#it's fun to ship them so I'm not saying we shouldn't or whatever but not treating it as canon now and again would open | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nethhiri · 1 month

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Marooned: Chapter 23

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: Murder, violence, torture, gore, sex

Blood & (Rearranging) Guts

There was a giddy atmosphere on the Victoria Punk. The crew was bustling around, pushing canons, loading guns, sharpening blades. Your weapon, of course, was already sharp and loaded, but you wanted something else, which is why you were rummaging around in the kitchen. You hoped Killer wouldn't mind if you borrowed some things. It wouldn't take long to catch up to the Marine ship, especially at the pace you were moving. Kid ordered the Punk to sail at full speed once they were sure they were pursuing the right ship.

Back on deck, Minerva found you and followed you to where Killer and Kid were standing. Whatever their conversation was, it stopped when you walked over.

"Don't stop on my account." You leaned against the railing, looking towards the bow, which would be approaching the other ship any minute.

"Well, princess, we were just sayin how ya shouldn't expect any of us to watch yer back," Kid started. "Since ya like to remind us that yer not a part of this crew so much."

Your eyes rolled at the pet name. You were the precise opposite of a princess. "Don't expect me to watch yours either, Captain," You mocked. "Try to stay out of my way, would you?" You patted his back condescendingly as you walked past him, headed towards the bow. You wanted to have the first opportunity to board.

Killer caught your shoulder, leaning down to whisper in your ear. "Those better not be from my kitchen, darlin." His low voice vibrated against your ear.

"Nothing gets by you, huh?" You motioned for him to bend down again so you could whisper back, "I'm sure I can make it up to you somehow." You winked at him and continued to the bow.

You sat on Mini's back, waiting for your chance to board. The ships were close enough to exchange canon fire. It seemed like Eustass was having fun flinging their cannonballs back at them. You made a mental map of the path you needed to take to get to Giemsa the fastest. You figured Kid would be distracted by killing the marine grunts, but you didn't trust him not to kill your prey if he found him first.

Finally, the marine ship was close enough. Your fingers tightened in Mini's fur as she barreled towards them, using the railing as a kicking off point for an extra boost. To say the men on board were shocked to see an enormous hog land on the ship was an understatement. Using their moment of shock, you tore through them to get to the stairwell. You didn't even have to ask Mini to cover you. That was a given.

Everything else was tuned out the moment you put your hand on the handle of your gunblade. It was slower getting up the stairs, since you had the low ground. Normally, a captain should be fighting with their men, but you knew Giemsa was a coward at heart, only fighting people he could overpower. You were saving your bullets, however, the task of getting up the stairs was slower than you liked, and you were an impatient woman. Luckily, the stairs were narrow, which lended itself to lining the men up nicely for you. You plunged your knife into the belly of the man in front of you until the barrels of the gun portion of your weapon were flush against him. The line of men in front of you fell to their knees as you pulled the trigger. Infusing your weapon with haki let you shoot through the lot of them. Now, it was a semi-clear path, you just had to climb over some bodies or push some over the railing. You heard the wails of them behind you as Mini also stepped over them, a few hundred pounds heavier than yourself. You really didn't care if you killed them or not. They would die eventually and they would die suffering. Maybe they didn't even know about what their captain was up to. That didn't matter to you either. Guilt by association. Your moral compass had broken along with your spirit back then.

The closer you got to Giemsa's office, the more your heart raced. Not with anxiety or fear, but excitement. Just thinking about your plans for him brought a smile to your face. That smile was incredibly unsettling to the marines that encountered you. The ones who fought you were unnerved and some were frightened away altogether by what they saw. You let them go. The Kid Pirates were behind you after all. You wondered which enemy was more terrifying to them.

Mini had a blast barreling through the throngs of marines that were trying to defend their captain. Her coarse fur and thick skin prevented their blades from doing much harm, even more so because the wielders were pathetically weak. The boar would spear through her adversaries with her tusks and shake her head back and forth to fling them off. And if she didn't kill them like that, she trampled them. Clearly, she had a lot of pent up energy from being stuck on a boat, unable to run around.

Walking through the now-clear hall, you stood in front of the door you knew led to Giemsa. Instead of kicking it open, you knocked in code. It was something marines did sometimes to identify each other if they didn't know who was on the other side of the door. Thinking you were another marine, you were told to enter. He was facing away from you, hurriedly explaining the situation on a Den Den Mushi. "M-mayday! T-there's Kid Pirates everywhere. They-" He was cut off as you shot the snail from his hand. Good. He thinks it's only Kid Pirates. He did until he turned around. Then, whatever state of despair he was in was multiplied tenfold as his eyes went wide.

"Didn't I tell you I would come back?" You sat on his desk, across from him, gun pointed at his head. "Lose your weapons, pretty please." He did as he was told, pulling his sword from its scabbard and throwing it down. "Good boy, now strip." He gave you a pathetic look. "I don't trust you to actually disarm yourself, so strip." You used your gun to point to where you wanted him to stand. "And bring your chair over here."

He slowly started to disrobe. "Y-you know there's other marines on their way. A-admirals maybe even."

You put a warning shot through the wall next to his head. "Shut up and strip. No one is coming for your bitch ass." Where the fuck are you, Kid? I'm not waiting. You bit your lip. Maybe you could just do a tiny bit of torture and then heal him before Kid comes so he's a fresh canvas. You tied him to the chair with his own clothes, save for the jacket, which you were now cutting your trophy from. As you shoved it in your pocket for later, there was a loud commotion from outside. There he is. Giemsa's eyes shifted between you and Kid as the red-headed captain entered. As much as you didn't want to share this moment, you delighted in seeing Giemsa's hope of surviving this evaporate before your eyes.

"Took you long enough."

"I was cleaning up yer mess! Ya left a bunch of them alive!"

"They were gonna die eventually."

"Don't ya like to watch em die though?"

"You guys are psychopaths!" Giemsa couldn't stop himself from blubbering out loud. It wasn't the smartest move, drawing the attention of both of you.

You took a small paring knife out of your belt. Kid laughed behind you. "So THAT's why Killer was in a huff this morning."

"I'm borrowing it."

Kid's curiosity was thoroughly piqued. Usually he went for the big knives if he wanted to torture someone. "Show me what ya got, Sea Snake."

You lifted Giemsa's chin in your hand. "Since you enjoyed so much what was done to my face, I'll grant you the honor of matching."

Before you started, you tore a few strips of fabric from his discarded clothes. With some, you gagged him, and with the others, you wrapped them around your left hand. With the small knife, you started to trace a rough outline of your scars, replicated on his face. He whimpered. "Oh hush. I haven't even started. Just wait until I get to your eye." You took the little knife, starting from his head, and went over the small lines you had made, cutting until you could see the silvery sheen of fascia. Gripping the flap of skin with your fabric-wrapped hand, you started puling and cutting at the same time, no easy task when your materials were struggling beneath your hands. The fabric in your hand helped you keep your grip on the otherwise slick with blood flesh.

A hand came from the side of you and tightly gripped Giemsa by the hair so that he couldn't move his head. You gave a questioning look to Kid. "What?! The faster yer done, the faster I get a turn." Kid watched intently as you skinned half the man's head. No question you had practice with it. There was a finesse to your work. Even after blood was dripping down your elbows, you never lost your grip. Kid almost forgot to revel in the man's torment because he was so lost in the way your hands worked, and how good they looked glistening in red-brown hues.

It was satisfying to watch the skin peel away. Yes, you were aware that it was pretty fucked up to be enjoying this. No, you didn't care. He had it coming. Briefly, as you held up the skin you had cut away, you wondered if you could mail it to Marine Headquarters, similar to what the Warlord, Trafalgar Law, had done. You smirked at your handiwork. Just as your face had been marred, so too, was his. Flinging the skin towards where Mini was waiting, you went back to the task at hand.

Your hand squeezed over Kid's, making sure his grasp was firm. "Hold him tight. This is the best part."

Kid felt his skin heat up where you had left a bloody handprint. The way you bit your lip with concentration and how your voice was practically a purr when you gave him instruction made his heart race.

You grabbed the side of Giemsa's head that was missing skin, causing an intense stinging pain to him, though you barely heard his shrieking through your intense focus. Sliding your thumb up, you dipped it towards his eye. "I really wish you could live and learn what it feels like to have your vision taken from you, but sadly, you do have to die." Pushing your thumb under his eye, it was warm and wet. You maneuvered your hand to loosen the muscles holding the eye in place. During this, Giemsa screamed so hard you thought he passed out for a minute. Finally, his eye popped out, hanging on by the nerve. Wrapping it around your finger, you yanked on it. You held it up in front of his other eye so he could see it, IF he could see it, given that blood and tears were running down his face. "Mini." The boar had been patiently waiting in the background, Killer had been, too, you noticed. She opened her mouth for you to toss your prize into.

Wiping your hands on your clothes, you let out a sigh. Even though it should have been the opposite, for a normal person, you felt a weight lift from you. This was a catharsis. "Your turn, Captain." You walked past him towards Killer. "Try to impress me." Kid growled at your remark and immediately went to work on Giemsa, choosing blunt force as his tool.

It was hard to understand the flayed man, though you could make out him asking why Kid was now his torturer.

"Cuz ya fucked with me and my crew." Kid had the man encased in various metal pieces, crushing different parts of him as he pleased. "And based on what I've heard of ya, I can only guess what yer plans were with my girls." You could hear bones break from across the room.

Killer had his arms folded, watching the little show in front of him. "Nice technique."

You were sharpening the paring knife with a small whet stone, also borrowed from the kitchen. "Thanks," you grinned.

The blonde was definitely displeased with your use of kitchen tools. "You could have asked if we had any knives specifically for this."

"Oh yeah, Killer. Let me just ask for your finest torturing instruments." As if that was the weirdest thing that you could have done at this point. "You barely let me have my own weapon. AND I know the kitchen knives are way sharper."

"Not anymore." His voice was softer.

"Oh my god. Are you pouting?" It was in his tone. Cute.

"Don't push it. I didn't have to let you take them." Killer tilted his head. "I was curious about what you were gonna do."

"I told you I would make it up to you."

"You will."

His deep voice sent a shiver up your spine and you weren't mad at his threat. A particularly loud scream drew your attention back to Kid. "Don't kill him! That honor is mine, remember?" You got closer to see what he was doing. You could tell he overdid it. There were shards of metal sticking out of Giemsa everywhere and he was nearly unrecognizable with swelling and bruising. "Come on, Kid!" You pushed him exasperatedly. "He's practically dead!"

"But he's not!" Kid wiped his brow, getting rid of sweat, yet smearing deep red across it. "I held my end of the deal up."

"Barely."

"So-rry I don't have fancy knife skills like ya." He feigned an apology and snickered.

"Okay." You said, nodding irritatedly. "Then you're gonna learn." You handed him the kitchen knife, handle first.

Kid's eyebrows knit together. "Hah??"

You thrust the knife at him again. "Take it." He took it, an unsure look in his eyes. "Okay, now take the other half of his face off. You were watching how I did it." You folded your arms. Kid looked at you again and started to emulate what you had done. Killer had walked up, too, out of curiosity, to see how Kid would fare.

Kid cursed as the knife created a buttonhole in the skin he had tried to peel off. After a few more times, he threw his hands up. The man had little patience. "Are you happy? I tried."

"Uh-uh," you tutted. "You didn't want to stop before and you're not stopping now."A wry smile crept onto your face. "If I can't finish torturing him how I want, then you'll do." Before Kid was able to protest, you put your hand over his that was still gripping the knife, comically small in his huge hand. His arm was a lot longer than yours, putting you in a somewhat awkward position, pressed against his side. It was hard to ignore the smell of iron and sweat that radiated from him, not unpleasantly so. You tilted his hand slightly, "Your angle is wrong." The knife glided more smoothly, but it still snagged and punctured through the skin. Your usual admonishing tone was replaced with an encouraging one, "Too much force. Lighten up." You could feel Kid was tense under you. Your hand slid to his wrist and shook it until he relaxed. "That's better." You let his hand go, resting it on his shoulder next to your other hand. Once you saw he had the hang of it, you let him finish the job. Somewhat regretfully, you let go off his shoulder and stood back.

Kid was annoyed at first, you bossing him around. He only tried it initially to stop you from bitching at him. So what if he almost killed the guy, you wanted him dead anyway, and Kid wasn't used to sharing. When you put your hand over his, though, his thoughts were instantly clouded. Even more so, when he felt the rest of your body pressed up against his. He didn't even hear what you were saying, more focused on how your words tickled his neck than anything else. Kid was only shaken back to reality when you grabbed his wrist to get him to relax. He felt you lean on his shoulder, resting your chin on it while you were watching his progress. It was either the adrenaline or the testosterone pumping through his veins, maybe it was just you, covered in blood, with your sweet lips so close to his ear and your nails digging into his skin with every stroke of the knife, like you were enjoying it; either way he wanted to sling you over his shoulder and throw you on the bed in his cabin. Now, he watched you. After he had finished, it was your turn again, even though the poor excuse of a man was hanging onto life by a thread. Kid's eyes followed your grinning face as you took out your stupid gun/knife out and pressed it to the man's throat. A part of him wished he was the one under your burning gaze, maybe with a knife, maybe sitting on top of him. Slowly, you dragged the blade over Giemsa's throat. Instead of the red spray that was typical, there was a sad, red dripping line. The look you gave to Kid was withering as you stood in front of him, yelling something about how the guy's blood pressure was so low it wasn't even satisfying. His usual instinct was to yell something back at you, yet all he wanted to do was tangle his hand in your hair and devour your blood-stained body.

"Aw y'all look so precious torturing together," Killer was smirking under his mask, you could tell.

You didn't have a chance to voice your rebuttal before Kid bounced a bolt off his first mate's mask. "SHUT UP, KILLER."

Killer couldn't resist. It was an easy taunt. And judging from the way both you and Kid went red, well, it was hard to tell since both of your faces were spattered in blood, Killer was sure he would do it again. Kid was so cute when he got flustered. Killer couldn't blame him though; you were something else. Killer tried not to indulge himself in thoughts of you too often. He knew you would be a fleeting thing aboard the Victoria and he preferred to take his time getting to know someone. Pretty much the opposite of Kid, who liked to get to know someone starting at whatever hole he could get to first.

It was dusk when the three of you emerged on the deck. You hadn't realized how long you had been in there for. There wasn't a soul in white remaining on the marine ship. The only living occupants were the Kid Pirates looting it for maps, gold, and food. I'm hungry.

As if reading your mind, Killer asked his captain, "So are we going to feast tonight or what?" He was watching several crew carry kegs filled with some kind of alcohol, and crates of food fresh from the island you had just left.

"Fuck yeah," Kid replied enthusiastically.

As hungry as you were, you were not about to eat without washing the gore off. And you had some things you needed to get out of your mind, especially before drinking, namely Kid's scent and the way you could feel his muscles move under you. Both of those things were easier said than done. The first problem was every other girl had the same thinking as you, so all the showers were full. The second problem was that Kid was very hot and it was hard to banish certain thoughts you had about him, chiefly since you couldn't find a goddamn shower to quietly relieve that tension.

You paced the hallway, waiting for someone to finish up. "Other people have to shower too, you know!" You banged on the door.

"I know where there's a shower." You turned to see Kid smugly leaning against his doorframe.

You looked him up and down. "Not a chance." You couldn't take the bait that easily. You would never live it down.

He shrugged. "Suit yerself." Kid vanished into his cabin. He knew you would be back. After all, he had used his powers to turn on the showers and lock the door of the women's bathrooms. They had been long finished by now.

You paced for another 20 minutes before giving up. Fuck it. Sighing, you knocked on Kid's door. It opened almost immediately, like he'd been expecting you. "Can I use your shower?" You mumbled.

He put his hand to his ear, like he was waiting for you to say something else.

"Can I use your shower please, Captain?"

"Only because I'm so nice," He held the door open for you. "Ya know where it is."

You expected to be jumped, but Kid was busy looking at something on his desk, maybe one of the maps they had stolen. Your brows furrowed. You shrugged your jacket to the floor, sneaking a peek over your shoulder. Nothing. You opened the door to the bathroom but didn't close it, undoing your belt and kicking your pants off, as you leaned over to turn the water on. You could see in the reflection of the metal faucet that Kid still wasn't looking. It was making you a little mad. You didn't necessarily want him to be all over you, though now you were a bit offended that he wasn't. What? I'm not hot anymore? Another thought occurred to you. Did I go too far? He's turned off by what he saw me do?

Kid knew you were looking at him. He was pretending to look at a map, though he was actually trying to gauge your true interest in him. He was always the one that pursued you and sometimes under very dubious pretenses. But now he was genuinely curious. Did you want him? Of course he enjoyed when you struggled, because he knew you were into it, or you were eventually into it. After everything that transpired, he didn't want to accidentally overstep. It wasn't enjoyable if you weren't also enjoying yourself.

Now, you were standing in the doorway, stark naked and still nothing. Your eyes narrowed. Okay. I'll get his attention. One well-aimed shot did the trick.

Kid's head snapped up, finally looking at you. "WOMAN, ARE YA INSANE?" That was so close he could feel the heat from the bullet.

"You didn't even peek at me!"

Kid slammed his fist on the desk. "Gods, ya know I wanted to! I thought if I ignored ya, ya might put yer titties in my face or somethin! Not shoot at me!"

You shrugged. Yeah that's probably what a normal woman would do. "I guess." You walked over and stood in front of his desk, hands clasped behind your back.

"Don't ya fuckin act shy now! Ya shot at me and tried to seduce me."

A smirk tugged at the corner of your mouth. "I thought maybe..." You bit your lip. "I thought maybe I went a little... overboard earlier... and scared you off."

Kid threw his head back and laughed. "Are ya fuckin kiddin me? I'm Captain fucking Kid! It was the hottest thing I've ever seen." Kid stood up and started to undo his belts.

