capacity to control and corrupt said dragons through their pact with the whole mutual 'tugging' I've described previously, Morsayati sees a silver platter of natural forces of destruction in Euden.

In short, by chapter 7, Morsayati is already scheming to possess Euden. And, likely, scheming the most efficient way to get Euden to capitulate.

Now, I can't remember exactly if it was indicated how much insight Morsayati had into his hosts' memories and all that, but regardless of what degree, Euden gives him all the keys he needs to figure out the answer to that previous question in chapter 10:

Morsayati, in this same conversation, seems to be trying to test out another potential tool for capitulation, namely, his desire for peace:

That, however, failed, Euden instead directly revealing his hand:

To Euden, it's less of a 'give up everything for Zethia', but to Morsayati, all he sees is that he offered Euden what Morsayati believed was Euden's version of a 'perfect world' only for Euden to refuse because of Zethia. His actual reasoning involves more than Zethia, as seen when he continues, but I digress. The Other has found his weak point.

Enter chapter 14...but first, let's look at chapter 13.

The only reason chapter 14 comes about is because Leif, a very well-trusted friend and skilled commander, encourages Euden to press an assault on the capital.

Leif's reasoning is sound from a military standing point. It makes sense to attack when enemy forces are in disarray... but unbeknownst to either of them, Morsayati has already realized the lacking security in the capital and yet is more than willing to roll out the red carpet to make it even more of an tempting invitation to Euden by permitting Valyx to leave in the first place:

In essence, Euden and most everyone with strategic sense sees a golden opportunity, so much so that delaying it would be foolish.

One problem: he's not ready to face Morsayati as a person or army. And he's just taken the Other's perfect bait. Opportunities only last for a short period of time in the military, which means that Euden's attack and plans were likely pretty hastily drawn-up since the capital seemed to be so far of a goal away before.

Even if they weren't just charging in with 0 plan, we do see the results of their lacking intelligence as to what their enemies are capable of with Harle at the gate. They called upon secret defectors within the capital to force a hole through the walls of Sol Alberia (since it is a giant, completely-encircled city) if they couldn't go through the gate, but failed to gather info regarding Harle's trickery.

In addition to any military hastiness in their assault, Euden personally isn't ready, either. We see all throughout chapter 5 to 14, as demonstrated by that bit I showed Euden saying to Zodiark in chapter 10, that Euden shies away from conflict with the Other directly, because that means swinging a sword/claw at his twin's body. I think that's an understandable hesitation even when said twin is possessed. It's not easy to harm those you care about.

However, it causes the biggest glaring hole in whatever plans they could cook up in the quick turnaround from Lake Reeve to the Halidom to the Capital: they haven't actually discussed what to do about Morsayati. They're going in with a plan of stopping the Other, sure, but beyond that, they've no concrete way in mind.

Now, this admittedly isn't the wisest decision, but I will point out that this doesn't entirely fall upon Euden as a failure. Nobody had a plan how to separate Zethia and the Other, or otherwise incapacitate the demon without risking Zethia's life. All they knew is that this was too good of a chance to pass up, and that being wishy-washy and letting this go by would be its own failure and would let Morsayati rebuild his forces.

We also see Euden start struggling hard in chapter 14 even before they entered the city. It's already becoming too real that Zethia, possessed, is in the castle he grew up with, and he's going to have to lead a hastily-gathered army to attack Sol Alberia and accept all the death and destruction that will inevitably cause to both sides and civilians.

Harle is not the only schemer in the capital at that time, as Morsayati turns the entire castle into a trap solely to make Euden more vulnerable to him.

He immediately separates Euden and co from the bulk of their army, preventing him from showing up with such numbers that even Morsayati couldn't handle, and disorients said small group. That likely doesn't help any sense of desperation that might be building in Euden to put an end to this, in addition to making him hasty.

Euden recognizes the Other's 'invitation' now, but with the door locked behind them and no way to exit, they can only head deeper into the wolves' den instead of retreating to regroup and formulate strategy.

Morsayati also went to the effort of conjuring illusions specifically to get Euden running into traps, further weakening both his allies and Euden both physically and mentally:

Now, before his, Euden was just about to take a break. Smart idea, but now that break has gone poof.

Enter the damning segment.

While it might seem unequivocally obvious to us that the Other is possibly lying about 80% of the time, to Euden, I will point out that there is a rational basis to believe Morsayati's words that his presence is harming Zethia.

