#a.k.a. run with the wind

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

‘Our Flag Means Death’: How Blackbeard & Stede’s Fantastical Underwater Reunion Came Together

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Our Flag Means Death, Season 2, Episodes 1-3.]

It doesn’t take more than a single second to recognize Kate Bush‘s haunting and heartbreaking tune “This Woman’s Work,” as Blackbeard, a.k.a. Ed (Taika Waititi), is pushed from a clifftop to plunge into the ocean’s depths below in Our Flag Means Death‘s Season 2 installment, “The Innkeeper.” But how did the pirate heartbroken over Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) wind up in this position? It’s a delicate and winding path that starts with the infamous pirate’s unraveling over the course of the latest season’s first two episodes.

Believing Stede intentionally abandoned him after planning to run away together at the end of Season 1, Blackbeard embraces the version of himself so many have conjured up in their minds as he leads the Revenge’s “new” crew to pillage and plunder on the high seas. His unhinged behavior eventually forces Jim (Vico Ortiz), Izzy (Con O’Neill), Frenchie (Joel Fry), Archie (Madeleine Sami), and Fang (David Fane) to violently take control of the ship and neutralize Blackbeard — or so they think — after he steers them directly into a storm.

When Zheng Yi Sao’s (Ruibo Qian) Red Flag happens across an eerie-looking Revenge on the ocean, Stede dives overboard in his excitement over the possibility of seeing Ed, only to be told various excuses for his absence by the crew aboard. When Stede directly addresses Izzy regarding Blackbeard’s lack of presence, the now peg-legged pirate claims the Revenge crew dropped Ed on a beach.

This seems to ring true as we see Blackbeard wash ashore and cared for by his own former captain Hornigold (Mark Mitchinson). While together, Blackbeard and Hornigold discuss the mutiny that took place and Blackbeard’s hopes for the future. When a role-playing scenario testing Blackbeard’s ability to be an Innkeeper, a profession he’s interested in, goes awry, he attacks Hornigold, killing the tarp-clad pirate. But when Hornigold rises again, Blackbeard realizes something is off.

Aboard the Revenge, Ed’s body is uncovered below deck. Believing him dead, Zheng Yi Sao is forced to consider killing the Revenge crew for mutiny after initially welcoming them aboard the Red Flag. And Stede has to cope with the idea that his love may be gone forever.

After hatching an escape plan for the Revenge team, Stede and pals return to their former ship, leaving Zheng stranded without a wheel. Going to sit with Ed’s body, Stede wonders why he had to go and get himself killed. Meanwhile, Blackbeard begins to realize he’s stuck somewhere between life and death, a place this Hornigold manifestation calls a “gravy basket.”

As the two men banter about the pros and cons of choosing life over death, Hornigold ties a boulder around Ed’s waist and throws it from the cliff they’re standing on, pushing Blackbeard into the ocean. Just as it seems as though he’ll succumb to the waves, Blackbeard proves Bush’s song right: Perhaps there’s a little life in him yet. When Stede lifts the cloth from his face on the Revenge, underwater Ed reacts to the change. Peering into the water, he sees a light from which a fantastical mermaid version of Stede emerges.

In the real world, Stede reacts to Blackbeard’s twitching hand, taking it in his and pleading for him to live as a montage of their moments together rolls alongside Bush’s still-playing song. The final seconds of the episode see Ed’s eyes open, giving Stede hope.

So, how did this moving turn of events come to pass? A team full of creatives was responsible for bringing the captivating and satisfying reunion.

Stede’s Mermaid Tail

“It’s a huge process,” putting together Stede’s practical mermaid look, according to costume designer Gypsy Taylor. She says “it started with me begging everybody” to avoid visual FX and make a tail for the sequence. The orange and glittering look could have followed several different styles, but ultimately, Taylor notes, “I thought if Stede is going to turn into a mermaid, and it’s in Blackbeard’s dream, it’s sort of his vision of a mermaid.”

Considering this, in Taylor’s mind, Blackbeard wouldn’t envision some epic fantastical creature; instead, Stede would “just be like a goldfish. He’d just be like a sweet harmless goldfish.” In putting sketches together of the ensemble, Taylor acknowledges the symbolism of the goldfish motif: “There’s a huge Chinese element that we have coming through, and goldfish in Chinese culture is considered lucky.” As this vision of Stede was responsible for helping bring Ed back to life, that luck was certainly there.

“I thought that was a pretty beautiful thing, that they meet each other under the ocean and then they find each other,” Taylor gushes. “And so I went a little deep on that, but really he’s just a goldfish.” In order to achieve the goldfish mermaid look, Taylor teamed up with props master Hayley Egan, who’s based out of Australia. “She happens to excel at making mermaid tails,” Taylor shares.

After securing Egan’s involvement, Taylor says, “We fit Rhys in a jumbo stretch long skirt and made sure it was really tight so he could still sort of do this dolphin [swimming] action. And then we bought these mono fins, which you can purchase online and put your feet in.” Safety was key, though. “He had to swim really deep and for a really far distance, and he’d never done anything like that before,” Taylor explains. “So it had to be really safe and doable.”

Once that was figured out, Taylor says Egan “cast something like 3,000 hand-sculpted silicon scales. There’s something like five kilograms of glitter in the whole thing. And then we hand-dyed pleated chiffon for all the fins, so that when he was swimming through the water, it would have this magic feel.”

While the scene may play as emotional and romantic, the story behind getting Stede’s mermaid look from Australia to New Zealand was actually quite comical. “[Egan] sliced two suitcases in half, filled [them with the mermaid tail], and then when it went through customs, the customs guy said to her, ‘Are you bringing fish into this country?’ And she’s like, ‘Yes, yes I am.'”

In total, there were four tails, including “a practice tail, a stunt tail, because Rhys had to do quite a few lessons before we got the real one on. And the real one was super precious, and chlorine’s very strong, it eats fabrics away, so we wanted to save the hero one for the hero shot,” Taylor reveals. When it came time to film, “We put him in [the tail], and it was just amazing.” In order to get Darby into the pool, Taylor says a ramp had to be built and the actor was placed in a wheelchair while costumed “and pushed in.” As unglamorous as it sounds, she adds, “it was like Rhys’s dream come true.”

How Kate Bush Entered the Music Mix

It’s safe to say Kate Bush has been having a moment on TV since last year’s “Running Up That Hill” needle drop on Stranger Things, but music supervisor Maggie Phillips says, “This Woman’s Work” was selected before Netflix‘s hit made headlines with their use of the aforementioned song. “When we were placing [the song in the season lineup],” Phillips says, “it was maybe weeks after Stranger Things, and I was worried that we would look like copycats.”

Phillips maintains that the song was in the mix before, but it ultimately “doesn’t matter because really what matters is that Kate Bush is a queen and more and more people need to know her music.”

She says, “From what I heard from David [Jenkins], it was a song that Taika was attached to.” At first, Phillips was reluctant to go with the song due to its prior uses, but “David told me not to worry about [that], that people have short-term memory when it comes to music.”

While she debated with the team over cutting it, “[David] has the visuals in his mind. I don’t. I’m just hearing it with a script and I had no clue how it was going to work until I saw the first cut, and it was beautiful and they picked a part of the song that worked really well with the visuals, so they sort of made it their own,” Phillips explains. “They added a different context to the song that I wouldn’t have been able to imagine myself. So they proved me wrong for sure.”

It’s hard to imagine the scene without Bush’s song. “It changes the way you listen to the song,” Phillips notes. “I got chills watching it and I know that song so well and haven’t gotten chills like that in a long time.” With all of the buildup, “You’re waiting for them to have their romantic moment. You’re waiting for three episodes for that to happen. And so it’s so cathartic when that song comes on, and you see them come together in this fantasy world under the sea. It’s just perfect.” This led her to email Jenkins. “I was like, ‘You were right. I was wrong. But this was beautiful, and thank you so much.'”

Blackbeard’s Wet Wig Woes

Anyone watching the scene unfold would have to notice Blackbeard’s silver tresses weaving through the water, a feat much more difficult behind the scenes than the seemingly simple sequence onscreen. “We filmed that quite late in the season, and so we were really planning and thinking about that all the way through [filming]. I was a bit nervous,” hair and makeup designer Nancy Hennah admits. “I knew that he was going to have to be under the water with his wig on for quite a long time.”

Even with high-quality wig glue, Hennah says, “You can do everything you can to make that wig stay on, but there’s a limited amount of time that the glue will last. So we had to use different products than we would normally use to get the wig down.” Because the product Hennah normally uses to keep hair back in a wig is water soluble, “it melts, and the hair starts coming out from the lace, and it can ruin the whole look of the wig.” She had to come up with a creative fix.

“I glued his own hair back, and then we glued the lace on top of that, and wildly, it lasted right until the very last shot when they were dragging him through the water by the ankles,” Hennah reveals. “The wig just came off completely after they’d finished shooting. And so he came up out of the water, and the wig was off to the side, [and he goes], ‘I think my wig came off.'” She calls the success of the wig “incredible” and “just a fluke really.”

When it came to capturing Darby’s underwater look, it was all about blending the mermaid tail with his skin. “With Stede, Gypsy had a beautiful mermaid tail made, and we did a whole lot of practice with different types of silicon and things that we had to blend that piece between his skin and the tail. We made these pieces of silicon with glitter and things in them that we individually stuck over the top of the mermaid tail,” Hennah details.

Again, there were concerns about getting “things to stick underwater,” but watching the scene come together from behind the camera eased those. “[When] we were standing there on the set that day and watching the monitor, it just was so beautiful that we were all blown away by it, and that tank that they were filming in was a couple of stories deep, and to be out there in that water, it was challenging, and they both did so well. It just went off without a hitch. It was one of those great days where it just worked for everybody.”

Don’t miss what else is in store for the season. Stay tuned for additional interviews and content as the second season of Our Flag Means Death unfolds.

Our Flag Means Death, New Episodes, Thursdays, Max

Source: TV Insider

#rhys darby #taika waititi #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #costume designer #costume details

[dameronology]

liar (bucky barnes)

based on the paramore song of the same name lol a.k.a the one where bucky barnes is scared of his own feelings a.k.a jazz is back in her bucky era

warnings; language

enjoy!!

-jazz

Bucky Barnes had never considered himself a liar.

If anything, he had a hard time not telling the truth. It escaped from his mouth before he even had the chance to think about; no, Steve, I think your new hair cut sucks and sorry Sam, she wasn’t actually checking you out, she was waving at the guy behind you. Call it a product of his years as an assassin - because he couldn’t recall being this truthful back in the war - but it was part of who he was now. Sometimes he thought it meant he should come with a warning; something to say don’t pull the pin on this grenade, because he won’t lie to your mum about liking her food. Would that have been the worst Tinder bio ever? Yeah, no doubt.

Bucky had a hard time even lying to himself. That had become clear as soon as you whirl-whinded into his life. That day was still as crystal clear in his head six months later. It had been an early morning at the SHIELD HQ - the F-train had been delayed an hour and he’d come sprinting into a national security meeting, Starbucks in one hand (he was already late, he figured five minutes more for a frappuccino wouldn’t hurt) and a jumbled apology ready to offer. Then, not two seconds later, you’d come sprinting through the door, smacking into the back of him and launching the iced coffee from his hand, into the air, and straight into the lap of the British prime minister. 

Bucky was late, but you’d been even later. He liked that about you.

You were a whirl-wind in his life; his best friend from that day forward and the reason he could let go of the breath he’d been holding for so many years. Meetings were never boring with you, nor was the paperwork after long missions or the early starts. Every time he was late, he knew you’d take even longer because maybe his commute from Brooklyn was long but you lived three blocks away from work and managed to sleep through every goddamn alarm you’d set. 

It was clear about exactly three seconds after you met that you and Bucky were not destined to just be friends. You knew it and he knew it but neither of you wanted to talk about it. Avoiding the truth wasn’t necessarily lying - Bucky was thankful for that, because he knew that if you asked, everything would come out. He wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t ready for love. 

So, you both left it to rest (and maybe to rot). 

“I hate meetings,” you grumbled. It was eight o’clock on a Monday morning and thanks to a national security threat, you once again found yourself in the SHIELD meeting room earlier than you felt to be natural. “Can’t they just put this in an email?”

“Probably,” Bucky replied. “Hi guys, there’s a terrorist threat. If you see something, say something. Lots of love, the security council.” 

You snorted. “Did you know I have all of their emails sent straight to my spam?”

“I would do the same but I can’t work out how the Facebook app works,” he muttered. “Why are there so many buttons? What are cookies?”

“Buck, why would you have the security council on Facebook?”

“Isn’t that…” he paused, scratching the back of his head. “Isn’t that where emails go?”

You dropped your head in your hands and let out a groan. “I only just got you used to Twitter. I’ll leave it a few weeks before I overwhelm you with any more social media apps.”

“What about TikTok?”

“I am never letting you download TikTok,” you said. 

“Sam said that I should make thirst traps-”

“- please no!” you cut him off. “Never take life advice from Sam.”

Sam was sat across the table from you, a scowl on his face. He was a morning person - hell, the man had already been for a run that morning - but the combination of you and Bucky at any point in the day was enough to drive him up the wall. He glanced between you both, brown eyes calculating for a second, before a grin spread across his face. 

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t,” Sam chirped. “Remember last week when I told you to do that thing, Buck?”

Bucky’s eyes widened. “Shut up, Sam.”

“What thing?” you frowned.

“It’s not mine to share,” Sam shrugged. “But based on the last five minutes’ worth of interactions alone? I think it would be best to listen to me-”

“- I swear to god if you don’t stop talking!” Bucky cut him off; then he glanced at you, blue eyes wavering for a second. “Don’t listen to him.”

Sam knew that he was doing; playing devil’s advocate because a) it meant he could piss off Bucky and b) hopefully get two of his best friends to finally get together after months of pining. It had gotten to the point where him and Steve had literal bets on it. Not necessarily on if you would get together, but more on when. 

“I’m not, but you’re acting weird,” you said. “Want to share with the class?”

“No,” Bucky firmly said.

“Buck,” you warned; it was clear by your voice that you weren’t fucking around. “I don’t know what immature high school bullshit is going on right now but I don’t appreciate it.” 

“I’ll talk to you about it later, okay?” he said. 

“You’re an ass,” you replied.

Picking up your bag and coffee, you shuffled over to the other side of the meeting table where Steve was sat. He hadn’t said a word in any of this; you quite often cursed the lack of boundaries amongst the four of you, but you couldn’t fault Steve that morning. He’d kept to himself, simply watching in awe at the chaos that had just unfolded. 

You stopped in the seat beside him, glancing over at him. “If you say a word, I’ll hit you.”

“I’m not saying anything,” he held up his hands in defense.

The meeting was quick, thankfully. Even worse, it definitely could have been put in an email. You also couldn’t help but notice the British diplomats watching your coffee carefully every time you moved - that was a joke you could have made to Bucky, had he not managed to get himself into your bad books.

You’d barely been out the board room five minutes before you were practically wrestling him by the ear into a quiet corner. The meeting had been quick, thankfully. It hadn’t felt that way for Bucky, who’d been sat opposite you the entire time, barely avoiding your dagger-y gaze. If looks could kill, his vibranium arm would have had a fair few dents in it. 

“So?” you asked. “What was that all about?”

“It’s nothing,” Bucky quickly replied. “I promise-”

“- bullshit!” you cut him off. “Why are you keeping things from me, Buck?”

“I’m not.”

“You are!” you exclaimed. “Look, I don’t even want to know what you and Sam were talking about but at least have the common decency not to keep me out of a conversation that’s about me!”

“Why aren’t you mad at Sam too?!”

“Believe me, I have it out for Sam too but it’s worse when this stuff comes from you!”

Bucky thinned his eyes at you. “Why?”

“You know why.”

He sighed, shifting from one foot to another. Eyes to the ceiling for a second, he took a deep breath. 

“Sam told me last week that I should ask you out,” he said. “Said something about how everyone around us can see what we don’t, and that we’re kidding ourselves, and…”

You sniffed, trying to stay composed. It had been a long time coming, there was no denying that. Bucky had been avoiding the conversation because he wasn’t ready but you’d been avoiding it because you were terrified of the answer. Rejection from literally anyone else in the world would have been fine, but from him? There was no metaphor for that pain, or that fear. 

“And what?” you asked. “What do you think of that?”

He shrugged. “I think it’s…”

You both waited for a second, the tension in the air almost suffocating.

“...dumb.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “Dumb?!”

“Yeah?” Bucky sounded unsure. “We’re best friends, and-”

“- that’s bullshit!” you snapped. “Buck, I know you can be confusing but…if there’s one thing I am certain of, it’s that we are not just best friends and you know it!”

“Do I?”

You took a step back, sniffing. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s dumb. Forget I said anything.”

“Wait, don’t be like that-”

“- it’s fine, James,” you sniffed. “I’ll see you around.”

“Are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

(You weren’t good.)

“Okay, I’m glad. Call me later, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course,” you forced a smile.

(You weren’t going to call him.)

–

Five days.

That’s the longest Bucky had gone without talking to you since he’d met you and also the exact amount of time you’d been ignoring him for. He’d given in calling you after three days, and considered coming around your apartment after four, but then he got a last minute call onto a mission where your name was at the top of the call sheet. Fab. 

Bucky liked to consider himself a good flier, but it certainly would have been easier to co-pilot a jet with someone who was actually willing to talk to him. It was quite amazing, actually, to see the lengths that you were willing to go to all in pursuit of icing him out. 

“This is Barnes to air traffic control on QJ564. We’ll be approaching our destination in about five minutes, currently at 10,000 feet, over.”

“This is ATC to QJ564, you’re cleared for landing in Munich, runway four. Over.”

“This is Barnes to ATC on QJ564. Runway four confirmed, thank you. Could you also tell my co-pilot that I’m sorry and that I miss them? Over.”

“Uh…this is ATC to QJ564. Barnes says he’s sorry and that he misses you. Over.”

“This is Barnes’ co-pilot on QJ564, tell him that I think he’s a cun-”

“- this is Captain Rogers monitoring the channels for suspicious activity from the headquarters. May I remind the pilots aboard QJ564 of the appropriate workplace manners over professional channels? Over.”

After Steve’s voice, the lines went silent. Bucky glanced over at you, eyebrows raised. 

“That was rude.”

You continued to ignore him, attention turned to landing the jet safety. It wasn’t hard - Tony Stark had built a jet that practically landed itself, but it was still a good enough excuse to blank out your best friend for the next five minutes. Still, none of that conversation was worth the absolute castigating you were about to receive from Captain America as soon as you were back in New York. He was no fun sometimes. 

With the jet safely on the runway, you parked up at the airport and made your way down to the tarmac where the agents were waiting. All you had to do now was await instructions from headquarters on what to do next. That gave you more empty time with Bucky, who was stood next to you. So, you moved away and leant against the wheels of the plane, pulling out your phone to play Doodle Jump.