"No. Stop." You walked around the side of his desk and gently pushed him to sit back down. "Let me." You slid down between his knees, a little too eager to get past the obstacles between you and his dick. He helped you tug his pants down far enough to let his cock spring free, sucking in a sharp breath when you spit on it and took it in your hand. You knew you would gag if you tried to take the entire thing so you focused on the tip and used your hand for the rest.

Killer chose that moment to pop his head in, since the door was wide open. All he could see was Kid at his desk. "Hey, are you gonna get in?" He said thumb over his shoulder pointing to the shower. "Water's been on for a while."

Kid made some intelligible grunting noise.

Killer couldn't tell if that was a yes or no. "What?" He looked down at the floor, littered with your clothes, and back to Kid, who had his head tilted back. Killer was fairly familiar with that face. "You're gettin sucked off, aren't you?" He sighed. "Okay, well I'm gonna get in then." He started to close the door, mumbling about wasting hot water.

You heard Killer in the doorway ask Kid something, as you bobbed your head up and down. Remembering your promise to make it up to him for stealing his kitchen knives, you poked your head up. "You wanna join?"

Killer faltered for a moment before slamming the door, making you snicker.

Kid pushed your head back down. "Girlie, you're mine fer tonight. I ain't sharin," he growled, gripping your hair and making you go faster.

Your eyes were tearing up as his cock nearly made you choke every time he pushed your head down. Suddenly, he pulled you off him and up, pulling his legs closer together so you could comfortably sit on top of him. Kid was very obviously impatient as he grabbed your hips and pushed you down on his cock, filling you up in one swift motion. You buried your head into his head and moaned. His grip prevented you from grinding on him, which you desperately wanted to do, instead bouncing you up and down on him. With each downward motion, he was hitting your cervix. It was painful, but it was a good pain. You felt his tongue slide up the side of your neck, him moaning as he tasted the remaining blood and biting at your ear. You yelped but returned the favor, alternating biting at his neck and licking at the blood that was dried on it, from his shoulder to behind his ear. "You're disgusting," you breathily whispered. "I like that about you." Kid laughed between panting and lifted you up, slamming your back against the desk, him hulking over you. As you cried out, he bent down and shoved his tongue in your mouth. Both of you sucking at each other's tongues and biting at each other's lips. Your hands found his hair and tugged him closer to you. He swallowed every moan you gave up for him. The way your thighs gripped him tighter and tighter gave away how close you were.

"Hate me so much but yer little pussy can't get enough of me can it?" Kid teased. "Say it." Kid pressed his thumb into your clit.

"I h-hate you." You played dumb on purpose, defiantly smirking up at him.

Kid growled and closed his metal and on your throat. "No, the other thing," he hissed through clenched teeth, clearly trying to hold out.

"T-this..Nnnlittle," you couldn't think straight between his thumb rolling across your clit and the deep strokes he was pounding into you. "Fuck!" Your back involuntarily arched and heat filled your body, sending waves of shaking pleasure down to your curling toes.

The rhythmic clenching of your sopping wet pussy drove Kid over the edge. He wanted to stay buried in it, but he pulled out and sent ropes of hot cum to splatter across your body that was so beautifully laid out for him on his desk. The only thing that would be better was if the blood was still wet so he could really make a mess of you and smear it together with his cum. You both stayed like that until you caught your breath.

It sounded like Killer was done in the shower. He probably showered as fast as possible so he didn't have to hear Kid fucking you. Kid took off the rest of his clothes before slapping your tit and squeezing it. "Get yer ass in the shower. I'm tryna eat that pussy, too."

He didn't have to tell you twice and soon your back was pressed against the cool side of the shower, both your legs over Kid's shoulders. His tongue and fingers were unrelenting as he ripped another orgasm from you. You doubled over, gripping so tightly at his hair that your fingers were cramping, toes curling so hard that they were cramping, too. "Ah! F-fuck! Fuck!" Partly crying out from pleasure and partly crying out from pain. Kid finally let you down, stabilizing you with his arm when your legs refused to stop shaking.

He taunted you, "Poor brat can't even stand on her own."

"Shut up," you pushed his arm away. You started washing up, trying to get the dried blood out of your hair. Kid did the same. "Did I miss any spots?"

Kid looked you over and used his thumb to rub away something from your temple. "What about me?"

You looked at him with his wet, red hair plastered on his pale forehead. His appearance was so different without his lipstick and goggles. "Just your ugly-ass face." You flicked his crooked nose.

"Rotten, yer so lucky I'm hungry or I would fuck ya until ya lost yer voice from screamin so loud." Kid squished your cheeks in his hand. "Then ya couldn't run that smart mouth of yers."

You giggled at his threat, turning your head to his thumb and resting your lips on it, playfully taking it in your mouth and coming off it with a 'pop'. "What are you doing after dinner?" Your lust-filled eyes slid up to meet his.

When you both eventually emerged from below deck, everyone else was already deep into the festivities, and by festivities, you meant booze. Killer sipped through a straw and waved to Kid, leaning back in a chair. Everyone else was horsing around or stuffing their faces. You looked around and saw Heat beckoning you over. Next to him was Wire.

"I see you're friendly with the captain again." Heat casually observed. He was doing something with a bunch of bottles half-full of liquid.

You were surprised to see the marine ship still tethered to theirs. "Yeah, well, we were going over a map." You were certainly doing somethingover a map.

"Does that usually involve biting each other's necks?" Heat saw your glare and held his hands up. "Just askin. I don't know. I'm not a captain or anything."

Wire laughed at that.

"Fuck off, Heat." You laughed, touching your hand to your neck. You could heal them, but you really didn't care who saw or what they thought. Though you knew Quincy, Dive, and Emma would definitely give you a hard time. "Why is this thing still here?"

Heat was now stuffing rags into the tops of the bottles. "Every party needs a bonfire, Y/N." He handed you a few and lit the rags for you.

A grin split your face. "I see." You cocked your arm back and threw one bottle after the other towards the other ship.

Wire and Heat did the same next to you and a few others joined as well. When the other ship was fully engulfed, the ropes tethering it were cut. You leaned against the railing and watched it burn. The heat from the fire rolled over your face. It felt good. One down. Two to go. You sighed. What would you do now? Leave at the next island? Stick around? No one had asked you to leave or stay. You were dragged out of your thoughts, no, literally dragged, you noticed. There was a purple glow and you felt some kind of metal around your center. Kid. He set you on a bench between himself and Killer.

"Come sit with us, girlie," Kid slung his arm over your shoulders. "How does revenge feel?"

Killer set a mug down in front of you, complete with a straw like his. You took a long drink. "Feels even better with a lovely bonfire afterwards." The other ship was slowly drifting away. You turned back to Killer, who was taking things from his plate, like chicken bones, or other inedible scraps, and putting the under the table. You glanced under the table, already knowing what you would see, and looked back at him with a warmth in your eyes. Mini was happily munching on a pile of scraps that had been dumped at her feet, evidently placed there by not just Killer, but Heat and Wire, too, based on the cleanliness of their plates.

Killer scratched behind his neck. "Seems better than tossing it in the garbage." Killer hated wasting food.

You had wondered why Mini hadn't greeted you when you came on deck. Her heart had been swayed by chicken bones and apple cores. After eating your fill, you sat at the table and listened to Wire and Heat brag about who killed more marines. It was the most you heard Wire say so far. Kid joined the conversation, but instead of bragging about himself, he was telling them what you had done.

"Ya should have seen it! Maybe the next one ya can show em." Kid elbowed you in the side.

Both Killer and you lent a sideways glance to Kid. Next one?

Kid laughed. "She used Killer's good kitchen knives, too." He grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Probably only let her get away with it cuz she's got good-" It was your turn to elbow him. Hard.

"You talk too much when you're drunk." You got up from the table and went to find the girls. You wanted to hang out with them. If for no other reason than to avoid hear anything embarrassing come out of Kid's mouth. Just as you thought, they were unrelenting in their teasing when they saw the marks on your neck. "Whatever. At least I'm getting laid." You flipped them off. This started bickering between them when Emma was caught in a lie, claiming that she had, in fact, also gotten aid recently. Then Quincy started bitching about how there weren't many good options on board and she couldn't wait until they docked in another few days so they could hit the bar. You were in a fit of laughter as they started physically fighting, yanking each others' hair. You were all too distracted to notice Kid coming up and hoisting you over his shoulder.

It was the best night of sleep you had had since the first time you had slept in this bed. You were tangled in sheets and covered in red lipstick. Black sheets were a wise choice when you went to bed in red lipstick all the time, you supposed. Kid was in a deep sleep, snoring the house down. How you slept through that, you would never know. You stretched out and finally noticed the reason you had woken up: Killer was staring at you from the foot of the bed. You sat up quickly. "Uh, a 'good morning' would be less creepy."

He tossed a white piece of clothing at you. "Kitchen. 10 minutes." It was an apron.

You were still a little tired and sore from the night prior. But this intrigued you. You rushed out of bed, quickly washed up, and threw clothes on. Trying not to appear too eager, you went to the galley. "So am I making it up to you in this?" You gestured to the white apron.

Killer nodded. He walked up to you and adjusted the apron slightly. "Close your eyes."

You did as he asked. Killer was a bit of a mystery to you, but you thought he was probably kinky. You felt his hands at your waist, lightly positioning you in front of the counter. He put something in your hand and curled your fingers around it. It wasn't what you thought it would be. You opened your eyes. In front of you was a cutting board and some vegetables.

Killer was very amused by the confused expression on your face. "Get chopping, darlin." He started prepping some other things.

"What's this?"

"This is how you're making it up to me, line cook."

You blinked at him. "Are you serious? I thought..." Your face flushed. The mood soured for you as you realized you would not be getting any morning action.

Killer laughed. "You thought I was gonna fuck you."

"No!" It was hard to be mad at him when his laugh was so disarming.

"You did."

You channeled your frustration into chopping.

#hellllll yeah boy this might be my new favorite chapter #can't wait to hear yalls thoughts <3 #eustass kid #massacre soldier killer #one piece #marooned #kid x reader x killer #killer x reader #eustass kid x reader #holy shit I think this was 6k words

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bananamarshmallowz · 4 months

Text

I'm here to talk about Destiel...

The internet is a very funny place.

If you're in need of a good laugh, go to your favorite series, show, films what have you and ask what are you unpopular opinions with _said show_.

I have watched dozens of shows and always think I might be the only one, post that and see what happens.

I am a shipper but I normally don't talk or boast about what/who I ship, it's not relevant and it can be weird. I don't ship actors/real humans, that's crossing lines. Characters however, yes. Anyway, I have to bring up this one. One comment said "Destiel shouldn't have happened." Okay, I get that, people can get weird about it. Then they go on to say how every shipper claws and digs for stuff that isn't there.

And again, I'm not saying some people don't dig but not all gay/LGBTQ+ representation is completely shown in media. Mentioned maybe here and there, sure. But there's endless cis-straight-relationship romance movies, romance themes and what have you. Some series make really bad portrayals and give gay people a bad rap because they're the only representation. And don't get me wrong, sometimes we do dig and claw because we feel what they portray, or at least we think so. But sometimes we don't need to dig.

That same thread added the random siren or even the policeman from yellow fever had more chemistry than Dean and Cas ever have. - Him looking at the soldier's ass in Time After Time while walking in the store. Yes, those were weird scenes, why were they even shown? Great question, I don't know I'm just here. - And as for they have no chemistry... They won best chemistry award for TV... It doesn't get better than that.

This is more of a rant than I want but this is certainly one of my favorite shows. And I feel the need to say what's on my mind because I know I can't afford therapy, so this is the next best thing.

Oh yeah before I start this, I have read numerous comments accusing all the actors of horrendous things... - Firstly, they all have kids, and wives and love their kids so much. I don't think they would do anything to jeopardize that. So stop making up messed up shit. - Secondly, I don't want to believe other people make other people uncomfortable for fun, but some people do. But considering that they acted for more than 8 years together, I'm pretty sure working with people that are cool for that long, they all had a strong bond. And all the times that Jensen looks uncomfortable whenever Misha goes into or talks about Destiel, it's because technically they're not even allowed to say anything about the show regarding shipping characters because anything could've been true, it could've not been. If every actor were able to spoil their movie, we'd be out of movies but we aren't. And Jensen is a rather shy individual, funny enough. At the beginning of Supernatural he was 27, and Jared was 23. When Misha joined when he was 34. They were and still are wholesome and great people. Regardless, All of them would pull pranks and stuff on the show, they're friends, not some messed up whatever someone said, I'm blown away that people would even imply some things. You can look up any video of everyone being close with one another from hugs to dancing, to singing to whatever. So don't say "read the room" when they're just being themselves, I shift a lot when in public, does that mean I'm constantly uncomfortable? No. - THIRDLY, they were all lowkey scared of certain parts of supernatural, in 2017 they did an interview with Entertainment Weekly {this one} and said what the scariest episodes or concepts were at the time for them. Jared's was changelings, shapeshifters, demons possessing people, things that could be real but possibly something posing as someone but something's off. Jensen's was people doing really messed up things and that it was the most realistic thing that could actually happen. Humans being psycho. And vintage dolls, lmao, same. And Misha said that everything could give him nightmares. He's so soft, any of it could give him nightmares. These guys are human. Not some terrible against religion people, they play on a show. Pure human. Just like everyone else.

ANYWAY, I think we all know the infamous eye sex scenes LMAO... if you haven't heard of them... {here's 10 minutes of them staring at each other} and that's not even all the seasons

They always look each other up and down and just stare at each other.

Above, Dean says "Cas, we talked about this. Personal space." and then Cas backs off. He doesn't know why, he just knows it makes Dean uncomfortable, so to make him more comfortable, he takes a few steps back. But Cas isn't aware of how complicated humans are. Personal space are just words, angels shouldn't care what humans have to say. They're so primal and they need more than just basic shelter and foods, they need the whole pyramid of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. He doesn't understand this until he goes through it himself, but we're getting slightly off topic. Sure, them continuing to stare could be just a funny little thing at the start... no. It still happens up to the last episodes.

This is the musical episode, Fanfiction, Season 10, Episode 5. Destiel, Samstiel and the most dreaded Sam/Dean are mentioned... They're brothers. As someone with siblings... gross.

"You can't spell subtext without S-E-X." Then Jensen gave this look to the camera, I think this is on behalf of many of the people on the show.

Below, they end a scene after talking but it's about 15 seconds of them just staring at each other then it ends. Personally, I'm not a big fan of eye contact, and try to make at least 5 or maybe 2 seconds of contact in between interacting with someone, anything more than 10 is past uncomfortable... I don't stare at anyone this long. Legit the scene is so long lmao

I don't remember the context on this but I just don't like eye contact. Both their eyes are gorgeous but I don't stare like this, especially with any of my siblings. When they have a hard time I hug them if they want a hug, talk to them, but I don't make eye contact like that.

I have never looked at my friends like this, not my best friends, certainly not my siblings. Someone I had a crush on, possibly.

Next, they are going in as Texas Rangers and Dean explains how to get Cas into character. "Yeah. Look, just act like you're from Tombstone, okay?" "The city?" "With Kurt Russell? I made you watch it." "Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The one with the guns and tuberculosis." [in a deep cowboy voice] "I'm your Huckleberry." [gulps] "Yeah, exactly.-"

I don't have anything other than I like that scene and how Cas says, "I'm your Huckleberry" :D

(SPOILERS AHEAD Whoops lol)

When Cas dies Dean tries to pray to God even though he swore off praying to God. One of the lines is "We've lost everything." Mary's gone, correct but everyone else is alive, except Cas. They still had the Bunker, Baby, Jack. Cas and Mary died (she fell through and there was no way to know she was alive.) But considering that Sam is still alive, the guy Dean has fought tooth and nail to save all these years, is standing by him, ready to fight what may come. But Cas is dead... Dean obliterates his hand from punching on a bathroom door. It's frankly the most punches he's made in a single scene I think and even then, God doesn't answer him so he begins to mourn. It creeps in that his friend is gone.

When Cas is being burned, at first it peers to Jack who sees the man who is supposed to be his father, not blood father but someone who promised to look out for him, someone he doesn't even know, he feels the loss but he's just been born and he never really met Cas.

Then we roll to Sam, he's lost a dear friend and is sad. He's wanting to cry and fidget and be sad.

THEN we roll to Dean. His face is drained of all emotion. He has lost his best friend. His dear companion and looks like he lost it all despite his brother being right next to him. He can't even move.

Now I would be sad if one of my brothers died but sadly I don't have that much of a connection with them as Dean and Cas have. And thankfully I haven't yet experienced one of my brothers pass on.

But I have lost a few lovers, and that... That is the face I have felt. When everything else feels irrelevant. You don't care about anything. You can't care about anything. You are numb.

And this all brings us to the finale.

Death is on her way, has them by their hearts, well Dean's in fact. They run/slowly walk over to Basement Storage Room 7B and Cas wards the room, slowing down Death on the other side.

This is the exact moment before he loses Cas for the last time. (I'm copying from the script on the Supernatural wiki, don't hate me, I watched it over and over too, and I've shortened Cas's monologue because I don't want to relive that heartbreak again lmao) But basically Cas realizes this is it, this is the happiest he has been. Everyone was alive and well, he has Dean alone at last. The last exchange they had was this: "You changed me, Dean." "Why does this sound like a goodbye? "Because it is." - "I love you."

"Don't do this, Cas." - "Cas..." "Goodbye, Dean." "What?"

Cas pushes Dean out of the way and gets taken by the Empty.

He has to process all these years of interactions with this awkward little man with sensible shoes in less than five minutes and it all crumbles.

Castiel is gone. And he's not coming back.

Sam keeps trying to call Dean but he's just getting Dean's voicemail and Dean isn't answering. He simply can't.

