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clarenecessities · 3 years

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As my followers may have picked up from my long, spiraling rants, I’ve undertaken a new research project, courtesy of the death grip She-Ra has on my brain. And guess what? It’s finally at Disseminate Information Stage! So I’m going to lay out all of the gods, demigods, and godbeasts of the Masters of the Universe. With sources!

This table is more of a cheat sheet. We’re gonna tackle this god by god, with a section on Actual Lore & a meta section to help you decide how valid you think they are, because frankly some canons are more canon than others.

Asklepia, Benevolent Snake Goddess

Lore: Asklepia is one of two snake goddesses, the benevolent twin sister of Serpentia. We know very little about her abilities, but the Snake Clan (a clan of human warriors) were said to worship her, and they were famed for their architecture and healing. She had the ability to curse and deform people--to what extent is uncertain, but she’s known to have condemned a fallen priest named Ka, whose disfigured likeness now adorns Snake Mountain.

Behind the Scenes: First appearing in the 1987 comic “Il Nero Cristallo Del Potere“, Asklepia remained nameless for over 30 years, until Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) released a few choice bios. For the unfamiliar, MOTUC seeks to reconcile the often contradictory canons into one overarching narrative, which is great in theory, but in practice is kind of like putting ice cream on a hot dog. And calling it a Chilly Dog ® as if that makes it taste better. But I digress. In 2019 they released a bio for the Staff of Ka which finally put a name to the less-evil Snake Goddess, in an obvious nod to Asclepius and the asklepian (that staff+snake icon people put on medical stuff).

Sharella, the Green Goddess and/or “Avatar” of Asklepia

Lore: Contradictory

Long Version: Okay I’ve put avatar in quotes because it is... contentious. Basically, and you’ll see here why I felt the need to make this post instead of relying blindly on the wikis, Sharella was introduced (in the ‘87 licensing guide) as a tribal leader who had joint custody of Gray, the original name of He-Ro’s alter ego, while he was growing up. This was further developed by Emiliano Santalucia’s concept work, wherein she was the leader of the Green Tiger Tribe (GTT) specifically. While the comic concept was not run through licensing & is thus not “canon”, the idea of her leading the GTT persisted. This teeny tiny image of her from Tytus and Megator’s 1987 Italian box art was all we had until 2008, when one of He-Man’s accessories described her as the “warrior woman ally” of Queen Veena, “who had been changed into the immortal green-skinned avatar of the Goddess Asklepia”. In 2009, MOTUC released a figure for The Goddess, apparently forgetting they’d done that shit the year before because the packaging did say “K’yrulla” was her real name. They had to cover it up with a sticker.

So who’s The Goddess? Way back in the days before Mattel solidified any of the lore around MOTU, there were mini-comics released with the toys. Initially, the Goddess served a similar function to the Sorceress in the cartoon, and was in fact sometimes called the Sorceress. She facilitated He-Man’s transformations, gave him missions, was generally magical and mysterious, etc. If you know who the Sorceress is, and you can picture Teela, but green? That’s about it.

Back to Sharella, though. The Third Ultimate Battleground rolled around in 2015, and for the first time since some packaging in the 80s, we saw Sharella in action! She was shot through the heart with a poison arrow. Yeah. But don’t worry, she received a blood transfusion from Moss Man (who we’ll get to later), and was transformed into the Green Goddess! She’s immortal now. How Asklepia figures in here is sort of unclear, which is weird since this is still part of the MOTUC line, but whatever. Whatever! Queen Grayskull (the aforementioned Veena) received a bio in 2015 as well, which described Sharella as her apprentice who became “The Goddess”.

Horokoth, Aspect of the Mother Goddess

Lore: DC went a little batshit (pun intended) with the lore for the Eternity War. Here the Goddess is three combined aspects, “Serpos” (Serpentia) for the Snake Men, Zoar for the human “Eternians”, and a third, invented deity called Horokoth, who represents the Horde. Horokoth is “the coming destroyer. The darkness at the end of days.” and is represented by a bat.

Behind the Scenes: That last link has a clearer picture of her, it just didn’t crop well. Also, I confess I couldn’t bring myself to read Eternity War. As thrilling as the prospect of a cohesive narrative is, if I wanted to see Adora slit her brother’s throat there’s the edgier side of deviantArt to peruse. Therefore I know little of Horokoth outside of a few still images of Hordak. The bat was almost certainly selected for the Horde’s vespertilian emblem.

Hordeous, God-Beast of Horokoth

Lore: A “primordial”, bat-like godbeast of Horokoth, created in response to the god Saz’s feline races. Their face was “forever infused“ on the surface of Horde World by Horde Lord (Hordak and Horde Prime’s father in the MOTUC canon) to grant their family power and immortality.

Behind the Scenes: Yes they’ve used some words wrong, but they’ve got the spirit, right? Hordeous was (allegedly, this is secondhand) an invention of the MOTUC crew in answer to Horokoth. Now, the Horde Supreme bio predates Horokoth’s introduction by about 3 years, but obviously the comics were in production already. There’s an undated sketch of Horokoth Hordak from an undated interview (thanks for nothing you useless website) but in that same gallery there’s an orko sketch labeled 2012 so. We’re good right? That makes sense, timeline-wise. Anyway the comics slam dunked Horde Prime out of existence and combined him with Horde Lord so it’s contradictory anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Serpentia, Malevolent Snake Goddess

Lore: The evil counterpart of Asklepia, Serpentia is the goddess of the Snake Men. The priest Ka of the Snake Clan forsook Asklepia in her favor, destroying Asklepia’s sacred orb and stealing the Serpent Ring (an artefact capable of transforming humans into Snake Men) from the Ophidian Spire with King Hsss. In DC’s triune interpretation of the Goddess, Serpentia (here ‘Serpos’) is blood, passion, and desire. A primal and primordial force appearing to the Snake Men in their own image.

Behind the Scenes: Okay yes I’ve reused the Asklepia pic but in my defense they are twins and this is the easiest one to crop. So here’s the thing about Serpentia: we only got a name for her in 2019. We knew there was a snake goddess, and she was pretty evil, or at least hostile towards mammalian life (see: the source of the pic I chose for her). Where Asklepia references the asklepian, ‘Serpentia’ is a much more heavy-handed snake reference, even though Anguis was right there. Those Masters Mondays came through for us, though, with the shield and staff of Ka, Ssssylph, and of course MOTUC’s Dark Despot Skeletor, which is. something. Though only recently named, Serpentia has been a shadow over Eternia since the Snake Men’s introduction in 1985 (or, depending on how much of the presented backstory you accept, even sooner in the form of Skeletor’s lair, Snake Mountain).

Serpos/Sarcedon, God-Beast of Snake Mountain

Lore: Contradictory, but the gist of it is he’s a very large snake with elemental magic and a grudge, that was turned to stone and became Snake Mountain.

Long Version: Snake Mountain was conceived of towards the end of 1982, but wasn’t revealed to the public until September of 1983, with the debut of the Filmation cartoon. For another year, the snake coiled around its summit was simply a carving, its mouth hollowed out for Skeletor to stand in and loom. But in 1984 the Snake Mountain toy was released, completely discarding the Filmation design in favor of the hewn face of the figure we now call Ka. Instead of a snake carving winding its way up the peak, the Mattel toy featured a ‘striking serpent’, alive and attached to the mountain itself. From there, it was an easy leap to make to ‘this carving comes alive’. So easy, in fact, that they did it twice!

First attempted in 1985 in the newspaper storyline “Vengeance of the Viper King”, the snake was here called Sarcedon, the World Destroyer. At the dawn of time, he was said to crush Eternia within his deadly coils. He burrowed deep into the ground, causing fearsome storms that nearly destroyed the planet. Only a fearless hero (implied to be He-Ro) could defeat and imprison Sarcedon. Using a macguffin called a Mirror of History, He-Man forced Sarcedon to behold his own reflection in a reference to the Medusa myth that kind of missed the point of it being reflective. Sarcedon was sent back in time, Snake Mountain was restored, the good guys win, blah blah blah.

That was the last of it until the MYP cartoon in 2004. Serpos as a name was actually first invoked by Mer-Man in a 1982 minicomic, but like it probably wasn’t about the snake. Anyway in the MYP cartoon the Snake Men get this thing called the Medallion of Serpos that lets them un-petrify the snake around Snake Mountain, grow two more heads, and unleash his godly wrath. He breathes fire, trashes Eternos, beats up He-Man, then turns his attention on Castle Grayskull to consume the Orb of Power (containing the strength and wisdom of the Elders, who had first trapped him in stone). He-Man cuts off Serpos’s extra heads with a sword upgrade, the Elders are somehow magically restored to life, and they re-petrify him. Snake Mountain is restored, the good guys win, blah blah blah.

Zoar, the Fighting Falcon

Lore: Contradictory, but it sure is a bird!

Long Version: While Sharella’s backstory is fraught because of the comics couldn’t decide what they wanted her to be, Zoar was similarly tangled up by the toyline. Initially male, he went through several color schemes, some prettier than others. Though there was a vague association with the Sorceress before the cartoon (recall that pre-Filmation, the Sorceress was just the Goddess), Filmation made them literally inseperable by designating Zoar as the Sorceress’s falcon form, to which she was confined when leaving Castle Grayskull.

Some of the comics and Golden books showed Zoar as being flipping enormous & ridden into battle as a steed by Teela and Man-at-Arms. Pre-Filmation, Zoar was always referred to as male, but post-Filmation, always female, as an incarnation of the Sorceress.