The call came through eventually, but it was to Bucky’s radio instead of yours. 

“Right, agents,” he began, though it was more a sigh than anything. “Coulson is currently ten minutes out on another quinjet to lead the mission. Agent (Name) and I have been removed from this operation for the foreseeable future so that we can sit in the jet, man the communications systems and re-take the online seminar about appropriate workplace language.”

“What?!” you exclaimed. “Nice one, Barnes!”

Bucky forced a smile, trying not to crack up in front of the fifteen junior agents stood in front of you. “Why we have to retake it is a mystery to me.”

“Good luck out there, guys,” you huffed. With that, you spun around and stormed back on board the jet. 

Bucky was hot on your heels, closing up the door behind him as he went. He didn’t really know what to say - somehow he’d made you angrier, now - but apolgoising profusely felt like a pretty good place to start. 

“So you’re talking to me now?” he asked, following you through the fuselage. 

“No!”

“You just did!”

“Fuck off, Bucky!”

“And again!”

“Leave me alone!”

He grabbed your arm, stopping you in your tracks. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“Sorry doesn’t even begin to cut it,” you huffed.

Taking a seat, you curled your legs up in front of you. You didn’t try and swat (or hit) Bucky when he leant down in front of you, which he took as a good sign. It was time to pull out the big guns. 

“Can I talk for just…maybe five seconds, possibly ten, without you interrupting?”

You nodded.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never want to hurt you because you’re the last person in the world I’d ever want to upset but I was put on the spot by what Sam said, and then by what you said, and it freaked me out a little,” he began. “You and I both know that he’s right - but never tell him I said that - and honestly, the silence you’ve given me over the last five days made me realise that more than ever.”

You smiled. “What are you saying, Buck?”

“I love you,” he said. It was plain and simple, completely without hesitation and entirely with conviction. “I’ve known that for a while but I just didn’t want to admit it to myself, but like I said…five days without you made me realise I don’t even want to go five seconds without you.”

“That’s how you apologise,” you gave him a watery grin, poking him in the chest. 

“So?”

“So what?”

“Anything you want to say to that?”

“Oh, yeah!” you exclaimed. “I love you too.”

Bucky pulled you into a kiss; he held you flush against him, one hand holding the back of your neck, metal one gripping the back of your tac-vest. Despite everything, he was warm and you were certain then that you were never going to let him - if not a little ecstatic that you’d found a new way to shut him up. 

You both jumped back when you heard the doors to the jet go, only to turn around and see Phil Coulson on the phone, a glare on his face.

“What is it with you two and inappropriate work place behaviour?”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky barnes angst #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #bucky x you #bucky reader insert #bucky x y/n #marvel imagines #marvel angst #marvel imagine #avengers imagine #avenger imagines #bucky barnes #avengers #marvel

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Made of Meat

Danny Phantom/DC (Animal Man) crossover (thank you @stealingyourbones for the prompt)

When strange, faintly glowing meat creatures start rampaging through the streets of San Diego, there's only one man to call. And when Animal Man could use a helping hand, Phantom swoops in to assist. Or, Danny Phantom and Animal Man team up to fight the Lunch Lady

Read it on AO3

[Warnings for minor violence, mentions of vomit, and repeated mentions/descriptions of raw meat]

When strange, faintly glowing meat creatures started rampaging through the streets of San Diego, there was only one man to call. 

Absorbing the power of flight from a hawk overhead, Buddy Baker, A.K.A. Animal Man soared toward downtown to confront the monsters wreaking havoc on the innocent civilians of his city, his blond hair fluttering in the wind.

By the time he arrived, the chaos was well underway. Just like the reports had claimed, several unidentified creatures were causing the brunt of the damage, each of them about four feet tall and composed entirely of raw meat, still dripping with blood and already attracting flies, with glowing red eyes and fleshy teeth. Animal Man could see pools of vomit on the sidewalks from people who had evidently been too disgusted by the creatures to hold down their lunches, but he'd seen far worse himself and wasn't bothered by the creatures' grotesque appearance.

He swooped down to snatch a little girl out of the way of one of the things and take her to the nearest screaming woman—her mother, just as he had guessed—and urged them to run. There weren't as many people downtown as Buddy would have normally expected to see at this time, probably most of them already had already run away, but a few stragglers still remained, most of them filming the incident on their phones, some hiding, none of them in immediate danger.

With his bird's eye view, Animal Man had spotted a peculiar woman in the center of the commotion. She looked confused and sickly, with greenish skin. It wasn't her appearance that bothered him, though. Something about her felt off, and it unsettled the hero in a way he couldn't quite put into words. Using the sharp ears of a bat from the nearby zoo, he could hear her even from high in the sky, demanding to know where she was and what was for lunch.

Whoever she was, Buddy was pretty sure she was the woman in charge, and these meat gremlins were her doing. If he could knock her out, or better yet, peacefully convince her to stop, her creatures would stop too.

With the strength of a charging rhino, Animal Man plowed through her meaty minions with little trouble and slammed his whole body into her, sending her flying a few feet to land sprawled on the ground. He rushed forward to pin her so she couldn't get away, and it was then that he began to realize what was so off about her.

Her skin was cold and green, her eyes glowed red, and her clothes were about forty years out of date. But even more strange that that, he didn't feel any connection to her through the Red. The Red connected all animal life, from the tiniest single-celled organism, to the biggest blue whale, and humans were included in that. Through the Red, Animal Man could absorb the powers of any living creature. 

Not this woman, though.

She looked human, and acted human... but she wasn't human.

Animal man dug deeper, trying to feel out a connection to the Green, or the Rot. It was harder for him to sense them, but all three elements were connected, and they encompassed all living things, even after death.

Except for this mysterious woman.

She wasn't fauna, or flora, or decay. And now that he was feeling through the Red, he realized that her constructs weren't connected to it either, even though they looked like they could have crawled right out of it moments before they showed up here. Buddy didn't know how that was possible, but right now, what she was didn't matter half as much as stopping her.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore," he said firmly, "but you have to stop what you're doing, or I'll be forced to. I can't let you keep attacking innocent people with your creatures. It has to stop." 

The woman scowled and stood up, her body passing right through Animal Man like he was made of air, and a chill ran down his spine and he shuddered as he fell a few inches onto the asphalt below.

"What the...?" He tried to grab her again, but he couldn't even touch her. His hands passed right through her, like he was trying to catch smoke.

"You think you can stop me?!" the woman demanded, her hair standing up and writhing like snakes on her head. The meat monsters turned as one and began to converge on Animal Man. "Today's menu is doom, and now, it's lunchtime!"

"It's four-thirty!"

Animal Man snapped his head up toward the sound of the new voice, and saw a teenager flying into view. He wore a black and white jumpsuit, had white hair, and the green glow of his eyes was visible even from a distance. The teen rocketed down and slammed his fists right into the strange woman's face, sending her skidding backwards.

"You!" she hissed, her eyes widening and pulsing red—it was terrifying in person, but Buddy couldn't help the thought that it was reminiscent of a really angry Loony Tunes character.

Immediately, her creatures turned their attention away from Animal Man, and toward the newcomer. Evidently, she and him had a history. And she'd determined that the kid was a higher priority than Buddy was.

"That's right, Lunch Lady, it's me again," the kid said, grabbing a thermos that was hanging off his belt. "And I'm here to tell you that the only thing on the menu for you today is soup!"

Whatever he planned to do with that thermos, he didn't get the chance, as one of the meat gremlins morphed its arm into a long whip and knocked it away from him.

"Ew!" the kid said, dropping a few feet to punch the nearest creature and then dry-heaving for a second. "Are these things raw? Why—eugh!" he cut himself off with a shudder as another one got close and he had to punch it. Clearly the creatures were not his bag.

"Hey kid!" Animal Man shouted, ready to offer his help.

"It's Phantom," the kid shouted back. "Wait, who're you?"

"Animal Man," he replied. "I'll keep the meat things occupied if you can deal with her."

"You sure, dude?" Phantom flew back out of the meat things' reach with a grimace, and dodged the sprays of blood they spewed up after him looking almost as green as the Lunch Lady. "These things are pretty gross. Way grosser than the last time I fought 'em."

"I've handled grosser than them," Buddy assured. "They're not a problem—but I can't fight someone I can't touch."

Phantom turned slightly to look at the Lunch Lady, who was laughing triumphantly, and got splashed in the back of the head by one of the meat creatures still bombarding him. He yelped in disgust, and Buddy pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.

"Alright, deal!" Phantom agreed, wiping the back of his head with a gloved hand. "I'll leave 'em to you, just don't let them merge with each other, or her, they become a much bigger problem that way."

"Got it!" 

Animal Man summoned up some elephant strength, leopard agility and the reflexes of a fly and ran at the creatures. The force of his punches caused them to burst apart instantly, and in the time it took one to reform itself, he could take down three more.

Meanwhile, Phantom shot upward, firing a green beam at the Lunch Lady. His head turned frantically, like he was looking for something, but he didn't seem to find it. The Lunch Lady screamed as he dive-bombed her again, this time sending her through a wall—the wall itself undamaged. She came back through it moments later, back on her feet and angrier than ever. 

As much as he wanted to keep an eye on the kid to make sure he didn't get hurt, Buddy still had to focus on his own fight. Phantom was clearly familiar with this enemy, had apparently fought her before, and he seemed like he could handle himself. None of that stopped Buddy from worrying. None of his worrying changed the fact that he had a job to do.

In his moment of distraction, one of the creatures slammed into the side of Animal Man's knee, knocking him down. He used his elephant strength to throw it off and watched it splatter into a bloody, fleshy mass against a concrete wall. 

As he rolled over to get back on his feet and resume the fight, he saw the thermos Phantom had dropped. It had rolled out of sight under the bus stop bench. That must've been what the kid was looking for! Although Animal Man had no idea what Phantom could need it for, he darted forward like a cheetah on all fours and snatched the thermos up.

"Hey Phantom!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and kicking another creature into pieces. "You need this, right?"

Phantom turned, and grinned widely when he saw what his new ally was holding. Animal Man threw it up to him and he caught it easily and uncapped it right away, aiming it at the Lunch Lady.

Animal Man punched out another meat gremlin as a blue light shone from inside the thermos, and the Lunch Lady screamed and shouted in protest as she was sucked inside. As soon as the cap was back on the thermos, the remaining creatures collapsed into piles of raw meat, covered in rocks and dirt and buzzing flies. How this mess would get cleaned up was anyone's guess.

Fight ended, Phantom flew down to where Animal Man was standing, surrounded by a ring of red meat and plucked poultry, but did not touch down on the ground. A strategic choice, although it was a bit too late for the other hero to do the same.

"Eugh, I smell like a butcher shop and I have entrails in my hair," Animal Man commented, sniffing his sleeve with a grimace. "My wife isn't gonna so much as wave hello until I take a shower, and it's gonna be hell getting the stench outta my suit."

"Oh, uh... here." 

Phantom put his hand on Buddy's shoulder, and a cold empty sensation wracked his body for a few seconds. All the gross chunks and fluids dropped to the ground, falling through him like he was made of air, just like the Lunch Lady had moved through him earlier. When Phantom took his hand away, Buddy was clean. Even the smell didn't seem to be coming from him anymore, although it still definitely surrounded him.

"Wow, thanks," Buddy said, marveling at the distinct lack of red stains on his white gloves which had been absolutely soaked in it a moment before. "That trick must come in pretty useful for you."

"Yeah, well, it's the least I could do after you helped me out," Phantom said. His shoulders hunched and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It was all my fault the Lunch Lady attacked in the first place. I was stupid and forgot to make sure the thermos was empty before I left Amity Park."

"Hey, you're not stupid; don't say that. Everyone makes mistakes, what's important is that you were able to fix it," Animal Man argued. 

Phantom smiled gratefully, and it wasn't until he took his hand away from his neck that he seemed to remember the splatter of blood and juices he'd gotten from one of the creatures and he wrinkled his nose at the red stain on his own glove. He hardly seemed to think about it as he turned himself intangible like he had to Buddy before and let the viscera fall to the sidewalk with a splat.

"So... what was she anyway?" Buddy asked, doing his best to keep a straight face. "The Lunch Lady I mean. She definitely wasn't human, I could tell that much."

"Oh, she was a ghost," Phantom replied. "I'm a ghost, too, but I'm a good guy, I swear. Sorry, I forget not a lot of people have seen ghosts outside of Amity Park. They're super common where I come from."

"A ghost, huh?"

Animal Man considered that. It would make sense. A ghost was dead, but not decaying, not made of flesh or vegetation. Not fauna, not flora, not rot. It tracked with what he had sensed from the woman before. But if Phantom was a ghost too, that meant he'd died at about the same age Buddy's own son, Cliff, had, and that sent a pang of heartache through the man's chest.

One thing didn't make sense, though. Phantom claimed to be a ghost, like the Lunch Lady, but unlike with her, Buddy could sense Phantom through the Red. It was a thin connection, like the kid was hanging onto it by a thread, but it was a solid one, too. If this kid really was a ghost, he wasn't the same as the one he'd just trapped in that thermos of his.

For a moment, Buddy thought about pressing for answers, but he quickly decided against it. It could be that the truth was too personal, or embarrassing, or even dangerous for Phantom to reveal, especially to a virtual stranger, even one who'd helped him out. Besides everyone was entitled to their secrets. Instead, Animal Man smiled at the kid and clapped him on the back.

"That's pretty cool," he said. "Say, do ghosts eat? You should come over to my place for dinner. After a hard-fought battle like that, I'd say you deserve it."

"You can eat after fighting those things?" Phantom looked down at what remained of the meat creatures and gagged.

"Trust me, if I wasn't already a vegetarian, I would be after this," Buddy replied. "My wife's making some meat-free lasagna, and we always have tons of leftovers. She usually doesn't like me taking hero stuff home with me, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind in this case."

"She knows you're a hero?" 

The open shock on Phantom's face was a bit of a surprise, but then again, he had said he was from out of town. Just because Buddy was often swarmed by local paparazzi, didn't mean he was any more than regionally famous.

"Everyone knows," he said with a shrug. "I don't keep my identity a secret. It can get annoying sometimes, but I don't really have any reason to. I'm not one of the big-shots, like Batman and Wonder-Woman. You're not from around here, so I bet you never even heard of Animal Man before today."

"Well... no...."

"Exactly," Buddy made sure to grin wide enough that the kid knew there were no hard feelings about it. "So what do you say? You coming over for dinner, or what?"

"I'd love to, but I can't," Phantom said apologetically. "I have to deal with all this meat and then my—uh... I just have other plans tonight."

"You need help with the clean up?"

Phantom frowned down at the piled of meat still surrounding the two of them. 

Maybe this really hadn't been the best place to discuss dinner plans. Man, Buddy really was desensitized to this kinda stuff wasn't he? For a guy who didn't eat meat, he sure spent a lot of time surrounded by it, both in the Red, and now here.

"Nah," Phantom decided finally. "I think I can just turn the ground intangible and phase everything down under the street level so it can decompose."

"Just turn the ground intangible, huh?" Animal Man huffed a light laugh and shook his head. "Yeah, alright, if you're sure. I should get going anyway. Stay safe, kiddo. Maybe I'll see you around again before you head back home."

"Uh..." Phantom blinked owlishly at him. "Y-yeah... you uh... stay safe too."

Animal Man smiled and nodded, and took off toward his home, borrowing the power of flight from a pigeon on a telephone wire. The way Phantom had reacted, it was almost like no one had ever said that to him before. Stay safe.

Where had he said he was from? Amity Park?

Maybe Animal Man should keep tabs on him from now on, just in case. After all, ghost or not, he was still just a teenager, and all heroes needed allies from time to time.

#dpxdc #crossover #fic #things i wrote #I have way more ideas for DP/animal man crossovers so this fic will likely be the first of many

[princecharmingwinks]

Sterek Fic Rec - April & May 2023. Sorry team, I know I am late and now combining months. Been busy with other things so while I hope to keep doing rec lists, they may be less monthly overall. But I promise I am still here! :)

Orbit (yours is the only one i'd follow) by whenwordsmakesense (1/1 | 1K | Teen)

Stiles flashes back to the nights and mornings he has spent in Derek’s bed, only because he’d fallen asleep researching the latest trouble in their town and Derek hadn’t felt like waking him up, only to drive sleepily and more than likely end up on his computer again once he got home. And he thinks of this pack, his family, has tied them to each other—all of them—and he thinks of how love has filled them up where the holes of loss have taken place.

OR

Stiles muses on what love is.

The Ink Under My Skin by rainsoakedshoes (1/1 | 10K | Mature)

Derek is looking for an Emissary. What he finds is Stiles Stilinski; resident witch.

Stiles would do whatever it takes to protect the Hale pack and his Alpha.

***

“I want to protect my pack as well as I can,” Derek continued. “Emissaries traditionally keep balance, having someone who wants to tip the odds in our favour may come in handy.”

Figure it Out by Gia279 (1/1 | 5K | Not Rated | Podfic by josilverdragon)

“He isn’t cursed,” Derek said suddenly, “I am.” As he spoke, no less than three lizards tumbled from his mouth. He caught them before they hit the ground, clutching them in folded fingers.

Dream Mate - Real Mate by TheyDraggedMeInNowIAintLeaving (1/1 | 4K | Teen)

Stiles is hired to put magical protection on the Hale house, Derek is incapable of making words in his presence. Somehow they still manage to get a happy ending

Derek Hale--Even in the Wind His Hair Is Perfect by literaryoblivion (1/1 | 2K | Teen)

It’s not the greatest job in the world, but someone’s gotta do it. And Stiles makes the most of it, okay?

Writing captions for the live broadcasts as well as helping run and write the copy for the online news stories can get rather tedious and boring, but Stiles tries his best to keep himself entertained. Slipping in a movie or comic book reference inside a human interest story just to see if someone comments about it, putting up a funny headline to see if someone catches it and puts it up on reddit, you know harmless things that to the casual viewer and reader will go unnoticed but to those that actually pay attention, they might get a kick out of it.

Recently though, he maybe has been… abusing his power.

(There's) no smoke without fire by Ark (1/1 | 6K | Explicit | Podfic by  pricklywhicket)

They kiss for entirely too long. If anyone found them in the woods just then they would be like, dudes, this is excessive.

“Stiles, I was talking about the lasagna” by quackquackcey (1/1 | 2K | Teen)

The time Stiles thought his dad could read minds and ended up confessing his inner most thoughts starring Derek—twice.~ 🐺💝

Couldn't find the words by Tails89 (6/6 | 21K | Teen)

*Complete*

John stands, holding out his hand for Melissa. “I never thought I’d be happy to see my son dating Derek Hale."