A few episodes later, Dean fucking dies. Just how he said he would, to a monster, like any other job. It felt rushed and I didn't like it.

But how they ended it could've been so much worse.

Dean makes it to heaven, expecting just memory lane, but Bobby's there and says Jack remade heaven new, everyone's together in heaven where they belong. He offers him a beer and tells him how different heaven is and how it's so much better.

Dean's sold, but it's missing something.

This is directly after Bobby tells Dean that Cas helped Jack rebuild heaven.

After that, he takes a drive as he waits out Sam's life. He meets Sam on the bridge and that's the end.

For years, Dean didn't have an obvious love interest, here and there a fling maybe but nothing romantic. All the soft scenes were pretty much between him and Cas.

Their bond isn't brotherly, it's very best friend-ish but lovers can be friends too.

And that's my review on Destiel and why it's a thing it's 4 am and I haven't slept well the past two days so what to do other than write about destiel

ok bye :]

#supernatural #destiel #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #jensen ackles #misha collins #jared padalecki #rant/idk #fuck it #im so tired oml

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sharonisthebettercarter · 3 months

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Thinking about what you said, I think it's highly probable Madelyn Stillwell raped Homelander when he was 14 or 15.

That's around the age he got stuck at, right?

I think fandom is probably right about her doing it as more of a means to control him than anything, but I think you're probably right about this making it worse and meaning she did much more than has been shown to us on screen.

Regardless, I think this would have to be the case and I would say is even implied, but you are absolutely right that it shouldn't matter why someone decides to be a child molester.

They're still a child molester and whatever reasoning they have, the act is still vile and inexcusable. There even being debate on that in fandom just seems like grooming apologism and abuse dismissal because of favoritism towards Madelyn.

But the results and actions are ultimately the same in the end. It's also implementing a clause to make it mutually exclusionary when it could very well be both.

In the final scene, she swears to him that she loves him but is afraid of him and Homelander thanks her for finally being honest with him before killing her.

What if she was being honest or at least believed her own words when she said she loved him?

And the other scenes between them never struck me as a one time deal or the first time something like them happened. He does look off put in some ways and not quite uncomfortable, but almost like he's regressing when he's with her. Like she maybe used to do that sort of stuff more frequently and hasn't lately.

The scene where they're finally together struck me as more regression too. He immediately apologized to her and she consoled him like it was something that has happened before and she was used to it from him. Even the words she used and the way she said it and the way things were.

"My special sweet boy." "You did good." "That was so lovely."

Do people really believe this or similar can't have happened before with the things she says? To me, they indicate the exact opposite of that thought.

The scene looked almost like it was his first time, and obviously not hers. But the only way that really makes sense is if he is experiencing a moment of regression, possibly to his actual first time with her.

The scene feels like mother and son incest after years of abuse where she's deliberately causing his regression and enjoying the power it gives her over him.

She's a predator and this to me is made pretty clear if not explicit.

OOOH~<3! my darling anon, i wish i could fucking kiss you<3!

you just put into a word exactly why i could never get behind the homewell ship or the homewell type elements being used in other ships in fics that were supposedly trying to *heal* him. easy way to get me to check out for a fic because you *CANNOT* use elements from someone's trauma and abuse, legit full on *exploit* them, and *then* dare to call it or frame it as *healing* and expect it all to be hunky dory, that is just not how that shit works. (at least speaking in terms of medical accuracy/no wonder this shit is so triggery for me, this ain't supposed to be fuckin' disney--)

obliviously or dismissively predatory, so not even in the fun way...

and i want to be clear here, because this isn't me trying to tell people to not like the ship or elements or stop making content for them or whatever the fuck else. i don't care if people have or indulge in toxic guilty pleasure ships or stories here and there (literally have my own), but i always think we should be self aware of our own shit (plus ranting is sometimes good for the soul~<3) and it really *really* shows some people just are not in this case.

i *also* know people don't always mean to set up that way, part of it is a major problem with society (i will get to that~) and the only way for people to be aware is to be *made* aware, butt~

"--you think love is to prey, but i'm sorry i don't pray that way!"

"once i ran to you, now i run from you, this tainted love you've given--"

1000% correct. madelyn, regardless of what happened *off screen* between her and homelander, what we *did* see of her is enough to confirm her as a *predator*, and this was *before* diabolical added to the story behind them. she is extremely predatory as a character, set behind a narcissistic 'mother knows best' filter and a lot of it has nothing to do with homelander.

look no further than starlight~<3

this woman attempted to get a victim of rape to have 'discretion' about what happened to her, TO HER FACE. and every step of the way, tried to bully starlight into 'line' for the company. literally using narcissistic abuse--guilt tripping and shame, questioning her core values, fucking gaslighting (all things we see homelander copy oh deary me what an *odd* cowinkidink!! I WONDER WHERE HE LEARNED IT FROM.)--among others with a 'motherly' frame and 'it's just constructive criticism' (BITCH NO IT AIN'T!!) to manipulate her into doing what vought wanted/what was best for the *company*, NOT for annie.

hell, i'd wager she fucking hired starlight *specifically* because they thought she'd be an *easy* target.

she was *vulnerable*, nearly alone in that big city. her only relative/support system was an extremely religious mother who was *pushing her* to push through any pain or abuse and still wear a smile *for vought* and *for her* because of *fame* and *fortune*, framed as *for annie* when no it def wasn't. (i do like that starlight's mum actually becomes self aware of this and tries to amend the trust she broke, but i digress)

her tapes and everything they showed us about starlight showed us a wide eyed, bright eyed girl who was *hopeful*--but also naive... and as much as it pains me, that would have made her more susceptible to vought's machinations.

and i think the main reason annie didn't completely fall down the vought victims rabbit hole is in part due her truly good nature<3, but also because she met *hughie* (side note, notice how every time hughie and starlight have a falling out or separate from each other, they both start to get *worse*. butcher also tends to swoop in--)

it doesn't get talked about enough, but butcher pulls the same kind of bullshit with hughie (honestly probably why i could never quite feel right about butchie, do still like it but i do prefer it if butcher catches some guilty complexes causa hughie lmao), another good kid who's just had something monumentally traumatic happen to him and is in a super fucking vulnerable place where he'd be easy to manipulate for whatever it is butcher has planned.

he scoped him out and *saw* that, something to *use* to his advantage. and recruited him as such. like a gotdamn predator.

the wrench in his plans (as well as madelyn's) came in *hughie meeting annie* because they *gave* each other a solid support system because they were both good people, dealing with trauma, who found each other~<3 (always a hardcore hughielight shipper)

and butcher even *knows* this, he *knows* annie actually *honestly* and actually HELPS hughie and ruins his plots for him, so of course that mofo is gonna keep trying to ruin everything and break them up. if madelyn had ever discovered hughie, she probably would have done the same shit if in her own faux 'concerned mother' way.

BUTT... you are absolutely right in saying that fandom is highly dismissive or even apologist of what madelyn did to homelander (like they are with fuckin' everything that happened to him honestly) and it doesn't matter what reason she had to abuse him, what should be looked at is the fact of the matter.

did she abuse him? yes or no

the answer is yes, period. asking if she was actually attracted to him or just wanted control becomes a moot point after that, she *still* fucking groomed him. people can go ahead and debate the other factors, but the least they could do is acknowledge the first bit and not use the others to try and deny or 'lessen' the gravity of what she did.

i blame part of this on ableism and victim blaming, but also with how dismissive people *still* are when it comes to male victims of just about anything. christ, we still have people in fandom who have watched the show and *refuse*, not hyperbole, they downright *REFUSE* to acknowledge that homelander could have *any* semblance of victimhood whatsoever. despite the fact that he was literally tortured as a child and fucking groomed and we are given glimpses of these facts on screen, they'll deny any form of nuance and paint it as completely black or white, because he became... pretty much the only thing that fate allowed him to become.

that's not limited to this site even, it's prevalent pretty much in any part of the boys fandom across the web. (which is ironic given the series exists to challenge this sort of thinking)

but how often do we still see cases of a male *child* being sexually assaulted by an adult woman and the fucking judge going, "wElL sHe'S cAnDy So He PrObAbLy LiKeD iT"?

thankfully, not as often anymore. but if i'm honest? TOO FUCKING MANY (once is fucking too many) and the thought is still INSANELY pervasive. and again, it leads back to the question.

did she abuse him? yes or no

it doesn't fucking matter if the kid 'liked it' or not, MA'AM, THIS IS A FUCKING CHILD--

*children can NOT consent*

or in homelander's case, an emotionally stunted extremely mentally ill person. and ALSO a child at one point.

*likewise, mentally ill/special needs/disabled people and informed consent is an issue all its own. all of these are among the most vulnerable to abuse and the least likely to get justice for it*

if madelyn had been a man, nobody would question this. (who am i kidding, i'd like to think that but i am well aware there are apologists of all kinds that would not give a shit and be equally gross about it.)

and you are def right, it *feels* 1000% like *regression* in the scenes he's with her. and now that you mention it, the scene where they're together?? oh, fuck me. anon... that is *dark* and it fucking hurts but you may be right.

it *was* absolutely the first time *we* as an audience saw them together, and i think that may skew the perception about. there *was* absolutely an effort to regain control over him in that instance. but the things she said and the way it plays out... no

plainly, just no... it *does not* feel like the very first time that has happened... it feels like something that is *rare* between them. but definitely something that's happened *before*, and perhaps something she maintains as *rare* specifically to keep a hold on him. (could this be one reason for the diabolical episode?? to further implicate this?)

and even his use of doppelganger hinted at this cause think of it.

a 'madelyn' that is *just* for him, *only* the parts of her that... gave him attention, the bits he *liked*. what she more than likely fed to him as *scraps* to keep him crawling back for more. but because it was never genuine, the confusion from the ratio with abuse was thrown off, and the entire illusion that it ever meant anything was shattered prior (along with stormfront manipulating him), well...

"i give you all a boy could give you, take my tears and that's not nearly--"

down to his hatred and jealousy of teddy. we have to imagine what things were like before she had him but i get the feeling homelander got a lot more attention before then. it was well over 20 years and people honestly think in all that time *nothing* else happened??? things were 'normal' and then boom, *random* mommy kink??? hell, even the kid was maybe just as much a means to 'reset' the balance and help her maintain control as he was for future profit for vought.

OW.

yes. madelyn is a predator. homelander is her groomed victim. and i don't think it gets mentioned enough in this discourse, but one of the biggest reasons predators prey on the vulnerable or even want to make a fucking victim of someone is *because* of the power trip it gives them over that person. (hell, homelander fucking does this *specifically* because it has been done to him his entire life!)

and *even former abuse victims* may not realize it when they pull this sort of shit. i'm not gonna dive into that because it is a fucking *depressing* can of tapeworms, but let's just say i've been there, i know people who've been there, and i know people who know people who've been there. so this shit is a big fucking problem for people when we don't notice it and massively persistent circle jerk of perpetuation.

but it's still fucking predation, it doesn't make a difference if it's done by someone with power/control kink, narcissistic disorder or 'mommy/daddy dearest' vibes, pedophilic disorder, etc. it still fucking harmful and victimizes someone (especially when they are unaware/cannot consent to the powerplay OH FUCK--)

goddammit... i just realized the problem lmao... PISS. POOR. BDSM ETIQUETTE. GOTDAMN.

and trauma management i guess.

basically, people tag dom/sub or top/bottom when they should be tagging a 'control' or 'abuse kink'. dom/sub play relies on the informed consent of both parties while 'control' relies on the lack there of (informed consent) from the 'sub'. and in homelander's case, this shit is particularly bad. (readers need to be given informed consent too!! always tag yo shit y'all!!)

which to be fair, ain't exactly the fault of the ship itself, but more so the lack of awareness/common dismissal on it. it's really hella normalized/often advertised as 'just a quirky lil guy with a mommy kink' when that's not even remotely the only thing at play here and it goes way deeper and darker than that. you toss in homelander's other traumas and it's just... it's a goddamn mess.

and now i understand why i am so incredibly grossed out by fics that push homelander through more of this nonsense (or worse) with a new person (any person) and never bother addressing the trauma he has *directly* related to this shit. (because my traumas directly deal in the control shit yayyyyyyyyyyyyy~... UGH--)

well.

call me a pussy if you must (i am a pussy and a cunt and a dick and an asshole, i wear it shamelessly~<3) but i just ain't all that interested in fics that only exchange *handlers* for homelander instead of actually help him (when that's what they'll claim to want to do). seriously, lining him up with another 'madelyn' of all things just leaves me wishing he could *get away* from his shiny new abuser (because that is what she was, and would ideally be the inevitable outcome anyhow!)

homelander needs at least *one* honest *friend* who genuinely doesn't want anything from him to help him unblur the lines of informed consent that madelyn intentionally muddled *before* he can even make informed consent when it comes to this shit, especially if we wanna *actually* heal that boi (all he's had is more people capitalizing on it over and over if not just people with no clue of the minefield they were navigating)

he'd need to be able to experience true *independence* and *agency* before he decided they were things he actually wanted to put in someone else's hands or 'give up', so to speak, both of which would come *after* healing.

and if i'm indulging in toxicity with him, i'ma make him *get back at his abusers*~<3, give him a chance at some revenge porn for once and make it so much worse for *them*, not the guy who literally never had a chance or got to breathe his own breath (and def tagged properly of course).

but of all the whack ass takes i could see in the sea of fandoms, ANYONE in that position over this boi (or any character in similar situation) as he is *unhealed* is *NOT* his ally and doesn't give an honest shit about him, it's 100% all about *control* over him (which i know is a huge kink for tons of people and hypernormalized in society, especially heteronormativity, but again, trauma central for me so it'd be really fuckin' nice if people learned the difference and also started tagging this shit~<3)

fun for some, but not for me.

i've always generally preferred push/pull powerplay that purposely leaves the question of 'control' open/eventually balances it and helps empower and individualize both characters to be the best versions of themselves, i want them to learn and grow together. positive masculinity/femininity and emotional maturity are way more of a turn on for me and i want these bois and gurls and inbetweens to graduate to *men* and *women* and fairly *reasonable adults* when i write them, while preserving their core personalities and the things that make them *them*.

i also don't view 'bottomhood' as 'punishment'/something to use to deliberately rob a person of control/self determination (as much as we may joke about it, and also that is just rape with a pretty veil that at least deserves to be properly tagged) and i normally focus on empowering them just as much if not more than my tops so it's just damn weird to me to see that kind of mentality get popularized on any character and leik.

gotdamn, first off, what the shit, and second, i realize getting to the places i wanna go reasonably and responsibly takes hard work and pretty intricate writing but please lawd satan tell me i ain't the only one to feel this way, PLEASE!?

but very good point about it possibly being both/more than one element here. control is more likely to be *one* reason, but not *the* only reason and it could very well be a factor of both attraction and need to/getting off on the idea of controlling him (which still stems back to attraction, honestly, even if she didn't feel it towards him the sense of him being a child, it would still mean she feels it towards him in the sense of him being vulnerable which is just as awful, honestly.)

and i do think his stunted emotional maturity is 100% indicative that something *very* specific happened to him around that age (*maybe* she waited till after the debut??), but among all the other trauma, that is actually a question worth asking. why *then* and not any of the other times? he's got no shortage of trauma for his brain to pick from, so what the hell happened then?

as far as it feeling like incest? lil bit, yeah (if pseudo, which obviously we know it's not but i do think the vibe there is actually intended), suffice to say that madelyn is to homelander what billy's father was to him...

and y'know... i gotta admit, knowing this i am surprised we don't see all that much of butcher being shipped with his father because that and homewell are pretty much the same thing on opposite spectrums.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--

have fun y'all, as always butt leik... have fun responsibly--gawddammit i never thought i'd be *that* old fart but i guess i am... well i can still be fun about it... tipsy bartender is fun lmao<3<3<3 (altho these subjects are decidedly less fun... *sigh of the long suffering*...)

#rape #tw sa #tw grooming #tw child abuse #tw abuse apologism #madelyn stillwell #informed consent #homelander #the boys #billy butcher #hughie campbell #annie january #oof ouch owie #tainted love #meta #the boys meta #psa #precious anon

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anneangel · 6 months

Text

A note on BBC John's silly behavior ⬇️

First, why does he care so much about what 'people might say'? It's the 21st century, it's not like someone can legally destroy them for it. The only thing that might break is John ego if he isn't called 'straight', it seems. A person who needs so much to ensure this, all the time, shows an insecure.

It's like any characteristic, whoever has and is sure of it doesn't need to reaffirm it to others and little is shaken when put to the test, whoever doesn't have it or is insecure about it will insist on reaffirming it all the time.

Where does John fit in with all the "people might talk", "I am not gay" and "we not a couple!" ???

Realize that Sherlock doesn't show the same insecurity as John, he doesn't need to reaffirm anything, whatever it is, he's sure of it and knows he doesn't owe anyone satisfaction, and little is shaken if someone doubts him, he doesn't cares about what 'they might talk', because he doesn't need other people's opinions to ensure what he is or isn't.

but John, having anything to talk about and joke about, chooses always to raise this.

Excerpt from the Canonical books:

I should recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to say that you have thrown in your lot with me" say Holmes to me.

It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes’s requests, for were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such a quiet air of mastery. (...) I could not wish anything better than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. (...)

"Now, Watson,” said Holmes (...). “You’ll come with me, won’t you?".

“If I can be of use.”

“Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one.”

“The Cedars?”

“Yes; that is Mr St. Clair’s house. I am staying there while I conduct the inquiry.”

“Where is it, then?”

“Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us.”

“But I am all in the dark.”

“Of course you are. You’ll know all about it presently. Jump up here (...)".

And

(...) he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until fulfilment. It came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution (...)".

Yes, Watson's first thought is to question the place, and wanting to know how Holmes is proceeding, although Holmes likes to have control over what to reveal and when.

Modern John's first thought would be: 'people might to talk'.