The Eternity Wars comics describe Zoar as the third aspect of the Goddess, the ‘Great Preserver’ whose light would shine through the universe for eternity. They pull off a sort of tripartite priestess thing where it’s Serpos/Zoar/Horokoth represented by Teela-Na (the Sorceress)/Teela/Evil-Lyn.

MOTUC, of course, had to reconcile all of these contradictory canons. How’d they do it? “In the folklore of Eternia, the golden falcon symbolized the godhead Zoar, a powerful deity of Preternia. As a god, Zoar could appear in both male and female guises and while the blue-tipped female falcon was associated with the Sorceress of Grayskull, the golden falcon represented Zoar's masculine nature.” So Zoar is genderfluid now, and the Sorceress is merely borrowing their form when transforming into a falcon. This bio also established that Zoar had anointed the first Sorceress, Veena (Queen Grayskull), which explains why she has wings for no apparent reason.

Also it’s not offically MOTUC but the scultors of the line, Four Horsemen, made a single anthro Zoar for Power-Con 2013. In case you need that for some reason.

Glorybird, Emissary of Zoar

Lore: Many millennia ago, there were three siblings, who were very poor and mistreated by their stepmother, but had hearts filled with kindness and love. Zoar, recognizing their resilience and desire to help people, sent an emissary named Glorybird. Glorybird bestowed upon each sibling a divine gift, but as they used their new powers to fight for good, their stepmother revealed herself to be a Celestial Witch & attempted to sacrifice them to Zoar’s “greatest enemy”, Horokoth.

Backstory: Okay, so the Star Sisters (and Glorybird) were in exactly one episode of She-Ra, primarily to set them up as new toy designs. While prototypes were made for these, the figures weren’t actually produced until MOTUC released figures for them in 2012. Though they were referenced in Princess Prom, and we saw a brief cameo in a background, Glorybird was absent until the introduction of the Star Siblings in Season Five.

That’s right! This bird is a god, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Saz, God of All Felines

Lore: One of the “Gods of the Multiverse” (he is the only member named explicitly), Saz was a blue-furred, feline deity responsible for the creation of all cats, humanoid or otherwise. He transformed himself into an enormous cat-beast to defeat Serpos and Hordeous, whose progenitors created them in envy of his children. Though Serpos was defeated, Hordeous escaped into the cosmos, and Saz himself vanished mysteriously.

Behind the Scenes: “By the whiskers of Saz!” is a fun pseudo-swear made by various cat races throughout MOTU, first in He-Man’s “The Cat and the Spider” and later in She-Ra’s “Magicats”. That was the only real mention of him until... okay, so MOTUC bios aren’t always attached to the product. Starting in 2018, they did this thing called Masters Mondays where they put unposted bios on the org forums. So while we’ve had the sword since 2010, we didn’t get the background on it until March of 2020. And then a couple weeks later, the Cat Mask of Catra bio referred to him as a “mystical being” instead of a god, but the mask was from 2011 so. He may not have been a god yet. It really depends on when the bios were actually written.

Saz wielded a blade probably best described as a falchion, whose quillon & langet formed a vaguely triangular shape around a deep red gem. I want to be clear that while it looks totally rad, this sword would be very impractical and have poor structural integrity were it not made by a literal god. Do not make swords like this. Also it’s almost certainly riffing on the Sword of Omens from Thundercats (affectionate).

Sabe-Or, Son of Saz

Lore: A green-furred, orange-striped paladin, Sabe-Or is one of the only named Ancients. He inherited his father’s blade upon Saz’s mysterious disappearance, and lived for centuries more. Upon his death, he transferred his “heroic essence” into a group of Eternian tigers, forever transforming them into the Green Tiger Tribe, whence both Granger (steed of King Grayskull), and Cringer, steed of Prince Adam.

Behind the Scenes: So “Battle Cat Man” is a concept that’s existed since they decided to make their hero ride a wicked tiger into battle. If you show a kid a superhero, and a supertiger, apparently the natural inclination of most children in the 80s was to combine the two. There are so many custom action figures. So, so many. Sabe-Or is visually a clear reference to this concept, and canonically seems to be the closest we’re going to get outside of the Thundercats crossover, unless you count Cowarros from 4H’s Mythic Legions line (I do, because it means Purrrplor is also canon and I fucking love calling him that).

Moss Man, Ancient Eternian Nature God

Lore: An ally of King Grayskull, Moss Man was something of an Eternian cryptid in the centuries leading up to He-Man Times. He has control over all plant life, the ability to meld with plants, and apparently can imbue sentience to said plants.

Behind the Scenes: Moss Man wasn’t featured in many episodes, because he’s a little... incredibly over-powered. He’s literally Bigfoot from 5000 years ago with magic powers. And like, since I don’t think the writers appreciate how long 5000 years is, you know what happened 5000 years ago? Stonehenge. This bitch is Stonehenge-old. But sure, you can trace a direct line of descent from his contemporary. smh. Anyway according to MOTUC his real name is Kreann’Ot N’Norosh so make of that what you will. Also his toys were pine-scented. I just love that.

Evil Seed, Rebellious Creation of Moss Man

Lore: Created by Moss Man to help fight in the Great Wars, Evil Seed betrayed his master and turned to evil (who could have foreseen this...), finding joy in corrupting all forms of plant life for his own amusement. Moss Man imprisoned him in enchanted chains, keeping him restrained for many millennia.

Behind the Scenes: According to MOTUC, his real name is Sero Malustro, clumsy New Latin for “(to) plant evil-burnt“. Why his name is New Latin and Moss Man’s is... whatever that is, I have no idea. As you can see from the image I included, he originally had an artichoke head, which was upgraded for the Mike Young Productions (MYP) cartoon. Personally I think the artichoke rules.

Volcana, the Fire Goddess

Lore: Canonically, she’s a fire goddess, and the mother of the Volcano Magus. Together, they are a rising force that seeks to conquer Etheria in the wake of Hordak’s defeat.

Backstory: Volcana has taken a long a twisted journey, but was first revealed to fans at Power-Con 2016 in a panel revealing previously unseen concepts and characters. After the first wave of She-Ra toys, a second wave was planned with a snow focus, to bring more attention the Filmation-neglected Frosta. This began with the introduction of a fire villain, an “evil lady that glows with heat” who would attempt to melt Castle Chill. That concept actually refers to a character named Amber (not Ember, as one might assume) who was reworked into a benevolent counterpart, Volcana’s twin sister.

Volcana was later fleshed out to be a Fire Goddess with flame-red hair, x-ray vision, and arms sculpted with flames. Her cape flew up with flame detail that rose up to control the volcano (of Volcanica, a proposed toyset that seems to have been reworked into the Crystal Falls). She was emphasized by Mattel to not start fires, which, honestly, is probably why they scrapped the character. He-Man couldn’t use his sword as a sword; a woman made of fire was basically doomed.

Now, though, we’re several decades in and lines made for collecters that are largely in their 30s and 40s can say whatever they want! So she’s canon, even if Amber isn’t. Yes there’s only one mention of her. Amber technically was mentioned in an unproduced episode titled “Amber Waves of Flame”, but as it was unproduced, it’s noncanonical.

Volcano Magus, Sinister Son of Volcana

Lore: Living within a dormant volcano, the Volcano Magus of the German audio plays was the source of most of Catra’s power and all of her evil intent. He supplied her with magic for spells and schemes with which to assail the Crystal Castle, but neither she nor Clawdeen were aware of the dark influence he held over them.

In the MOTUC canon, he’s specified as the son of Volcana, a demigod from the “Region of Volcanoes” who craved the nature magic of the Whispering Woods. When he learned the Twiggets were inextricably linked to that magic, he used his powers to petrify the former Rebels (this was after the Horde's defeat) and kidnap three Twiggets to drain the magic from their souls. Twiggets, for the uninitiated, are like purple tree-elf things. According to MOTUC, Razz is a Twigget, though the ‘real’ name they assigned her doesn’t fit their naming convention. She is purple, I guess.

Kowl, who avoided petrification, read Razz's spellbooks to find a way to save his friends, and learned of an Entrapment Gem that she hid in a shoe, for some reason. He confronted the Volcano Magus, spoke in the ancient tongue of the First Ones, and sucked him into the Gem.

Backstory: Admittedly this stuff is second hand, as I don’t speak German & they only have transcriptions/translations for the He-Man tapes anyway, but if anybody can find me an audio file I will do my best to verify. The MOTUC stuff at least I can confirm 100% because it’s from 2019 & I do speak English, for better or worse.

Oak, the Jackal God

Lore: Oak was the terrible Jackal God worshiped by the denizens of Zhar, an ancient civilization that once existed in a remote, forested region of Eternia. Long ago, Oak was imprisoned within a statue which could be found within the Temple of the Jackal. When Skeletor removed the statue from the temple, Oak broke free of the enchantment which imprisoned him and wreaked havoc on Eternia. Although the Jackal God was immensely powerful, he could be weakened by the elements of nature and was ultimately foiled by a rainstorm conjured by the combined powers of He-Man's sword and the magic of the temple's guardian priest.