“They’re good for each other.” Melissa lets John pull her up onto her feet. “I’m happy for them.”

a.k.a

Five times someone thought Stiles and Derek were dating (plus one time they finally used their words and were!)

all my blossoms by WeAreTheLuckyOnes (1/1 | 7K | Mature)

Stiles has to nudge Derek over as he climbs into bed and under the quilt, but Derek goes easily, rolling onto his side and curving around Stiles's body when he settles. He puts his face into Stiles's throat, nose nudging against Stiles's jaw, arm sliding around Stiles's waist. Stiles is asleep in mere moments, comfortable and warm and safe against Derek's body.

Or the one where Stiles and Derek just get to be happy.

You Always Make A Bloody Mess by Sweetsyren (1/1 | 5K | Explicit)

Stiles is used to hiding his scars.

princecharmingwinks special mention (the found family vibes are so sweet!)

here is the deepest secret nobody knows by owlpostagain (1/1 | 22K | Teen)

“Derek,” Stiles groans. “You have me. You’ve always had me, you absolute moron, how many physically impossible feats of life-saving heroics do I have to perform before you get it?”

See you next time team! Hopefully not as long before the next list. Remember to send all the love and kudos to our fabulous writers (and podficcers!).

#sterek #sterek fanfiction #fic rec #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #derek hale #princecharminglists

[shuamorollss]

drop-tower crisis — k.sy x gn!reader

after a whole hour of gushing about your fear of the drop tower ride while on a date with your boyfriend, you suddenly felt the urge to try and ride it... just to face your fears and have fun, right?

fluff, established relationship, reader doesn't have fear of heights, just has the fear of the ride alone. warnings/notes— none ... <1k wc + reblogs are greatly appreciated!

note— literally just a drabble i wrote under 15 minutes... only bc I'm so love deprived from the book i currently finished 😴 wrote this as like a moment in my head to my own WesLiz happy ever after anyway hehe that's all g'night or g'morning wherever u are!!!?!

"Do you think mom would mind?" You asked curiously. Somehow, Kwon Soonyoung perks up a light grin in amusement on how you were suddenly shaky as you finally take a grasp this whole thing.

a.k.a your whole idea.

"That was out of nowhere." He raised a brow.

"I'm just saying!—like, you know... if I do this, will my mom be alright with it? Will she worry the hell out? or—" You let out an exaggerated gasp, squeezing your eyes shut as your seat finally secures itself in place. Keeping you from ever standing up or escaping as your now bethrothed to this god-damned drop-tower ride.

Soonyoung lets out a loud chuckle, his eyes never leaving to look at you as you lowly squeal in terror. And the ride hasn't even started yet.

"You pushed me to try this ride, I just ag—"

"You agreed yes, yes!" you nod repeatedly, myriads of questions wandering in your mind as to how and why you even thought of this in the first place.

Whenever you go to amusement parks, this was the very ride you avoid your gaze to.

Just by looking at a distance, having the seats suddenly raising up and acceleratng back down—and up again, has your stomach churning.

And now you're going to be experiencing it in real time.

Real. Fucking. Time.

"Soonyoung." you loudly call out in pure fear as the seat lightly shook, and up it finally went.

You took a glance at your boyfriend beside you to see him watching your very reaction. His face plastering an awful smirk and low breathy chuckles that were running along with the swift breeze of the wind as it continues higher.

And higher...

"Soonyoung." You squealed, squeezing your eyes tightly shut once more as you could see a whole mountain from up here.

You couldn't even look down it was that bad.

The way your feet couldn't even feel any flat surfaces at the bottom and the thought that you would fall off and meet your untimely demise sent numerous amounts of shivers down your spine.

All of this because... you wanted to try this ride. After years of avoidance.

Then, after a few seconds of accepting your fate, you felt someone's warm hand started intertwining with yours.

Just like that, you open your eyes, seeing none other than your boyfriend's hands holding yours.

From what was an unbearable smirk airing visible teasing and mockery from him a moment ago. Now turned into something mellow and genuine. His eyes laying onto you, and hands squeezing yours in comfort, he says, "You said face your fears, right?"

You nod reluctantly, both heartbeat and seats were still raising.

"Open your eyes, look around, or look at me, and have fun. 'kay?"

He squeezes your hand tighter, darting your gaze to your intertwined hands and back to his visage putting up the lightest beam for you.

Only for you.

And at that moment, his words that were so simple have easily broken you out to your room of fear. Suddenly you don't feel so scared anymore.

Still nervous, but not as before.

Then, the ride stops for a brief second.

You wanted to slide your hands out of Soonyoung's grasp, earning him a quick look of concern.

You give him your warmest smile, "I'm okay now."

Yet, he didn't let go.

"Nah."

He'd be damned if he would.

"It's not safe." You warn.

But he had to.

He breathes out a sigh. "Fine." he says, disappointment filling his nerves that will definitely dissipate in a matter of—

3... 2... 1.

And... take off.

© shuamorollss. please do not modify, edit, copy or reproduce any of the works published.

#k labels #kwon soonyoung #hoshi #hoshi fluff #hoshi x reader #hoshi x reader fluff #svt x reader #svt fluff #svt imagines #svt #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #seventeen #hoshi imagines

[hoeforhao]

Rusted Away 🍂|| Kwon Soonyoung ||

🍁pairing : ex!soonyoung × fem!reader

🍁genre : exes to lovers, bakery shop au sort of, mostly angst, fluff towards the end, mild smut, mutual pining, slow build up.

🍁warnings : none for this part. will be added in the later ones!

🍁summary : you and soonyoung broke up almost two years ago because according to him sharing a common interest point with each other, to talk about at the end of the day was a necessity. How will things turn out for the spiriting away lovers now that their friend group has assigned them both the common job of baking muffins for the fall party!

🍁part : 1/3 [for fall-ing for u collab ]

🍁word count : 0.8k

🍁author's note : this is my first ever collab and am so excited!!! also i'm posting a full blown fic after a long break for writer's block and i don't know how this has turned out. please let me know your views ♡ last but not the least thanks to @playmetheclassics for beta-reading this for me! ily <3

"Y'all can't be serious right now" you sounded quite disgruntled with your two minions on other side of the conference call, plotting against your sanity, for universe knows how long!

"Well I mean you two quite literally run the two most loved bakeries of our neighborhood. It shouldn't come as a surprise that we will team you up." Steph's plain and unbothered voice echoes right into your ears, specially the 'team up part'.

"Yeah it shouldn't have been surprising or disappointing if it was someone else Steph. But it's with him. With Soonyoung. The Kwon Soonyoung. Out of all the people out there, you two would at least know best about what he did" your voice started shaking with each word it got closer to mentioning his name ; again ; after 2 whole years.

You still were in disbelief that your two most close ones did this to you. After being with you all those nights you cried till you couldn't breathe anymore, holding your trembling body whenever you had the worst breakdowns to seeing you slowly heal from the scabs and stabs left by him, Steph and Niall were with you the whole time. Them now setting you up with him again, for a silly little fall party felt nothing but seriously insensitive to you.

Pressing down on the side button of the phone, you were now sitting on the bed, all covered up in your comfort blankie with a blacked out screen laying on your lap ; the glass of which reflected the browns and caramels of the backdrop outside the misty windows, onto your own ones.

Fall was finally around the corner, which meant that the roads will now be iced all rusty, drizzled with honey leaves and sprinkled on by dark wine twigs. Fall also meant one more thing...the one very thing that was like the warm covering on your wounds, that meant the most to you above anyone and everyone. Your sycamore tree!

Pushing away the fluffy blanket on your legs, you quickly pulled down your pyajams to get dressed into something more appropriate for the weather outside, something more comfy and something that made you feel like you're back home once again a.k.a soonyoung's brown hoodie. While havocing through your entire wardrobe to take out all his belongings and leave back not a single essence of him around you and on you, the idiot missed out on that one brown hoodie he owned...rather the one he loved the most and the one he gave to you on your first date - under the sycamore tree.

You knew that the only thing, the only friend that could soothe the burns on you right now was that tree, the one true buddy that has stood by your side through the pains even your best friends couldn't heal, the big brother that shadowed you whenever the world's bright rays tried to scorch on your skin. So without wasting any more seconds, you hurriedly ran down the stairs leading to the hall. Upon reaching the main door of your small apartment you twist on the knob to pull open the door, and quite instantly a gust of cinnamon flavored wind engulfs all your senses.

Fall was truly your soul season. No matter how much turmoil your life was going through, or how much clogged your brain was to come up with new ideas, a walk down the leaf stained path of your favorite garden while the season's cool breeze flowed through your hair, definitely helped the caged Robin in you fly free finally.

Since the day Soonyoung broke your heart and left you all alone amidst the rusted haze, you've been visiting this sycamore tree every fall, to reminisce all the warm happy moment spent under its shade. To feel the same happiness as the day you planted the tree with your best friend, when you both were only 8 year olds, with the person who held you like the softest cotton bud dispersing away in the breeze all these years only to tear you off the stem at one go now.

You were consumed in your thoughts about how crazy love was, about how the twigs that have seen two people be in love for so long, hang around it for years, the branches that have been painted with countless giggles and soft kisses, now had its leaves shedding themselves from the agony of seeing its spiriting away child standing beneath it to shelter herself from the bleeding marks left by its other child.

Just as you were about to sit down on the dewy grass covering the entire ground below, your phone notification sound blew up suddenly. Drawing the device out from your tote, your eyes fell onto the lit up screen to see the name you've been running away from all this time.

#svthub.collab #svthub #seventeen #kpop #svtcreations #kpop scenarios #hoeforhao #seventeen x reader #fanfic #seventeen x y/n #seventeen angst #svt angst #kpop angst #svt fluff #seventeen fluff #hoshi angst #soonyoung angst #hoshi x reader #hoshi x y/n #soonyoung x y/n #soonyoung x reader #svt x reader #svt x y/n #seventeen fanfic #svt fic #svt flick fic #falling for you #hoshi #hoshi fluff #hoshi fic

[honey-minded-hivemind]

I just imagined: What if there's an AU where Logan and Reader are experiments, maybe for the Weapon X scientists, maybe for something else, or for some mutant-experimenting group, and Sabretooth (a.k.a., his brother) ends up taking care of them once they've been busted out?

Let's look at it this way:

Logan has been in that place for Heaven only knows how long. He's seen sh*t, he's heard all sorts of awful things, and he's lived them. Then there's a kid thrown in with him, and suddenly he's a dad now. (Who else is going to parent this random kid/teen? The scientists? F*ck no!) So he's now trying to keep himself and this kid alive, biding his time until he finds the best opportunity for them to leave.

Reader is this random kid/teen who's been put into this program/experiment, and they've been tossed into the mess with no safety net... Until they end up with Logan, or as everyone else calls him, Wolverine. And Reader, seeing a feral, growly, possibly dangerous individual... tries to be gentle. Tries to treat him as a person. (This guy is covered in wounds and reeks of blood, and obviously needs care, and they're all in this together, aren't they?) And Reader is soon met with someone who is their protector in this H*ll they're living in, someone who'd kill for them and die for them, if the situation called for it. Too bad Reader would do the same for him...

(They become cellmates/cell-buddies. Logan, when he's not chained to the wall or floor or restrained in some way is curled around Reader. Reader tries to keep his humanity intact, and tries to maintain both of their sanities. The moment someone tried to take Reader away, Logan bit someone's arm off-)

Sabretooth comes into play when he finds out about this secret program trying to make or recapture mutant experiments, wanting soldiers or guards or weapons... And when he catches wind of a rumor, that his baby brother is in there... He decides to make it his business. And realizes he's going to have to get involved if he wants to get him out mostly intact.

Trying to act the part of a willing subject... oh, it grates on his nerves... Having to act like he's loyal, or controlled. Doing what they say when they say it. But the reward... tearing out their throats and getting his brother away from them, causing chaos, too... is too sweet, too much of a good thing, to pass up. Then he finds out his brother is attached to another subject, and suddenly he's now trying to figure out if he needs to keep them alive, too.

And what he finds... it convinces him to keep Reader alive.

They're the only good thing to his brother in this h*llscape. The only one treating him with any respect or decency. And that earns them his protection. Not to mention they're a small pup, just a cub, in a den of snakes and lions... And his brother likes them. Those are enough reasons for him to add Reader into his plan, to the list of people to break out. (If he roughs up or sets up a few jerks so they can have a taste of what they've given his runt or the cub, it's no one's business-)

And finally, the day comes and he can break them out... Except something goes horribly wrong, and he's now trying to make sure Reader is alive while struggling to keep his brother from running off with them. (Neither of them are in a position to survive alone, or to go another week without proper care and for and safety). So that leaves him with hardly any choice but to kidnap his brother and hide him and the kid where no one can get to them. They can all fight it out when they're well again, but that isn't going to be for a long time, and he does miss taking care of his brother... And he gets to care for the cub, who needs extra careful care and gentleness... So he's going to be busy for quite awhile now, isn't he?... He can't wait to get them warm and cleaned up and fed. They're just going to have to be kept very sleepy and relaxed while he works his own brand of healing and caring for them, 'kay? Just let good ol' Victor take care of everything...

(If you have any questions about this idea, please ask them!)

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #yandere platonic marvel #platonic yandere xmen #yandere x-men #platonic yandere #platonic yandere marvel x reader #platonic yandere xmen evolution #platonic yandere logan howlett #platonic yandere wolverine #platonic yandere sabretooth #platonic yandere victor creed

[idontknowreallywhy]

Resurface 10 - Recall

Maybe could be the next instalment of Resurface (a.k.a. the psychotic Virgil fic) or maybe could be a standalone - any thoughts? Inspired by a song which, it turns out, fits the situation rather well. Some sad Earth&Sky… given I’d managed zero words for days and have found that very irritating I’m gonna run with whatever! Edit to add: Yeah I’m calling it. So what if the fic has a random songfic chapter… it’s Virg…

💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚

He floated in the darkness, weightless yet weighed down. There was nothing to see, nothing to feel. Nothing to smell. Yet he could SEE the dark in an overwhelming level of detail and his nerves rejected the empty tactile nothingness and told him cold instead.

There was sound in the void, but it was intermittent and muffled, as if he was underwater. Voices… familiar but unhappy bubbled past him. If only they’d speak more clearly perhaps he could fix whatever the problem was… but he found he couldn’t move his arms or… his head or… anything so fixing was probably out of the question. He wondered if there anything of him left to move?

He wondered if he was… gone… and found he couldn’t feel too strongly about the idea. Hello darkness, Virgil was ready to succumb.

Oh… Virgil. He had a name. Well there it is.

He knew he was supposed to fight the dark but he was so tired. He was also aware the reason he kept fighting was no more. Although he wasn’t entirely sure what that had been… it nagged at him. It had been important. He was pretty sure it had been everything - there was just a hollow space where he imagined his chest would be. Was odd he couldn’t remember. If he could move his face he’d frown at that.

Maybe it was just that Afterwards you didn’t remember Before?

He only hoped this nothing wouldn’t be everything - the lack of comprehensible sensory input was maddening. Not to mention he had an irritating earworm that was disproving his theory about not remembering. And that would be really annoying to think about for eternity. What even was it? Some kids’ film…

Can there be a day beyond this night? I don’t know anymore what is true.

Huh. Pretty dark for something aimed at children.

Mind you, children felt things pretty strongly. He’d always done so, as far as he could tell. It’s why art and music worked for him. He remembered that too. Alright, memory was a thing then. Given the lack of anything else to do he cast his mind back, trying to recall something, anything… about who he was.

Trees. He could picture trees and feel the drop in the wind as he stepped amongst them. One in particular which was taller than the rest… a pecan. The scaly bark scratched at his fingertips as he peered up into the rustling branches overhead. Wait! He tried to shout but no sound came out! Wait! He wasn’t tall enough! He couldn’t follow! He stood on his tiptoes and stretched towards the hand that reached down out of the leaves but his fingers only brushed the air. He gasped, a bigger hand landed on his shoulder and it all went black again.

He was on his knees on the dusty tarmac and his knees were stinging but not as much as his eyes. The back of the big yellow bus blurred as he cursed his little legs for not being able to catch up with it. He squeaked in horror as a truck thundered past, horn blaring and then large hands were pulling his shoulders, dragging him to the grass. Sharp words, scared words. They told him he couldn’t follow. He wasn’t big enough for big school yet. He couldn’t always follow. He lifted his hands from his knees and stared at the redness that highlighted the wrinkles in his palms. A sob choked him and the red spread out and covered everything.

That large hand was tugging at his elbow, but Virgil wasn’t easy to move against his will. He relented and took one pace backwards, moving his right foot down one of the stone steps leading away from the ornate doorway with a lone figure standing in it. The others had gone back inside to continue the celebration. But one remained, watching them leave, smiling. The stupidly massive doors made him look small and he’d never looked small before. The left foot wouldn’t move. The arm tugged at him but he couldn’t. He couldn’t not follow. The figure waved again, straightened the smart blue coat with the silver buttons and gave a cheeky salute before turning and walking away. Virgil had no breath to cry out to him to stop, he could only reach out silently towards the retreating blue.

I follow you around, I always have, but you’ve gone to a place I cannot find.

No. The song was wrong. NO! He thrashed against the nothing and gagged on the bile that rose up in a throat that could suddenly feel, could suddenly burn, could agonisingly scream out loud:

“SCOTT!”

💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #scott tracy #virgil tracy #Scotty’s gonna find you Virg don’t worry #wip wednesday #idontknowreallywhy fanfic #Resurface fic

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 3)

Trying my absolute damnedest to finish this one and part four sooner now that I've finally covered the Pearson backstory. *Ehem* Hello again! I hope you're ready for more yelling about a certain spiky-haired Blackbird aficionado, because I sure am.

To get some things out of the way first, though, here come the usual disclaimers:

This is part three of a series of posts about hpw Crow's character was handled during 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here and part two here. Reading them technically isn't required, but things sure will make a whole lot more sense if you do. (Bring snacks, they're long.)

This post isn't meant as a Crow hate post, nor is it meant to convince people who didn't vibe with his character to change their mind. This is my very long winded-attempt to analyse the writing decisions surrounding his character as best I can, without too much bias. That said, full disclosure, I do personally like Crow, so there's a good chance that will shine through whether I want it to or not. But also, I'm trying to have fun here, so please cut me some slack.

In case you haven't read my previous Crow posts (no shade there) and/or still believe the many, many production rumours that have been haunting the 5Ds fandom since the show's original run, please let me burst your bubble(s) with some insanely comprehensive research by someone over on Reddit (thanks again to @mbg159, who's also here on tumblr): No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, or the final boss of season 1, and his spike in screentime has nothing to do with his cards. And also, No, Aki didn't get less presence in the narrative because her VA got pregnant. What if you don't have the time to read either of those long posts? In that case, please take away this simple, very easy rebuttal of why the above theories are bullshit: Their would-be "key points" don't line up with the 5Ds production timeline. At all. Not even vaguely. So please, ditch them, let them die, seeing them still talked about makes me feel like I'm gonna break out in hives. And for the love of god, don't use this post or in fact anything else I post to pit Aki and Crow against each other. Both characters have their strengths and their reasons to love them. I am not the least bit interested in starting any character discourse. So please, spare my sanity. Ok? Thank you.