Oh, they seem so worried, john? And even if they did, they would have real reasons!

So, keep calm, John. It's not like you're going to be publicly rejected for 'committing a crime', go through a trial that exposes you and arrested by the police for it, you would not be killed by hanging, you would not be obliged to do forced labor, nor would you be forced to undergo chemical castration...

It's not like it's going to ruin your life if someone thinks you're gay and in a romantic relationship with Sherlock, John!

It shouldn't be a laughing and joker either, because what's the fucking problem with it?

Did you really think people wouldn't talk, john?

Oh, of course Sherlock acts like "I'm awesome" to the point of winking like a "nice guy", of course, did he do that to Anderson too? Donovan? Dimmock? For Greg? Sherlock wink at everyone he's just met. OK. He would wink to anyone who would share a room with him? Well, he seemed really desperate for a place on Baker Street! OK, I believe. Lmao.

But John is ALL the time like:

And if it's not for his ego or insecure then...

It's 'like fun' at first, but nasty when you think about 'what the show is mocking'. From the beginning this show laughed at the fans who would read "between the lines". ????

Oh, I like BBC Sherlock, I really like, but honestly; they mocked some fans of Canon (queer and shipping Watson/Holmes fans) so much.

#sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes/john watson #holmes/watson #johnlock #arthur conan doyle #acd canon #bbc sherlock #The Man with the Twisted Lip #the adventures of sherlock holmes #the hound of the baskervilles #The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

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hackedmotionsensors · 6 days

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i didn't reblog the post but I do agree that the terminology for zines has gotten completely twisted.

ON THE OTHER HAND I don't think that selling them for say 20$ (which is what i sell my sketchbooks for) is unreasonable or unfair to still call a zine. I need to cover my costs of printing and the time I put into putting them together. yeah I can TECHNICALLY get a printer and print them myself but with the cost of printer ink and the lack of space its easier for me to just pay for someone to do it professionally but I'm also NOT making them at like....the HIGHEST QUALITY, LIBRARY BOUND, HARD COVER, IT COMES WITH A THOUSAND DOO DADS AND GIFTS. its just sketchbooks ofpreviously existing doodles and a few new sketches or sketches that I had before and colored in. Its essentially like selling a full print but in carryable size with some notes from me.

Its a zine but I call it a sketchbook because the idea of zines has changed for a lot of consumers. Thats not their fault bc those zines or anthologies DID start out in the "lets make a big ol book together because we are all horny for Reigen" kind of thing. A lot of times they're projects made from passion. I HAVE noticed that there's been a turn in the whole process of making them that both stresses out artists, requires kickstarters, and all sorts of shit that should be considered Artbooks. ARTBOOKS have always been on the higher end of things. There's nothing wrong with considering an anthology thats proper bound, and for a certain amount on a kickstarter you get extra things like stickers, charms, whatever.

But zines SHOULD go back to being simple little things. The cost to buy them shouldn't be lost UNLESS the artist wants it to be. If you print at home or using a schools printer and just print a bunch of cute little zines yourself then that should also exist and you can set your price point for whatever you want.

Its all semantics and personal preference at the end of the day but I do think that...yknow it wouldn't hurt if we could start calling the big project 50$ range books that often get run into the ground from bad leadership (or fun stuff like the organizer of the thing runs off with the money to play genshin) ...something other than zine. Like Artbook or Anthology. Or even Collection lol

Zine should be a small thing that you collect for fun and doesn't require a committee, a new discord channel, and a contract to make sure your organizer doesn't run off to play gacha (I'm sorry it still makes me laugh)

ALSO another thing about zines is that often times they were originally made to be alternatives to really closed minded book sellers. Like...its where a lot of the OG star trek fanfic/porn came from. Its a place to have your ideas put down. To explore narratives. Essentially Doujinshi can also be considered A TYPE of zine in that it literally means self published (not NECCESSARILY that its...yknow...bl or waifu porn lol Sometimes its just manga that artists put out before they can get published)

But lately there are a lot of zine projects (again...more actually like anthologies or art collections) that are REALLY REALLY closed minded even when the subject is SHIPPING.

So even the nature of CREATING the zines has changed a lot.

So yeah I agree with that post that I forgot to reblog. My only REAL gripe is that it doesn't mean that you should undercharge your work because you didn't print your zine at home or hand craft it like a youtube diy video. I did enough of that at art school I am not gonna bind a book or try to cut pages ever again if i don't have to lmao. CSP even has a zine preview so I can see the pages in 3d as if they were bound before printing lol

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thefrogdalorian · 5 months

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I was gonna follow your blog b/c you post good content but then I saw you're one of them aka the worst aka Dinbo shippers...... seriously after everything that happened recently lmaooo dead ship💀 so no follow

If that is what you have to do to keep your peace of mind online I bear you no ill will and wish you all the best! I'm glad you enjoy my content and thank you for the compliment, but I do question why you felt the need to tell me this anonymously.

I mean, if you were expecting it would make me alter what's on my own blog then... no. I post for myself, for no one else and sure it's really nice when people interact with my posts!! But this is my little corner of the internet where I can enjoy what I want. I personally would not have fun if I felt as though I was creating content with a certain audience in mind. So, if my blog contains occasional Dinbo posts including my own fics (which I'm very proud of) then that's what I'll do!

I truly am not interested in ship wars, in analysing what actors do or don't say or saying why or what people should/shouldn't ship something. I just look at what's onscreen. If you see it... great! If you don't see it... also great! I don't personally understand why people ship Din with certain characters, but I also don't go around telling people who post about them that... or try to drag anyone into ship wars by calling their ship dead or whatever.

I very much live by ship and let ship (I even ship Din and Bo with other characters myself) but if it's such a huge squick for you then I honestly will not lose sleep over you not following me.

Also... I understand disliking certain groups of shippers for what can sometimes be very understandable reasons but tarnishing everyone who enjoys a ship with the same brush, like calling them "the worst" or just flat out saying a ship is dead because maybe you personally can't see the romantic elements is veering into toxic fandom territory. I know frustration can boil over sometimes and I get it after recent events... but I remember when shipping was fun on tumblr, not a competition or a reason to actively spread hate to others.

I really wish we could get back to that and for my part, I promise to always do my best to keep a positive space on this blog that welcomes all Din and Mandalorian ships and headcanons, regardless of whether I personally share them. And reminder that I am no more responsible for the actions of anyone else who happens to ship the same thing as I do, just as you are not responsible for the actions of people who ship the same things that you do :)

#actually thanks for giving me a chance to speak on that too #baby's first anon hate awww #well this time around #it was bound to happen!#dinbo #spud rants #inbox

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aesterblaster · 11 months

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Ik you said to send hot takes but what about your hot takes 👀👀

NYAHAHAHA THANKS FOR ASKING

*clears throat*

IsagiRin as a ship just doesn't work for me. Odk why just. Sorry I can NOT see your vision bestie. Half of the Blue Lock ships don't work for me especially when centered around Isagi because that boy switches side characters like they're pairs of shoes. In Blue Lock one or two sus or even sweet moments doesn't really amount to much to me because everyone has them here. That doesn't automatically mean date on a riverside resturant. On the other hand I totally could see Bachira x Isagi but I just think of them as really close friends because that's what gives me the most comfort being as some of the people who really saved my life were friends. I think it would be better if Bachira had a friend first and focused on himself before getting into any big relationship. Idk I guess that's more of a personal preferance

SPEAKING OF, I hate people who write Blue Lock smut w a burning passion. I'm not even gonna hit the whole iTS IMMorAL train it just usually sucks all the fun and personality out of the chosen character and is just trying to be as gross ans shocking as possible and twist them into somehow being pervs just bc they get all hyperactive when they play soccer. Like GET THERAPY. Half the time I go to the bllk tag im just scrolling like HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT.

The anime gets a lot of slack but like... It's very difficult to transfer things from one medium to the other especially things as philisophical as Blue Lock

Fandom interpretations of Shidou are usually weirdly ooc because they wittle him down to like how cray cray he is or whatever and completely ignore for example, his respect for people who are also creative and out of the box or his ability to deal with lonliness and being othered by everyone

Characters that shouldn't be hated nearly as much as they are: NOA NOEL. You heard it here folks. I genuinely believe he's just trying his best and honestly most coaches would've asked to drop half the player he has to deal with by now like cmon you got an emo gymrat who was forced to become like you, you got a playee whos EYESIGHT IS FAILING but will literally start falling apart if you bench him, you got..kaiser and his lapdog ass cronie who dont listen to your plans at all, you got an entire rift between new and old players. Like how do you even fix that when you can't send people home (i think)? He gives good advice sometimes ngl and they're winning games so like...

Cont. Sure he isn't as funny or amusing to read as Lavinho or Chris and he isn't as open as Snuffy but DAMN IT he's doing his job ok? And all the dad son moments between him and Isagi are to die for.

Naruhayas little miniarc is honestly has the saddest backstory implications to me. THERE I SAID IT. Rin's is indeed tragic and heartwrenching but can be fixed, he can move on and heal if he so chooses. Bachira...ok nvm bachira's ties with it. Hiori's is an absolute tear jerker but he is still in Blue Lock. He still has some time to grow. Naruhaya? There's nothing that could be done to fix his position or bring him up or cut him from the weights dragging him down. We see so many characters in the Blue Lock universe rise from their poverty through soccer but DAMN IT NARUHAYA EXISTED TO SHOW THAT THAT IS A LUCKY AND FEW 2 PERCENT. HE PROBABLY HAD TO GIVE UP ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS DREAMS JUST TO SUPPORT THE VERY FAMILY HE LOVES SO MUCH. HIS PARENTS LITERALLY DIED. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? BACHIRA STILL HAS HIS MOM, RIN AT LEAST HAS HOPES OF RECONCILING WITH HIS BROTHER AND HIORI MIGHT ONE DAY SAFELY CUT HIS PARENTS OFF BUT HIS ARE IMPLIED TO BE GOOD PEOPLE JUST..STRAIGHT UP DEAD. AND THE WAY HE STOLE FOOD ALL THE TIME???? IM GOING INSANE.

Ok thats all for now LMAO

#blue lock #bllk #asks #blue lock manga #yeah.

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roxannedaybreakermidnight · 8 months

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Tackling a few of my most recent experiences wiwth the internet. Don't read if harassment and racism trigger you. I don't mean harm, this is supposed to be a safe space. Comments I deem negative will be deleted so that others feel comfortable just going around and say whatever.

1. Shipping

I completely understand people's worries with Punkflower but guys, instead of worrying about non confirmed ages, can we worry about kicking out actually problematic people off the internet doing stuff to real life minors? Miles was 14 when I was 14. He is now 15 and I am 18, I still love Miles the same way, ans that doesn't compromise my morals.

A person's ship between characters doesn't say about their morals entirely. Of course, sometimes it's undeniably creepy, like characters clearly presented as parental figures being shipped with kids that were supposed to look up at them. That's weird, don't do that. Or, idk, thinking it's a good idea to jerk your dog off. (I saw documentaries, those who do too knkw what I am talking about)

Point is, pls don't harass people who don't mean actual harm. Hobie's uncomfirmed age range shouldn't cause as much hate as it does. I disagree with nsfw from time to time because it is weird, but I mostly see couple-y stuff with a few jokes, and honestly? I absolutely adore it. I encourage you to try it. I used to absolutely hatee on people who ship any characters slightly older with whatever character the topic is. I would literally try to gate keep the whole fanart community cause "She's a minor, STOP!" and honestly it was stupid asf. I'm not telling you to encourage it, just don't be mean about it. It feels stupid. If you don't disagree, and the post isn't causing harm, just don't engage.

2. Shameless racism/harassment

Recently I've faced people both in and out of omegle who seem particularly shameless, feeling safe around their little homes thinking ol' mean me won't mind. I am using this opportunity to expose a particular someone who seems very keen on being weird. I grew up around weird guys, and I often identify them easily, but for some reason I pushed the lil gut feeling away. If you have the same problem, pls listen to that feeling. It's there to avoid situations that might be upsetting.

Starting with Omegle, people seem very comfortable with racism (and search of minors to flash them). I receive jokes indicating they want me to be shot, find me ugly, make faces of disgust, call me a slave, etc etc. Not to mention I even found teenagers joking about beastiality being 'awesome'. Kids rlly need to get supervised, cause I am telling y'all, some were barely 14.

Now, I had an interesting interaction on instagram with a Miles Morales account. He came to me cause I was rping as Peter and invited me in his server on discord. I got the gut feeling from his habit of trying to flirt with Gwen profiles and spamming pictures of him in a suit. For some reason, some people have a pattern of spamming pictures when they want praise and always require attention from specific people, and I know this cause I've been harassed over this before. Days later, I was matching with my bff as an anime couple so I changed and he realized I'm born female. He asked me to be rio instead, without knowing my age, and went ahead and offered 'fun', and that 'I can't tell anyone'. What happened essentially is that I called him out, he said I was disrespecting him, I blocked him, so he made a new account to cuss me out and threaten to report me. I feel indifferent about it, but if you have anyone with similar behavior, save yourself the trouble and block them. (His discord is 'dmoney520' so avoid interacting w him pls)

3. Sexualizing a content creator

I don't mean Dream, or corpse husband, or whoever tf. I am talking about a poor 16(ish) year old called Eddie who makes content for the fact he sounds like Hobie brown, and he has people saying shit like "wanna get pregnant?" The guy just started worrying about whatever the place he lives in worries around this time.

It's honestly creepy how people will actively harass punkflower creators but then barely notice a full ass guy who is still deemed a minor regardless of what American law says getting weirdass comments from people they don't even know. Literally flabbergasted at this discovery. Not mad, just genuinely upset.

These people often forget that websites can track their activity and its hilarious to me, so whatever. This was my report on my feelings after a week of internet, and honestly? I wanna delete it. My punkflower AU happy ending is coming so if that's what you wanted, great!

#hobie brown #spider punk #miles morales #spiderman #spiderman across the spiderverse #punkflower #news #content creator

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kokomikitsune · 5 months

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*wheezes*

So I've been getting some pretty nasty comments on my Warhammer stuff on other sites and messages. Read more I guess if you wanna listen to me go on about it.

Guess I'll keep the Warhammer stuff to myself...

It's actually not a surprise I get bs comments and messages from people in any fandom but the amount of ridiculousness that has come out of something I'm just doing for fun has been the worst I've ever seen it.

"Go kys" "Now draw her getting impregnated" V: "We need to gatekeep harder, this is fucking stupid" x18-23 and counting "I fucking hate the kriegsmen because of this shit." x3- and counting And several photo memes of body injury aimed at me, not the work. There's so much more but I think I'll just leave it there...

People really know how to make others feel unwelcome in their fandom and it's typically the people who can't keep a relationship, abusers, and boys who don't understand the concept of "Hey, I'm someone's wife trying to be a part of something my husband enjoys." But I guess they'd never understand that, would they? No, I don't know much about Warhammer and no, I shouldn't let it bother me but it's the first time I've been back into a fandom since the 3rd season of MHA. It's been a hot minute. And I gave fandoms the middle finger because of it. Now I'm getting messages to go kill myself because of something silly? That's not something to brush off...

I can tell them to go fuck themselves, I can ignore them and keep posting my stuff but dealing with depression already, this just puts icing on the cake and I really don't like the idea of having to deal with this shit all over again... My husband has been trying to keep my mood up by saying "but the people that matter are the ones that like it." Yeah, that's not how depression sees it. It sees one or a hundred upsetting comments and messages and says "yeah no. I don't want to do this anymore."

But whatever. If you read this far, thank you. ily. Here's the stupid story of our characters in TL;DR

Lyra and Reid meet on the battlefield. Reid gets possessed by the emperor because it's the two of them against a chaos lord. Lord dies, blows up, and severely injures Reid, they make it out, get investigated, and get pulled into the Inquisition. Whatever.

They experience things that bring them closer together. Yada yada... Get told by their holy idol himself that he doesn't want half the shit they're told he wants. Sends them on a mission from god. har har

They have a baby, psyker baby gets taken by the black ships, lyra's upsettie spaghetti, things start to spiral a bit.

Reid goes MIA and is pronounced dead. Lyra loses her shit. Finds out from Tzeentch that he's still alive and he'll tell her where he is if she does something for him. Yet to be determined. She says fuck it, yolo, and does it just to save him. They go the rouge traitor route and live happily fucking after, the end.

#People who tell others to go kys need to burn tbh #I no ppl just do it to get a rise but its dumb #Got nothing better to do I guess #Just make people feel terrible about enjoying something

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crabgod1432 · 4 months

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Starting an ask thing for fun because why not. These are all of my ocs that are currently in use. You all may ask whatever you like to whichever oc you like, as long as it follows these rules:

- Nothing sexual or fetishy, please :]

- Don't be a stinky winky to others, people can have opinions and thoughts and those should be respected. Of course it shouldn't have to be said but don't be racist, sexist, express pedophilic behavior, etc. Anything of the sorts will not be tolerated.

- Don't. Ship my characters with eachother (unless I explicitly say here that they are in a relationship) or with any other characters.

I dunno any other rules but I'm sure there's some unspoken ones. Anywho, onto some descriptions and notes !!

CrabGod - My main oc, his body is made of a grey/black goo that can take any shape, form, texture, etc. that he desires. Also the first of my characters to be created.

CrabGod's Unnamed Wife - A purty lookin' jellyfish who is not of many words, but still some words.

CrabGod's Three Kids - The eldest is a gargantuan beast that is capable of consuming stars. The middle is literally just a crab squid from Subnautica. The youngest takes after her mother.

A - A mario ripoff that always carries his trusty monkey wrench.

E - A hippie poet that always carries his trusty cinderblock.

I - The oddball that always carries his trusty metal folding chair.

O - The shy guy who always carries his trusty concrete-filled pillow.

U - The half-lobster being that exists as some odd counterpart to CrabGod. Always carries his trusty copper pipe, named Jerry.