Backstory: I have lifted this from a He-Man guide word for word as I cannot for the life of me find a copy of the Brazilian Editora Abril comic he came from, O Templo Do Chacal (1986). The description is like, suspiciously similar to the plot of the He-Man episode The Cat and the Spider, except the Grimalkin was never described as a god. The rest of it--statue, Skeletor, storm defeat--plays out almost the same. True pity I can’t find the original source, but I do trust this guidebook. You may be interested in Ceres from the UK comics--another dog-slash-statue who frankly might as well be a god himself, but as he’s not called one in canon he’s not going on the list.

The Bitter Rose Goddess

Lore: As Man-at-Arms told the legend, “Every day, a woman climbed Rose Mountain to look for her husband to return from the war. Alas, he never came back. Her tears poured from her cheek and entered the ground. One day she disappeared, but where she stood was a single, solitary rose. It’s the only thing that grows on Rose Mountain.”

The Insect People, who lived at the base of Rose Mountain, believed that the Bitter Rose is all that held the mountain together (and when it was picked, they were proved right). After the flower was restored, it transformed into the Bitter Rose Goddess herself, who explained that she had been a prisoner of her love's sorrow, so bitter that she refused to allow anything else to grow on Rose Mountain. She blessed the surrounding area, blanketing the jagged peaks with roses, and disappeared.

Backstory: She’s kind of... barely a god. She showed up in one episode and no other media & has objectively less power than like, every single demon they ever brought in. I almost didn’t put her on this list.

Mask-Ra, Goddess of Masks

Lore: A goddess who created the magical Masks of Power.

Backstory: Mask-Ra was first mentioned in 2019 and like, look, I’m gonna be real. I don’t respect her. She’s an invention of MOTUC (unless they were drawing on this concept art of Maska-Ra, which I doubt bc he was a Man-E-Faces precursor) and they retconned her into having created Catra’s mask, which is kind of redundant given the entire episode Magicats. This mask did not need two bios. There are no other mentions of her in any canon.

Potential other Masks of Power: The Deemos and Tyrella masks from the He-Man episode “Masks of Power”, lizard and canine masks from the mini-comic “Masks of Power”, Lord Masque’s Demon Mask from the He-Man episode “House of Shokoti, Part 1″, and whatever the hell Red Shadow has going on.

Procrustus, Giant Guardian of Magic

Lore: During the creation of the various dimensions (5 in MOTUC canon but demonstratably higher everywhere else), the gods installed the four-armed, immortal giant Procrustus to guard their secrets at the heart of Eternia. There lay the Starseed, from which the entire dimension was created. It still held immeasurable power, and could be used to conquer entire universes. Hordak, in an attempt to access the Starseed, cracked Eternia in two with the Spell of Separation. Though he was (mostly) thwarted, from then on Procrustus was forced to hold the two halves of Eternia together from within, lest the planet break apart and the Starseed be exposed.

Backstory: First appearing in the mini-comic “The Magic Stealer!”, Procrustus is a lot more tangible than most gods. We know where he is, at all times, and he seems confined to one size. His powers appear to be largely physical, as he had to burrow out of the ground to investigate in the mini-comic instead of teleporting or like, magicking the dirt away. This was his only appearance until MOTUC released a figure for him in 2012. He also showed up in the Subternia map the next year, holding Eternia together.

Standor, Cosmic Creator of Power

Lore: “Before time began, the great Gods of the multiverse convened in the Hall of Power to create all that was and all that will ever be. Head architect of this great task was Standor. A cosmic being of unlimited imagination, Standor helped lead his fellow deities by fueling their energies with raw creative force.”

Backstory: Released for Comikaze 2013 to celebrate the partnership of Mattel and Pow! Entertainment, Standor is literally just Stan Lee But a God. The prototype was called Standar--idk why they changed it, but I think it’s because it’s too easy to confuse with “Standard”. They made a bio for his sunglasses. I don’t want to talk about it.

Bash-Or, Slain Mystic God-Beast

Lore: Very little is known of Bash-Or, the Ram. His last remnant was sealed within the Ram Stone by the ancient sorceror kings of Zalesia, imbuing it with his divine power to overcome any barrier, magical or otherwise.

Backstory: Bash-Or was revealed in the bio for the Ram Stone, September of 2020, but his spirit (previously referred to as ‘the Spirit of the Ram Stone’) was twice utilized by Skeletor in the MYP cartoon, to great effect, before the stone was destroyed.

#she-ra #spop #motu #he-man #clare shares notes #edited to actually include the gd graph

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viviae · 4 years

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The Red Plague: An Analysis

Ok, I’m to preface this that I am not at ALL a student of medicine or science I am just a humble blogger who really likes diseases, literary analysis, and the science behind death. This will also be a STUPIDLY long post so I am letting you all live by putting it behind a readmore this time

This goes without saying but there is a content warning to this. I’m talking about death, stages of decay, rotting, corpses, vomit, and other gross medical stuff. There will be NO images however. I subjected myself to viewing those images and I will not condemn you all to view them.

I’m going to start this off making sure everyone is on the same page and post an image from the art book about the Red Plague itself

So let’s start with the canonical facts about the plague first

Average life expectancy was 3-7 days once symptoms show, Averages are also liars which means it could’ve taken a little bit more than 7 days or under 3 days to die.

Spread by the plague beetles, exact method of transfer is unknown but Julian was force fed one and contracted the plague however they are safe to keep in containment.

Plague beetles also infected nonhuman objects like the water supply which is shown as a thick ichor. This ichor no longer possesses infectious properties at the time of the story

Julian believed that it had to do with a corruption in the blood hence the usage of leeches

The Lazarus started as a containment center before becoming a crematorium, meaning people believed that it was spread from contact or things like that

HOWEVER This is not the first appearance of the plague as it would show up at locations Lucio stayed for too long but no note if it spread from these locations.

It’s not a disease, its a curse.

So, this is one nasty plague on our hands. Most diseases that are this lethal would never be able to spread as much as it did unless it could spread from corpse contact or through other means like a carrier. I think that it could be spread through a combination of both which would add an additional need for cremation.

Corpse Disposal & Spreading

Historically during plagues you would simply toss bodies into mass graves or ‘plague pits’. This would be, substantially, easier than what they do in Vesuvia. Cremation is not an easy process and is an art form. The heat needed for a cremation alone is incredibly hot and needs special methods to be contained. Not to mention the tedious cleaning process to make sure ashes don’t damage the heat element. So you are telling me that Vesuvia... went through the process of rowing away their dead to the middle of a lake to do mass cremations because it was the easiest? Yes they would’ve run out of grave space a while ago but no one is saying they can’t go make a plague pit out in the woods for half the work.

Now granted, I understand the imagery of making Asra wade through bodies of rotting corpses to find the apprentice’s bloated corpse is uh,,, graphic. Or making us stumble upon an open plague pit of bones in the woods with you LI is not what most people call romantic. (you’re welcome for that image) So they could’ve just made mass cremations on a separate island for tone reasons but that’s BORING.

Not a lot of diseases are actually capable of surviving in dead body simply because when we die our bodies lose the necessary high heats for them to multiply and survive. But this isn’t a disease in a traditional sense, its a curse to Lucio. And this is Lucio we are talking about, some one who is famously afraid of death and dying, which was grafted by a demon of pestilence who is obsessed with worms (cough maggot symbolism and death by disease cough). So I propose that the plague is spread in addition to plague beetles but by dead bodies themselves. This would put additional pressure on proper corpse disposal and the need for cremation. This fact would also explain why plague doctors were present at the boats leading to the Lazarus instead of simple plague carters (rowers?) as doctors would probably have to keep a closer eye on proper disposal of bodies.

As for how I think the beetles themselves spread the plague, I think it’s probably in a similar way as to how Lyme Disease is spread. I can’t name any disease that is spread by beetles themselves off the top of my head but ticks are pretty similar to beetles (I am not an entomologist). Lyme disease is spread by infected ticks biting into the hosts skin and regurgitating its stomach contents that includes the bacterium for the disease.

This would explain why Julian got the plague pretty awful real quick. He consumed all of the plague beetle’s contents and Lucio didn’t have to try and force a beetle to bite Julian, which would’ve given Julian time to fight back. This is also working with the fact Lucio got bit by a plague beetle when running from Morga in his tale. He most likely contracted the plague, or perhaps he contracted the curse then and later on got re bit, in that bite. This would also explain the ichor that infects the water in the south end. Beetles are significantly larger than ticks, and so they might have a need to empty their stomach contents more and its more waste produced.

Symptoms and Inspirations

The Red Plague is obviously, influenced by the Bubonic Plague in terms of symptoms and Tuberculous in treatment. I will list some of the common symptoms of Black Plague and signs and be comparing these to the Red Plague. I cannot stress enough that I do not have any knowledge in medicine but I don’t think the dev’s are all doctors so we are on even ground.

There are generally speaking three types of plagues; Bubonic (Most common type of The Black Plague and mainly targets your lymphatic system), Pneumonic (When the Plague enters and infects the lungs), and Septicemic (When the plague enters the blood stream, either form can lead to Septicemic)

Bolded Symptoms are what are obvious symptoms the Red Plague has taken from these three variations of plague. Italic is Lucio specific.

High Fevers

Chills

Headache

Muscle Pain

Weakness

Seizures

Swollen black lymph nodes known as Buboes (Bubonic)

Internal Bleeding (Septicemic)

Gangrene (Septicemic)

Shock (Septicemic)

Vomiting Blood (Bubonic & Septicemic)

Coughing Blood & Mucus (Pneumonic)

Shortness of breath (Pneumonic)

The Red Eyes

By far the most obvious symptom of the plague and its trademark. Consider this the equivalent of Buboes to the black plague. This is the first obvious symptom that marks you for dead and probably one of the first symptoms to show after a possible resting phase.