And now, we can get to the good part at last. In my previous post in this series, I stopped my analysis at episode 95, a.k.a. part two of the Pearson backstory. In this post, I will thus be picking up right after, at the very start of the WRGP—with the Team Unicorn match. The goal for this post is to analyse Crow's part in this particular arc, then provide some food for thought/ideas on how things that rubbed some people the wrong way could have been improved.

More below the readmore, and I give you not just my usual warning, but an extra warning, too: The universe will not let me write short things, so tread with caution, stay hydrated, and expect a veritable dissertation below, because this post feels long even to me, who has long since lost her sense of length when it comes to text. (But I'm well aware this is the result of me refusing to split the WRGP part into two separate posts, so I take full responsibility for that.)

Since we left off right after I chewed through all the issues with Crow's rather belated backstory and especially Black-Winged Dragon last time, we jump right into the thick of things now, with episodes 96 and 97, which serve as the preamble to Team 5Ds' first WRGP duel against Team Unicorn. Crow only gets two major things to do during this short stretch of episodes, the first being that he's Team Unicorn's gateway into roping Yusei into a duel during practice, which helps them set up a ruse that baits the 5Ds gang into sending Jack as their first wheeler because they think Jack's deck is best suited to countering Andre's—which, as it later turns out, it is not.

(Arguably the screenshot where Crow gives off the strongest Youngest Sibling Vibes during the entire show. Look at him, all chastised.)

Crow's second role is an odd one that I argue only he out of the main three guys could fulfill at this point: He's the one to get injured right before the Team Unicorn match, rendering him unable to compete, which leads to Aki offering to take his place for that particular match.

(Pictured: Bird Boy regretting all his life choices up until that point simultaneously.)

Here's the first moment I have to talk about in greater detail. See, the thing is, I don't know what the fandom consensus on Crow getting injured here is, but I argue that this moment was a (rare) strategic decision made by the writers at this point. Crow's injury accomplished several things: 1. It sets up the mystery of why his back wheel locked up out of nowhere, which is later paid off through Team Catastrophe's shenanigans. 2. It organically allows Aki to take his spot without introducing any argument about which of them is "worthier" of having that third spot. 3. Through this, it also allows him to actually bounce off Aki for once (a point I will come back to below, during the Team Catastrophe section). And 4. It allows the show to (TECHNICALLY) pay off the setup they did in letting Aki get her turbo duelling license and train with the boys. (Generally, Crow's and Aki's character writing intersects a bit during the pre-Diablo incident WRGP section, something I'll touch on below.)

Moreover, I think this is also the only match where they could have done something like this, and the reason for it is very simple: Team Unicorn are one-off opponents whose presence in the narrative is only relevant as far as it concerns the WRGP, and they are also one of the first teams the 5Ds gang faces. If we think about the opponents Team 5Ds has after this, it becomes very obvious why Crow could only be injured during this duel: If they had tried pulling this stunt later, it would have forced the writers to pull Aki centre stage during a much more plot-relevant duel than this one (which they were apparently allergic to, but let's not go there), not to speak of the fact that it would have forced them to sideline someone they were definitely trying to sell as the third portion of their protagonist trifecta, which would have probably been awkward. (If not for the fact that they literally did this to Crow later in the show, but I'll get there. Yes, I know there's a lot already that I'll still be "getting to".)

The thing is, whether or not it feels like an awkward writing choice to make so early in the big tournament of this arc (you be the judge of that), Crow's injury finally allows him to have a few interesting character moments for once. For one, there is his immediate disappointment about being forced to stay on the sidelines. Aside from the fact that this is a human and relatable reaction to his injury, it stings even more for the character than it does for us as the audience, because Crow got a moment where the Satellite orphans he previously took care of cheer him on for the tournament literally within the same two Team Unicorn preamble episodes.

(Say what you will, this is just stupid cute.)

So when Aki eventually offers to take his place during the match, he's understandably apprehensive—and again, this is human. It may seem mean in the moment, but from a character writing standpoint, it's a natural response. Plus, it's certainly more interesting to watch the group have a bit of conflict among themselves, rather than everyone immediately jumping straight to acceptance. It introduces tension, and, for however brief a moment, raises the question of whether Crow might refuse to let Aki take his spot. This is also the point where Aki and Crow's character writing officially intertwines, at least for the stretch of episodes between the Team Unicorn duel and the Team Catastrophe duel. And you know what? Say what you will, but I think it does a world of good for both of them. The 5Ds cast, as lovely as it is, doesn't get a lot of room to bounce off one another where it concerns personal matters anymore, once the WRGP starts. Arguably, they get little time to bounce off one another outside of plot-related discussions at all once this portion of the show comes around. The characters are treated as "fully developed", and thus, the writing largely doesn't take the time to show us how the group naturally interacts with one another anymore, especially not with how many side characters (chiefly Bruno and Sherry), antagonists, and duels the show now has to juggle. So Aki and Crow getting even a smidgen of personal conflict here is honestly a breath of fresh air. The interaction kicked off by Crow's injury isn't completely plot-irrelevant, like most character interactions during the pre-WRGP were, but it's not something that feels like it's only there to explain the machinations of the antagonists to the audience, either.

Let me go through this in a little more detail to illustrate my point.

So, episode 97. Crow storms off after Aki offers to take his spot, while Aki heads out to prepare her runner, intent on helping her team. The personal motivations here are already very nice and reflective of these characters as we've gotten to know them up until this point: Crow's angry and disappointed (mostly at himself, which is noteworthy!) because he can't compete. And specifically, he's angry because not being able to compete in the first match means he can't show the kids his duelling like he wanted to. Then there's Aki, whose offer to take Crow's place is every bit as much of a strategic suggestion as it is a bid for acceptance from her. Acceptance, which is the thing she's been all about ever since she was introduced, basically. So she pleads with her friends to accept her, see her as an equal, and allow her to duel for the team, which they do. And Crow initially throws a fit, but then...

(Listen. You have no idea how much Crow and Aki getting to actually be friends means to me.)

He comes around to the idea and not only gives Aki his express permission to take his spot, he even coaches her a bit right before the match. Moreover, as his text states above, he literally entrusts her with the kids' hopes, as well as his own. This quickly brings both of them full circle: Crow, who already has a theme of legacy attached to him, passes the torch to Aki for this match, and in so doing, offers her the acceptance she asked her teammates for. (Frankly, stuff like this makes me wonder why on earth people were so eager to pit these two against each other, when their shared moments are actually some of the best-written during the often rocky WRGP arc.) So, though this injury pulls Crow out of the duel, it, funnily enough, ties him better into the story and to the other characters.

From there, we then dive into the Team Unicorn match proper. And well, being injured as he is, Crow doesn't exactly get a whole lot to do there. However, since we're in the portion where his and Aki's writing overlaps a bit, I do need to go on a quick tangent about what Aki's portion of this duel means for Crow.

(Sigh. Okay, buckle up for a quick and rough detour.)

First, something I need to get out of the way and off my chest: I have made no secret out of the fact that I hate Aki's portion of this duel, save for the moment where she summons Stardust. Hell, this duel segment is pretty much universally hated by anone who has even a smidgen of sympathy for Aki. It's regarded by many as the very moment the writers axed Aki's character, and for good reason: After all the buildup surrounding her getting her turbo duelling license, the supposed "payoff" of it all is that she gets to duel against Andre for a depressing four turns before being defeated immediately, which leads into Yusei's frustrating portion of this duel, which, to my knowledge, isn't regarded any more kindly by fans than Aki's segment. It's a massive let-down, simply put. But the thing is, it's not just a let-down for Aki. After all, the brief character conflict she had with Crow about taking his spot here can and should be regarded as part of the setup for this moment, and as such, it can also be considered to be wasted the second Aki leaves the track after barely making an impact whatsoever.

However, I do need to mention that I have a theory on why this segment was handled the way it was, mostly because I feel like Crow's later interaction with Aki, shortly after she's out of the duel, underlines it (mind that this is just my personal theory, though, after having watched the show perhaps more times than can be considered sane): I think there is a cultural aspect to this duel. See, the word ganbaru, which anime subtitles often like to translate with "do your best" or something along the lines, has a greater significance than the translation implies. Though it's not inaccurate per se, there's more than just the idea of doing your best behind ganbaru, because it's something like an umbrella term not just for doing your best and succeeding, it's also the idea that you have to keep trying, even if you don't succeed. It's related to tenacity, to persistence, even in the face of terrible odds. And make no mistake, I don't mean the Japanese equivalent of "if at first you don't succeed, try again" here. I genuinely do mean "you have to keep trying, even if you fail". There is no guarantee of success here. And for that reason, the idea behind ganbaru is also that it's not simply the success that has value, but the effort made in the attempt to attain it, regardless of the result. (Side note: I tried to scrounge up a resource I could link to that nicely explains this concept, but unfortunately, all the promising articles were paywalled and the ones I learned it from require institutional access to lecture materials.) And this is where I will posit the tentative theory that this is exactly what the 5Ds writers were going for with Aki's segment of the duel—it was very much meant to be the payoff for her turbo duelling license setup and her plea to take Crow's place, but it wasn't so much her success that was meant to be valued, as the effort she (and by extension, Crow) made for and during this duel. And this is where Crow's little pep-talk with Aki after she's out of the duel comes in, because it feels like it supports exactly this interpretation:

(This is essentially the whole sequence. Note how Crow, despite so fervently entrusting Aki with his and his kids' hopes prior, doesn't admonish her for making a bad showing in the slightest.)

I don't think it gets any clearer than it is here. During this sequence, Aki is painfully aware of how poor her performance was against Andre, especially after she was so insistent on duelling at first, and despite having been entrusted with Stardust by Yusei, to boot. Yet, Crow doesn't have a single word of criticism to offer her. Instead, he even tells her she did well and that nobody's perfect. It very much reads as valuing Aki's effort over the result she achieved to me, and thus seems perfectly in line with the idea behind ganbaru.

However, if we assume I'm correct about the intentions behind this writing choice, we come back to why Aki's segment of the duel is so hotly debated and why it may have arguably been a disservice not just to her, but to Crow, too, character-wise. Because the majority of non-Japanese watchers of the show culturally don't have a 1:1 applicable concept like ganbaru, this writing choice was more likely to fall flat for them, because to someone who wasn't raised to understand the idea behind it, Aki's portion of the duel doesn't register as a payoff; it registers as a massive disappointment, because it feels like the writers, who had so much setup already done for her, let her fail on purpose, just to later let Yusei attain his arguably dumbest victory of the entire show. Thus, they also essentially waste the conflict she had with Crow about whether she would be allowed to take his spot in the first place, because with how little she achieved during the duel, she may as well not have gotten on the track. (Figuratively speaking. Please Do Not take this to mean I would prefer a version where Aki hadn't duelled at all. That would be worse. It would be infinitely worse.)

(Also, side note: If this post reaches anyone who's actually Japanese and still remembers this duel, I would genuinely love your input on whether my interpretation is feasible or just wishful thinking. Did you interpret Aki's part of the duel the way I did here? Or did it fall flat for you, too? If what I'm saying here feels like an absolute reach, please tell me. I'm honestly just trying my best to make things make sense here and remembered this concept from some classes I took in Japanese studies at uni.)

With all that in mind, it doesn't come as a surprise that some people were just as frustrated with the way Crow was barred from duelling here as they were with Aki's segment or Yusei's later victory. But it is what it is—the Unicorn duel concludes the way we all know it to, and with that, the show begins setting up the following duel with Team Catastrophe.

The only other, non duel-related, noteworthy thing that happens between the Unicorn and the Catastrophe match is a brief appearance at the Poppo Time by Sherry, who admonishes the signers for celebrating their victory early and warns them about Iliaster. Why do I bring this up? Because it's one of less than five times that Crow is in the same room with Sherry. Remember, Sherry. The girl he later, during the finale, talks out of working for the big bad evil guy because he suddenly seems to have such a deep understanding of her motivations and character that he can accurately deduce what argument will make her understand that working with Z-ONE won't give her what she's looking for. So, does Crow get a meaningful interaction with her during this scene, then? Nope. Not even in the slightest. Crow says exactly one sentence that is aimed at Sherry during her appearance, and that sentence is this:

(What a meaningful conversation!)

And yes, I will come back to Crow and Sherry's dynamic in particular. But we'll save that for the Ark Cradle arc post. For now, just keep it in mind as we move along to the other WRGP duels.

So. Team Catasrophe.

During the duel against this team, which was previously only hinted at ominously, the writing for Crow and Aki overlaps again, and this starts with the writers essentially doing a complete switcheroo of what came before: Instead of Crow getting injured and being unable to compete, it's Aki who crashes, ends up in the hospital, and is thus forced to give up her spot during the duel. (This also goes hand in hand with her suddenly losing her powers, which we are given absolutely zero explanation for, but let's not talk about that clusterfuck here. If you're interested in my opinions about that particular trainwreck, I have a rant for you.) Additionally, it's during this stretch of episodes (103-105, which is a whopping four episodes less than Team Unicorn got) that we find out that not only Aki's crash, but Crow's previous one, too, were both sabotage, caused by the rather unscrupulous Team Catastrophe by way of a special card that can cause real damage even when there is no psychic duellist present. (A card we also find out was given to them by Placido/Primo, but this is irrelevant for both Aki and Crow.) Crow's reaction to this piece of information, particularly once Aki gets injured due to the same thing, is where things get interesting for him again, because he gets pissed, to say the least.

(A moment I imagine firebirdshippers must have been positively delighted about.)

Here, I have to reiterate an earlier point: Think what you will of Team Catastrophe, of Aki's crash, and of the sequence where her powers suddenly don't work, but this moment here, where Crow gets angry on her behalf and swears to duel Team Catastrophe into submission—not because he wants his kids to cheer for him, or because he wants to prove himself, but as revenge for his friend—is one of sadly only a handful of moments the writers use to show the strengthened relationships between the individual members of Team 5Ds after the dark signers arc. It's one of the precious few scenes that actually shows, rather than tells us or lets us search for scraps in the subtext, that the signers, and the members of Team 5Ds as a whole, care for each other outside of revolving around Yusei like planets around the sun. Even if it's laughably small, it's at least a hint that there are individual friendships between the other signers, too, that they all stick around one another for reasons beyond gravitating towards Yusei for one reason or another. And for that alone, I'm grateful that they put this here, even if Team Catastrophe was otherwise so ridiculous and made such a bad showing at their actual match that they could barely be taken seriously as antagonists at all.

Speaking of which. The actual meat of the matter. The Team Catastrophe match. What does Crow do here? Well, he duels! Even though he wasn't supposed to, for injury-related reasons. What both his participation as well as the actual duel accomplish, though, are that they not only showcase previously established character traits of Crow's again, but they also make a (possibly unintended) callback to a previous, major duel Crow took part in: His dark signer duel against Bommer/Greiger. Where and how? Let's see.

Firstly, Crow's participation. The reactions of the other characters to this make it very evident that Team 5Ds did not plan for this, with Yusei and Jack even going as far as to say they "had no choice" but to let Crow duel, because he insisted. This is perfectly in line with the stubbornness we already know from him at this point—a stubbornness that was also a major reason for why he took Bommer on and later continued his duel with said man, despite Yusei showing up and telling him he shouldn't be duelling a dark signer.

Secondly, there's the manoeuvring thing, and here's where I can call attention to a fun tidbit: The WRGP isn't what introduces the concept of manual mode during turbo duels to the audience. It's Crow. During his duel with Bommer. Being crafty and a bit shrewd as he is, Crow, during said duel in the DS arc, purposefully switches to manual mode when he duels Bommer, because he figures that attacks that can deal real damage can probably be evaded if you actually have control over your runner and aren't stuck in autopilot.

(Don't believe me? Here it is. And frankly, it is somewhat hilarious, yet also very fitting that Crow is the only one who thinks to do this during a duel with a dark signer.)

The reason this particular bit is relevant during the Team Catastrophe duel is because Crow essentially repeats this trick here. Of course, it's a bit less impactful now, given that manual mode is standard for WRGP duels, but still: Due to Hook, the Hidden Knight, Crow is forced to pay attention to the track and manually evade the monster's attempts to make his back wheel lock up during the duel, mirroring how he thought to manually evade Bommer's attacks during the DS arc.

Thirdly, there's the revenge angle, and this one is a particularly juicy callback. Remember, Crow's major reason for taking on Team Catastrophe, despite being injured, is that he wants to get revenge for Aki. This directly parallels how his major reason for duelling Bommer during the DS arc was that he wanted revenge for his kids, whom he believed to be dead at that point in time. (It also, interestingly, establishes a bit of a connection to his deck, which boasts a fair amount of revenge effects, but I'll not get into that here, seeing as I've talked about Crow's cards a bit before.)

Keep in mind, despite all the things listed above that this duel accomplishes, it's also by far the shortest WRGP duel. It lasts a whole six turns, total, which is ludicrous compared to the likes of 27-turn Team Unicorn, 26-turn Team Taiyou, or 25-turn Team Ragnarok. And I don't think it's controversial to say that the Catastrophe guys are probably the most forgettable WRGP Team, too. Yet, somehow, despite all its shortcomings in terms of memorable antagonists and plot relevance, this is one of the best duels of the WRGP where Crow's character writing is concerned. Now, I'll be perfectly candid: Coming into this post, I did not expect the Team Catastrophe duel, of all things, to end up being as good at actually showcasing Crow's character and his ties to other characters (who aren't Yusei) as it was, but here we are. And we had better hold on to the good the Team Unicorn - Catastrophe segment did for Crow, because the next thing that's coming up is a harsh break from the WRGP, starting with the sudden appearance of Placido's home-engineered army of killer duel robots. And what does Crow get to do during this part?

Uh. Well.

(Pictured: Bird Boy being demoted to benchwarmer while the city's being ransacked by murder duel robots.)

Nothing. A whole lot of nothing, is what.

During the duel robot invasion, we only ever flash back to Crow to ascertain that he is, in fact, useless during this part of the show, something he shares in common with Ruka, Rua, and Aki here, because all of them get pretty much nothing to do while Yusei finally gets the hang of accel synchro. Granted, Aki gets to save a little girl at the hospital, but in comparison to Yusei's lengthy, plot-heavy duel with Placido, this feels like a consolation prize. And for once, Jack is only marginally better off, too, because sure, he gets to beat up a couple of robots, but that's it, really.

Where Crow is concerned, his plot relevance doesn't actually resume once the Placido duel finishes, though. (And neither does Rua's, Ruka's, or Aki's, while we're at it.) Because wouldn't you know it, the next big thing directly after the duel robot invasion are the Red Nova episodes, where three out of five signers (Crow, Aki, and Ruka, unsurprisingly) are removed from the screen almost in their entirety again while Jack gets his much-needed dragon upgrade so he can keep up with Yusei, in order to uphold his status as a classic, almost-evenly-matched yugioh rival.