Y - The grumpy elder sister who always carries her trusty high-heeled shoe.

T - The goofy, 40 ft. tall cousin that always carries his trusty cement watermelon.

W - Mildly disgruntled fusion of CrabGod and U.

Jerry - From an alternate universe where the roles of U and his pipe Jerry are switched, always carries around her trusty seafood pick.

Carbgarb, Crombdgob, Crablob, Comgom - A group of strange CrabGod imitators.

Mr. Smile - A small little critter who is always smiling. A gentleman.

Mr. Frown - A tall beast with a very stern face. Also a gentleman.

Ronald - A chipper, cursed fellow.

Donald - A sentient, laser-shooting, knockoff ender pearl that's always by Ronald's side.

Hamburger - A totally inconspicuous rat.

Jim - The soul of a long dead elder. Most often seen hidden in photos. Good with kids.

Pasghetti - Yet another gargantuan beast. She is made of mostly flesh, muscle, and other meat. Her skull is interchangeable. A sweetheart.

Nolana - A girl who is not ok mentally or physically. The flowers in her mouth are covering something, maybe. She has a unique relationship with all forms of flora. She's also a newer character so I don't even know much about her myself :]

Speck of Dusty - My object show oc. He's a silly guy, maybe kinda scary sometimes. He's a good guy at heart, though.

Me - I'm Me.

Notes:

- A, E, I, O, U, and Y are siblings, with Y being the eldest of the bunch. The others' ages have not been decided upon.

- T is the cousin of the Letter Siblings.

- The number on I's jersey is different in every depiction.

- Mr. Smile and Mr. Frown are the best of friends !!

- Ronald and Donald are never seen apart. They may or may not be tethered to eachother in some fashion.

- Hamburger is absolutely a normal rat, it swears by it.

- All of CrabGod's kids are children. Don't be weird with them.

- Speck of Dusty is, in fact, the size of a speck of dust.

- CrabGod's red eye is always on his right (our left) and his blue eye is always on his left (our right).

- Cromgom canonically loves Snickers and hates the ACT standardized test.

- The flowers over Nolana's mouth often change, either because she wants them to (so I can practice drawing flowers) or to reflect how she's feeling.

- Characters that cannot speak, at least in languages we can understand are: Carbgarb, Crombdgob, Crablob, Donald, Hamburger, Jim, CrabGod's middle and eldest children, and Pasghetti.

- You can make your own letter characters !! Please try not to use letters that I've already used here !! Letters that have been used are A, E, I, O, U, Y, T, W, and L (by @silly-billy-inc). ANY other letters, maybe even numbers or symbols are game for ANYONE !! It's just the letters listed prior that are NOT to be reused !! I've attached a diagram that shows how their anatomy works !!

- Fanart is allowed !! No need to ask for permission if you feel compelled to make art of these characters for whatever reason !! Anything is game aside from sexual or suggestive content !!

- When you ask, be sure to specify which character(s) you're talking to as well as your ask !!

Have fun, Tumblr !! I Hope you all enjoy my little brainlets !!

#crabgodart #art #my art #teeth #tw teeth #creepy art #critters #mild body horror #blood #oc stuff #ocs #my ocs #oc art #ask #ask blog #CrabGod Asks

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kivaember · 1 month

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Slides in to say that if you ever do write anything on the scenes that don't' fit, that're about the world around them, would be 10/10 down to read!! The worldbuilding you've put in your fics is super fascinating (still thinking about the eternally moving and rebuilding earth) and being able to see others' visions of what that world is like is \o/\o/\o/!!

I am always down to ramble about the worldbuilding in APV!!! If you have any pressing questions about specific things, just let me know, and I will write an essay about it (I am not joking...) Literally, I had so much fun doing the worldbuilding for APV and how it all ties together... I'm surprised not many people had questions about the UEG and the like yet (I am making a wiki page about them tho bc... complicated earth-centric politics....)

BUT!!! Since you mentioned it and it only really got a passing mention in decoding: let's talk about Earth in APV and how fucked it is!!!!

The tl;dr is this: space colonisation was pushed pretty aggressively before they'd even fully ironed out the kinks in the whole, colonising a whole ass planet that humans didn't evolve to live on. There were lots of failed colonies for a while, but this was deemed a necessary evil as Earth was completely fucked. After numerous wars, a runaway climate, and even suffering from a cataclysmic meteor event, Earth was basically on the verge of total collapse. Essentially it was less imperial expansion and more like humanity fleeing their homeworld in an effort to survive, like, shooting out long-distance colony ships in random directions level of desperate.

(One of these colony ships hit the jackpot that is Rubicon, since that planet was near identical to Earth in terms of atmosphere and compatible ecosystem, so colonisation there was a cakewalk and resulted in Rubicon becoming a very successful colony very rapidly, but that's its whole own essay)

Anyway they had just enough colonies that survived for Earth to progress onto the next stage: RESOURCE EXTRACTION.

The purpose of the colonies wasn't to make new homes, it was to land on planets that had the raw resources they needed, or the capability to become bread baskets. Once they had been set up, the worker bees proceeded to produce the resources they needed to ship it back to Earth. To ensure no one got any smart ideas like "hmm why should we do this... shouldn't we just... abandon earth and start over in this system?" they ensured that these industrial colonies were was uncomfortable as possible. You could survive there, yeah, but you couldn't really live there in any capacity.

This right was reserved for the solar system. Earth gov was pretty adamant in building up a kind of mythological status about the solar colonies, how life there was so amazing and great, and that if you!!! you the worker on this backwater industrial colony!!! produced enough and was obedient enough and was well behaved enough, you could get the chance to promote to a solar system worker, and live on one of the many luxurious colonies there!!!!

(it's all a lie of course)

But Earth is fucked, right? Well, yeah! But not everyone knows this! By this point a few centuries had trundled by, the while the colonies on Mars and Jupiter's moons have been spruced up to be very nice and gentrified and all that jazz, Earth has been busy with their 'Rejuvenated Cities'. Most people's introduction to Earth as well is by progressing through the solar colonies, which get nicer and more lavish the closer you get. So by the time they're at Mars their expectations are high.

However. Earth's biosphere is completely fucked. Most of the landmasses are wastelands, covered in derelict ruins and the air choked with pollution. Destructive supercell storms are common, and majority of flora and fauna are extinct. Any attempts to rebuild cities is more like a race against time, as eventually the pocket of stable climate they'd build in would collapse, and destroy whatever city they had built there. But Earth is their homeworld, and they spent centuries feeding propaganda about how it's the paradisical homeworld of humanity, so they made the most expensive and wasteful con in human history.

Rejuvenated cities are built where they estimate the climate would be stable for like. a good century or so. They've prefabbed the plans for these cities at this point. A good decade or two and they've built the solid core of the city, and encourage people to start moving out of the old ones. As people move in, they continue expanding it out, and the old city is gradually left abandoned. Earth, of course, is very strict about who gets to move.

Earth citizens are ranked by tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. You then have the workers who aren't actually citizens, but they can work towards citizenships in very certain and rare circumstances (and even then, only achieve a bronze citizenship). When the Big Move happens, Platinum, Gold and Silver are automatically approved. Bronze, however, are picked, and if you weren't lucky, well, you have to stay in the old city and figure something out (which is basically a death sentence, so most become a worker, because then you will be allowed to move into the new city.... underneath it specifically... getting worked to the bone until you earn the "right" to become a bronze level citizen again, but it's better than being abandoned to survive out in the deadly wastes).

It's just a big scam. Everyone wants to win the luxury of living in Earth's Rejuvenated cities, because once you're in there you want for nothing. You're in paradise, so long as you toe the party line and don't make any trouble - and you don't want to make trouble. You don't want your citizenship takenaway and for you to become a worker. Just ignore the big high walls and the odd smell that drifts on the wind from time to time, and how you can never leave the city unless you want to find yourself on a desolate wasteland where the planet is essentially dead but kept on life support, just so that the people in charge can continue to cling to power, demanding endless resources from their extrasolar colonies and ruthlessly crushing any that start wising up and trying to make a new life for themselves away from Earth. The moment people realise that Earth is just a husk and that society was structured for the many to benefit the very few, the whole system would fall apart and the colonies would try to fracture off into their own nations.

(Genuinely, if the Fires never happened, Rubicon would've eventually come into conflict with Earth, because it had broken away, it did make a new home for itself, Earth had to negotiate and simper and grovel at its feet for its lauded Coral technology, shifting the balance of power and making people question why they should go to Earth when it's so much easier to go to Rubicon... makes you wonder how that war would've shaken out: Rubicon with its C-weapons and other advanced technology, or Earth and its zerg-rush style tactics of endless waves of troops, no matter how poorly armed... true quality vs quantity match up, that.)

Uhhh anyway i rambled way too long about that but yes ;;w;; worldbuilding!!!! i love it... if you have any questions about anything else, lmk...!

#armored core ramblings #this is also why rubiconians are very insistent on calling themselves rubiconians #rather than humans which is smth considered very earth-centric #they drew a line in the sand and decided they were a distinctly separate people #and they're half-right really #after centuries of living on rubicon they assimilated pretty well with the ecosystem there #specifically the coral that had a symbiotic relationship with every living thing on that planet...#well before they started using it for fuel but #well

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hypezombies · 11 months

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Stranger Things becoming so mainstream is simultaneously the best and the worst thing to happen to the show. The best cause the Duffers got the chance to bring to life the full vision and can expand on it as much as they want. And the worst because this way the audience is full of people who do not understand the show and are most likely gonna throw senseless critics at it, instead of anything actually good. And I'm not even talking about the zero media literacy. It's a HUGE issue in this fandom but it's not the only one.

The show has been advocating against bullying and conforming since the first season and the fandom is filled with people who act EXACTLY like the bullies in the show and shame others when they don't fit their standards of conformity. Believe it or not the Eddie Munson stans that everyone loves to make fun of are the real target audience of the show. Nerds, outcasts, people who like to engage in fandom culture, cosplay, analyse, theorize. Not the people who are used to consuming only shallow media that is meant to be taken for exactly what is shown and nothing more and who never had trouble fitting in in their lives. Not to mention the Eddie stans act exactly like people in every other fandom do, but most people who like Stranger Things have no idea of what normal fandoms are like and act superior for it too.

And shows, movies, books, fandoms and so on, are a form of escapism for so many people, but instead you can't even enjoy a piece of fanart, or character analysis, or whatever, without stumbling upon someone making fun of others simply for having a different view on something and, way worse, throwing homophobic, racist and ableist insults for this same reason. These are people who have always had everything catered to them and are too stuck in their view of the world to even realize that this show is not for them.

Troy was shoved to the ground and humiliated in front of the whole school for being homophobic and got a broken arm for being ableist. Similarly, Angela got her nose busted for being ableist. This is what the creators of the show think of garbage people like them. And instead we have people like some Mlvn shippers who are openly homophobic, racist and ableist to Bylers, simply because they don't like their little heteronormative, already seen a thousand times before, ship. And then they turn around and throw the senseless ableist and sexist accusations whenever someone doesn't agree with them on Mlvn being endgame or doesn't like them as a ship. This is the literal real life version of Angela making a presentation on Helen Keller, pretending to give a shit about disabled people, while bullying and humiliating El for her disabilities. And this is NOT me saying that you shouldn't ship Mlvn or stuff like that, this is me saying that that part of the fandom is more often than not the problem. And, again, it's because the majority of them are the people who always fit in and always have everything catered to them. It's not a coincidence that they are the ones not willing to even consider other possibilities.

And like, EVERY protagonist in the show is an outcast who doesn't fit in society's standards for one reason or another (let's ignore Steve for a moment). And while people who are like the protagonists get shamed in the fandom, they get rewarded in the show whenever they are themselves and don't try to conform.

The show reached an audience that was never in the mind of the creators, who are so used to always being the target of everything and are actively making the experience worse for everybody. And you just know they're most likely gonna say the dumbest shit when s5 comes out, instead of bringing any good criticism to the table, because they're incapable, or simply REFUSE to see the show and it's themes for what they are meant to

#stranger things #eddie munson #byler #duffer brothers #stranger writers

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ho-oh-memes · 2 months

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POKEMON GSC STARTER SENTENCES

Dialogue taken from pokémon gold, silver, and crystal. Change pronouns and details as needed.

“Think it over carefully. Your partner is important.”

“You have lovely pokémon. May I see them in battle?”

“This is why I hate battling wimps. There's no challenge in it.”

“I'm working! Don't bother me!”

“Well, aren't you good. I like that in a trainer.”

“Let me tell you, I'm tough!”

“Don't you get that I'm going easy on you?”

“It feels great ordering pokémon to commit crimes.”

“I failed my duties… I’ll be docked pay for this.”

“There’s no telling what they’ll do if they control the transmitter.”

“When the ice and snow melt, spring arrives.”

“It’s unsafe to go in there, so I’m standing guard. Aren’t I a good samaritan?”

“Do you know about slowpoke tail?”

“Ooooh... That's scary... I don't want to have bad dreams.”

“Strength is everything. Nothing else matters.”

“Are you gonna quit? What are you going to do now?”

“You're mean! You shouldn't be so serious!”

“Having lost, I have no right to say anything…”

“If you see her, please let me know!”

“I’m going to study the legends more.”

“There are two kinds of people. Those who have style, and those who don’t.”

“Pokémon are smart. They won’t obey a trainer they don’t respect.”

“No more ships for me. Next time, I’m taking the magnet train.” “What's the matter? Is it too much to expect of you?”

“Trying to cheat like that… I'm disappointed in you.”

“I heard some rumors, so I came to investigate…”

“Pokémon are super cute!”

“I’ll give you this for keeping my secret.”

“Yeah, Team Rocket was broken up three years ago.”

“You and your pokémon will be together for many years to come. Cherish your time together!”

“We’re not always evil. We just do whatever we like.”

“I lost the battle, but my pokémon win the prize for being the most lovely.”

“I knew you'd come through!”

“I like cute pokémon better than strong pokémon.”

“Um... I don't know how to say this, but good luck...”

“I’m so bored. Want to battle?”

“A volcano erupts, and just like that, a whole town disappears.”

“Losing leaves a bitter aftertaste…”

“I trained a lot, so I thought I was a capable trainer. I guess I’m not.”

“Heh, I’m just a grunt. I don’t know the password.”

“Tch! I thought kids these days were loaded.”

“I, too, have suffered much in my life.”

“Hey! Don't be so selfish. Spread the fun around.”

“As a trainer, I will use my full power against any opponent!”

#roleplay meme #sentence starters #sentence meme #rp meme #pokemon rp meme #pokemon roleplay meme #rp prompts #roleplay starter #starter meme #rp prompt #roleplay starters #rp promp #rp memes #rp starters

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zealfruity · 8 months

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Clones as Incorrect Quotes 1/2 Master Post (Canon-compliant and Standard Fix-It AU version) Ft. Jedi Disaster Trio

Unholy mixture of random generators, unsolved/ghost files banter, and things my friends have said

Occasional spoilers following below

A few notes for these: Tup is NB he/they. Hardcase is genderfluid. Vaughn is agender they/them. Jesse has no idea how any of this works, someone help him. NO CLONESHIPPING OR JEDI TRIO SHIPPING HERE!

Kix: Underestimate me. That'll be fun.

*Dogma is casually searching around the room*

Jesse: Hey Dogma, what're you looking for?

Dogma: My will to live.

*Tup walks into the room*

Dogma: Oh, there it is.

Hardcase: Assert your dominance over your friends by kicking them in the face, and then giving them a little smooch on the forehead!

S7 501st Trooper: Didn't you die?!

S7 Echo: That was weeks ago, dude. Things change.

Dogma: Have I ever told you that you cook well?

Hardcase: Awww, no, you haven't!

Dogma: So why do you keep cooking?

Crosshair, pointing to the wall: What color is this?

Hunter: Gray.

Tech: Grey.

Crosshair, turning to Wrecker: Now tell them what color you think it is.

Wrecker: Dark white.

Tup: As someone who has a long history of not understanding anything, I feel confident in my ability to continue not knowing what is going on.

Rex: Now, the recipe calls for 2 shots of vodka.

Rex: *upends the bottle*

Hardcase: I was put on this earth to do one thing.

Hardcase: Luckily I forgot what it was so I can do whatever I want.

Rex: Do not come over to my house. If the house is on fire you may knock once, if I don't answer assume I set the fire and I want to burn to death.

Blackout: I'm not superstitious... But I am a little stitious.

Hunter: You’re jealous.

Crosshair: Jealous?

Hunter: That’s why you were being so negative about this.

Crosshair: That’s absurd. I’m always negative.

Waxer: Just took a personality test and got an A+.

Tup: Shouldn't get stressed out, it's not good for the baby.

Fives: What baby?

Tup, crying a bit: Me.

*Disneyland, in the teacups*

Kix, Jesse, and Rex: *spinning a little and talking*

Fives and Hardcase: *flying past them, spinning as fast as they can, screaming*

Kix: Isn’t this a bit dangerous?

Fives: Kix, please. We’ve been in a lot of unexpected predicaments before and we always escape unhurt.

Kix: ...

Fives: Okay, we sometimes escape unhurt.

Kix: ...

Fives: Alright, we escaped unhurt once... Then we hurt ourselves on the way home.

*Comments under an image of a lightsaber cutting bread*

Jesse: Imagine stabbing someone with this.

Kix: It would instantly cauterize the wound, so the person wouldn't bleed, so it's not very useful.

Fives: if you want information it is

Hardcase: why would you stab a person when you can have TOAST?

Rex: Hardcase is late again.

Fives: How did this happen? I called them at 8 o’clock this morning and pretended it was 11.

Kix: I printed up a fake schedule for them saying we were starting at 9 instead of noon.

Jesse: I set their clock to say PM when it’s really AM.

Rex: Oh boy. We may have overdone it.