Apparently it takes each eye individually as seen with Julian or it may not take both? The stage we see Julian in isn’t the clearest but I’m assuming he was rather early on with a pretty serious case.

It’s also a debate of what exactly is going on with the red stringy bits under neath the eyes. For the sprite models it appears to be veins under the eyes that have been aggravated. While in the concept art above it has a more liquid and viscous look which is probably blood. And in Julian’s CG of him dying of the plague he has no marks around his eyes. So I’m saying its a fun combo of all of the above.

Essentially I think that the plague is causing the blood vessels in the eyes to pop and do serious damage. There can also be a foreign growth to occur behind the eyes or just magical nonsense, doing additional damage to the veins surrounding the eyes and cause bleeding from putting stress on the veins.

The Arms and Lower Extremities

Ok, remember how I talked about Lucio’s fear of death and how its incredibly likely that the plague is manipulating his fear? In death there are various stages of decay, and different functions occur at each stage. And one of these functions is Livor Mortis.

Livor Mortis is when your blood cells rupture out of your veins and die. These dead blood cells sink down to your body based off of gravity where they settle. This is seen as a purple color on the skin based on gravity, normally the back. This can be disrupted by any disruption to the body, but depending on time you are likely to receive lighter marks based on its previous position.

What I think is going on all over the body is veins are rupturing and the body is going through an extreme form of living Livor Mortis. Just that it’s in red and not purple because this is the “Red Plague” and not the purple plague. And due to the patients still being alive when Livor Mortis is occurring it simply pools into the extremities instead of one specific location, with the fingers and bottom of the foot being the most severe. To add to the veins popping suddenly the subtle bruising through origin points to where the red vein-y look begins remind me of my own experience of having four veins burst in my arm.

Julian had reason to believe he could use leeches to treat the plague and in typical plague doctor fashion of “They were right but not exactly” he was on the right track! Using leeches to drink the settled and dead blood would be beneficial to the patient. As likely leaving these areas to accumulate dead blood would put it at serious risk of rot, since maggots first grow on open wounds and areas affected by Livor Mortis.

Julian might not have been curing the plague but what he was probably doing is preventing a lot of people from developing gangrene and needing amputations. A beneficial skill for a previous combat medic to utilize and what might have drawn additional attention to him. Julian’s uses of leeches could also explain why Lucio does not have any of these red marks since Julian is his personal doctor and Lucio would spare no expense for his treatment.

Lucio’s Unique Symptoms

Portia’s route mentions that due to Lucio’s longer surviving time he developed unique symptoms. We don’t know much details about this besides he was extra miserable and was confined to his bedroom most the time. From my provided list above I think that generally speaking the Red Plague is a combination of Bubonic + Septicemic plagues.

However, Pnuemonic plagues were considered especially deadly, but rarer. Lucio is described as having a cough when he has the plague and generally a wheezy voice. It wouldn’t be odd to think the plague had spread into his lungs due to the increase longevity he had.

There is a dramatic irony in Lucio losing his lungs to sickness as well. Morga tells us about how when Lucio was very young he almost drowned and that instilled a fear of death in him at a young age. He’s also a man with a lot of stamina who can run in the freezing cold carrying a fully grown apprentice on his shoulder or run away from Morga who also possesses a lot of energy. Lucio has trained his lungs to be stronger more so than the average person, and now with his downfall he loses them.

It goes along with his general want of having a new body as well. You can rebuild muscle mass although hard, but recovering from illnesses that target your lungs? You’ll almost never get back to the same degree you previously were.

The imagery of the dead is also present in the animal itself used to spread the plague. Although the beetle comes from Lucio’s tribe, beetles play a role in decomposition. Beetles like to come after the body has been nearly completely rotten, after the maggots and wasps consume most of the dead flesh beetles come in and eat the scraps. Beetles are also used in skeletonizing items, one example I think of off my head is a man who had his amputated foot skeletonized by beetles for keeping. So these beetles are coming in and spreading a plague that forces the body to go through stages of decay while living, for their own food. Just like Lucio’s tribe came in and slaughtered other tribes for their own need to eat.

The plague was handcrafted to torture Lucio for his inability to finish his end of the deal. That’s why it uses imagery of dead bodies, it steals Lucio’s lungs from him, and why even the dead can cause severe damage.

Of course this is all my own theory and analysis of the plague but thank you for reading all of this.

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tilltheendwilliwrite · 3 years

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Star-Crossed: Bound by Blood

Chapter One

Master List

Pairing: Mando/Din Djarin x OFC Baast’Mal

Warnings: I'm making this up as a go, Canon divergent from the series during chapter 13, mild violence

A/N: I make this stuff up as I go along, if I screw something Star Wars-y up, apologies in advance, I didn't do it on purpose, but I'm new to this Fandom. I will be cross posting this story between AO3 and Tumblr except the smutty bits. Those chapters will only be available to registered users on AO3. (I'm trying something new for people who want to read here on Tumblr, but to also avoid the smut for minors controversy. We'll see how it goes.)

*I do not have a tag list* Please follow the story on AO3 if you want email updates, or follow @tilltheendwilliwrite-library where I post the new/latest chapters of all my stories.

***

In the sweltering heat of the jungle, Din Djarin crouched to better scan for tracks in the rotting foliage at the base of the tall trees. Pools of light made it difficult to adjust correctly for the shadowy depths; add in the thermal activity of the plants and animals in this stinking sewer of a planet, and he was having a hard time tracking his quarry.

When he'd accepted the puck, he hadn't known what he was getting into as her chain code was surprisingly sparse. The only additional information he had was her name - Taa Marel - her last known location and face.

And what a face. Even on a holo, she was stunning, not that the Mandalorian would let that sway him one way or the other.

He'd tracked the stolen ship from Bogano, where she'd initially been hiding out to this skug hole of a world that was made to torment men in beskar, causing them to swelter in their helmet.

The kid, however, loved the place.

Constantly cooing, riding in his pouch, he touched everything he could get his chubby green fingers on. Leaves, flowers, bugs; those, of course, went straight in his mouth. By this point, Mando accepted the womp rat could and would eat just about anything.

Upon arrival, they'd found the ship nose down, destroyed, and abandoned, but the crash landing had created just enough space for Mando to set the Razor Crest down. Then the hunt began.

After three hours of slogging through the heat, he was ready to kill her. After four, he decided death was too good for someone who made him sweat this hard. After five, he was determined to make her suffer. But they were closing in. He could feel it like an ache in his bones.

Tracks led forward, but something didn't sit right with that. They were too obvious. After hours of following such a well-covered trail, this was an insult to his skills. Footprints led straight down a game trail like a beacon meant to lure him astray.

It wasn't right, too easy by far, and the skin on his nape crawled.

He looked up, straight into the eyes of the woman he was hunting. Even through the distorted colour of heat vision, he could see they were a vibrant green.

He moved on instinct, whipcord shooting out, wrapping around her shoulders, and dragging her out of the tree.

She screamed the battle cry of a hunting cat, an inhuman sound before she twisted mid-air and landed lightly, crouched but on her feet.

"Taa Marel, I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold," he warned her, hand hovering over his blaster.

"That is not my name. And I choose option three."

Her voice kicked him in the groin and made his dick twitch. Stunned, he could only watch as her hands came up and nails like talons shredded his whipcord.

Someone had left a few things out of her chain code.

"Put the child down."

Mando blinked. "Why would I do that?"

What did she want with his foundling? Had she heard about him? Would she attempt to take him?

"I intend to kick your ass, Mandalorian, but I do not hurt children. Put him down."

Surprised, Mando reached for the strap across his chest instead of his blaster. "You're not going to run?"

She lifted a proud chin. "You will continue to hunt me. I would rather die than return to that hell hole, but I will not go easy. I will fight."

She was beginning to impress him with more than just her face.

Din lifted the strap over his head, his eyes fixed on the target, studying her outside of the holo he'd memorized.

She stood with her chin raised, body slightly turned in a stance that bespoke proper training. If one could call it that, her green tunic had no sleeves, crossed over her breasts, tied just beneath them, and ended a few inches thereafter, baring the wealth of sun-darkened skin over tightly packed muscles. Pants hugged slim hips, billowed at her thighs, and tied tight to her calves thanks to the soft, short boots that went to her knee.

Sweat gave her a sheen that made her glow, her vibrant eyes shadowed behind thick, long lashes. Her face was a treasure trove of sculpted brows, sharp nose, and high cheekbones over lips that looked like ripe fruit, begging for teeth.

A mass of hair, the colour of sand, fell in heavy waves to her hips. It began to darken toward the tips until it was as black as the deepest corner of space.

As he moved the kid, she untied a thin cord from her wrist and slowly began to bind her hair in a low tail.

He'd never met a woman like her, a bounty like her, ever. This one - fugitive or not - had honour in her.

The kid cooed and waved. Her lips twitched into a smile as she winked and waved back.

"Fear not, Mandalorian. Should I kill you today, I will raise your foundling as my own."

Din's blood ran cold. "You won't get the chance."

He hung the child's satchel on a low tree knot and drew the beskar spear from his back in the same motion. Though he'd won the spear from magistrate Morgan Elsbeth on Corvus and helped the Jedi Ahsoka Tano defeat her forces, the Jedi held no answers when it came to the kid. Though, Din wondered if that had more to do with him than the little green monster. She'd told him to seek another Jedi, someone with more training than she, but had given him no direction in which to search.