Speaking of upgrades and dragons, let's make a quick detour while our protag and rival duo take their express vacation to the Nazca plains. It is, of course, no secret that no signer outside of Yusei and Jack ever got a dragon upgrade within the anime. (No, I'm not forgetting about Life Stream Dragon. But that one, unlike Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon, was a.) teased all the way back in the DS arc and b.) didn't have a unique summoning method or some other gimmick that made it an "elevated" synchro. So I'm discounting Life Stream as a "proper" dragon upgrade on purpose.) Is this the point where I start arguing that Crow should have gotten one, then? Well, not quite. Not with the writing the show canonically gave us, at least—after all, with how late Black-Winged Dragon was introduced, it would have been bonkers to upgrade him here already, if even at all. However, I do argue that the way the show hands only Yusei and Jack upgrades seems a bit... off. Now, I know why only those two get upgrades, or at least I think I do. After all, they're the central protag/rival duo, and within the framework of the character archetypes the larger yugioh canon has created for itself, this would have always made them the first, if not the only candidates for dragon upgrades. What feels a bit off to me, though, is that specifically the 5Ds cast feels like it... chafes a bit against those character archetypes, for lack of a better word. The problem is this: The signers, as far as the first two arcs are concerned, are sold to us as equals who all have very powerful ace monsters. Yes, Jack and Yusei are still undoubtedly the best duellists among them, but not on account of having uber-powerful extra special monsters that were acquired through supernatural means that are categorically inaccessible to the other signers. However, with the appearance of Shooting Star and Red Nova, this changes. While Yusei and Jack were previously and would have always been the two guys who had a Special dynamic with a capital "S" on account of their character archetypes, their acquisition of the dragon upgrades—and even more so, the lack of upgrades their fellow signers receive—now decidedly puts them in a different power bracket and skews the balance between previous, supposedly "equal" characters. (Which, unfortunately, is yet another thing that makes everyone else easier to sideline.)

Why do I bring all this up in a post dedicated to Crow? Because this new power imbalance arguably impacts him more than the other signers—because he's Team 5Ds' second wheeler and doesn't miss another WRGP match from here on out. Thus, that power imbalance is felt in the upcoming duels, where Yusei and Jack bust out Shooting Star and Red Nova like it's nothing, while Crow is left manoeuvring with the somewhat underpowered Black-Winged Dragon and whatever else he can come up with. This is also why I claimed that the show did sideline Crow in some aspects further above. Because while some parts of his writing go to great pains to establish him as part of a protagonist trifecta that is now supposed to take centre stage before the other characters, he also permanently lives in Jack and Yusei's shadow, ultimately barred not just from reaching equal status as a signer (due to his late and rocky introduction and dragon acquisition), but also barred from becoming the equal of his foster brothers as a duellist. Frankly, I'm surprised the show didn't make this a plot point, because the first thing my mind jumps to when I think about this is whether Crow felt left behind after his brothers acquired such immensely powerful, special cards. But more on my personal writing ideas later. For now, let's just put a pin in the power-imbalance thing.

So, when is Crow back on screen in any meaningful role, then? (Note that I mean this as literally as possible. As per my discussion about "screentime" and my gripes about it in part two, I gloss over the parts where Crow is on screen, but could be traded for any other signer or even a lamppost without affecting the scene at all.)

Well, the next thing Crow gets to do isn't exactly glorious, but it sure is funny.

(I want you all to remember that he has to wear this costume and play this part in Team 5Ds' absurd plan to capture Yaeger/Lazar because he lost at rock-paper-scissors. This will never not be funny to me.)

Ignoring the hilarious outfit and Crow playing the bait at a fabricated cup ramen promo event meant to lure Yaeger in, bird boy does actually get something that's not just for funsies to do during the two episodes where Team 5Ds is trying to get more information about Iliaster: He gets to have a duel revanche against Yaeger, who, if we remember the DS arc, ditched him the last time they squared off. Much like the Team Catastrophe duel, this one, too, calls back to previous duels Crow has had: For one, it's the obvious conclusion to his unfinished, first duel with Yaeger. And for two, Crow repeats a "trick" (for lack of a better term) here that is also unique to him: losing on purpose, which we remember from his duel with Lyndon.

(Identical-looking clown family jumpscare be upon ye.)

And again, much like getting injured for the Team Unicorn duel, I argue that this story beat here is something that could also only have been accomplished with Crow. Because he's the only one who has previously duelled Yaeger, firstly, because not wanting to make a child cry by beating their dad in a duel makes sense for him as a character due to him being a family-oriented person who loves children, secondly, and because losing on purpose in this scenario is a tactic that would seem out of character from anyone else, thirdly. (We recall, the only times Jack and Yusei, respectively, ever consider/offer to lose on purpose is when the lives of people close to them are on the line, in the shape of Carly/Rally. As for the others, aside from not being present, Aki, Rua, and Ruka are so heavily sidelined at this point that they would have never been an option for this. And if his writing is anything to go by, Bruno is mostly purposefully forbidden from accomplishing Plot Things, especially through duels, while he's Bruno.) But hey, due to the way this episode is set up, losing on purpose works out for Crow, because it convinces Yaeger to stop hiding and actually share his knowledge about Iliaster. This, by the way, is the second scene where Crow gets to be in a room with Sherry for a longer stretch of time. And look, him joking that Sherry might kill Yaeger if he doesn't spill the beans about Iliaster soon is fun and all, but in light of the Ark Cradle duel later, I have to point out that he, again, doesn't get to have so much as a shred of a meaningful conversation with Sherry here. Again. But moving on. The scene with Yaeger at the Poppo Time then leads us first to the small sequence in the arcade where the gang has to win a simulated duel to get Yaeger's encoded intel, then to episode 116—the Moment Express episode, where, due to this being a Yusei, Sherry, and Bruno-focussed episode, Crow gets nothing to do again. (And also doesn't get to interact with Sherry again.)

Congrats! We've survived the WRGP break. This leaves us with three more WRGP duels before shit hits the fan and the Ark Cradle arc commences. And full disclosure, I'll be doing a bit of a quick-fire round of those three duels. Why? Because despite them all having their merits in their own rights (they're the better liked duels of the WRGP for a reason), there honestly isn't that much focus on Crow during them. He duels, yes, and I've seen people point this out over and over again as the supposed smoking gun that shows how Crow had so much more relevance and screentime than Aki and yadda, yadda. We've been there. And it's not that I can't see where this argument is coming from—I'll be the first to tell you that it's a travesty that Aki never got to duel in the WRGP again outside of the Unicorn match. But I want to use the final three matches to dig into how the way these matches—and especially the opponents to go with them—were set up made it nearly impossible for Aki to replace Crow again during any point of the WRGP finals.

First, episode 118. This is the only preamble episode we get for the first two WRGP finals teams, and here, our group is split in two: Yusei, Bruno, and Rua introduce us to Team Taiyou, while Jack, Aki, and Crow introduce us to Team Ragnarok. There isn't much to say here, because the only thing this episode does for Crow is a shallow repeat of what the Team Catastrophe duel did: By putting him in a group with Aki and Jack, and letting them decide among themselves, independently, to check out the exhibition match, it implies that he voluntarily spends time with signers who aren't Yusei. Thumbs up. Gold star. You made an effort (I guess). Then, the real fun starts.

Round one. Team Taiyou.

(Pictured: The sweetest country bumpkins to ever grace this earth. Yes, I'm biased.)

So here's the deal with Team Taiyou, from a narrative standpoint, as best as I can grasp it: They are a callback to Team 5Ds' roots. Specifically, to the boys' Satellite roots. The Taiyou boys come from humble origins, have only one, mostly home-engineered duel runner, and play using old cards that are widely considered shitty, as 5Ds canon tells us. They are essentially the non-signer, countryside version of what Jack, Crow, and Yusei once were, which is why this is the first duel where the duellist constellation on Team 5Ds' end couldn't possibly have been altered. Team Taiyou is there to remind us where our boys started, so it has to be our boys duelling them. This also goes for Crow, even though this duel otherwise doesn't accomplish much for him, character-wise. Instead, it's more of a narrative wink at the audience, as well as providing a breather between otherwise extremely tense, plot-focussed duels. But yeah, Crow's part in this match isn't much to write home about; he doesn't get any verbal interactions that are very meaningful to his character, can't get so much as a scratch in on Zushin, even with Black-Winged Dragon, and is defeated so Yusei can take out the legendary giant.

Round two. Team Ragnarok.

(Behold the pizzazz of at least two contenders for Haircuts With The Most Spikes in the show.)

Though this duel is framed as being even more so aimed towards bolstering Jack's character writing than Crow's, given the inclusion of Dragan's personal history with Jack, Team Ragnarok gets significantly more interesting for Crow again than Team Taiyou did. This is, of course, mainly because of Brave/Broder. Where Team Taiyou were a callback to the 5Ds boys' roots, Team Ragnarok are their narrative foils. Dragan is the duellist who lost his pride to contrast Jack, who's brimming with pride at all times, and Harald/Halldor is essentially the rich, "destiny isn't bullshit, actually" version of Yusei. Meanwhile, unlike the first two, who highlight our 5Ds boys' characteristics by contrasting them, Brave acts as Crow's mirror. Through Team Ragnarok's flashbacks, we see that he gets almost exactly the same, lovable-rogue-type backstory that Crow did during the DS arc, just in a different setting. The only, major difference between them is that while Crow is more down-to-earth, Brave likes to be pretty flashy.

(Keep in mind that he's doing this on a runner. Is there such a thing as courses on how to do acrobatics on your runner? Like there are courses for vaulting on horseback irl? I'm overthinking this again.)

Unsurprisingly, the duel thus ends up addressing the similarities between Crow and Brave, mostly through two things: One, the duel essentially becomes a contest of who can out-trickster who, culminating in the famous, ridiculous-in-the-good-way sequence where Crow activates a trap from his graveyard, to the shock of pretty much everyone present. And two, despite being on opposite sides, the two bond over their concern for the children they took care of and their concern for children in general, which is expressed most clearly in the scene where Crow's kids, in an attempt to hold the poster they made for him higher, very nearly fall over the barricade in the WRGP stands. Despite the hefty length of the full duel, these are pretty much the only things actually related to Crow's character that come up, though. They're good, don't get me wrong, but in a duel that is otherwise this dense with plot, Aesir shenanigans, and Iliaster foreshadowing, it's no surprise that the duel doesn't add that much to Crow's character, outside of giving him someone he can bounce off very well and relate to. Again, though, we are faced with the same situation as with Team Taiyou: Due to the way the members of Team Ragnarok are written, meant to contrast/parallel one male duellist each from Team 5Ds, nobody other than Crow could have taken the third spot here, either. It would have felt awkward from a narrative standpoint (as much as I would have loved to see Aki duel more).

Now, finally. Round three. Team New World.

(Welp. Here come the robots.)

I had to check to make sure I wasn't misremembering this, but due to the way this duel was set up so José/Jakob could bust out Meklord Emperor Granel with a ridiculous amount of attack points, Crow gets a resounding four turns total in this duel. (Gee, I wonder which other character got this treatment during a WRGP duel.) During those four turns, there are only two things he accomplishes: One, leaving behind two combo pieces Yusei later uses, and two, showcasing the shrewd tactics that earned him the label of "trickster" during the Ragnarok duel by bringing out a non-synchro monster that can take advantage of a synchro monster's attack points and effects—Aurora the Northern Lights. And arguably, this is a very smart play, moreover, it's the only time anyone in the show has the bright idea to not use synchro monsters against the known and feared synchro-killer Meklords. Unfortunately, as smart as it is, the narrative doesn't reward Crow for this play—José all but shrugs what could have been a turning point in the duel off, then proceeds to steamroll Crow the next turn, leaving Yusei to score the win, as usual. To get back to the "Crow got so much more screentime than Aki during the WRGP" thing for a second, of all the duels in the WRGP finals, this is arguably the one where Aki could still most easily have taken Crow's spot again, because here, it doesn't matter whether it's him or someone else, as this duel isn't tied to his character in any way. Unfortunately, due to the Granel-steamroller-strategy, this is also the duel where letting Aki take his spot again would have been the biggest shot in the foot, because unless they had changed Team New World's strategy, Aki would have gotten brutally guillotined here, same as Crow—something I can't imagine anyone, not even people who hate Crow, being happy about.

With that, though, we've finally made it through the WRGP. So, what's the bottom line here? Frankly, speaking from my own interpretation, Crow occupies an... odd spot during this tournament, to say the least. Though he does get to duel the majority of the time, few of the duels actually cater to his character in any way. Moreover, he only gets to be the star of the show in a WRGP duel once, during the by far most forgettable match against Team Catastrophe. And mind that I use the term "star of the show" very loosely here, because the problem the WRGP arc as a whole has, in my opinion, is that the rather lame Team Catastrophe duel is the only one in the whole tournament that isn't won by Yusei, which categorically means that any of the other character's big moments are usually undermined by the fact that they ultimately still need him to save the day. Thus, moments like Aki summoning Stardust Dragon and Crow using an anti-synchro-killer strategy that for once actually forgoes synchros are somewhat cheapened by the fact that they're not actually the turning-point moments they're initially painted as, because ultimately, Yusei always has to be the one to save the day. What's worse is that this almost feels like a bit of a non-issue that could have easily been fixed—given that the show tells us that teams can shuffle around their line-up for a match any time. But unfortunately, the writing never interacts with this as a possible strategic element, nor does it ever seem to consider letting Yusei lose, or forcing him to give up his spot for a match. I feel the need to say that I don't put the blame at Yusei's feet here, though: This strongly feels like an oversight by the writers, and perhaps a disproportionate need to have a nigh-infallible protagonist (on the duelling side of things) that their audience would never run the risk of calling "lame". For Crow, though, this chiefly means one thing: In any duel other than the Catastrophe one, it was always clear that even if he partook, he would never finish the match. And yes, this is technically an issue Jack has, too. But this is where the character writing outside of the duels comes into play, too.

Unlike Jack, who actually gets to do something during the Diablo invasion (albeit very little), who gets his very own dragon upgrade and who gets a very personal, pre-duel plot with Dragan, the show's writing doesn't bother giving Crow a lot of plot- or character-relevant things to do, once the WRGP starts. This is also why I was so surprised at how much the Unicorn and Catastrophe duels embrace his interactions with Aki—compared to the later duels in the finals, this portion still makes Crow feel genuinely relevant and interwoven with the other characters. Meanwhile, out of the three final duels, only the Ragnarok one actually tries to establish a connection to his characterisation, through Brave. The Taiyou duel only sets itself up in such a way that Aki partaking instead of him would have been awkward. Meanwhile, the New World duel just has him being treated like a floormat in a sad parallel to Aki during the Unicorn duel, seeing as they both get a nice moment where it looks like they might turn the duel around (Aki summoning Stardust Dragon and Black Rose Dragon onto the field at the same time; Crow summoning Aurora the Northern Lights, which couldn't be absorbed by the Meklords), only to have their hopes dashed as they're mercilessly cleared off the track. Outside of the duels, many scenes sadly give the impression that they may as well not have included Crow, though—he often gets so little to contribute to a moment or even to say at all that substituting him with a cardboard box seems like it would not have impacted the scene in any way. And that's without addressing his non-existent connection to Sherry, which feels extra glaring, given his later interactions with her on the Ark Cradle.

All in all, the WRGP feels like a very mixed bag, where Crow's character writing is concerned. His belated backstory, which I talked about in part two, is front-loaded and asks as many questions as it answers. Then the tournament commences, gives him some actually decent character interplay with Aki for once (at the cost of letting her succeed in the tournament, it seems), only for him to be basically irrelevant during the WRGP pause again. And once the whole thing resumes, it becomes this hot-and-cold thing where some duel aspects seem tailored to him, while others treat him as completely expendable. The end result is an arc where I'm left wondering why exactly the writers felt the need to make it seem like Crow made up one portion of a protagonist trifecta, if they never actually bothered treating him as equal to the other two. (The answer, I believe, lies somewhere between the fumbled setup they did for him during the Fortune Cup and DS arc, and the way yugioh in general treats its character archetypes. But that's just speculation on my part.) The one, saving grace the WRGP (outside of the Pearson backstory) has for Crow is that it at least doesn't introduce any new character- and/or timeline inconsistencies. In fact, his character stays remarkably true to form once the tournament begins.

Okay, onto the final bit, then. As I've done in both previous posts, let me delve into completely subjective territory and offer some ideas on how this arc could have been handled to make it seem a little less all over the place with Crow. And since his writing here canonically intersects with Aki's several times, let me try to do it while offering the best of both worlds to both characters, if I can.

As far as Crow's backstory is concerned, I've already offered my solutions to that in part two. Now, to stay consistent with my own suggestions, I'll try to branch off what I wrote in the last post. This means that, as per my previous two analyses, we're dealing with two scenarios again: One, Crow stays a signer and we try to touch canon as little as possible. Two, Crow isn't a signer and we adjust canon in whatever way we need to to make him feel interesting and necessary despite/because of that.

First, though, let's get two adjustments I personally would have made in both versions out of the way:

The way the WRGP is structured puts every character that isn't Yusei at a massive disadvantage, where character moments in duels are concerned. Thus, I propose an overhaul. Among the changes I think could have benefitted the characters (yes, all of them) are: One - Aki actually getting to accomplish something during the Unicorn duel (she can and should still have her moments with Crow, but maybe let her portion of the duel end in her thanking him for coaching her, creating a more upbeat scene that strengthens their friendship, which could double as good setup for their later double-duel against Sherry). Two - letting the Team Catastrophe duel actually play out properly (as in, they become more meaningful as opponents by having a better strategy, for example, and Crow could stick it out longer against them, in order to make this more so his win than Jack's. Also, why not let Aki actually see him get back at Team Catastrophe for her?). Three - giving Crow an actual character moment during the Taiyou duel (what if one of the country boys had played a card or two of the ones he learned to read from? It could have helped drive the parallel between the two teams home.) Four - letting Crow's anti-Meklord strategy get at least a little payoff, if only for two turns (show us at least proof of concept, damn it!). Yes, the Ragnarok duel is the only one I wouldn't rewrite (unless special circumstances are introduced, see below). Additionally, let Team 5Ds alter their line-up more than once, damn it. Let them actually strategise about the duels, let them take into consideration who should go first when and whose deck might be better suited to which scenario. Also, remove Yusei from at least one duel. Doesn't matter how, just let him not partake once. Perfect setup to let Aki duel again, and would also allow for spicy character interactions. (Arguably the best duels where this could have been done would have been any of the final duels, though it would have also required rewriting the antagonists somewhat in any case.)