*Hardcase bursts through the door*

Hardcase: WHAT TIME IS IT?

Kix: Where is everyone?

Hardcase: Tup had a nervous collapse, Jesse is looking after him, Rex is trying to kill Fives, so I’m in charge.

Kix: Oh my god!

Hardcase: I know, right?

Hardcase: I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

Dogma: I have that dream, too, but you go in the other direction.

Kix: Your lover doesn't have the mental strength to caramelize onions.

Echo: Your lover thinks it takes 5-10 minutes to caramelize onions.

Jesse: Who's fucking caramelizing onions? Have you sociopaths forgotten that apples exist?

Fives: Do you think caramelizing onions is putting caramel on onions.

Hardcase: Don’t be sad!

Tup: Why not?

Hardcase:

Hardcase: I don’t have a good answer.

Dogma: You have friends and I envy that.

Tup: You're welcome to share my friends.

Dogma: *looks at Hardcase and Fives*

Dogma: I don't want those.

Fives, T-posing in the doorway: Greetings, Captain.

Rex, not looking up from his caf: Good morning, problem child.

(Post war, Jesse’s a farmer on a farm)

Jesse: I need 28 lightbulbs for 28 ducks.

Tup: Ducks can’t eat lightbulbs?

Kix: I think that’s the point.

Jesse: Exactly. I want my ducks to glow so I can find them.

Vaughn: Could you guys at least try to see this from my perspective?

Jesse: *crouches down*

Appo: *kneels down*

Sgt. Fox: *sits on the floor*

Vaughn:

Vaughn: I hate all of you.

Cody: Wow, this parking is as straight as I am.

Wolffe: I know I should be focused on the fact that you just came out, but HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY PARKING!

Fives: I have met some of the most insufferable people. But they also met me.

Omega: WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?! HE COULD HAVE HAD HOPES AND DREAMS, HE COULD HAVE HAD A FAMILY!!!

Hunter: Omega-

Hunter: It- it was just an ant-

Echo: Unfortunately, due to several experiences in my youth, I cannot just 'walk up and join a circle of people talking', but it does sound lovely, thank you.

CF99: I think it's time to start fucking some shit up.

Rex: Oh no.

CF99: More like "oh yes!"

Rex: Hardcase! Have you no dignity?

Hardcase: Of course not! How long have we known eachother?

Fives: *running towards Dogma with open arms*

Dogma: *moves out of the way*

Fives: Hey, why'd you move?!

Dogma: I thought you were going to attack me.

Fives: I was going to hug you!

Dogma: Why would you hug me?

Fives: WHY WOULD I ATTACK YOU!?

Fives: Guess what number I’m thinking of.

Jesse: 420?

Fives: No, that’s really immature of you. Someone else guess, and please take this seriously.

Hardcase: 69.

Fives: Yeah it was 69.

Hunter: How petty can you get?

Echo: I once edited a Wikipedia article to win an argument I was wrong about.

Tup: Fives, sir, I am questioning your sanity...

Dogma: I never questioned it, I knew his sanity was missing from the start.

Thorn: Your future self is talking shit about you right now.

Fox: Jokes on him. I'll ruin his fucking life.

Fox: I only have two emotions: exhaustion and stress. And I’m somehow always feeling both simultaneously.

Kix: Hi, I'm Hardcase’s emergency contact.

Counter Guy: You're here to pick him up?

Kix: I'm here to remove myself as his emergency contact.

Cody, confused and exasperated: Waxer, how do you plan on telling a bear to go vegan?

Waxer: Politely.

Hardcase: If you spell skeletons backwards, it still spells skeletons.

Kix, deadpan: Wow, I can't wait for Halloween to see some snoteleks.

Echo: You’ve got to learn to love yourself.

Omega: But don't you hate yourself?

Echo: Yeah, but this is about you. Stay focused.

Hardcase: Hey droids! The boys are here!

Fives: “That’s a guy I wanna share a cold one with." Is what Bigfoot would say. About me.

Echo, about the Force: I'm bad at feeling. I wanna be swept up in this. I really wanna believe in something outside the norm of, you know, physics.

Rex: I've lived my life by one adage, and that's don't fuck with Sith!

Jesse, talking abour an insectoid creature from a holofilm: I’m just saying that if I were a bug I’d boink him.

Tup: If I were a bug I’d do a little bug dance.

Fives: My shoulders hurt from being so charismatic.

Jesse on Naboo leave: Why is the toilet paper scented here. It’s like rubbing my ass with some fckn lilies.

Hardcase: Would you notice if someone’s ears were a different color than their face?

Kix: You are literally the dumbest bitch I have ever met I love you so much.

Hound: Guys I did it again i took one of Grizzer’s pills

Fang: how the fuck

Wolffe: I don't trust pears they're sensual for no reason and then taste stupid.

Hound: I suddenly got really sad at the thought of eating my dog.

Boost: The leader never stops leading in true alpha fashion.

Sinker: please never say that again or I’ll call mutiny.

Jesse: Not to be political but idk what the fuck oatmeal is either man

Hardcase: *wears girl ring on one hand and boy ring on other hand* im so gendr

Bly: I am like one inconvenience away from deleting all my emotions and replacing them with disco.

Fox: Don’t date me unless you have a sexual preference for walls.

Echo: Me trying to fit my scomplink in the scomp-port of a computer is the equivalent of a man trying to finger a woman’s clitoris.

Tup: My head hurts. I think I'm dying.

Jesse: I have a cheesing appointment with your mom in half an hour.

Cody, threateningly: Your mouth is a fancy ballroom and I am a bitter man about to spike the party punch.

Echo: Here are two pictures. one of them is your room, and the other is the garbage dump.

Wrecker: *points at a picture* That one is the dump.

Echo: tHEY'RE BOTH YOUR ROOM!

Echo: It smells like henway in here.

Tech:

Echo: Tech.

Echo, forcefully: Doesn't it smell like henway in here?

Tech: *sigh*

Tech: What's a henway?

Echo: OH ABOUT TEN POUNDS!

Hunter: We are not mad. We are just disappointed.

Echo: No, we are mad.

Hunter: Yes. We are. We are livid. But we are going to let this one slide.

Echo: No, we’re not!

Hunter: I am not a mind reader, Echo!

Omega: I did it! I memorized everything in the book! I'm gonna ace this test!

Hunter: Ok, Omega, I'll give you one more question before you go. What ended in 1918?

Omega: 1917.

Hunter: ...You're ready.

Obi-Wan @ Anakin: Why do you always have to insult the ghost of the place we're at?

Anakin: What’s up with Obi-wan? He’s been laying on the floor for like….an hour now?

Ahsoka: He’s just a little overwhelmed.

Anakin: Why?

Ahsoka: Commander Cody smiled at him.

Anakin: Is this a good idea?

Anakin: Probably not.

Anakin: Do I care?

Anakin: No.

#silly #tcw #clone wars #star wars #tbb #bad batch #incorrect quotes #giant post #shitpost #clones #sw anakin #sw obi wan kenobi #sw ahsoka

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fairydares · 1 year

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fuck it, new fic. let's do this.

(there's a 'keep reading' line so don't worry, this isn't too long.)

Title: Chasing Tails (AO3 Link) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Rating: E (Explicit) because I'm almost positive there will be eventual smut. I'll be clearer about this as I actually decide what I'm going to write lol. Overarching Warning for Graphic Depictions of Violence.

Categories: 2nd gen fic; adventure, humor, romance, fluff, and angst in approximately that order. i guess.

Pairings: Nalu, Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza, Miraxus+Fried (don't know what that ship's called sorry), Chendy, Sting/Yukino, Baccana-- next gen has pairings, too, but I don't want to reveal those yet.

Tags/TW's: The first chapter contains UFC/MMA-esque violence as well as some implied street violence. There may be more TW's I need to add later, but I honestly haven't written the whole story or decided everything, so that's all I can give you for now. I'll do my best to tag appropriately as I go.

Summary: It’s been almost 12 years since 17-year-old Layla O'Neil was found living alone on the streets and put in foster care, and she likes to think she’s done a pretty good job of forgetting the past. She doesn’t remember her birth family, the name “Nashi [*1] Dragneel,” or where she heard the absurd stories she told the police who found her. Stories about Wizard Guilds, flying cats, and–most cringey of all–her self-proclaimed status as a “Fire Dragon Slayer.”

But the past becomes pretty impossible to ignore when it confronts her in the form of some middle-aged, pink-haired stalker who won’t stop calling her the ridiculous name she’d nearly forgotten, and trying to convince her to come back to “Fairy Tale.”

Oh, and claiming to be her dad.

Like Layla doesn’t have enough problems! The last thing she needs is some delusional freak following around. Especially one who’s starting to make her want to take his hand…

Yep, this is a Second Gen (and therefore post-canon) fic. The idea took root and just would not let go. I’ll warn you ahead of time that the premise is somewhat dark. That said, I’m the kind of writer who likes (and tries to write) stories with sad beginnings, hopeful middles, and triumphant ends. I don't want to give too much away, but you shouldn't expect major character deaths or anything like that, though their may be some forms of lightly implied abuse.

Feel free to reblog, make your own additions with commentary, whatever. I'm quite lax with stuff like that. Hope this was comprehensive enough, and that you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Dragon-Slaying Aliens

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“That’s correct…a world that exists independently from the one we know. And, unfortunately, a world that’s begun losing its Magic…unlike here, in Edolas, Magic is a finite resource. Without limits on its use, it will one day disappear forever.” -from Episode 78, “Edolas”, (English dub, ~00:09), Carla’s line [*1]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------To say this mission had gone sideways was a big-ass understatement, and even Natsu had to admit it.

It had started well enough. A relatively small mission. Not even S-Class! Puny wannabe Dark Guilds like the one Shirotsume needed dealt with–what was it called? Bony Jewel or something? Anyways, they were a dime a dozen, these days. Hell, Natsu was pretty sure he and Happy took out, like, a billion of them in the past seven years by pure accident. So how the hell was he supposed to know that this time, he’d get blasted to another world–one even Team Natsu hadn’t wound up in?

And he was positive they’d never been here. He may have had a bad memory (something he’d begrudgingly been forced to actively acknowledge as he grew into a man) but he was sure he’d have remembered somewhere that made him feel this bad. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t use his Magic. If it had just been that, this might have been fun. Hell, a lot of the worlds Team Natsu had visited–even Edolas–had been fun.

This one sucked.

If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought he’d been transported to the future–one where FACE had been activated and all the Magic had been dissipated. Because it had felt, truly, like all the Magic was being sucked out of him. When he’d woken up on the forest floor, he’d felt as if he was dying. His lungs had burned with each breath (and not in the good way). His limbs had felt like lead when he tried to rise.

He’d quickly realized that couldn’t be the case, though. Even if the Dragons hadn’t destroyed FACE, if all the Magic had been sucked from Earthland he’d have Magical Deficiency Syndrome. He’d either be down or in forced into his END form.

He’d wandered around the small forest he’d woken up in alone, trying to focus through the stink and noise he was only capable of perceiving through what felt like about a hundred layers of thick blanket, and calling for his best friend as long as he could. It hadn’t been long before he gave up and left; Happy had never shouted back (something he considered fortunate, at this point; hopefully Happy was back in Earthland) his stomach was trying to eat itself, it was dark–and, worst of all–he still couldn’t use his Magic. At all.

Actually, scratch that: the absolute worst part was when a glance at his (as usual) bare shoulder showed him that his guild mark had vanished. It was just gone. So was his scarf, and so was his Mini Communication Lacrima. Obviously, his guild mark and scarf were bigger deals personally, but the Mini Comm was a bigger loss in immediate, practical terms. After That Day, seven years ago, Laxus–now Fairy Tail’s Master–had started putting Navigation Enchantments on everyone’s Comms so that anyone who went missing could be traced. There was a 3D map of Earthland and Edolas visually tracking everyone’s movements in the Master’s Office. It could even find them in Edolas.

Now, Natsu’s was nowhere to be found. No one would be able to find him, wherever he was, and any hopes of contacting them were obviously dead in the water, too.

He was gonna have to find his own way back, somehow. He only prayed his scarf was somehow back in Earthland, and that Happy had grabbed it for him.

As he hobbled down the weird, too-neat walkway he’d found, he had to believe that whatever was preventing him from using his Magic was what kept him from sensing anything beyond the general–the stink, the sound, the pain, the hunger. Normally, with his better-than-normal resilience and enhanced strength, his pain would have mostly taken care of itself by now. Usually, making himself move helped. Now, it seemed to be making things worse.

After finding the pathway, he’d kept shouting for his little buddy a whole bunch of times, but all he’d gotten were several loud verbal confrontations and one physical one. He’d expected to beat the massive brute towering next to the smaller woman beside him–and he had. But it hadn’t been as easy as he’d expected. His movements had been slower than normal. His limbs had felt like lead. His strength had been lesser. Every time he tried to call up his Magic, a wave of dizziness and lethargy had overcome him. It was like he’d feel the rushing up inside of him only to sputter to coldness at the last second; he hadn’t seen so much as a spark since he’d woken up.

In the end, it was only experience and determination which had allowed him to level the much larger man, and hard-earned wisdom which had seen him running from the screeching woman and the gun-wielding, uniform-wearing soldiers her screeching had drawn. Yet the punch he’d taken to the nose had made it bleed and the kick to the thigh had made him limp.

It wasn’t just that his Dragon senses had vanished, making him woozy, making it difficult to stand and excruciating to move. His strength was gone as well. Not even sealstone would have weakened him this much.

He’d wandered, now, for what felt like several hours. The number of Magical Vehicles around were astounding–astounding, and nauseating; just looking at them made Natsu want to vomit. The one good part of having an empty stomach was that he had nothing to give up. He meandered in a stupor, through unbelievably thick crowds, dodging Magic Vehicles and their honking, and glaring down anyone who yelled at him for not understanding something, occasionally barking back to scare them off.

He’d never been so disoriented, and the worst part was that deep down, he knew that there was no one to blame but himself.

Lucy and Happy had asked him, point-blank, if the Quest he’d chosen had anything to do with his search for their long-lost daughter and kitten.

It had. Of course it had.

However, Natsu had denied it. Because if he hadn’t, he and Happy wouldn’t have been able to leave right then. Lucy would have forced him to bring someone else along; she was busy taking care of their son, Luke; the Perve-sicle was already out on his own mission/search for Juvia, and Erza was away, which meant he’d have had to ask someone outside Team Natsu.

No thanks, he’d decided, covering up the fine print on the mission request with his fingers before holding it up to Lucy’s nose.

Now, as he snarled at yet another person yelling at him for being in the way, Natsu was starting to consider the possibility that he just maybe should’ve been more upfront, and even that he should–perhaps–have waited for the stripper to get back before taking on Bony Jewel or whatever alone.

But how the hell was he supposed to have known it would end up like this?! It had been going fine–in fact, it had been going great! A couple opponents had offered a real challenge before their Master had shown up. Natsu had been laying down brick in that fight, too. Yet when the guy had been on his last legs, he’d whipped some creepy, sparkly rainbow skull from nowhere (now that he thought about it…that might have been what the Guild was named for!) and shot one last attack. One so big, Natsu had been unable to dodge–though, of course, he’d made to both block and finish the fight with an enormously powerful Fire Dragon Wing Attack.

Based on his current predicament–he had to assume it hadn’t worked. Even though the skull had shattered in the heat of his flames at the last second, the blast had still hit him. His one consolation was that he was pretty sure his little buddy had heeded his final warning to get back. So he was almost definitely still back in Earthland.

It had taken Natsu several pathetic attempts to stand. Getting here felt like a blur. Now, he had no idea what he was doing. What he should do. Their money had been in Happy’s knapsack, and without his precious nose, finding food was basically impossible anway.

Man…Lucy’s gonna kill me, he grumbled internally, grunting at another group who shouted at him for bumping into him.

Okay, yeah, maybe he should’ve been honest. Maybe he should’ve waited. But how could he do that when the lead was so good? When there was even the smallest chance he might finally find Nashi [*]?

At the thought, his footsteps halted temporarily. He ducked his head, bangs shadowing his eyes. He balled his fists at his sides. The thought of the missing daughter he’d never stopped searching for never got easier to bear.

It was the worst thing that could happen to a parent, to lose their child. Something he wouldn’t have wished on Fairy Tail’s most vicious, evil enemy. He and Lucy understood that too intimately. Still, he didn’t let himself get bogged down, not when it might hold him back, not when it might keep him from finding her. Seven years, she’d been gone. Her, Wendy–so many of their nakama and allies. Time had neither hindered nor halted his search for any of his missing comrades, but especially his little girl. She’d be twelve, now. He’d gotten better with birthdays and anniversaries when he married Lucy. He’d woken up and started crying on April 14th this year, the same as his wife.

Still, even on that day, he’d spoken of her. When he was with Luke, Lucy, and Happy, he talked about it. He talked about how he’d find her and Harley–Happy and Carla’s kitten–how they’d be a family again. He spoke of the future to give it power, just like Igneel had taught him. Just like he’d taught his own kids. Wherever Nashi was, he was sure she must be doing the same; speaking of how she’d find them again, the same as he strove to find her.

But he couldn’t continue his search (covert or not) until he got home. So getting home was definitely at the top of the to-do list. Right after eating.

He kept walking.

Wherever he’d wound up was seedy, dark, yet strewn with lights that made paths across his newly-sucky eyes when he looked at them directly. Gross and smelly, too. The people he’d just bumped into started shouting back at him, something about bumping into someone’s girlfriend, and he huffed irritably. Normally, he’d never back down from a challenge like this, but believe it or not, he was too lost, confused, hungry, and tired to deal with another fight–not when the injuries he’d sustained from the previous one were still hurting this much.