"He is rather cute," she smirked. "But his kind age so slowly. You will be long dead before he is grown."

Mando paused. "You know of his kind?"

She arched a brow. "You do not?"

He lowered the spear and held up his off-hand. "I am tasked with returning him to his people."

Her posture never changed, but her eyes filled with sorrow. "He has no more people. The last of his kind, or what was thought to be the last, died some years ago. Master Yoda was his name."

"I'm to help him find the Jedi," Mando murmured.

Her eyes lost their sadness. "I cannot help you."

"Will not."

"They are one and the same," she whispered.

Lightning fast, she rushed him. Mando barely blocked the first swipe of her claws before the second clanged off his pauldron. He used the spear's shaft to knock her back, even as she kicked him in the ribs, bypassing the beskar.

"Do you know the life you condemn me to, Mandalorian, if you return me to that horrible place?" she asked, crouched once again, a few feet away.

"You're a bounty. I don't make deals," he stated, watching his quarry while keeping his body between her and the kid. His ribs smarted, but he'd had worse.

"No. You just work for the people who Purged your planet!" she spat, leaping and clawing.

She was fast, damn fast. Barely able to keep up, it was all Mando could do not to lose ground until he saw an opening and swept the butt of the spear at her leg.

She jumped back, breath coming hard.

"I didn't ask who the bounty was for." Greef Karga offered him the chance for a big payday, and right now, they could use it.

"You work for the Empire," she sneered. "Returning me to torture and experimentation. Do you think I was always like this!?" She stood and held out her arms, flexing fingers tipped in dark claws. She bared her teeth, revealing wicked-looking canines, then lifted a portion of hair to reveal a sharply pointed ear.

Again he paused, a thing unheard of, to ask, "What are you?" Her chain code said human, but she was certainly not that.

Her proud chin lifted in defiance. "Do you know what a Zentari is, Mandalorian?"

Din inhaled sharply. "That's not possible. They were wiped out."

"All but one. I am Baast'mal, last of the Zentari. The Empire took me as a child and used my gift to ruin me. They bound my blood to the Corellian Sand Panther and Manka Cat. They have so thoroughly defiled my biorhythms that if the constellations were kind enough to cross my path with that of my mate, I do not know if I could bond with him." Pain flickered across her features. "I am sullied, broken. I am a monster," she whispered before shaking herself free of the melancholia and raising that proud chin once more. "So kill me if you can, Mandalorian, for I will not go willingly."

The beskar spear fell from his fingers as Din dropped to a knee and bowed his head. "I am a Child of the Watch. I must offer aid, Zentari. This is the Way."

"The Way?" She took a step back. "The Mandalorians no longer follow the Old Ways. They no longer conceal their face from all but their riduur and ad. The creed is long dead."

He shook his head. "My Tribe is one of zealots. We hold to the old ways of Mandalore. I only recently learned of this as I was raised with them in hiding. The Purge took much, but the ways of the Zentari are remembered in the covert."

She hesitated, eyes wary. "I have faced Mandalorians before. They knew not the Way."

Din stripped his gloves from his hands and held them out, palms up as if catching water. He raised them above his head and brought them down over his helmet, appearing to another as if he washed with air. "Zentari of the Bright Star, may the constellations bless this warrior with a treasure greater than beskar that they would be mine. Cyar'ika. Ka'rta. Riduur."

She inhaled sharply. He watched her fight tears, lip trembling before she closed the distance between them and knelt. She dipped her fingers into his cupped palms as if they held water, brought them to her brow and stroked them down over her eyes and out along her cheeks.

Her hands shook as she lifted them toward his helmet and laid her palms lightly on the sides of the beskar.

His hands gently grasped her wrists, her skin warm and soft beneath his fingers. She wouldn't remove it, that he was sure of, but it was an instinct he couldn't deny when someone touched his helmet.

Her voice was whisper soft when she spoke. "Mandalorian, Holder of the Creed, blessed of the constellations. May you raise warriors strong in the Way and find your riduur. Your cyar'ika. Your ka'rta."

"This is the Way," he murmured, shaken by the encounter.

"This is the Way," she agreed as she drew him forward until his helmet lightly kissed her brow.

The shudder that raced through her raced through him with equal intensity. The Zentari race was a myth, a legend, a beautiful dream. They were so lost to time Din felt like his heart would burst with joy.

"Have you ever removed your helmet, Mando?" she asked softly.

The shortened form of address made his heart skip. "Not before any living thing." The Droid on Nevarro didn't count, and no matter what Bo'Katan said, the creed was his way. He would never show his face to any besides his wife or children.

Let Koska scoff as she liked at his traditions. She had not found a Zentari. She likely wouldn't know what to do with the Zentari if she did.

Din rocked back on his toes and pushed to his feet, surprised when she followed him with equal grace. "Zentari, we should return to my ship. The Alor will want to meet you. The covert will rejoice."

"Baast."

He froze as her hands landed lightly on his beskar covered chest. "What?"

"To you, I am Baast." She stared into his visor as if able to see his eyes.

"Baast," he murmured, wishing he could speak her name without the modulator.

"Yes, Din Djarin," she smiled.

He still held her wrists, and his hands became her shackles. "How do you know that name?" he demanded.

Long lashes swept her cheeks, a coy smile curling her lips. "Grogu told me."

His grip tightened more. "Who is Grogu?"

She tilted her head to look past him at the kid cooing at them. "He is Grogu."

"You can understand him?" Din asked, his shock registering even through the modulator.

"Not in words, but he speaks to those who can listen. Images. Impressions. The Force is strong in him," she smiled at Grogu. "He loves you."

"He's okay." Mando was grateful for the helmet that hid his foolish grin.

"You fool no one," Baast chuckled. She gently twisted her wrists, reminding him of her bondage.

He let her go and stepped back to pick up the spear.

"You are a man blessed of beskar," she murmured. "You must be a great hunter."

"Something like that," he murmured. It still shamed him how he'd acquired his armour, but if he hadn't turned in the kid - Grogu - he wouldn't have been as well-equipped to get him back and keep him safe as they ran from the Empire.

Baast headed for Grogu, her smile growing as she lifted down his carrier and situated the baby against her chest. Grogu giggled and babbled something Mando didn't understand.

"Oh, I see," Baast chuckled, casting a side-eye his direction.

"What?" Mando muttered.

"Clan of the Mudhorn. A clan of two." She flicked her claws over his sigil. "I wondered. Grogu explained."

Mando glared at the kid- Grogu. "Don't tell her all my secrets."

Grogu cooed. Baast cuddled him and smiled slyly. By that look, he was pretty sure it was too late for his secrets.

He turned to go, heading back the way he'd come. It would take hours to return to the Razor Crest, and it was already getting dark.

***

They didn't make it back to the ship before nightfall, but he found a hollow tree in which to spend the dark hours. Creeper vines had choked the life out of the behemoth, leaving them in a cage of vines and dry, dead bark with a wealth of firewood to choose from.

The fire burned brightly, drafting well, casting shadows across Baast's face and keeping the larger predators at bay. She slept curled around Grogu, lips gently parted. The air had finally cooled at sundown, but now he could see the shivers and goosebumps developing on her flesh.

Slowly, he leaned forward to remove the cape from his back. Then, just as quietly, he rose, rounded the fire, and draped it over her and Grogu. She stirred but didn't wake, and Din returned to his watch on the far side of the fire.

A Zentari. He could scarce believe it.

She was a myth made flesh—a beautiful dream. Once, when Mandalore still followed the old ways, Zentarus was where many warriors sought their mates, their most cherished riduur.

A Zentari was always fast and strong and incredibly rare. They grew quickly but aged slowly, their years stretching out into eternity, some said. Fine in face and form, when they met their match, they bonded, taking on traits of the other and giving a few as well.

A Mandalorian could live a very long time with a Zentari mate.

But most Mandalorians came home empty-handed as a bond with a Zentari could not be forced, but those who the stars smiled upon, those most blessed with a cherished mate, bonded in ways that grew legends. It was said their children were the most incredible of warriors.

Baast'mal was everything he imagined when told stories of Zentari as a child new to the Tribe. It didn't hurt that she was the most mesh'la female he'd ever seen. Fast. Strong. Deadly. He wondered at what the Empire had done to her, how they could force the blood bonds on Sand Panthers and Manka cats, and just what other mutations they'd caused.

He also wondered at her Force sensitivity. What she felt or even what she could do had not been discussed, but Mando knew there was more to her than he had yet discovered.

But it was the ache in him, the growing need to once again touch her skin that concerned him.

It was primal. Feral. It clawed at him. It had him itching to be closer - much closer - to her. He wanted to show her his face and hope she found him as pleasing as he did her.

Din had nothing to go by in comparison. He'd seen his reflection before, of course, but he had no way of knowing if a woman would think him handsome. He'd had encounters before, ones in which everyone walked away satisfied, some paid for, others freely offered, but the helmet and the beskar never came off.

With her, he wanted to be bare, stripped off all trappings. Din wanted to feel his naked skin against hers. He wanted to taste it.

"You are a very loud thinker," she mumbled, bright eyes glowing softly beyond the fire.

Mortification filled him. "I'm sorry, I-"

"I do not know your thoughts, Mando," she clarified, "just feel a gentle buzzing from the beskar. It restricts what I pick up from you."