For the love of god, give Sherry and Crow some setup. Let them actually interact, let them introduce their philosophies to one another, just do something, anything to make Crow understanding and talking sense into her during the finale seem earned. A few chance meetings, or maybe even a tiny side-plot could have done so much here. And if you can't let them interact outright, at least let Aki and Crow talk about Sherry! Double whammy! The two characters who end up duelling against her are made to seem even more like a team, and Crow actually gets to find out what Sherry's deal is on-screen. Just. Set. it. up. I beg you.

There we go. Now, onto the two branches.

Option A: Crow stays a signer and obtained Black-Winged Dragon.

Seeing as Crow's signer status, funnily enough, isn't all that relevant during the tournament itself (save for two notable exceptions), there aren't that many fixes to be made here. Crow can still get injured, miss out on the Unicorn duel and be the star of the Catastrophe duel. But giving him something to do during the duel robot invasion that isn't standing around and hoping Yusei will fix everything would also be nice. It's fine if he can't drive out there and duel, but why not let him do something else? He's a crafty guy, why not let him find, say, a way to fry the Diablos' runners, taking a few of them out even from a semi-stationary position without duelling them? He could at least get as much of a consolation prize scene as Aki got with her saving that child. Then there's Team Taiyou, which, save for what I proposed above, is a duel that doesn't feel like it needs changes. Crow does his thing here. That's it. The same goes for Team Ragnarok, especially given that they're specifically written to oppose an all-signers Team 5Ds. Finally, there's Team New World, which, if I'm being completely candid, I would personally overhaul to change the cyborgs' strategy entirely in order to actually let all three members of Team 5Ds shine. But this is the version where I touch canon as little as possible, so... Aside from what I wrote above, no changes needed. Just make Crow seem a little more relevant, make his strategy have at least a little payoff, even if Granel's back out and menacing literally two turns later.

Option B: Crow, as per my previous posts, isn't a signer and doesn't have Black-Winged Dragon.

This is the version that would categorically require heavier changes, though they honestly don't arrive until the break in the tournament. Unicorn and Catastrophe stay the same, I would still propose that Crow gets to be a little more useful during the Diablo invasion. But! In this version, seeing as he never acquired BWD, the break in the WRGP would be an excellent spot to let Crow acquire an upgrade for his beefy Blackwing ace monster of choice. Give him a little side-plot, too, something to do, something where he proves himself. Maybe let him run into Iliaster here, or maybe call back to Pearson again and introduce the new Blackwing upgrade as a treasure Pearson stashed away before he died (maybe this could have even been the card Bolger was actually after; the world is our oyster here). Then he's beefed up, too, and actually feels a little more on the same level as Jack and Yusei. The tournament recommences and again, the Taiyou duel could stay mostly the same, I think. Ragnarok and New World are where it gets really interesting, though. The way I see it, Ragnarok could go two ways with Crow not being a signer: Either he partakes as he did in canon and his non-signer status is called out as a peculiarity by our Swedish boys who happen to be obsessed with fate (which would make his performance against Brave seem all the more impressive), or, due to this being a duel all about destiny and celestial pissing contests, Crow's spot is given to Aki again for this duel due to her signer status (this would, obviously, require rewriting Brave, perhaps even switching him out for a Ragnarok lady instead). As for Team New World, this duel would honestly be a lot more juicy with a non-signer Crow, because much like he was for the dark signers, a non-signer Crow would essentially be an unknown in their plan for the cyborgs. He would be the guy who's Not Supposed To Be Here. Granted, he would still be beaten, but he could still get an excellent moment where his out-of-left-field anti-Meklord strategy genuinely seems to turn the tables for a bit, angering José and providing even stronger setup for Yusei to win later.

Aaaaand that's that. Somehow, I get the feeling the WRGP had the least things that needed fixing because it also had the least actual character writing. But that might just be me. It's late and I have been writing for A While. But hey, I got out part three faster than part two! I consider that an achievement.

Now, while I get my talking points in order for part four, I hope you'll have fun chewing on this one. See you in the grand finale to my Bird Boy dissertation.

#yugioh 5ds #crow hogan #ygo 5ds #5ds #yugioh meta #team unicorn #team catastrophe #team taiyou #team ragnarok #team new world #holy shit my brain is smoking #so. much. stuff to talk about. #the irony that I'm posting an analysis of this length about crow #on a blog with an aki theme is not lost on me #listen I love them both. they are so good. #and tbh I think I made it abundantly clear that I do here #they are friends. they don't need to fight. #also again if anyone wants to use my fix suggestions as fic premises #please do and tag me if you publish it #anyway *yeets this out into the wild* take it

[mj-ackerman]

SxF Light Novel: Family Portrait Translation Mission 4: Portrait of the Forger Family!? (Part 1)

Read Mission 3: Franky's New Love!? Here. DO NOT REPOST

PART 2>>

“Go fetch it, Bond!”

“Borf!”

“Anya, Bond, don’t go off too far!

“Don’t worry, Yor. I’m also watching them”

Under the clear blue sky, a large picnic sheet was laid out on the park lawn, homemade sandwiches, fruit salad, baked goods for dessert were laid out, and a friendly couple watched their beloved daughter play with their dog with a frisbee. 

This is perfect.

Loid Forger, a.k.a “Twilight”, was extremely satisfied with their appearance, as if they were a model of a happy family. 

With this, no matter how you look at it, it won’t look like a fake family to anyone. 

Spies are easily tripped up by the slightest suspicion or distrust of those around them. Therefore, Loid regularly showed off his family’s harmonious relationship to those around him. Since this morning, they’ve run into several families who live in the same apartment building, and they have exchanged greetings and small conversations. 

It was worth taking a time out of his busy mission schedules. 

“I’m glad it’s sunny, but the wind is a little cold, isn’t it?”

“I thought something like this might happen, so I brought you a blanket, please use it if you’d like.”

As Loid and Yor were talking harmoniously, Anya, who had been running around the lawn, returned with Bond.

“Papa!”

“What’s wrong, Anya?”

Loid, in the manner of a loving father, held his child in his arms as she came running towards him with great vigor. 

“Are you hungry? We have sandwiches here.”

When he said that, Anya answered, “No, I’m not hungry yet,” and pointed to her back.

“That person said he wanted to talk to you, Papa.”

“That person?”

Loid raised his eyebrows and looked up to see a young man standing a short distance away, dressed in worn-out trainers, faded denim, and tattered sneakers. Overall, he’s a long, thin man. With a huge cloth bag hanging from his shoulder and a folding easel in his left hand, Loid saw that his trainers, denim, and even his sneakers were all covered in colorful paints.

He is too young to be a painter. Judging from his appearance, Loid guessed that he was an art student. 

I’m sure the organization’s contact person did not give any indication of a contact request…

In the first place, even if it’s a disguise, contacting the agent in front of his family directly, is such a careless act for a contact person. He’s sure it has nothing to do with the organization. However, he must remain vigilant. Although he doesn’t feel any murderous intent, it still could be an enemy agent. 

As he was quickly thinking about this, the young man approached him. Loid stood up, smiled a harmless smile and asked the young man,

“Can I help you? Was my daughter bothering you, by any chance?”

“No, nothing like that. Um, I’m painting something.”

Although the way the young man spoke sounded somewhat flat, his voice was pleasant to listen to.

“But lately, I have been having a hard time figuring out what to draw or what I want to draw….something is missing in my drawings, but I couldn’t figure it out…. So I was in what I call a slump. Today, too, I couldn’t come up with anything at all, so I was about to go home because I had no other choice when I finally thought, “This is it.”.”

After saying that, the young man bowed his head in a perked up manner. 

“Please, please be a model for my painting. Please.”

“Huh? A model?”

Loid made a surprised expression, but inwardly raised an eyebrow. 

What’s this guy talking about? 

Could it be that he’s really an agent of an enemy organization and he’s after something? However, there is not the slightest indication that the young man was lying. Due to his occupation, Loid is good at seeing through people’s lies. The young man in front of him had none of the characteristics of a liar. 

“You will be famous, Papa?”

Anya, who clasped her hands to her chest, suddenly got excited. 

At that, the young man shook his head, saying, “No.”. At that moment, a strong turpentine smell came out of his matte black hair. Looking closely, there was oil paint stuck in his hair as well.

“Not only your father, I want to draw your whole family.”

“Bond too?”

“Yes, the doggy too, of course.”

“Borf!”

“Oh, this one is very polite, isn’t he? Nice to meet you.”

The young man bowed his head to Bond as if he were a human, and reverently held his proffered paw.

Apparently, he’s really just a good painter in origin. However, it’s still a troublesome offer. Loid hesitated, wondering what to do now. 

As a spy, it would be a bad idea to leave traces of “Loid Forger” carelessly, even as a model for a painting…..

Loid did not show it in his expression, but he casually explored his surroundings with just a glance. Just as he thought, the curious eyes of people around them were focused on them. A couple relaxing on a picnic sheet nearby are watching them with amusement.

“What was that?”

“Something about being a model for a painting. Isn’t that some kind of art student assignment?”

In order to complete the mission without a delay, he cannot afford to be the center of attention here. On the other hand, it would also be outwardly offensive to refuse a diligent student’s request without any hesitation. 

I don’t know where or who is watching us. If the gossipy housewife across the apartment saw this, I'd be in trouble….

“Hey, listen. Mr. Forger was asked by an art student to be a model for a painting and he refused without any hesitation.”

“Oh my, that family was surprisingly cold.”

“They could’ve at least let him paint them. It’s not like they’ll die from it.”

“Oh, maybe there is something wrong with being drawn?”

Loid could easily imagine such a conversation happening. 

As an ordinary and good family, should we do our part in nurturing the young man with a bright future? No, today is a holiday, after all. It would be reasonable to refuse, I could say that we want to cherish our family time alone. 

Loid, who quickly concluded, said, 

“I’m terribly sorry, but I’ve been working a lot these days, and today is the only time I finally got to spend time with my family so….”

When he tried to softly refused the offer, Anya suddenly shouted in a strange voice,

“EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

“What’s wrong? You suddenly just…”

“Th-That patch..”

Anya pointed to the back of the young man’s cloth bag with a trembling hand. 

“Oh, this?”

When the young man flipped the bag over, there was a glittering round patch on the bottom left corner, and in the center, Anya’s beloved cartoon character “Bondman” was drawn. 

“It was a bonus for a Bondman chocolate. I thought it would be a nice marker for my bag.”

“It’s super rare, the mythical bonus.”

Anya muttered in a shaky voice. 

For Anya, who loves bonuses and Bondman, it must be a very coveted item. 

Loid had a bad feeling about this, and said,

“If it’s Bondman Chocolate, I’ll buy you one on our way home.”

He put his hand on Anya’s small shoulder to calm her down as she stared at the patch, the young man then said nonchalantly, 

“If you don’t mind, can I give it to you?”

“Really!?”

Anya’s face shone brightly.

“I glued it on, so I'll give you the whole bag instead. I can’t give you the things inside of it, so I’ll find a garbage bag somewhere and put it in.”

Loid then hurriedly stopped the young man who was about to go looking for a garbage bag as he said,

“No, there’s no reason for you to do such a thing…”

“But she seems to like this very much. I would be very happy if she keeps it.”

After saying it as a matter-of-factly, the young man went to a mobile van parked nearby and returned with a black garbage bag. 

Without any hesitation, he put what’s inside the cloth bag into the garbage bag and said,

“Here you go.”

“Fank you very much.”

Anya was so pleased that she was almost jumping for joy when she was handed the bag with a rare Bondman patch. 

Ugh….what’s with this guy? 

It’s very difficult to deal with someone who doesn’t offer exchange conditions, such as accepting being a model for the painting in exchange for the patch. If that’s the case, then Loid can just do whatever he wants, but people with nothing but best intentions at heart are the most difficult to deal with. 

It can’t be helped…

With that, Loid made up his mind. 

It was not that he was going to be painted by a famous painter. He told himself that there would be no problem as long as he was painted by an art student. 

“Thank you for doing that for my daughter’s sake. If it’s okay with my wife, we’ll be happy to be a model. Is that okay, Yor?”

When he asked Yor, who was sitting on a picnic sheet watching them, for her consent, his good-natured wife gave him a flustered smile. 

“Yes, Anya was very happy too, so it would be nice if we could at least help him.”

She responded with a soft smile. 

The young man was puzzled and asked, 

“Um, did I do something to be thanked like that…?”

He was honestly very happy to have them model for his painting as he said, “Thank you.”. He bent down deeply and bowed his head and held out his right hand, which was stained with paint, to Loid.

“My name is Felix Curtis.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m….”

Loid, who reflexively grabbed the right hand of the young man named Felix, almost introduced himself briefly and then he stopped. 

Felix Curtis? 

Felix Curtis is one of the most popular painters of their time. He is a rather eccentric artist who rarely appears on the stage, so his face is almost unknown to most people, but Loid just read a newspaper article of him recently that his painting was sold for an amazing price. 

Don’t tell me it’s him? No, I believe Felix was in his mid-thirties…

However, the man in front of him looked like a teenager, no matter how he looked at him. 

Even though he thought that the man in front of him was completely different from what he had read in the article, Loid regained his composure and continued to speak. 

“Pardon me, I’m Loid Forger. I was a bit surprised, you share the same name as Felix, the painter?”

“Yes. I’m the person himself.”

Loid was absolutely at loss for words by the matter-of-fact response. 

….Oh my god.

His expression was almost tense, as expected, but he quickly changed it to a surprised one and said,

“I didn’t expect it to be you.”

“Do you know him, Papa?”

Anya tugged on Loid’s jacket. 

“No, but he’s a very famous painter.”

As Loid hid his inner turmoil and answered Anya’s question, Felix began to set up his easel on the lawn and said,

“Well then, I will start the preparations, you guys are free to do whatever you want.”

Anya peered at Felix and asked, 

“This frail and slender guy is very famous?”

She even gave him a rude nickname without permission. 

“Nothing like that, just a normal one.”

“Are you a billionaire?”

“No. Most of the money I receive is donated to art schools and other organizations. Painting costs money after all. I want many young people to paint freely without worrying about money.”

Felix answered each of Anya’s questions in a very serious manner. 

He was a wonderful spirit. If that is true, then this man named Felix is a man of considerable virtue. Moreover, If Loid refuses the offer he once accepted, the Forger family could quickly gain a bad reputation. 

As Loid was thinking that his retreat was even more cut off, Yor spoke to him in a whisper,

“......Um, Loid, is Mr.Felix really that famous? I thought he was just a student.”

“......Yes.”

Loid also responded in a whisper. 

“He is what you might call a man of the moment. He is a rare artist known for his use of transparent paints to create photorealistic paintings that look like photographs. I’ve seen his works in museums, and they are astonishingly elaborate. A certain art critic once said in admiration, “He turns every canvas into a camera lens.”.”

As he was explaining to Yor, Loid also chewed over the details himself. 

That’s right. That’s the problem.

What if the painting of their family, which at first glance looked exactly like a photograph, were to be mistakenly displayed in an art museum? 

This is a worst-case scenario….

As Loid was thinking that he had to avoid that at all cost, he heard Yor said,

“It’s amazing, he looks like he’s the same age as Yuri.”

She was smiling and admiring him, but then she suddenly frowned. She then asked nervously, 

“Um…..no matter how famous of an artist he is, it’s not ….likely that a painting of us as models will be displayed in an art museum, is it?”

“If he was an average painter…then no?”

Loid responded cautiously.

“In his case, there are a lot of people who want even a rough sketch from him. And when it comes to full-scale work…”

As he told her this, the blood drained from Yor’s face. Because, as you know, Loid has no way of knowing--- that she is an assassin with the code name of “Thorn Princess”. 

So far, no one has ever seen the face of the Thorn Princess and survived. ----But, there can be one in a million.

If there was someone who she failed to kill and by mistake sees Felix’s painting in an art museum and finds out that the Thorn Princess has a husband and a daughter, there is no guarantee that Loid or Anya will not be in danger. 

Thinking that, she turned pale. 

Wh-What should I do? But, it’s unnatural to refuse an offer that we have once accepted unless I can tell them the real reason… You must avoid having your face painted at all cost, Yor!

After desperately squeezing out all the wisdom that she had, Yor came to this conclusion….

“Yor? Is something wrong?”

Loid, unaware of Yor’s situation, was worried about her, who had suddenly gone pale and silent. He called out to her in a concerned manner. 

“Are you feeling sick?”

“No, I’m quite full of energy!”

Yor’s smile was clearly strained as she answered him with a smile.

“But aren’t you sweating a lot?”

“Uh…u-um..because it’s really hot.”

Saying that, Yor took off the blanket she was wearing. But unfortunately, under it was a thin sleeveless shirt. The wind that blew on her was unexpectedly cold, and Yor sneezed loudly. 

“If anything, the wind feels chilly… you also expected it, so I brought you a blanket, right, Yor?”

“No, I was wrong. It’s actually very hot today!”

He was afraid to pursue the matter any further with Yor, who was still shaking stiffly as she responded with a firm smile. 

“What’s wrong with you, Yor?”

Loid was puzzled by his wife’s sudden suspicious behavior. 

“Based on the conversation earlier, I guess she was okay to be a model for a student’s painting, but perhaps she doesn’t want it to be displayed in an art museum.” 

If that’s the case, then it’s the same with Loid but….

“Unlike me, who’s a spy, there should be no reason for Yor to be so reluctant about it. No, wait. Yor work at a tight-knit city hall.”

Certainly, it would be troublesome for her if she became a model for a famous painter and had her face to be known. It’s possible that some people might even say absurd things like she is paid by the taxpayers and she’s being frivolous.

At the very least, it will draw unwanted scorn from her co-workers. Maybe she was worried about that. 

“Yor’s relationship with her co-workers are like that after all…. I see, so that’s how it is.”

Loid found himself nodding as he realized the reason for Yor’s inexplicable behavior, and Anya, who had been looking up at him for some time, blurted out before she even knew it,

“You’re way off, Papa.”

“?” 

As usual, she suddenly said something he didn't understand.

Loid raised an eyebrow and asked, 

“What’s wrong? What’s I’m way off about?”

Saying that, Anya responded somewhat flustered, 

“It’s nothing.”

As Loid tilted his head at his daughter, inexplicable as usual, Felix finished setting up his easel and said, 

“Well then, let’s start soon.”

At that, Yor timidly raised her hand and asked, 

“Would it be alright if I go to the restroom over there for a bit?”

“Of course, please go ahead.”

As soon as Felix gave his approval, Yor rushed to the restroom at a tremendous speed. 

Overwhelmed by her momentum, the three of them looked off in stunned disbelief at Yor’s back.

“Is your mother an athlete or something?”

“My mama is an..as..as…a someone who works in the public sector.”

“Works in the public sector? You sure know difficult words. Smart kid.”

“E..ehehe.”

“Borf!”

Loid was distracted listening to Anya’s conversation out of the corner of his ear.