It was humiliating. He’d always been the type of person who refused to back down from a fight, no matter how outmatched he was. These days, a lot of fights were honestly pretty boring for him. Erza would always be scary, and Gray was admittedly pretty strong (if not badass enough to stand up to him, or so he would always insist). He could proudly admit to having achieved (at least) Gildarts-level strength without the clumsiness to make him dangerous.

Now, he was balking out of fights with people who weren’t even using Magic.

There was something viscerally terrifying about how much his injuries were troubling him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t limp without worsening whatever injury that asshole had doled out on his knee. His nose felt bigger than his head.

He stumbled on, brooding.

The guy whose girlfriend he’d bumped into got louder, closer. Obviously, the freak wasn’t gonna let it go. Cursing, he started hobbling more quickly, turning the next corner. To his relief and curiosity, bright lights, loud voices, and a huge crowd–littered with food stands he might be able to beg food from–appeared. He made his way into the thick of it, ignoring the shouts behind him, and ducked and wove between people. It took him several seconds to realize he was still trying to find food by his nose, which barely even freaking worked. Frustrated, he turned his attention to the source of the light, which seemed to focus down on whatever sat in the middle of the crowd.

Curiosity shoving past the numbness and hunger, Natsu pushed his way towards it.

“Ow!”

“Hey!”

“Watch it, freak!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Natsu grumbled. “Watch your damn selves!”

He still felt like shit, but the crowd was oddly invigorating. As he crashed through the thickest (front) lines of the crowd, more lights came on while the darkness behind him fell deeper. Natsu winced, blinking. It took him a few moments to register what he’d stumbled upon: a roundish sort of stage, elevated a few feet off the ground and bordered by some kind of chain-link cage thing. Two corners were open to be entered, but fended off by some big dudes in black suits, holding back the crowd.

“WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” boomed a voice that came from everywhere and nowhere at once, making Natsu flinch again and the crowd start chattering loudly.

Match? Natsu wondered despite his disorientation and exhaustion, thinking of the Grand Magic Games. He shoved aside every stranger who tried to take his place at the front of the audience, looking around with wide, curious eyes, shoving his gnawing stomach to the backburner.

“FIGHT FANS! ARE YOU REAAAADDDDYYYYY??!!! ”

Fight? Natsu thought, perking up, conveniently forgetting his injuries in a burst of excitement. Several people started chattering at the crack of the loud voice that was everywhere and nowhere, making Natsu look around even more fervently.

“BECAUSE THIS LONG-WAITED MATCH-UP IS… ABOUT…TO…BEGINNNN!!!”

The cheering got louder, the shoving got more aggressive, and Natsu got more aggressive right along with it. He’d be damned if he was going to miss a good fight. Besides. He needed to see what the Magic here was like. He was being smart. So ha! How about that, Lucy?!

“INTRODUCING: OUR FIRST FIGHTER!” the voice shouted while Natsu continued to elbow and shove, anticipation rising. Music rang out, a dude’s loud, snarly voice backed up by a bunch of deep bangs and booms which had Natsu trying to decide if what he was listening to was awesome or fucking awful–nope, definitely fucking awful. For the first time, he was glad he couldn’t hear properly since he got here.

A light flashed at one corner, drawing his eye. “UNLIKE HIS OPPONENT, THIS FIGHTER IS WELL-ESTABLISHED IN THE SEMI-UNDERGROUND OCTAGON! HAD HIS PERFORMANCES BEEN FORMALLY JUDGED WHILE THE UNDERGROUND WAS STILL ACTIVE, HE WOULD LIKELY HAVE LONG-BEEN PERMANENTLY DISQUALIFIED! YET, IN SPITE OF A CONTROVERSIAL CAREER, HE HAS REMAINED A STAPLE OF THE SEMI-OCTAGON FIGHTING WORLD FOR TWO YEARS!”

“Er, feels kinda harsh?” Natsu muttered to himself, sweating slightly. Though he didn’t really get what “controversial career” meant.

“WHILE THIS IS NOT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE, DUE TO HIS HISTORY, MANY WILL NO DOUBT VIEW HIM AS REIGNING CHAMP AND DEFENDER! INNNNTTRRROOODUUUCCCINNNG… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON!”

A door Natsu hadn’t even seen was slammed open as if it had been kicked, and an enormous man–even bigger than the one that had managed to tag Natsu just a little bit ago, a man built like that potato head guy from Lamia Scale, and actually bearing a similar-shaped bald head–appeared, yanking off headphones and chucking them over his massive shoulder one of the lackeys who’d followed him out. The much shorter guy jumped, barely catching them and fumbling a lot once he had. “Mad Cow” or whatever grinned maniacally as he stormed for the ring, dark eyes wild.

The response from the crowd was mixed but mostly positive, Natsu quickly noticed as he glanced around. His eyes skated quickly over the group next to him (which was booing, unlike most of the crowd) then returned his focus to the stage-circle thing. He could see well enough, he was glad to note, even if his vision was nowhere near as sharp as it was back on Earthland. Big Guy took his place at the corner of the ring and immediately started pacing, lifting tree-like arms and roaring as he did so. Meanwhile his lackey scurried for the bit of protected corner behind him, trying to shout for his attention and getting nowhere as he continued to pace.

Natsu quickly decided he didn’t like the looks of this guy, intro aside. He was the type of asshole Natsu lived to knock down a peg, and despite his injuries and exhaustion, Natsu found himself appraising the big bastard, hands twitching. Sure, he wasn’t in the best shape, but since when had he been one to turn down the chance to kick some ass? It was more a reflex than anything. For about the billionth time since he’d landed here, he tried conjuring up some fire only to curse internally as all he got for his efforts was a wave of dizziness and a wash of helplessness.

“NOW FOR OUR CONTENDER,” the voice boomed. “SHE’D ONLY BARELY ENTERED THE UNDERGROUND BEFORE IT BECAME THE SEMI-UNDER, BUT WAS ALREADY MAKING WAVES! THIS FIGHTER HAS SPARKED INTENSE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER WOMEN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO FIGHT MEN–IN ANY OCTAGON!” More mixed din. Natsu frowned in confusion. Was it for the other fighters’ safety or something? Because someone should ban Erza from contributing to the guild hall violence. Oh, yes. That was a great idea. He’d have to bring the idea up to Gray when he got home.

“BUT IT’S DIFFICULT TO ARGUE WITH HER HANDY VICTORIES!” the voice boomed. “THANKS TO HER NEARLY-UNBROKEN STREAK OF INSANE WINS, SHE HAS BEEN NICKNAMED THE THE ‘PHOENIX’, ‘UNDERDOG’, ‘TENMEN’...AND HER PREFERRED NICKNAME…”

A new song started, and this one was undeniably cool, in Natsu’s opinion. Something hard, fast, and catchy, punctuated by an angry-sounding woman singing something about “not giving a damn” about something or other. The door at the opposite end of the ring swung open. A girl came swaggering out, and Natsu froze.

“THE DRAGONESS, LAYLAAAAA O'NEEEILLLLL!!!!”

It wasn’t his daughter. It couldn’t be. Her name wasn’t Layla. Her name was Nashi. His Nashi would be twelve, and this girl was in her late teens–maybe even her early twenties. The fact that her fighting nickname was “The Dragoness” was a nasty coincidence, but that’s all it was. This couldn’t be Earthland’s Nashi.

But it was this world’s Nashi. Of that, there was no doubt. And Natsu couldn’t make himself take his eyes off her, couldn’t even make himself blink as he stared, ignoring the cheering and booing all around him.

A couple strands of unruly pink hair at her bangs had broken free of their tight braids, as adorable and predictably unpredictable as his little girl’s. They clung to her forehead, bouncing as she strutted towards the monster still pacing, practically frothing at the mouth, and Natsu vaguely registered the sound of several peoples’ alarmed murmuring. If he hadn’t been so distracted, he’d have understood; she was about half the guy’s size and about -50% as insane-looking.

Not scared, though.

And…she looked like Lucy. She looked so much like Lucy that it hurt. He could still remember times when he’d call his little girl’s name, she’d turn around, and he’d gasp–because it really was like an adorable, wild little pink-haired Lucy turning to look up at him, her whole face lighting up like he was the greatest thing in Earthland. The memory choked him up, a feeling he’d gotten used to over the past seven years. He swallowed hard.

But that wasn’t Lucy’s smile. Natsu felt like he had seen that smile somewhere but he wasn’t particularly interested in thinking about it all that deeply, because what mattered was that it was her smile, his little girl’s, big and toothy and unmistakable–a little lopsided, the corners of her lips characteristically curling.

It hit his chest like a shot from Zeref, making him briefly clutch at his waistcoat’s dirtied fabric.

Natsu knew, firsthand, just how similar other worlds’ versions of his loved ones could be to his. Hell, Edolas Lucy had chopped off her hair to make it a little easier to distinguish herself from Earthland Lucy.

That didn’t make it hurt any less to suddenly see another world’s Nashi– Layla, this one was called. That was Nashi’s middle name. It made sense, when you thought about it. Names were one thing that seemed to sometimes differ slightly between worlds, as he’d learned on the 100-Year-Quest [*3]. Her canines were sorta sharp, maybe, but they weren’t Dragon Slayer sharp, like his and daughter’s. Besides. Edo Nashi and Fireball’s canines were a tiny bit sharper than normal, too.

It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be. Looking at her still felt like being punched in the chest by Erza. Yet he couldn’t stop watching as the music, cheers, and boos faded, she stripped off her sweats (to much catcalling and whistling) to reveal a black sports bra/shorts getup sort of like “Mad Bull’s” shorts, revealing a body packed with much more muscle than any of Fairy Tail’s women would’ve allowed themselves to accumulate. She looked pretty badass, he decided.

The voice that was everywhere and nowhere boomed on:

“NOT ONLY A CHANCE AT THE UPCOMING TITLE ON THE LINE, BUT–POTENTIALLY–THE FUTURE OF MIXED SEMI-UNDERS. TWO CHALLENGERS, SQUARING OFF FOR A CHANCE AT THE SEMI-FINALS. THIS IS A GIGANTIC CULTURAL MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS SPORT… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON VS. THE ‘DRAGONESS’ LAYLA O'NEIL!”

“‘Dragoness’ is fucking right!” Mad Cow or whatever roared while he hugged one arm across his chest, grinning ferally at his much smaller opponent. “Here hoping some man will look at you, fugly?!”

Several people in the audience laughed. Even the announcer chuckled. Meanwhile, Natsu’s blood boiled. On some level, he knew he needed to separate himself from this. From this fight, from this “Nashi.” Especially when he was this powerless to do anything about any of it. But it was impossible to listen to someone say that to another version of his daughter and not have every protective instinct in his body flare, especially when the spectators apparently thought it was fucking hilarious.

However, her grin didn’t even flicker. “Like you’re one to talk!” she cackled. “You look like Popeye fucked Bigfoot!”

Natsu didn’t flinch at the language like many people in the audience seemed to. In fact, he found the disapproving murmurs confusing. The other guy hadn’t exactly been polite, but he hadn’t gotten the same reaction. Still, a solid number of people were laughing their asses off, including the group next to him which had booed Mad Cow.

He also had no clue what the hell she’d just said even meant, but the way Mad Cow’s smile dropped off his face, a handful of people started howling with laughter, and the commentator’s chuckles cut off abruptly was enough to make Natsu grin.

Some random guy in some sort of black, collared uniform entered the arena, signaling to the loud, annoying commentator. Unlike her opponent, no one had followed This Nashi into the arena; she was all alone. So she ran back to her own bit of protected yet empty corner and threw her clothes and a water bottle over the chainlink fence, then ran back towards the middle of the arena. There, she hopped up and down, shaking out her arms. Stretched them above her head.

“OUCH!” The commentator finally seemed to recover, though he sounded somewhat vexed. “WELL, ONE THING’S FOR SURE, THE CHALLENGER CAN TALK GAME…WHETHER SHE CAN LIVE UP TO IT IS ANOTHER QUESTION.”

“God, I fucking hate when Hansis commentates,” the guy next to Natsu muttered, his friends snorting in agreement. Then he glanced at Natsu–only to double take. “Oi, are you related to the Dragoness or something?!” he asked, eyes on his hair.

“Uhhh…” Natsu chuckled nervously, feeling himself start to sweat. He may have been what Erza would (and frequently did ) call an “impulsive idiot”, but he had no clue how to explain that he was the father of her other self. “Something like that.”

“Whoa, seriously?!” The guy’s friend leaned around him to look at Natsu with wide, shining eyes, then continued, “I won’t ask anymore, ‘cause obviously you’re trying to protect your identities or something, but that’s so cool! We’re huge fans!”

“Hmm…” Natsu said, scanning their apparel–t-shirts and hats emblazoned with her face and silhouette–and what looked like homemade signs of her name, written in fiery letters. “I can see that…what is this, exactly?” He asked this while looking around at the lights, spectators, an unfamiliar kind of money being exchanged and counted between several people.

Natsu tilted his head, blinking. “No?” he said.

“The semi-underground tournament?” the only girl in the group said, eyes almost as wide as her friend’s. When Natsu only continued to look confused, she said, “What, do you live under a rock?! You’ve at least heard of MMA, right? Mixed Martial Arts?”

He perked up at this. “Like a fight?! Hell, yeah! How do I get in on this?!” He grinned, cracking his knuckles, his earlier scuffles and empty stomach completely forgotten.

“YOU DON’T!” the entire group shouted, eyes bugging.

The dude who’d first started talking to him huffed, sweating slightly. “The ‘semi-underground’ octagon used to just be called ‘the underground fights,’” he explained loudly, Natsu still having to lean in to catch what he said with his new, bad ears over the increasingly excited din. “It was illegal, but, like, illegal in the ‘everyone knows but won’t squeal’ way, you know?”

Natsu nodded, fully getting this. After all, how many times had soldiers arrested him only for Queen Hisui to let him off with a finger-wag. Of course, his luck on that front had run out seven years ago…

“The feds finally cracked down on it,” the guy continued, “but didn’t prosecute any of the fighters. Now, it’s called the ‘Semi-Underground’...it’s got no weight-classes (which is why the Dragoness can fight big dudes like Mad Bull). All genders are free to compete and fight each other. It’s a bit more for entertainment than pure fighting prowess– that was different, before,” the guy added with a wistful tone. “But still! You can’t just go waltzing into the octagon, you know? Back in the basement where this used to happen, you could’ve gotten away with that, but now you’ve gotta work for it, you know? Seriously, do you live under a rock or something?”

Irritated, Natsu opened his mouth, but his response was cut off when a loud voice–not as loud as the announcer, but still–redrew all their attention to the ring. “Alright, fighters,” the black-collar guy said into a microphone which was smaller and not as loud as the commentator’s, quieting the audience. “We’ve been over the rules. Protect yourself at all times. Follow my instructions. We’re going to have a clean fight, you hear me?” He glared at Mad Bull, but This Nashi was the only one who dipped her chin in recognition. Natsu’s eyes narrowed along with hers when her opponent refused to acknowledge the guy’s words. “Now, touch gloves at this time, and come out ready to do this!”

Both fighters instantly danced away from each other. Black collar guy scowled. Both the commentator and the audience made sounds like “ OOOOOOOH!”

“NO TOUCH!” came the commentator’s gleeful voice, “I REPEAT, NEITHER FIGHTER TOUCHED GLOVES, AND SO FAR, NEITHER ARE REALLY MOVING FOR EACH OTHER–”

“SAY YOU’RE PRAYERS, BITCH!” Mad Cow roared. “YOU’RE DEAD MEAT!”

“BRING IT!” This Nashi roared back, and Mad Cow lunged, swinging in immediately with a big, dramatic overhand hook that would have knocked her out immediately if she hadn’t skated out of its way. It took about three similar exchanges for Natsu to sag in disappointment.

“Oi!” he shouted, utterly let down, “Where the hell’s the magic?!”

“Geez!” the guy next to him laughed. “The fight’s only just started: give them a minute to warm up! Then we’ll get to see the cool stuff.”

“What, they’re not allowed to use it at first or something?” Natsu asked, still staring as This Nashi fended off huge, devastating blows raining down from above and leapt back from the powerful kicks, eyes narrowed and expression tight.

“...Er, what?” the guy asked.

“Magic–duh!” Natsu huffed, flickering wide eyes between the guy and This Nashi, who was now darting backwards around the round-ish ring, still fending Mad Cow off, weaving and ducking with a speed few could hope to match. “You know?! Fire, Ice, Celestial Magic…?

The guy stared at him for a second along with his companions, all of whom were also sweating. It was then that Natsu knew:

Something more was going on here. Something he didn’t understand. This place…wherever he was, it was like Edolas. Not now, but back when he, Lucy, and the others had gone there. Magic didn’t just not exist, here; was some kind of… taboo on it.

“Oh, sorry,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Trying to keep his voice as quiet as he could over the crowd, he continued, “I didn’t mean to say something that would get you in trouble...”

The group’s only response was to sidle away from him surreptitiously, glancing at him and sharing looks with wide eyes. Natsu was thrown for a loop once more. Ooo- kay, talk about overly-suspicious. Were there guards listening in on their conversation or something? As discreetly as possible, with his hand still at the back of his head, he looked around, eyes narrowed.

Yet…he saw nothing to warrant their suspicion. An unruly crowd…and an astonishing lack of guards. At the Grand Magic Games, there’d always been a ton of guards. Way more than he wanted to be there, honestly. Did this have something to do with the whole “underground” thing?

He looked at the group again, then realized something important: it was him they were looking at nervously. Nervously, and like…he was crazy or something.

It had taken time, but the years had made Natsu wiser–cooler–about situations like this. Even as his stomach sank with the realization that getting home was going to be a much harder task than he’d initially realized, he acknowledged that he’d need to be careful about mentioning Magic here. Dropping his hand, he forced a small smile at them then turned his attention back to the arena, where Mad Cow continued to chase This Nashi around the edge of the arena. Meanwhile, his mind continued to reel, loud to himself and no one else.