Relief almost had him sagging. Baast closed her eyes, but he was loath to let the conversation end.

"How old are you?" She looked young, maybe twenty-five.

Her brow twitched, amusement in her smile. "It is rude to ask."

"I wondered how long the Empire had you," he explained.

Shadows darkened her eyes. "Forty years."

"But they've only been around for thirty," he frowned.

She gave a hollow laugh and sat up. "They have been around much, much longer. I remember the day they came for us. They slaughtered all who fought, men and women. Every child they could catch was rounded up and taken away." She looked away, down at dark claws. "I was the only Zentari to survive the experiments."

"I'm sorry." He was. "I know what it's like to lose everything."

She tilted her head. "You were a foundling."

It wasn't a question, and Din didn't answer her.

"They began experimenting with my blood almost immediately. I was ten when they bound traits of the Manka to me. I was fifteen when they brought in the Panther."

"How? Why?"

Her eyes burned into his. "Because they could." She flexed her fingers. "Because they are depraved. Because they are monsters, who turn others into abominations."

"You're not."

She looked at him in surprise.

Din shifted until he stood and made his way around to her side, where he offered his hand. Baast took it and joined him in the shadows as he led her a few steps away from Grogu. He stripped his gloves from his hands, the need to touch her no longer under his control.

Slowly, he reached up to caress her cheek. He pushed her hair back, revealing the pointed tip of her ear. Her eyes gleamed from behind heavy lids when he stroked his fingers down her tricep and finally cupped her elbow.

He closed his opposite hand around her nape; his thumb pressed to her spiking pulse. "You are no monster."

"My blood is sullied."

"Perhaps. But you remain unbroken," he murmured. "You lived. You escaped. Mesh'la, you are a beacon of shining hope to my Tribe. If there is one Zentari, perhaps there are others."

She closed her eyes. "There is not."

"How do you know?"

A tear trickled down her cheek. "I felt the last die three years ago. It was what gave me the strength to escape."

"Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore," he murmured, rubbing his thumb on her pulse.

"Pressure makes gems; ease makes decay?" A small smile twitched her lips. "Am I a gem, Mando?"

"No."

She arched an amused brow.

"You are something more precious than any gem," he murmured.

Colour dusted her cheeks. "A Mandalorian who has a way with words? I truly have seen it all," she teased.

He sighed and made sure it echoed through the modulator. "Get some rest." He attempted to move away, but she grabbed him by the belt.

"Stay."

"Baast?"

"Stay." She took his hand, led him closer to Grogu, encouraged him to sit against a fallen chunk of tree, and then curled up beside him, tucking herself under his arm.

"The beskar is too hard," he worried.

"No harder than a prison cell, and you are much warmer. I have not known the comfort of another since I was seven," she admitted.

He sighed again but gave in, curling his arm around her.

"Thank you for your cape."

"Hm."

Her chuckle was more of a low purr. When it rippled through him, Din swore he felt something inside him purr back.

Next Chapter

#Star-Crossed #mandalorian #Mandalorian fanfiction

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sneezemonster15 · 3 years

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I have a lot of mixed feelings about how Sakura is generally perceived by the Naruto fandom. I haven't been here for very long, but it's an understatement to say that man, they hate her. I guess apart from Sakura stans or SS stans (who I am not even going to give much space here because their reading comprehension of content is below par and almost unbelievably projectional), when almost every other subcategory of this fandom, even the dudebro kind, just like, abhors Sakura, like the stuff is pure vitriol.

But I am trying to be thoroughly objective here.

Throughout part 1, I can honestly say she appeared to be a character who was self absorbed, spoilt, skin deep and childish. But the thing is, she Was a child. At that point, I knew that I had long way to go towards the end of the show, so I knew being one of the supposed main characters, she would go through an arc, and possibly grow up. I couldn't begrudge her coming of age.

During the initial part of Shippuden, I could see that Sakura had grown up in some way. She definitely had matured to some extent. She had a better grasp of her emotions over losing Sasuke than Naruto at this point. She even comforts Naruto and defends him against Sai, and I kinda liked that moment despite myself ( I for one never liked Sakura but was willing to give her a chance at redemption at this point, well that and anyone defending Naruto gets a little bit on my good side). She was training hard. Even if it was unoriginal, she was kinda doing her own thing. I thought, hmm that isn't so bad. She makes a few bad choices, but she is also adjusting to new and improved Naruto in team seven, new responsibilities. Yes, she is not the best fighter but c'mon man, she was literally put in a team with two of the mightiest ninjas of all time, and it wasn't her decision. She was liable to feel insecure. Cut her some slack. Compared to team seven, all the other teams anyway look like benchwarmers.

It's mostly what happens after Sasuke is condemned as a terrorist that made me lose all hope for her. One bad decision after the other in this arc (and all the other arcs after this one). This convinced me Kishi had had enough of this half hearted development at this point, he just went like fuck it, it's time for fucking War, let's get fucking on it! This is where his SNS was going to shine after the long hiatus and overflowing anticipation of Naruto and Sasuke teaming up together (I mean just look at the ridiculous build up of their upcoming team up at the war, Kishi brought out all the big guns, the former hokages for Sasuke's entry, hahaha awesome. Then Sasuke and Naruto's own fights, especially the final one, just look at what the animation people did, the fucking detail, the atmos, the sound design, lord damn). Because let's be honest, it's battle manga.

After that, at such an advanced stage of the series, Kishimoto just like...spat on her 'legacy' over and over again in the war arc. Like it was almost painful. After Everything, when Sasuke slams his hand in her torso and puts her in his horrible genjutsu, just because she would have tried to stop him from getting hurt, I was like my God Kishi stop already! You have made your point! She may not be perceptive, but that was way too harsh. In terms of commensurate action- reaction, that was just way too much for a reasonable Sasuke to do, who btw had already had a pretty good time (all things considered) at the war fighting big bad villains alongside his 'best buddy' and had kinda temporarily come out of his Karin-killing phase. He certainly had the calm of mind to pleasurably mock Sakura and Kakashi now and again.

Well, Sakura had lost all credibility at this point of time and the ending of series was obviously forced. I see no point in even talking about it.

This is how I see it.

Now to come to my point. It's disturbing to see the amount of hate she gets from almost all factions. She is objectively written as a negative character, yes. Also yes, that I get how easy it is to get so invested in characters so as to find the lines a little blurred and one could perhaps project too much.

But some of it is just like, it crosses boundaries.

I get mad at Kishi for a lot of things, one of them being writing major female characters so badly, it made me detest those characters this much. Btw, this goes for both Sakura and Hinata. In fact, I find Hinata's character worse than Sakura's.

I understand why Sakura gets so much hate. But just the way some people choose to portray this hate makes me doubt if they like or sympathize with any character for the right reasons.

I could be wrong. But it takes a lot of energy to hate this much. I am just amazed at this extent of commitment.

From what I have observed, I think a lot of people in this fandom, including me, dislike Sakura because of the way she totally undermined her role amd significance in the story since so much was expected of her at the start, she was the only female member of team seven.

She was supposed to be a clever kunoichi (she literally just stands there during so many battles and cries), maybe a genjutsu expert (well..she ain't), someone who would eventually grow out of her fangirl phase (she never did), someone who would be more perceptive of other people (was literally responsible for Sasuke's attempt of killing her), someone who could be selfless for once (every attempt at proposing to Sasuke says not so much), someone who could fight alongside Sasuke and Naruto on her own terms (what can I say, she tries but it's pretty obvious how coloured her motivations are by the two bois; dudebros have a lot of fun with this).

Finally, someone who wasn't so oblivious. Like how is it possible that she didn't know Sasuke was an orphan! Like seriously! There's a whole ass scene where kids in class are openly talking about the massacre.

Kishi being so deliberate with it in this episode where Sakura mocks Naruto for being an orphan, he just didn't wanna give her a chance, he straight up wanted to establish the Real equation of team seven really early on. This is where he does it for the first time in the series, like blatantly. It is, what just the third episode maybe? Hahahha. He is so slick about it, that tease (but like also, most creators will establish the central theme of the series right away. So as to build tension and anticipation. In films, always pay attention to the first frame or the first sequence. It usually says much more than what's observed at first glance, anyway I digress). I find this episode really enlightening in terms of how Kishi wanted us to know that things were not what they seemed so we better start engaging with the content right away.

Sadly, Sakura could never be any of those things. Kishi never gave her a break. I kinda find it sad.

#haruno sakura #sakura #narutomanga #naruto shippuden #naruto #sasuke #analysis #naruto analysis

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averykedavra · 4 years

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what if I overanalyzed ATHD,,jkjk,,,unless?

hi yeah I know we’re riding the FWSA wave, but I was rereading the transcript of Are There Healthy Distractions? and I think we’re sleeping on some quality content (read: angst.) So I decided to break down one of my favorite parts in the episode--Virgil’s panic.

It’s pretty obvious that this episode isn’t just what it seems on the surface. The soft look Thomas gives Virgil when he says they’re “still friends” is proof of that. It’s all a layered metaphor for Virgil’s confession that he used to be a dark side, and that’s an interpretation I love, but I think there’s possibly something else there.

At its core, Are There Healthy Distractions? is about indecision. Well, not even that. It’s more regret--they’ve made their decision, and now they’re stuck with it. But they can’t help but wonder whether this was the right choice, or if it’ll only hurt them in the long run.

Virgil: Did I screw everything up?...Are we making the right decision here?

Remind you of anything?