“Oh, so she was just holding herself up for the restroom..”

Maybe the comment about not wanting to be painted was simple my own overthinking, and Yor was just cold because she was out here for a long time. 

As Loid was thinking about whether he should casually put a jacket on Yor once she gets back, or if a blanket would be better, Anya was looking at him again. Moreover, her eyes seemed to be warm and somewhat compassionate, and when Loid turned to look at her, she was already working with Felix trimming Bond’s fur. 

-------------

#spy x family #spy x family light novel: family portrait #loid forger #anya forger #yor forger #bond forger #forger family #felix curtis #part 2 will be posted later #please do not repost

[weebsinstash]

It would be hilarious if batsis! Reader managed to flee her dimension but ended up in like, Earth 63 a.k.a DC VS. Vampires universe.

Reader unlocks a metagene or finds an Apokolops Motherbox that let's her warp to other dimensions and she tries to run from the Batfam by 'jumping' and just runs into infinitely worse reincarnations of them

Like just for example uhhhh I know this is a separate character for a moment but have you considered how absolutely unhinged yandere Superman from the Injustice timelines would be. He loses Lois and his unborn child and he's in full "you know what, not only is murder ok, what if I bonded with Brainiac's ship and literally became a brainwashing fucking fascist" mode and he winds up transferring a lot of trauma and misplaced affection and obsession onto you like, and that's on top of the other unhinged shit like killing Shazam who is you know, not that he knew but that's literally a child, he accidentally but still did indeed murder a child, and even after learning the truth he's like eh sacrifices must be made, and like, THE BAD ENDING? He literally figures out how to rob people of free will and JUMPS at the opportunity like, this scene is genuinely horrifying "You make the right choice or I make it for you" like oh my god i would actually kill myself before I let him get his hands on me

Then you have not exactly a universe but more of a timeline but, you want to talk about unhinged alternate versions, we literally have Flashpoint Thomas Wayne. Bruce brutalizes locks up and or frames and even sends away anyone who messes with you. Thomas just outright fucking kills them. Thomas literally has nothing to lose and has no qualms against being an absolute menace. Like god romantic/sexual yandere are always my cookies and cream but like platonic yandere Thomas would either be the most terrifyingly protective person you'd ever met or extremely soft to you and you alone because he's already lost his family, his CHILD, so like, absolutely fuck your chances if you stumble upon him and he forms some kind of bond

Just also imagine just as a general concept like the whole universe travelling thing basically plops you down in the same place just different worlds and how either convenient or terrible that would be. You wind up jumping from the Batcave straight into the Owlcave. You go from the Watchtower to The Crime Syndicate's HQ or some other evil Justice League. But alternatively in more positive twists, from a Joker hideout being kidnapped to like.... the Lego Batman movie where him and Bruce are just chilling on the couch eating popcorn and also I still have to watch that movie I hear it's absolutely adorable 😩❤️ or you go from a Gotham that is just genuinely fucking awful, not even the smallest sparks of joy, crime and lunatics everywhere, full on edgelord comic book world some real The Boys But The Horrible Comic Version shit, and you wind up jumping from that to Brave and the Bold Bruce and get to basically relax and be your inner kid in full on superhero camp wackiness like genuinely BatB is soul healing in it's genuine, idk, wholesomeness like look at these dorks

While on the subject of heroes and such I'm trying to remember how much I actually wound up reading/watching through YouTube videos of the Invincible comic bc I'll be real I'm still down pretty bad for Nolan Grayson 😩 actually him and Superman give me very similar ideas of "oh what if you turned out to be a member of my species and I want to either train you or adopt you or mate you or whatever and I'm occasionally being casually terrifying about it" like idk if I mentioned this before but like, imagine finally learning how to fly and you get found out by Nolan (or Clark) and they literally help fly you all the way back home and like, it genuinely IS to make sure you get home, you just learned to fly and you could very easily get lost, but also like, they're following you home as you demand them not to and you're so inexperienced with any sort of fighting that if you tried to punch whichever one in anger they'd just like catch your fist and be like "oh wow you can hit harder than most your age that's really impressive 😊" but like very, very much still fending you off like you're not that much different than a human to them

I feel like I should often be, how do I put this, I love adhd ranting about shit and explaining things to people so I kinda feel like sometimes I should genuinely just talk about certain things to introduce them to people who have no idea what I'm talking about because like, idk I often talk and refer to things in ways only consumers of that media would understand and I could occasionally like you know link a clip or ramble or something to include other people? For example, this is an example of why I think Nolan is scary but also like in a sexy controlling way 😏 you know, hypothetically. And like he literally tried to teach his son a horrifying tough love "humans don't matter earth doesn't matter only we viltrumites matter fuck earth lets conquer it for our race" lesson by literally holding his son's body up in a subway to be hit by the oncoming train and let his invulnerability literally rip the passengers inside the train apart while his son was SCREAMING IN HORROR BY THE WAY. And also still scary but more mildly, did I ever reblog that Superman art where he's got you up in the air with him and your like extreme fear of heights has you clinging and hugging onto him because, also something both of them would do 🥰 cuddles because you don't want to be dropped and die! Not that they would do it but, you know, bonding, yay! ❤️

#yandere stuff #sinprompts

[sanctum-of-ramshackle]

“Can’t Slow Me Down”

[TWST AU]: In this timeline, there’s an MC/Yuu who is also from the Valorant universe, but with a different set of unique abilities.

[Synopsis]: Agent!MC/Yuu somehow got lost into Twisted Wonderland while a mission gone wrong back in the Omega world.

Gender Neutral MC/Yuu

[(A/N)]: I just watched Episode 6: Revelation of Valorant and now I want to write something relating to everyone’s Wind Duelist, Agent Jett.

[(A/N #2)]: Like from the previous Valorant MC/Yuu posts, this variant in this one is in the age range of 16-18.

[미란이, 릴보이 - Can’t Slow Me Down]

Agent S.Wift, a.k.a. MC/Yuu Han, is connected to the Wind Duelist, Agent Jett in familial terms.

They’re the younger sibling to the Korean native and the only family member who believed their Jett was innocent after what happened back in Venice.

They also developed Radiant abilities similar to Jett’s from The First Light back in Korea.

The two always had each other’s backs.

They both fought together during missions.

Had cooking competitions.

Racing each other to claim who is faster.

Hell, they even dare each other to whoever resists the spiciness of 불닭볶음면 [Fire Noodles] wins and loser buys ice cream for the champion.

Everything is great between the Han Siblings…

Except during one mission gone wrong.

Remember the episode: Shattered where Killjoy, Neon and Reyna traveled through the portal used to get into the “Omega Earth” for sensitive information?

That kind of mission happened and it involved the two Wind Radiants.

Sova, Jett, and S.Wift were escaping from the soldiers back in the Omega Earth and while traveling to their world, Alpha Earth, something went wrong.

Jett lost S.Wift due to a malfunction to the portal and now everybody at the VP HQ are trying to track them down.

…

MC/Yuu bumps into what feels to be a coffin of some sorts.

Then uses their Radiant powers to blast open the lid, almost slamming Grim when he was about to open it.

Grim: NYAAH! You almost hit me!!!

Agent!MC/Yuu: AAH! 말하는 라콘?!

TRANSLATION: [말하는 라콘] [Malhaneun lakon] (Talking raccoon)

They quickly dashed past Grim and started running around, looking for a way out.

They sprinted, jumped high on the rooftops using Updraft and sprints across the roof.

Grim was running after them, panting for more air.

Grim: *Pants!* *Pants!* How are they so fast?

As MC/Yuu escaped from Grim, they crashed into the window leading to the dorm-selecting ceremony.

With minor cuts from the glass shards, the young agent freaks out by the number of hooded figures staring at them with disbelief.

As training and instincts kicking in, MC/Yuu pulls out their knives using with their Radiant powers.

Agent!MC/Yuu: Why am I in a messed-up cult? Who are you, people?

Crowley: Please put your knives down. There is no need for hostility-

Agent!MC/Yuu: *Throws one of their knives passing Crowley and nearly misses Grim*

Grim: NYAAH!!!

Agent!MC/Yuu: That monster was chasing after me!

Grim: Hey! I’m Grim the Great! Not a monster!

Agent!MC/Yuu: I don’t care! I don’t know what’s going on here, but this better not be the Omega agents tricking me.

Crowley: Omega agents?

Agent!MC/Yuu: …What kind of hell is this?

MC/Yuu stepped aside with Crowley and Grim, being trapped in the Whips of Love.

Both the young agent and the headmaster exchanged their explanations of their situations.

Now Agent S.Wift is back in school.

[During the Prologue]

[Ace and Grim were fighting until the feline menace blew fire at the troublemaker. Trappola deflected the flames with a wind spell which ultimately directs to the Queen of Hearts statue.]

Agent!MC/Yuu: Oh! *Throws a Cloudburst move to shield the statue from the fire* Are you two crazy?!

Ace: *Surprised* I thought you were magicless.

Agent!MC/Yuu: I’m a Radiant where I’m from. Not magical. Just leave us alone, 바보 [Pabo] (Idiot).

Ace: Ha? I don’t see you as threatening-

Agent!MC/Yuu: *Fans out their knives and throws them at Ace*

Ace: *Barely dodges the attack* What was that for?!

Agent!MC/Yuu: Proving I can kick ass.

[Heartslabyul Kitchen]

Agent!MC/Yuu: Hey Cater.

Cater: MC/Yuu-Chan/Kun! Helping Trey with baking for the upcoming Unbirthday Party?

Agent!MC/Yuu: Yeah. All these pastries are making me crave for something spicy. Thankfully, Trey let me use the area for some snacks. *Serves themselves their version of 불닭볶음면* Want some? I made extra.

Cater: You don’t have to. Really.

Agent!MC/Yuu: Cater, I noticed you’re not too fond of sweets. Back from the beginning, Trey used his magic to make your palette satisfied with some things savory.

Cater: Oh. You know.

Agent!MC/Yuu: There’s nothing wrong with that. I also crave with some spice every now and then. *Hands the extra bowl to Cater* I gotta go before Grim does something stupid. *Dashes out of the kitchen*

Cater: *Blushes* Why?

[During Chapter 5: Vil’s Overblot]

Epel: *Barely breathing from the poisonous gas* How are we supposed stop this?

Agent!MC/Yuu: I got this! *Uses their abilities to create a tornado to rid the gas*

[Overblot!Vil accidentally got caught in the tornado and crashes into the debris of the Colosseum.]

Agent!MC/Yuu: Whoops. Nobody caught that on video, right?

Epel: *Recording the whole time*

Agent!MC/Yuu: Epel.

Epel: What? This is somethin’ after beating Vil’s ass.

Now I’m imagining that back in the VP HQ, everyone was able to find Agent S.Wift and finally got them back to safety.

This could take place after dealing the everything that happened in Twisted Wonderland.

[Back to Alpha Earth]

Agent!MC/Yuu: *Falls through the portal* Guys?

Jett: MC/Yuu! *Dashes to them and tightly hugs them* Thank god you’re okay.

Agent!MC/Yuu: *Hugs back* I’m sorry I scared you, 언니 [Eonni] [Older sister]/누나 [Nuna] [Older sister].

Jett: *Lets go* What happened when we lost track of you?

Agent!MC/Yuu: Uhh…I fell into someplace else. I can’t describe the experience in full detail, but I think there’s another world unlike Omega Earth.

✨[Reblogging helps creators and creates more content.]💫

#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #twst au #Valorant #Agent!MC #Agent!Yuu #MC Han #Yuu Han #twisted wonderland mc #twst mc #twisted wonderland yuu #twst yuu #twisted wonderland headcanons #twst headcanons #twisted wonderland scenarios #twst scenarios #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #Youtube

[moon-catto]

Shifting into JJK Universe!

I had this crazy dream and decided to write it down but with a little twist sksksk 😃

Warning: none, fluff? Manga spoiler inside!

Masterlist

I got this crazy dream when I took a nap in the afternoon. I was doing my college assignments that I ignored for weeks. Tomorrow is the deadline so I literally speedrun my essay to prevent me from failing that class.

It was like 5 pm when I finally sent my essay via email to my professor, there's nothing special that time. But somehow the air feels a bit warmer and I can smell the subtle scent of wet grass because my windows are open. I can see the red sky outside where the sun is barely setting.

And something about it moved me. I pulled my chair closer to my window and sat there for a moment. I rested my chin on the windowsill as I enjoyed the light breeze of passing wind hit me gently.

Being a seventh semester student is tiring, I keep running here and there trying to keep everything together when it's clearly falling apart. I was too busy chasing after my diploma to see the world around me.

I forgot that the world can be so… beautiful.

A smile was curved on my face. It may look like a tired smile, but it feels blissful nonetheless. This simple moment is very precious, where I can breathe easily without worrying about my assignments and grades. I can just simply… breathe.

I wasn't tired, no. I have an even more heavy assignment before. This much doesn't tire me or maybe it's because I didn't realize just how tired I am? Perhaps that's why my eyelids feel so heavy right now.

I got a night class later… a light nap won't be a problem, right?

I'm not the type of person who dreams often. If I do, it would be an absurd type of dream, you know? Like the world is falling into a zombie outbreak and I'm the only human left. It usually ended with me running for my dear life with these left4dead zombies chasing for my ass.

Ugh, it was horrible. I don't wanna remember that dream again. Anyway the funny thing is, whenever I have these dreams I would always be able to access a side menu. Like an in-game menu where you can pause the world, resume the dream, skip the dream, or go back to the main menu a.k.a the real world. Of course, I was quick to choose to skip that dream— just to be chased by abnormal titans in another dream.

This time too, I was playing hide and seek with Huggy Wuggy from the Poppy Playtime game in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (I know. It was a very wild dream). He found out where I hid, so I tried to run away but my body feels so heavy like time got slowed down but that thing— that blue furry monster walked so quickly towards me and was about to eat me.

I screamed but my voice also pitched down because I'm still stuck in the slow down mode. Thanks to my super quick reflexes, I was able to press the side menu and skip the dream/sarcastic.

So that's why now I'm stuck in this white space. I'm finally able to breathe freely and my movement becomes normal.

I was about to fall because of the sudden change in space, but luckily I was held by someone.

"Geez, that scared the hell out of me." The person who held me said, His voice is surprisingly familiar. "You appeared here out of nowhere and screamed like you're getting possessed." He had the audacity to laugh at my misery. I would be throwing hands and legs at him if only I wasn't so shocked at the current moment.

I let out a coughing fit because of the building tension earlier. My chest feels so tight, it's painful. The pain is very vivid, just like when someone punched you right on your chest. "Holy shit. Should have not watched that youtuber gameplay last night." I muttered between coughs.

"Hey, you're okay? You look a bit pale there." He pushed my chin with his thumb to see my face. I squinted my eyes shut, in fear that he had a disfigured face or something. I don't really think I can handle another jumpscare right now.

Sensing my fear, his voice got softer.

"It's okay. You're okay. Nothing is going to happen to you."

I clearly remember the owner of this voice. Is it really him? Can I open my eyes? What if it's not him? I can count the occasions where I fall for this kind of sweet trap in other dreams, it doesn't end well to say the least.

"I promise."

Oh, wow. He sounds very reliable. Why do I feel like crying?

"Aw, look at you." He ruffled my hair. "You're crying. You were that scared?" I can hear him chuckle lightly. "What kind of monster did you see to make you this scared, huh…" Maybe he took pity on my pathetic self, that's why he's pulling me closer to him.

A bump. Is this… his chest? For your information, yes it was hard. Also, boii, you're going to kill me right here.

"Now you're laughing. Aren't you a weird girl." He hummed, he sounded amused even. Figures, he must've never seen such a weirdo in his life.

But No, you don't understand mister. This is the most delightful dream I ever had in my life. Like for real? I don't wanna this to end.

Get a grip. I immediately slapped myself to stop my concerning train of thoughts. Geez, in all of the people I could have met, I have to embarrass myself in front of him.

Ah, now I wish to disappear.

"Quiet now, aren't we?" I can feel his hands trying to remove my hands that covered my face. "Come on, that's not fair. I let you cry on my chest earlier."

After a bit of pulling and tugging, I finally gave up. He's just that irresistible and also very stubborn.

"Now we're talking!" I opened my eyes and was met with his blue ones. "You're feeling better?"

"... Dear lord."

"Ah? Wah! Why are you falling all of a sudden?!"

"I must've saved a nation from a disaster in my previous life…" I was limp in his arms. My body gave up just like that, there's no ounce of power left. My knees shook like a jelly and my vision is getting blurry because of the rush of serotonin in my veins.

"What are you talking about?" He's enjoying this weird situation. He's pulling my noodle arms and twisting my body as if I'm a kind of a marionette. "You're really weird." He says but he's laughing at my pathetic state. Guess being a clown for my whole life can be advantageous sometimes.

"Thank you." He finally let me sit on the white ground. Currently breathing heavily and in denial.

"Hmmmmmmmm…." He leaned closer. I should've known this man doesn't know the concept of personal space. "I've never seen you before." He then clapped his hand in an excited manner. "Then how about introducing ourselves?"

".... Okay."

"Me first! I'm Gojo Satoru! I'm 28 years old and I'm a teacher!" He extended his hand and I accepted it hesitantly, because I was in awe at the size difference of our hands.

"... I'm Y/N…"

"... And?"

"... I'm 21 years old…"

"Uh-huh."

"And uh, I'm a college student."

"Ah, what semester are you in right now?"

"Seventh semester."

"I see, then you will be graduating soon!" He shook my hand vigorously and my whole body also shook following his movement. "Congrats!"

"I haven't graduated yet, why are you congratulating me?" I smiled.

"Because that means I will be the first to congratulate you!"

"Ah, that makes sense."

"So, you're not asking about what major I studied?" He asked with a wiggle on his eyebrows.

"Why should I?"

"Well because I'm a teacher. Isn't it natural to ask what major I studied?"

"Well, yeah." I nodded. "But then, a sorcerer doesn't have to go to college in order to be a Jujutsu teacher, right?"

He made a big surprised O. His expression is very cute, I can't hold back my laugh. "Are you a psychic?!"

"You can say that." I grinned.

"Oh, a sorcerer and a psychic. That would be a dope story." He smiled, his smile could light up the whole continent.

"I bet." I smiled back.

We spent like hours talking about various things. Mostly about our worlds, he's beyond surprised to hear that curses doesn't exist in my world.

"... That would be a perfect place to live." He told me in a rather solemn voice.

"Maybe."

He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Because in my world, some people have to live with something worse than a curse." I smiled bitterly at the thought. "You can say that we're cursed in one way or another."

"...True," he said. I thought he's a nosy person who invades others' personal space as he likes, but he doesn't push further after that.

"Hey, Gojo."

"What?"