Namely, as a demon overlord filled with Bad Vibes (er, black mana, but that's almost literally what it is in lore anyways), it's a pretty fair assumption that having a demon overlord crammed in a single human body is not good for their long-term health. The gang have seen again and again so far how black mana can wreak havoc and pain for humanity and even dragons both. Why would Zethia be immune?

Furthermore, Euden also has a reason to believe that Zethia might stand better in a 1 v. 1 against the Other. The Other possessed her, in part, to eliminate a critical threat to him to begin with, after all, as Euden witnessed here:

The most legitimate reason he'd have to not do it would be the possibility of his dragons falling under Morsayati's sway, but even that isn't quite as strong as some think.

I highly doubt the Fire Emblem collabs were canon, where Euden received his most explicit warning against allowing possession, despite many people using that as a gotcha against him, for starters.

Fractured Futures would be a more reasonable warning... but it's much more vague.

Euden has pieces to the puzzle, but neither Audric nor Chronos spells out that this future is because Euden became possessed. All he knows, at most, is:

-Euden is Chronos' master, but 'not as he is in the present'

-Zodiark and the Greatwyrms are in Chronos

-Notte is angry at him for murdering friends

To Euden, however, this might just be a case of this world's Euden just not being quite as cool of a dude as he is. Nothing ever explicitly tells him that he was possessed, and the whole whirlwind nature of a trip of it all likely meant that Euden wouldn't be able to catalogue all the hints and remember them to stew on later. Audric tries to share this lore more directly at the very end, but he refuses:

The more obvious hints this world's Euden is possessed happen when Euden is not there, like when a swarm of his dragons attacks the Halidom in Audric's story. What he actually has isn't enough to definitively pin the tail on the Other and connect that Morsayati's possession of him is the cause of it all instead of this world's Euden just being a jerk or some other strange shenanigans.

His actual biggest demonstration that the Other could control dragons through a pact happened in chapter 5 where Zodiark attacks them because of Aurelius. Even that, however, could have seemed to Euden that Zodiark wasn't aware that Aurelius was possessed and was attacking him because 'Aurelius' willed it with again, nothing actually correlating that Zodi's attack is solely because he is being forced to.

(also, what 'ancient grudge'? I dunno myself!)

So yes, while there technically was room for Euden and co to realize that possession while pacted = bad news for the dragons, it's far from as solid as some make it out to be.

Thus, we have all the pieces for that scene. Euden walks in resolute as he can be...

...only for Morsayati to immediately take the wind out of his sails.

Between all the mental unpreparedness he's also walking in with, Euden might also be thinking that with the operation successful in the city, goal number 1 is already mostly 'accomplished': the city will be freed. The only piece left to topple is Morsayati, and Zethia is the only known piece that has countered the Other before.

Even before factoring in his emotional state, that's a pretty darn good argument to make a wild wager to allow Morsayati to possess him and his weakened self and free up Zethia. With Euden's self-disregard, he wouldn't care what happens to him, either. If his friends had to kill him to break Morsayati's control over Alberia, so be it- he's already established that he views himself as an expendable piece to his friends in this war game:

With Chelle and Leonidas coming around (again, in Chelle's case, even if her defection was fake), he also has siblings that could reign well left to pick up the pieces.

Now, you'd fairly and correctly point out that Euden most likely wasn't thinking of this when accepting, but I thought I'd bring it up that even a more coldly logical Euden might have accepted the Other's offer. (Honestly, that might be an interesting spin on how a Euden might have gotten Grand Theft-ed Body there!)

I digress.

We now have all the pieces to my overall argument, though:

-Morsayati has been planning for a long time exactly how to break Euden's will the fastest,

-Euden was all but forced into making a move for the capital without proper preparedness in ways both militarily and emotionally,

-Euden has few concrete reasons to fully understand the implications of the Other's possession,

-Euden is overwrought with emotion even before stepping in the castle, and with his only true friendly sibling in Zethia he grew up with at stake, he's inclined to rash decisions,

-His first goal is already mostly 'accomplished' - an uprising is in bloom, and Harle (the only other major commander) has been routed

-Euden doesn't view himself as the exclusive key to Alberia's peace- he's a sacrificial 'brick in the road' as said by him in other conversations

So on and so forth, but this is getting long enough. The long and short of it is that Euden was in no position to be waltzing to the castle, and Morsayati prepared to hell and back exactly how to make him crumble. There was little to no chance that the day truly would have been won as a decisive victory in Euden's favor.

On a final note, at the end of the day... is it really so hard to understand why someone might grow panicked and rash at any notion that their twin is about to die?