“–IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SHE’S CAUGHT IN A CLINCH, HERE, AND THEN OUR NIGHT WILL BE OVER!” the commentator was blaring. It was sort of surprising, how easily he’d been able to tune out when Natsu’s ears were registering so little. “I HATE TO SAY IT–” (Based on the glee in his tone, Natsu doubted that.) “–BUT HOWEVER MUCH OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FIGHTER SHE IS, SHE’S STILL A FEMALE FIGHTER. HER OPPONENT HAS WELL OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS ON HER [*4]. AND, AGAIN, I HATE TO SAY THIS–BUT THERE ARE JUST PHYSICAL BARRIERS NO CHICK FIGHTER WILL EVER BE ABLE TO OVERCOME! RIGHT NOW, THIS IS A DOG FIGHT, AND NOT ONE SHE CAN KEEP SCRAPPING IN! SHE’S NOT GOING TO COME OUT AS THE ‘UNDERDOG,’ THIS TIME–”

“Man, she’s getting her ass beat!” someone from the group broke the awkward silence as This Nashi was swept aside by a blow that caught the guard at her ear.

“Maybe she’ll make a comeback!” another guy said, tremulous but hopeful, as a log-like shin crashed into her stomach.

“She definitely will!” the guy who’d first spoken to Natsu said, though there was a distant note of doubt in his voice as she barely reeled from an arrow-fast straight right.

Despite the awkwardness of their last interaction, Natsu couldn’t help appreciating these people, who were so devoted to this world’s Nashi. He decided to end their night more positively. “Is that what you think?” he asked in a somewhat bored tone, eyes on the girl still gliding backwards, dancing away from the hits and kicks or else blocking them. He felt, rather than saw, the group’s eyes jumping to him, some of them quickly leaping away only to dart back.

“What do you mean?” the first guy ventured when he said nothing else, edging a little closer once more.

Natsu crossed his arms over his broad chest, eyes thinning as Big Boy brought down a hailstorm of fists on This Nashi’s head. His eyes tracked the way a particularly big hit caught her forearm–but only barely, seeing as she’d slid out of the enormous range even as she blocked. Just like he’d thought…

His stomach churned uncomfortably. It was eerie and cruel, how much her movements and the memories aligned–

“OUCH! That hurt, Daddy!” After the exclamation, Nashi began grumbling, vigorously rubbing her forearm where his fist had just him.

“Woops!” Natsu chuckled sheepishly, “My bad!”

Despite the fact that she was still rubbing the arm he’d tapped with a light hit, the little girl who barely came up above his knees scowled.

It was midday, now. In their front lawn; his and Happy’s house, now much larger with the rooms he’d added for Lucy and their kids.

“But–” He grew serious. “–you think your enemies will take it easy on you, Nashi? You think they’ll give you a break because you say ‘ouch’?”

She dropped her arms to her sides and scowled–pouted, really. She was so cute, he couldn’t have kept his lips from quirking into a grin if he tried. Strutting forward, he planted a hand on top of her head, rubbing the unruly locks. He only grinned wider when she turned her scowl/pout up to him. “Sorry, kiddo, but they won’t!”

Lucy would have lost her mind, if she saw the interaction. Natsu could just hear her now: “NATSU, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! SHE’S FIVE! BE CAREFUL, WOULD YOU? BLAH BLAH BLURGH BLAH– !”

He never really got Lucy, when she acted like that. Nashi was a Dragon Slayer, like him. She could take much more than a normal human, but would never learn that she could if he didn’t show her! Not to mention that Igneel had been way tougher on him, when he was five. Besides, he didn’t want his kid to be some weakling! What father did want that?

Not any good ones, that was for sure. Especially not when their kids had Nashi’s determination and drive.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he apologized again, still rubbing her head affectionately. “But you’ve got to understand…if I hurt you, it’s because I know your enemies will hurt you the same way…I don’t want it to surprise you. I want you to be able to fight back, still. You do still want to be a big-time Dragon Slayer, don’t you?”

She stared up at him dubiously, but the smile caught on quick. She’d never been able to resist smiling back at him.

“...Yeah,” she admitted finally, feigning reluctance.

He lifted his hand off her head, cupping it around his ear and leaning down towards her. “What was that?!” he shouted. “I couldn’t hear you…what was it you want?!”

“I–pfft–I WANT–” Her small smile turned to a grin–the big, corner-curled grin only his daughter ever could or would achieve. The one that always melted his heart.

“I WANNA BE A DRAGON SLAYER!” she managed to roar through her grin. “NO–I MEAN, I WANNA BE THE STRONGEST DRAGON SLAYER EVER!”

“HELL YEAH, YOU DO!” he roared back, the pride managing to make his chest burst even as he squared up again, preparing for more training. An adrenaline only teaching one’s prodigy could spark electrocuted his system. “IF THAT’S REALLY TRUE, THEN COME ON, NASHI! YOU’VE GOT MORE IN YOU! I KNOW YOU DO!”

“OH YEAH? WELL I DO! I GOT WAY MORE IN ME!” She dropped into the stance he’d taught her, grinning for everything she was worth. The sun illuminated her smile.

He somehow managed to grin even more widely. “Right, then listen up!” he commanded. “When Dragon Slayers fight, they got one big advantage: they can take a whole bunch of hits–then still get up. So that’s exactly what you’re gonna do.”

“...Huh?!” The little girl’s eyes bulged out of her head. “You’re sayin’ I’m gonna let myself get hit?!”

“Well, not too hard,” he elaborated. “And not too much…you’re just gonna play defense for a while, see?” He moved for her, throwing a fist much more slowly than he normally would have. Automatically, she wove away, eyes wide on his face. His right fist was followed by his left, then a kick–all too sluggish to be real. She easily moved around and blocked all of them. “This way,” he continued, throwing another kick. “You can learn the guy you’re fighting, how step, how they breathe…”

“How they step…how they breathe…” she repeated to herself in a murmur, eyes flickering all over his body as he continued to pantomime a real fight. Natsu couldn’t help but grin. Nashi was a distractible kid, but when it came to fighting, she was always on the ball.

Natsu didn’t mind one bit when Lucy blamed him for that.

“...how they fight,” he finished.

“...how they fight!” she whispered.

He started speeding up his movements. Let her orient before he lit up his fists. She mirrored him, flames igniting her much smaller fists. Their dance became even faster “That’s it, Nashi!” he praised as she leapt back from a kick, only letting it clip her shoulder. “Get into the flow of it! Read my movements! Remember, breathe, and–”

“She’s reading him,” he murmured, voice softer than he’d meant it to be. “Fending him off and waiting for the right moment; his hits are only clipping her.” His hunger was catching up with him again, as was his pain. He ached. He wanted to sleep. And…

…It hurt. It hurt too much. Knowing it wasn’t his Nashi…that just made it hurt more. Each hit, each block, each flash of those brown eyes…they felt like shards of glass piercing his heart.

I can’t stay here, he realized.

“What was that?” the girl in the group asked, venturing closer to him.

His heart was heavy, sinking as he watched the girl. Embarrassment washed over him as he realized that had been a stupid thing to say in the first place. This wasn’t his Nashi. She wasn’t using what he’d taught her because he hadn’t been the one to train her. Hell, she probably wasn’t even gauging her opponents’ movements; she was probably fighting for her life, here.

She would lose.

“Nothin’,” he replied thickly, dropping his arms even as he watched the girl roll away from a rather impressive and extremely long-ranged crescent kick, not even the man’s big toe catching her at all. “I was wrong…enjoy the rest of the fight, guys.” He used the ensuing beat of silence to stare–for just one more second–at the girl. This world’s version of his girl.

Without thinking, he went to heft up his backpack, only to sigh in quiet defeat–the exhale almost visible even in the warm air–as he remembered it wasn’t there; he was just a weakling in this world. That’s why his back (and whole body) felt so heavy.

“Oh, you’re leaving?” the first guy who’d spoken to him said as he turned away, pushing back through the crowd. His tone was an odd mixture of relieved and disappointed. Natsu said nothing, merely waving.

Overhead, the booming voice–which he’d tuned out during the competition–continued to sound off. “–AN ADMITTEDLY UNBELIEVABLE DODGE, BY ,” it said, clearly shocked, as Natsu pushed past a woman who was obviously excited to be moving closer to the arena. “BUT THE NEXT FLURRY OF BLOWS LANDS, ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS SHE’S BLOCKED MOST OF THEM–”

“YOU’RE DONE, BITCH!” roared Mad Cow, so loud that he managed to drown out the commentator–who went silent, anyway. This made Natsu pause, his brows knitting with fury.

It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. She’s not your daughter. He refused to look back, forced himself to take another step, then another. She’s just some fighter from another world who’s, apparently, out of her league. She’s not–

A loud slam, like a body falling on a mat. “SHE’S DOWN! I REPEAT, ’S DOWN!”

Natsu smirked. “See, dumbass?” he murmured to himself.

“IT’S ALL OVER, FOLKS! SHE’S–”

All of a sudden, a fleshy CRACK rang through the air, followed by an enormous chorus of gasps and cries of surprise from the crowd. A deafening silence ensued.

“... HOLY– UNBELIEVABLE!” the commentator managed. “A KICK FROM THE GROUND–AND O’NEIL'S BACK ON HER FEET! THEY’VE GAINED GROUND FROM EACH OTHER, AND MAD BULL–MAD BULL IS NOW TRYING TO RECOVER!”

Despite himself, Natsu slowed even as he urged himself to keep walking. Even as he continued to force himself not to turn back. Looking back is only a distraction. It’s not Nashi. That is not Nashi. It’s not–

“Man, I really hate guys like you, you know that?”

The seething voice was what made him stop, closing his eyes. There was just…something about it. A growl. A fire. Something that punched right back into his memories:

“Remember, breathe, and keep your eyes on my chest! That way, you can see my whole body at the corners of your eyes!” A combo, one which he pumped more speed and power to than before–throwing her off on purpose.

“Oof!” she grunted as she landed on her butt.

“There, when you fall– that’s when you make your comeback! Now that you’ve watched your opponent, and tricked him into thinking you’re down– now is when you get back up and blow them away! That’s how a Dragon Slayer fights! That’s how a Fairy Tail Wizard fights!” She stared up at him with huge eyes, shining with admiration, and flushed cheeks.

He grinned.

“So?! Get up! Always get back up, Nashi! I’m not asking the impossible of you–you can do this! I know you can!”

“I–I will!” she scrambled to her feet, fists blazing with gold heat as she lunged for him. “I’ll always get back up! No matter what, I’ll–”

His chest seized. He clenched his jaw, knowing he needed to make himself keep walking, but unable to do it. Even as people churned around him, trying to push past him, he found himself shoving them off, refusing to move from exactly where he was. One foot planted in front of the other. Half-hovering. Eyes still closed.

Whatever just happened had quieted the crowd, an anticipatory sort of silence that made him clench his fists, eyes still closed.

And then, Natsu’s world flipped upside down:

“You didn’t even bother to study my previous fights, did you?” Her growl carried across the hushed crowd. “Tch, typical…if you had, you’d know: You’d know I always get back up!”

His eyes flew open.

He whirled back around and watched, wide-eyed and world rocking, as the pink haired girl rose. Rolled her shoulders against her ears, one at a time. The grin was gone, a heavy, intimidating scowl having taken its place as she recovered, getting her feet back underneath herself, her stance back in place. Her nose was wrinkled in fury. Her eyes burned.

Natsu’s lips parted on a gasp as he stared.

Mad Cow scoffed, hunched and rubbing his chin with a hand like a mitt. Natsu guessed that This Nashi must’ve caught him there–probably with a kick, given the size difference. That must have been what made the crowd react with shock. They were recovering now, though, getting louder.

“And why the fuck would I bother to do that?!” Mad Cow shouted, dropping his hand. “I don’t need to! Every guy you’ve faced could’ve beaten you easily if they’d quit acting like even more of a little bitch than you! You shouldn’t fucking be here anyway…fucking birds, knowing dudes will take it easy on you so you can take advantage of it and collect the reward…well I’M NOT ONE OF THEM!” He roared the last part. The bitter fury in his voice was a kind Natsu was familiar with.

“Studying what you can find of your opponent’s fighting style–that’s basic! And you wanna sit here and bitch about how I don’t deserve to be here, you lumpy-headed fuck?! ”

“The FUCK you just call me?!” McCow snarled back.

“YOU HEARD ME, SHITWIT!”

“THAT’S IT!” the man shouted. “I’ve had it! I was gonna take it easy on you, but–”

“THAT’S MY LINE!”

It seemed that was both their limit.

They flew at each other. But now, everything was different, and Natsu doubted that anyone without a trained eye and fighting experience like him could recognize it.

Apparently, the commentator was one such person: “THIS IS–THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” the voice boomed, full of disbelief, as the girl caught the fist rocketing towards her face with a hard elbow, making Mad Cow let out a roar of pain. She kicked away an arm flying towards her head, and launched a sidekick at his now-uncovered stomach–one that landed hard. She built on the damage, bearing down on him as he stumbled backwards, tripping over his own heels. A right roundhouse followed by a left to his head. Despite the fact he was obviously disorientated, he caught the first one– blocked it and tried, unsuccessfully to catch her foot–but not the second, which cracked into his ear and made him stagger, her chasing him and hammering him with surprisingly powerful blows. Each one of her hits accumulated speed and strength.

The commentator picked up again, saying something or other about “striking machines”, but Natsu didn’t hear. His eyes were wide, now, and glued to the girl cracking her shin into her opponent’s nose, teeth bared. The expression on her face…the fire in her eyes…the speed of her hits…her fighting style…it was like he’d begun watching the fight currently happening through one eye and a stream of memories through the other, his breath going still in his lungs–

“–No matter what, I’ll always get back up!” screamed the little girl, running forward and hammering him with fiery strikes, kicks, and even elbows. They’d only just started elbow work. Natsu staggered back with each good combo she landed. He put in the effort to make it look convincing, pride swelling within his chest.

“That’s it! Build on it! Faster…harder! C’mon!”

This Nashi slipped underneath and into one of Mad Cow’s big overhand hooks, the corrected trajectory of his fist barely skidding over her shoulder as her right fist tore up, slamming into his chin. Even as his eyes rolled and he staggered backwards, her expression was so mutinous it was almost funny.

But as good as the uppercut was, it turned out to be a set-up:

“LOOK AT THIS COMBO…CROSS, HOOK–WHOA! AN ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING LEG KICK! CLASSIC MUAY THAI-INSPIRED COMBO FROM TURNING–”

“FUCKING BITCH–!” Mad Cow roared, but his opponent cut him off with a voice like thunder.

“I’M THE BADDEST BITCH YOU’VE EVER MET!”

“I’LL ALWAYS GET BACK UP! I WILL! I’M GONNA BE A GREAT DRAGON SLAYER, JUST LIKE YOU! NO–I’LL EVEN BEAT YOU, ONE DAY!” Nashi took a deep breath, and Natsu grinned, allowing the pause in the fight, because he knew what was coming. The catchphrase both like his and not. Inspired by him, but all her own.

Her fists blazed brighter than ever. The sun illuminated her grin.“JUST WATCH ME, DADDY! DON’T EVEN BLINK! BECAUSE I’VE–”

“–GOT A FIRE IN ME THAT YOU’LL NEVER PUT OUT!”

Mad Cow’s eyes were wild with fear as he desperately swung for another, big lead cross–one which spelled his downfall. The Dragoness leapt off her left leg–her back leg. Her right shin cracked into his already dipping head.

He fell forward and bounced off the mat, limp as a ragdoll, while the audience screamed all around him.

Even as the giant fell still, she made for his prone form, fist raised, but didn’t fight at all when the black-collared man appeared seemingly from nowhere, grabbed her around the waist, and practically threw her away. Instead, This Nashi– The Nashi skipped backwards, smirking, and raised a wrapped fist.

And that was the realization which thundered through Natsu, now gaping up at the victorious, pink-haired fighter stalking towards the edge of the cage: not This Nashi. The Nashi.

After seven, grief-filled years, Natsu Dragneel was absolutely sure he had just found his daughter.

*1. Yes, there will be quotes from the original series (the anime dub, sub, or the manga depending on whichever version I like best) at the beginning of each chapter. HOWEVER. The quotes are not spoilers and are often only tangentially related to my plotline. The one for this chapter, for instance, is specifically about Edolas, but is not actually true of the world where Natsu has landed.

*2. Yes, I know the canon Edolas Nalu child is “Nasha.” I decided on “Nashi”, instead, for reasons which will be explained later.

*3. Sorry in advance, but I pretty much kept what little I remembered/liked from 100YQ and ditched everything I didn’t. Same with the original story, but way more with 100YQ. Idk what it is but even though I’ve read the whole thing, 100YQ has this unique quality where a lot of what happens slips straight out of my mind as soon as I’ve read it. In one eye, out the other. So you’ll just have to roll with me, sorry.

*4. Real-life inspiration for Layla (/Nashi) comes mostly from Ronda Rousey, whose biography I read and happen to have on hand, along with Kaoklai Kaennorsing (especially his fighting style). Those are the two main ones. If you’ve read My Fight, Your Fight, you’ll understand how Layla (/Nashi’s) personality is inspired by her–especially as you go on. I highly recommend looking up the Thai kickboxer/Muay Thai fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing. He has been called the Giant-Slayer because he did, in fact, defeat opponents who had over 100 pounds on him. Watching his fights is just an incredible experience. Other inspirations include Rose Namajunas, Connor McGregor, and some others. There are also several fictional inspirations including and outside Fairy Tail which I won’t bore you with (some of them I’m sure fellow anime fans will be able to guess lol).

#nalu #fairy tail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nashi dragneel #nasha dragneel #gruvia #gajevy #jerza #fan fiction #fanfiction #2nd gen #post-canon #if this is wonky i'll fix it tomorrow. too tired now.#nalu fic

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