"..." I'm hesitating to say this. I know that our time will be over soon and I don't know if I will be able to meet him again. But I always want to say this to him if I can. This is maybe just a dream, but my heart says otherwise— that's why I need to tell him this.

"... What are you going to say?"

"——————."

His eyes widened after hearing my words.

"Be careful." I told him with a sad smile. His surprised face somehow made me feeling hurt. "I don't want you to hurt even more."

Satoru woke up in a cold sweat.

"... Just a dream." It's supposed to be a dream. But why is his heart racing and filled with such uneasiness?

The words from the stranger in his dream keeps haunting his mind even with his hardest effort to forget it.

"Fuck." He bit his lips as the memory of his dream comes back again.

"Suguru Getou is alive but his body is taken over by Noritoshi Kamo."

Masterlist

#gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru x reader #gojo x reader #gojo x you #gojo satoru x you #gojou satoru x you #gojou x reader #jjk #gojo Satoru imagines #jjk imagines #jujutsu kaisen imagines #gojo satoru drabble #jujutsu kaisen drabbles #jjk drabbles

[ga-yuu]

Yoshitsune Main Story Summary (Chapter 19 to 24)

After dinner, Benkei rushes to see Yoichi to ask me what's going on with Yoshitsune. He angrily grabbed him by his collar and shouted at him, thinking that Yoichi was sabotaging Yoshitsune's only living wish. Yoichi fired back at him, asking if Benkei actually want to see Yoshitsune dead? Benkei went silent, indicating he too didn't want Yoshitsune to die. But he also didn't want to stop Yoshitsune from doing what he's doing.

Soon the war starts, and I'm just going straight into it! We see Yoshitsune and Yoshino facing each other. Yoritomo and Tamamo were by her side fighting other soldiers. When Yoshitsune uses his demon powers, Yoshino absorbs his powers and transfers it to Tamamo. But Yoshitsune's powers are fast, so some windblades did cut through Yoshino. Seeing that Yoshitsune felt like something stabbing through his chest but he still kept his calm. The feeling is same with Yoshino.

When it became night time, both of them were in their respective camps, thinking about each other. Even an oblivious Kurama who don't understand human emotions, can sense Yoshitsune is depressed and was comforting him in his own way.

But the next day, something changes. Yasuchika enters the battlefield and releases Inugamis to disrupt the whole war. The battlefield was next to a river and the Inugamis came out of nowhere. They were these large beast-like werewolf-like creatures that attacked both the Shogunate and the Rebel armies. Tamamo was pissed above all because he had to fight dogs and he hates dogs. On the battlefield, there was Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, Tamamo, Yoshino and the soldiers.

While fighting the Inugamis and each other, Yoshino suddenly saw an inugami coming to attack Yoshitsune from behind. Yoshino immediately screamed his name and Yoshitsune was able to dodge the attack on time, saving his life. The fight continued. Then, it was Yoshino's turn. While she was using her fox powers on the Inugamis, she get's pushed around and falls into the shallow part of the river. Then we have this K-drama moment, where our heroine was surrounded by Inugamis, ready to attack her. But the male lead, Yoshitsune jumps in front of her to save her.

He kills all the Inugamis that were trying to attack her with his wind blades. Then he looks at Yoshino to see if she's okay and seeing her completely soaked in water, her silver hair and golden eyes that reflected his image, turned him on. Then he was like, 'fuck the war' and picks up Yoshino just like that and puts her on his horse. Once he made sure that the inugamis were finished, he ordered his army to retreat, so that the soldiers could recover.

On the way back to the Rebels' camp, Yoshino asked what Yoshitsune is doing. Yoshitsune tells her that for now, he's taking her to the Rebels' camp a.k.a kidnapping her to keep her safe. Yoshino didn't look terrified because she knows that she will be safe with Yoshitsune but she still wanted to ask why he was doing all this. Yoshitsune then starts to confess about how he felt when he saw Yoshino on the battlefield yesterday and today surrounded by Inugamis. He describes the pain in his chest when he saw her getting hurt. He realizes that he has fallen in love with her and that's the reason why he doesn't want to fight her. He then kisses Yoshino to confirm his feelings.

After they reached the Rebel camp, Benkei came running to check whether Yoshitsune was safe. He was surprised to see Yoshino with him. Yoshitsune tells him that for now Yoshino is their prisoner of war. After hearing that Benkei was quiet. He then started reporting about the suspicious inugami attack from his location that disrupted the war.

That night, Yoshino was made to wait inside Yoshitsune's tent, until he comes back. When Yoshitsune returns, Yoshino asks about what they were going to do about the Inugamis. Yoshitsune tells her that, since the war is already disrupted by the inugamis, it is going to be difficult for the war to keep going against the SHogunate, since it will only waste time and resources. Yoshitsune's current plan is to have a temporary alliance with the SHogunate to stop the inugamis from spawning and also the person behind the Inugamis, to save as many lives as possible. He's going to have to have a meeting with Yoritomo.

Now it's time to settle things between them. Yoshitsune does confess his love to Yoshino but he also reveals that he probably might die in this war, which Yoshino already knows. He tells her that even if they can't be together after war, he wants Yoshino to have a happy life. If she wants, he can prepare her a home in Hiraizumi where she can live and work. Whatever she wants, he hopes that she does it next to him even after he dies. Hearing this, Yoshino couldn't hold it in, and also confesses her love. Yoshitsune blushes because he didn't expect Yoshino to confess openly like that. Then they both kiss.

That same night, Yoritomo and friends were planning on what to do about the Inugami attack. Then his messenger came to inform him that, Yoshitsune has personally come to see him. Yes, Yoshitsune, Yoshino, Benkei and Kurama arrived at the Shogunate's camp to discuss about the alliance. Everyone was surprised to see Yoshitsune bringing up about the alliance even if it's temporary. When Yoritomo asked why? Yoshitsune answered saying that he is just thinking of his friends in a different light because of Yoshino. Before, Yoshitsune was like 'I don't care about my life. As long as my friends and people are alive, that's enough for me." But now he's in love with Yoshino. Seeing her hurt makes him hurt and Yoshino feels the same. That's why now, he wants to try and live rather than die.

Seeing Yoshitsune change to this level, Yoritomo's eyes widened. Yoshitsune also smiled looking at Yoritomo's surprised expression. Still Yoritomo for an alliance. But then Yoshitsune asked what made Yoritomo agree to his proposal? Yoritomo sighs and tells him that at first when he heard the news that Yoshitsune personally came to see him, he thought he would be coming up with some absurd proposals. Similar to a certain someone who asked him a very unique proposal out of nowhere. He looks at Yoshitsune and tells him that, before coming to the battlefield, Yoshino already claimed Yoshitsune's life as her reward. Meaning, Yoshitsune was never going to die in the first place.

Hearing that Yoshitsune, Kurama and Benkei were all shocked and looked at Yoshino. Yoshino was embarrassed and started blushing. She starts to complain about why Yoritomo had to reveal all of that and Yoritomo and others just smile evilly. But Yoshitsune was smiling brightly while looking at her.

Now it's time to fight Yasuchika. Everyone was divided in groups - Yoichi and Shigehira were fighting in one part of the battlefield. Kurama and Tamamo on top of a cliff and the main guys, Yoshi, Yori, Yoshino and Benkei went for Yasuchika. Yasuchika on the other hand hears the news that Yori and Yoshi joined alliance to his horror. He didn't expect them to actually be a team to bring him down.

Before he could plan his next move, the main guys catch up to him. Yasuchika asks how they managed to catch up to him Yoritomo tells him that they have a very talented strategist who can predict the enemies movements, including a well trained army, that can fight off tough enemies. Yasuchika had a smug look on his face but he wasn't ready to lose. He used his magic to summon as many inugamis as possible.

Yoshi, Yoshino, Yori and Benkei all fight them together. There were also moments where Yori and Yoshi help each other out and save each other, truly showing that they can understand each other's mind and body. Soon, they defeated all the inugamis that Yasuchika released.

While watching them fight, Yasuchika somehow understood that, the main reason why the Shogunate and the Rebels are together could be because...

#ikemen series #ikemen genjiden #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #otome #cybird #ikegen #ikemen mc

[andicat23fan]

Ocean Eyes (Eren x Reader)

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Prologue

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11/3/23

“See you later Er-“ Brrrringgggggg. The sound of my alarm jolted me awake I picked up my phone and it read 12:00 p.m. “OH CRAP!” I yell. Today is November 3rd a.k.a Armin’s 17th birthday/ surprise party and I’m running late. I shoot out of bed and quickly get ready. I decided to wear my hair down and throw on a nice yellow assymetic top on that complimented my dark complexion as well as some dark colored bootcut jeans along with my new balances and leather jacket. Then I was out running through the streets of Shiganshina, trying to get Armin’s as quickly as possible.

Thud. I bumped into someone sending them tumbling into the ground, and before I can apologize I see Hannes on the ground mumbling cruses. Now I don’t feel as bad since it was that drunk idiot. “Wow not even going to land me *hic* a hand *hic*” Hannes says. I give him a look, and he chuckles while getting up then proceeds to point to his watch and say “ You better hurry Aurelia or else you’re going to miss the surprise party it starts in fifteen minutes”. I shove past Hannes and continue on my journey to Armin’s house.

10 minutes later

I burst into Armin’s home with 5 minutes to spare trying to catch my breath. Once I was able to catch my breathe I noticed Jean, Connie, Reiner, Annie, Levi, and Porco just staring at me with annoyance, and I didn’t really blame them either, my tardiness could’ve ruined the surprise. The silence continued until Jean finally said with a sly smile“Nice of you to show up Aurelia”. “Shut up Horseface! At least I got here before Armin, and that’s all that matters!” I retort causing everyone to laugh and even made Levi smirk a little. Jean just sat on the couch looking like a toddler having a hissy fit. The laughter is interrupted by Mr and Mrs Arlert shushing us, saying Armin’s coming. I quickly turned off the lights and hid behind the living room couch, along with everyone else and waited until the door finally open. As soon as Armin flipped on the lights we a jumped from behind the couch and yelled in unison “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARMIN!” While his grandfather brought out a cake from the kitchen. We all sang happy birthday to him, but before Armin can take the first slice Sasha is already a step ahead of him and eats Armin’s slice in one clean bite. “Really Sasha?!” Both Connie and Jean say. “What Armin was taking way too long to eat that precious cake, and I couldn’t let that cake go one more second without being eaten that wasn’t right” Sasha whines. We all smack on heads in unison at Sasha’s greediness. “Well let’s just enjoy this party everyone!” Says Armin.

Music blasts throughout the yard everyone catches with one another about their lives. I observe from a far all of them chatting as it makes me happy to see everyone so lively. All of sudden I feel an arm snake around my waist and I know exactly. “Hey Rennie” I say followed by Eren giving me a kiss on the cheek and mumbling into my skin “Aurelia what’s wrong?” I sigh and turn to him, while looking down at my toes“I had that dream again” I mumbled. He cups my cheeks and moves my head so I have to look directly in his beautiful teal eyes that hold so much emotion. “Was it the one where you chop of my head to save humanity again?” He says with concern in his voice. I slowly nod causing Eren to sigh “how many times have I told you it’s just a dream and dreams aren’t real” Eren says. “ I know but I- I don’t know I just-“ I say before Zeke comes over and slings his arms around Eren and I causing me to roll my eyes . “ Well if it isn’t little Eren and Aurelia, as much as I like to see you be all lovey dovey everyone is looking for you and Carla made her famous brownies so let’s go back to the party.” Both Eren and I agree, I let Eren and Zeke get head start back as I wanted a few moments to myself. I lay in the grass let the gush of wind hit my face peaceful. “Aurelia”*boom* “Aurelia”*boom “Aurelia danger is coming to the world you and your friends must stop this threat once and for-“ “Aurelia! Are you okay?” Zeke and Eren say as they stand over me with worried glances. That was weird I thought, I could’ve sworn I was a the paths with the Founder Ymir who was telling me of a danger could it mean- “Aurelia!” Eren says. “Ohh sorry I must’ve drifted off for a second let’s head back.” I say and so we head back to the party to celebrate Armin, but thoughts still linger on the message Ymir sent me and could it have to do something with that dream I keep having. But to understand how I got to this place I guess have to start from the beginning.

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Hey guys this is my first story and please be nice :) Also story should update every day for the next week or so then every Monday and Wednesday.

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#eren x reader #eren yeager #eren x black fem!reader #zeke yeager #armin arlert #mikasa ackerman #attack on titan #reiner braun #pieck finger #levi ackerman #connie springer #jean kirstein #sasha braus #ymir #historia reiss #ymir fritz #erwin smith #hange zoe

[paper--moons]

Regressor!Shigaraki Headcanons

(with cg!Compress)

After Kurogiri is taken into custody by Tsukauchi and his task force, Tomura is effectively left in the lurch and not just from a more tactical perspective—sure, Kurogiri was their warp gate, but that was far from his only role within the League. Far from his only role when it came to Tomura, too. The loss of Kurogiri affects him far more than the loss of AFO after Kamino, because while Kurogiri wasn't his benefactor, he was his papa. And, being primarily a babyspace regressor who has always had his papa there to help him handle things like his big emotions, Tomura isn't sure how to cope or handle his regression on his own. It's always been him and papa for as long as he can remember, for as long as he has been regressing (which, given what he has been through, started not too long after AFO took him in). The first time he regresses after losing Kurogiri is messy, and it's obvious that someone needs to step up and help the poor dear.

Messy is a bit of a misnomer, as a more apt term for his first regression alone is distressing. With his regression being largely involuntary, it often comes on too quickly for him to notice until it has snuck up on him and it is too late to try to get things prepped for himself. That is exactly what happens when—in an effort to distract himself from their current predicaments—Tomura attempts to relax by playing Shovel Knight with Spinner. They're playing a co-op campaign this time rather than a PVP battle and it was going pretty well, until suddenly his hands feel less coordinated and he's missing the simplest of button combos that he could otherwise practically do in his sleep. Spinner recognizes this loss of dexterity and knows what it means, but that cannot prepare him for the impending tears when he has to explain to Tomura that he can't get his papa when he inevitably asks for him, that his papa isn't here anymore (though he really should have known saying that would only upset the baby more).

The resulting noise from his crying is enough to alert the rest of the League, who all are aware of their leader's tendency to regress—it would have been pointless to have tried hiding it, and the League is like family anyway. So when they all come running, they wind up having a bit of an impromptu family meeting in front of the baby to try and figure out who should take over as his main cg. There's a lot of discussion, which mostly consists of Toga and Spinner arguing about who would be better at it with Twice trying to interject from time to time. It's during this time that Compress takes it upon himself to see to the boy, whose upset was not aided by the loud voices of their comrades. He's remarkably gentle with him, providing the distraction Tomura has desperately been seeking—after all, Atsuhiro excels in the art of sleight of hand, an art that boils down to misdirection: pay attention to this, not that. Suddenly the cries die down, and baby Tomura is mesmerized by the marble Atsuhiro is twirling betwixt his fingers, gasping as it seemingly disappears. The tiny gasp is enough to let the others know that they have their answer.

Now, it is important to note that Atsuhiro doesn't mind being tasked with the role of cg. He thrives in being able to take on a role, to put on a performance. But this? This is different. It's something he settles down into softly, realizing that his tiny audience member keeps his eyes on him at all times. He isn't one to half-ass things either, and so he takes the time to properly acquaint himself with the bag of tricks left behind for him (a.k.a., Tomura's baby bag). All of the standard items are in there: his puppy plushie Mon-chan, his bottles and pacis, his weighted blanket, his quirk-canceling mittens. Things that they've all seen Tomura with before. But one thing that Atsuhiro doesn't expect to find is the small black book that was tucked away in the bottom. Closer inspection reveals that it was Kurogiri's personal...journal isn't exactly the right word, since he doesn't think the man was capable of keeping one. Rather, it appears to be a series of notes. Lists of things that Atsuhiro realizes applies to Tomura. Bunnies. Baby blues. Chocolate milk. Pages upon pages that seem to be nothing but little Tomura cheat sheets. It gives him just a enough of a leg up to help make the transition easier on the little guy.

Still, it is a big change for Tomura and he isn't the best at handling change. Atsuhiro isn't quite as intuitive as Kurogiri was and doesn't miraculously appear the instant his world starts shrinking. Nor does he know how to ease him down when he's too stressed and his regression gets stuck. But those are things a cg learns about their little one with time, and it's clear that Atsuhiro is on the right path already. There are other things that are a big change too, but luckily the baby decides they are a good change. Like the fact that giving affection comes far more naturally to Atsuhiro, and affection is something that Tomura craves whether he's big or small. His hugs are actually so warm, which was quite the surprise. Tomura didn't know hugs were supposed to be warm! The only person he can remember hugging is Kurogiri, and the man was alarmingly cold to the touch. But this is new and warm and Tomura finds he wants to be hugged and held at all times now whenever he's feeling small; it's such an innocent and sweet want that Atsuhiro has trouble denying him (and in fact doesn't, nine times out of ten).

Along with demanding all of the cuddles and snuggles, Tomura quickly makes Atsuhiro his new favorite napping spot. One minute the League can be sitting and discussing their next move—with Tomura sticking closer to Atsuhiro these days even for the more mundane things—and the next he has a sleepy baby dozing on his shoulder. Tomura trusts that if anything important does get mentioned, Atsuhiro will remember and be able to tell him later. Any apprehension from his big self that says this action might be unwanted is almost immediately washed away too. There's an arm being draped over his shoulder and pulling him closer until he is pillowed against his chest, the vibration of Atsuhiro's voice as he keeps up with the conversation lulling Tomura even further away and into the small fuzzy sleepy place he so often visits. And so the meeting quickly turns into naptime for the baby, but should anyone try to suggest they wake Tomura up they'll have Atsuhiro to answer to.

It takes Tomura some time before redubbing Atsuhiro with any sort of cg name—he can't replace papa of course, but he's become just as important to him! For weeks whenever he wanted his attention, Tomura would simply bounce and reach for him with his mittened hands, accompanied by tiny, needy squeaks of Ah! Ah!. (He isn't exactly the most verbal when he regresses and is limited to a few words after all, and it was pretty adorable how he babbled for him so there was no attempt to correct him.) At first they all assume he must be trying to say his name and only nailing the first syllable, but that isn't the case. It takes Atsuhiro longer than he cares to admit to realize Tomura was mimicking the way he tends to get his attention. His gentle Ah, Tomura look what I haves or Ah, be careful, darlings having been latched onto by the boy. Eventually however, he hears Tomura go Ah! Ah! Mama! and knows he is wanting him. He can't deny that the moniker is touching nor can he deny that it suits him, especially when it seems the rest of the League picks up on it as well...not that he minds in the slightest (he finds that he's more than willing to play along with the rest of them, if that's what they need).

#sfw agere #bnha #bnha agere #shigaraki tomura #agere shigaraki tomura #sako atsuhiro #agere sako atsuhiro #moons hcs