It’s easy to forget since DWIT took place in the middle, but chronologically, it’s probably only been a few weeks since SvS in this episode. Thomas made his choice a few weeks ago. And everyone seems settled--until POF comes around--but stuff is still lingering. Look at this line from Roman:

Roman: Take it from Frozen's most inspirational song, "Fixer Upper". "People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed. Throw a little love their way and you'll bring out their best."

Thomas dismisses this as “barely applicable” but, once again, Roman is actually more perceptive than he lets on. That’s not relevant to the problem on the surface, but it’s relevant to another problem--Virgil’s belief that he’s the bad guy. Everyone’s indecision about the wedding. And the growing suspicion that Thomas might really be a bad person.

This episode is about the aftermath of SvS, about bad choices you make and choices you make, and how Virgil is a lot less certain in his position than he lets on.

Virgil was the jury in SvS. Virgil condemned Thomas as “guilty,” despite not wanting to side with Janus, because he honestly believed Thomas was a selfish person. Then, in DWIT, he called Thomas’ morality into question again. It takes Logan a long time to talk Virgil down from the idea that Thomas having bad thoughts means there’s something wrong with him, and since Virgil wasn’t present in PoF, he wasn’t reassured like Roman. Virgil made a choice just like Roman did, and the repercussions of that are less severe, but still noticeable.

In Are There Healthy Distractions? those doubts come to the foreground. They aren’t dismissed so much as dealt with on a surface level, and it can be easy to overlook them, but these underlying themes are so interesting to me! Virgil has complicated feelings about Janus, Thomas, and himself, and nowhere is that better shown than in this episode.

Virgil: But what if he's telling the story wrong, and misrepresenting Thomas to everybody at the party? Everyone likes him! He could turn everyone against Thomas by painting him as some unsympathetic, judgmental jerk.

One of Virgil’s main threats in this episode is that Rico will talk badly about Thomas behind his back. He’s reassured by the others, and it makes sense that this is a fear he easily jumps to, given how important Thomas’ friends are to him. But if we dig a little bit deeper into this fear, it has echoes of another issue. It’s a fear that Rico will lie about Thomas and make everyone hate him.

Again, remind you of anything?

This line especially made me think of SvS, because it’s almost exactly what Janus did! Janus used his manipulation of Roman and the others--“everyone likes him,” Virgil says bitterly--to turn them all against Thomas and paint him in a negative light. “Everybody at the party” bought it, of course, even though “if our combative compatriot were to slanderously misrepresent Thomas to that extent, then maybe that's not a friendship Thomas should try to hold on to.”

Virgil is afraid that Thomas will lose his friends. What’s more, he’s afraid that Thomas will lose them over being a bad person--or having everyone believe they’re a bad person. And it’s clear that, for Virgil, those two things are inextricably linked.

Virgil: Maybe you were in the wrong. Maybe you were an unsympathetic judgmental jerk!

Look at how quickly he makes that progression. Look at how fast he believes the imaginary lies other people have told. Rico says Thomas is a bad person, everyone thinks Thomas is a bad person, therefore Thomas is a bad person. Majority rule, after all, and how can Virgil be an unbiased judge of Thomas? You only see things from your own perspective. Virgil doesn’t know if Thomas is a good person, so he’s relying on what he often does--a warped version of what other people think.

Virgil: Maybe not...if he lied on purpose. But you only see things from your perspective. And your perspective is your eyeballs looking out, away from you! And that makes it a lot harder to see your own flaws or where you went wrong.

That’s true! It’s also, in this case, harmful. Taken to the extreme that Virgil’s taking it, it’s almost championing that Thomas never rely on his own perspective, because it can’t be trusted. If Rico thinks Thomas was a jerk, and Thomas doesn’t think so, Thomas is automatically wrong because Thomas is biased.

And SvS! Again! The entirety of that episode was saturated with this extremely harmful philosophy--that Thomas can’t possibly judge for himself whether he’s a good person. Thomas buys into this, too, of course. I’m not saying one side pushed this agenda. It’s a combination of anxiety, self-doubt, and uncertainty that leads him to rely more on others than himself. He forces Patton to find him a path, Roman to give him a sentence, Janus to show him the truth. Thomas doesn’t take initiative in that episode, because he doesn’t trust himself fundamentally, and Virgil’s a large portion of where that distrust comes from.

It’s twisted selflessness, in a way, a natural progression of the way he views selfishness as evil. Selfishness isn’t only acting on your own needs, it’s understanding yourself, putting your opinion of yourself above everyone else’s. That’s a hard thing to do, and it can easily be taken too far, but it’s also important. So, so important. And Sanders Sides has made that clear.

Yet Thomas struggles with it. Thomas always outsources his problems to his Sides at first, almost as a reflex, never taking time to try and solve things himself. At the first sign of judgment, he crumbles. His Sides have talked him into trying to get a real job, dressing in a suit and tie and calling himself Mr. Sanders, drinking a blender filled with water, and going to a wedding because he’s a bad person otherwise. Thomas is, for lack of a better word, kind of a pushover in some ways. He doesn’t know how to stand firm and have faith in his own needs yet. He hasn’t mastered the word no.

And this doesn’t fully come from anxiety! One of the most interesting moments in Accepting Anxiety, for me, is when Virgil’s still absent and the others are trying to figure out what’s happening:

Thomas: Roman brought the clever nicknames to the table, I brought the oats and honey clusters to the table.

Roman: Put them down!

Thomas: Okay.

That’s Thomas with no anxiety. You’d think he’d be tougher, more likely to stand up for himself, but no. Roman says to put the food down. Thomas says okay immediately, almost as if he’s compelled, and puts it down.

For a second, that seems backwards. Wouldn’t anxiety make you more likely to listen to other people, in order for you to like them? And yes, in some circumstances, that’s the case. But anxiety, at its core, is about keeping you safe and happy. Virgil’s job is to protect Thomas. That extends to other people that are important to him, but in the end, Anxiety is a selfish trait.

Which, again, makes sense. “Light” sides and “Dark” sides are divided along many lines, but one is which are selfish and which are selfless. Thomas has been taught that selfish is a dirty word and selfless traits are the ones he needs to express. That’s why Janus, self-preservation, and Remus, wild creativity with no regards for others, have been locked up for so long.

That’s why it takes so long for Virgil to get accepted. Yes, Thomas needed to learn that Virgil could work with him. That was important. But it also took Virgil doing an act of selflessness--trying to essentially sacrifice himself for the betterment of Thomas and the group--for Thomas to truly accept him. Virgil had to prove he could fit in to Thomas’ selfless way of seeing the world, and when he did, Thomas welcomed him.

So Virgil, essentially, isn’t allowed to be selfish. He’s not really allowed to put Thomas first. And that’s so antithetical to who he is that it’s no wonder there’s been so much conflict. Virgil may have been accepted, but he also had to change in some ugly ways, ways that are going to harm both him and Thomas in the long run.

For instance, his relationship with Janus.

We have no idea what it is, or what their history is, but we can piece together that they have a fragmented past. They used to be allies or at least cordial, and now Virgil hates Janus’ guts. Understandable. Anxiety would hate lying, because of the potential societal consequences.

But Anxiety also sided with Deceit on an important question--and it wasn’t is Thomas a good person. It was the real question in SvS--does Thomas know himself as much as he thinks he does?

Janus and Virgil both said no. Janus in a long con to get Thomas’ attention, but Virgil out of a true belief in that. Virgil doesn’t trust Thomas, Virgil doesn’t trust himself, and Virgil is so ready to jump on a possible threat from within that he fails to think through the ramifications. He needs to protect Thomas. And sometimes that means pointing out flaws Thomas can’t see from his perspective.

That’s pure anxiety. Not working with Thomas to make him feel better, not finding ways to be selfless and prove he’s “good”, but siding with self-preservation as they prove Thomas isn’t inherently selfless.

Virgil has grown a lot since Accepting Anxiety, but in some ways, he’s grown in the wrong direction. He’s struggled to balance his scary, unhelpful past with his new self, and this is another representation of that. Virgil, in essence, doesn’t only fear that he’s the bad guy--he fears that maybe that’s all he’ll ever be.

Virgil has been here. He’s been the jerk, been the one everyone casts as the villain, and he’s hated it. Now Janus and Remus are back, plotting seeds of doubt in everyone’s heads, and for Virgil it feels like his acceptance is running out. What if they sabotage everything Virgil’s built? What if they, like Janus, make such a good case that Virgil’s forced to side with them? What if they say Virgil hasn’t changed?

What if Virgil hasn’t changed?

Virgil: Maybe you were in the wrong. Maybe you were an unsympathetic judgmental jerk!

The lack of faith Virgil has in his own experiences and needs is kind of heartbreaking. This is a guy terrified of public opinion, always on guard for attack or judgment, and that’s made him so attuned to disapproval he forgets to look for his own. He ducked out because everyone didn’t need him. He does his job but softens it, fights for Thomas but stays quiet, and is selfish until morality dictates he becomes selfless again.

(Maybe, and I’m just spitballing here, that’s the root of his issues with Patton. Patton says he has to be good to be accepted, has to be pure, has to be selfless and kind a hundred-percent of the time. Patton doesn’t mean to, of course, but it’s stifling to be treated that way, as if acceptance and love is conditional. Which echoes Roman’s arc in a heartbreaking way, but isn’t really the point of this post.)

Logan: He's trying not to be harsh so as not to be too distressing, but he is the source of your anxiety. This is odd. He is odd.

Once again, Logan calls it. Virgil is a living contradiction. He’s walking a tightrope and terrified of falling to either side. Indecision is Virgil’s modus operandi, making choices and regretting them, so is it any wonder he keeps Thomas worried after the party? Thomas made a choice, but was it the right choice, will it maintain the balance or send them careening over the side?

Thomas is going to the wedding, and now he’s upset, needing “something to look forward to.” Did Virgil do the right thing? Does he know what that even is?

Thomas thinks he did the right thing. Virgil should believe that’s enough. Virgil should trust Thomas more than anyone, because Thomas knows better. But Virgil’s antsy. Virgil’s worried. Virgil looks around at this picture-perfect movie night and is sure they’re burning a bridge.

Virgil: And sure maybe he wouldn't have gotten around some of the stuff you wanted to know about on his own, but things might have gone smoother if you just calmly asked later. And even though you had a right to feel angry, maybe you shouldn't have taken your anger out on him, because he's right--he is a different person now. And attacking a person for opinions that they don't have doesn't really do anybody any good.

This is a monologue where Virgil lets it all out, for a second, and spirals into a panic attack. This is a monologue where Virgil critiques Thomas in a kind but firm way, and if this wasn’t upsetting him so much, this would be a good critique! This is good, productive, helpful stuff! Virgil is trying so hard, but he’s panicking, and why is that?

Because he’s judging Thomas for how he handled SvS and DWIT.

Which Virgil hasn’t really outwardly done! With important stuff, Virgil gives Thomas the benefit of the doubt. Again, Virgil’s kind of afraid of speaking up. But here, it all comes rushing out, albeit under the guise of being about Rico. And it’s about Rico! And it’s about Janus, and it’s about Virgil, and it’s about Thomas and how Thomas made mistakes.

And even though you had a right to feel angry, maybe you shouldn't have taken your anger out on him, because he's right--he is a different person now.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I like reading this line in tandem with the “is that fair to him?” line in FWSA. It’s another line that isn’t necessarily about Janus. But, in a way, it could be.

Maybe you shouldn’t have made Janus the villain, Virgil’s saying. Maybe Janus isn’t good, but he’s changed, and he’s only trying to help. Thomas can’t blame Janus for all his problems. Thomas can’t attack Janus for a role he can’t help. Virgil’s sticking up for Janus here, in this very oblique way, and for once he acknowledges that Janus could be a different person now. Virgil is, after all. Janus might not be a force of righteousness, but he has opinions worth hearing.

Thomas made mistakes.

And so did Virgil.

Virgil: And attacking a person for opinions that they don't have doesn't really do anybody any good.

Virgil’s sat with the aftermath of SvS. And Virgil’s regretful. He sentenced Thomas guilty and now he has to deal with the guilt, and he’s wondering if Janus was right or not, if Virgil should have taken things this far.

Virgil is Anxiety. He sounds the alarm bells in case something happens. But what if he sounds the bell too early? He did in DWIT, and he learned that Thomas isn’t necessarily a bad person, and that he’s being too strict. If that applies to Remus, why not Janus? If that applies to “bad” thoughts, why not “bad” actions?

Is Thomas a bad person, and is Virgil bad for saying yes?

There’s a headcanon going around that might be confirmed later, based off the final scene of FWSA, that c!Thomas has ADHD. Whether or not that’s true, there’s this really interesting aspect of this that I want to quickly mention. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.

Those who have a more painful reaction to rejection may be experiencing rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), characterized by extreme emotional sensitivity to being criticized or rejected (it can occur even when no rejection has taken place).

It can often go hand in hand with anxiety, which means it’s often misdiagnosed, but RSD is a separate thing. People who experience describe it as almost physical pain upon perceived rejection, feeling like a failure over small details. And I think it could explain a lot about Thomas’ relationship with the people in his life, his fear of their judgment, and how he blows small things out of proportion.

We know that anxiety isn’t the sole cause of Thomas’ issues with independence. Virgil is the opposite, actually--Virgil is the one pushing Thomas to protect himself. But Virgil’s become entangled--all of them have, really--in this idea that Thomas’ safety and well-being is less important than that of his friends. That Thomas’ opinion of himself is worth less than other people’s opinions of him.

That’s so incredibly harmful. That’s a symptom of something very bad going on, in both levels of anxiety and low self-esteem. Thomas is not only sacrificing time and opportunity for his friends, but his identity, molding himself to fit whatever they need. And every time he feels he’s failed, the rejection feels so painful that he begins to question whether he’ll ever succeed. If he’s meant for nothing more than this. If he is and always will be a bad person.

In PoF, they started to address this. But one agreement to do better won’t erase the long shadows of this kind of thinking, and it’s something Thomas and the others will have to work on in the future. Thomas has a possible-boyfriend now. And Thomas got that boyfriend by rejecting lying and being completely up-front, which is admirable, but again exemplifies his indecision. Thomas is lost in meaningless choices, and so is Virgil, who is so torn between staying at the party and leaving. He can stick it out and be approved, or he can play it safe and protect Thomas. So far, he’s found no in-between.

Virgil does so much for Thomas. And Thomas appreciates that, but I think in the future they should work to really work together, trusting themselves as much as they trust each other. True selfishness is trusting that you have the capability and right to make your own decisions. That you know what’s best for you. And that nobody can tell you otherwise.

Selflessness that hurts you, after all, ends up hurting everyone else in the end.

Virgil: If this is the foot we start out on...what's it gonna be like down the road? Will deceit continue to be the answer to all of your problems? Is that fair to him?

Thomas: No... No, he's better off without me.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #sanders sides analysis #are there healthy distractions #averywrites #oof this turned out long but i had a lot of thoughts okay

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crossdressingdeath · 3 years

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Just a reminder that if you have time and feel like writing that post you mentioned about how you would rewrite each DBH character’s story given unlimited runtime, it would be very cool to read.

Ah, right. Quick note that I don’t know much about Connor’s machine path or the violent revolution path or any ending to Kara’s story that doesn’t involve successfully getting past the border guard so I will be skimming those parts of the story. Also it’s going to be pretty vague because Details Are Hard. (Also I’m tired so this is probably not going to make a lot of sense or be in any sort of reasonable order.)

Okay, general points first. I feel like the three stories should intersect more, even if only in a “seeing the aftermath of their actions” way; maybe Connor and Hank are sent to investigate Zlatko’s death after Kara and Alice have gone through, for example. You’ve got three protagonists active at the same time and they barely interact! Come on, give us a little conversation. And of course the public opinion system needs to be used a lot more; it only effects two things in the whole game, come on! It doesn’t impact any of the major human characters, and that just feels wrong. I’ll. come back to this in Connor’s section because I feel like it would be best used there (since there really aren’t many humans in the story outside of his parts and the ones who do show up have reasons to side with or against the deviants outside of public opinion), but if nothing else I’d like it to lead to us seeing humans demonstrating/fighting with the deviants. Also I would like to see at least a few examples of androids deviating peacefully, like Connor does; I don’t believe for a second that there weren’t androids who deviated in a place where they were surrounded by people who were with them all the way.

So, first off: Markus. Mostly I’d just want to extend the timeline a bit and add some more Jericho missions, because oh my god you cannot join an organization of people with no weapons or resources of any kind, become their leader, and successfully change society in less than a week. So just... more evidence of Markus slowly winning Jericho over and helping them gather supplies and resources. Show him helping them set up actual supply lines! Rescuing deviants! Winning over allies! Including human ones, because the idea that there isn’t a single human working with Jericho when pretty much every major human character is in fact on the deviants’ side is... dumb. Also, individual missions with North, Simon and Josh; it would be good to spend more time getting to know them, since as it stands it’s... kind of hard to care all that much when they die. I might also add short scenes where we see Connor’s targets arriving in Jericho if they survive, just to add more connection between the stories (and also I like them and wish more had been done with them). And make Simon a love interest (because this is a choice-heavy game and so I should be able to make the choice to play exclusively as gay androids if that’s what I want), and make it easier to avoid having a love interest; let’s not create a situation where entering into a relationship less than a week after gaining emotions is all but mandatory, hm? Also, maybe Markus should meet Kamski one time? As the guy fulfilling Kamski’s deviant-related plans? Come on, one meeting. Maybe clear up Kamski’s motivations just a bit. And, crossing over with Connor’s story, maybe a bit of stuff them both being part of the RK line and how it went from a caregiver android to a detective android. Oh, and change it so that you’re not guaranteed to have fatalities on the violence path, because insisting that only pacifism can possibly end happily when fighting against oppression seems kind of... not great, all things considered. Frankly given the androids’ combat abilities it kind of makes more sense to have unavoidable deaths on the pacifism route, or alternately to have different unavoidable deaths on both routes, but being admittedly a softy I am very happy to have it be possible to have no deaths on either route. I don’t necessarily expect it to be easy to save everyone (it might make sense to add in missions where you make preparations to increase their odds of survival, or do something similar to Simon’s possible death in Stratford Tower where one of other protagonists’ actions has an effect on the sequence of events), but it would be nice to have it be possible.

On to Kara; I mentioned this before, but instead of her story being a cute-but-boring game-long escort mission where you have to protect a small child who is entirely useless I’d give her a story about uncovering how deviancy works and the history of it. Whether it really is just a glitch or something more, what rA9 actually is... all that fun stuff. No idea how that would actually go, but it would be more interesting than just running to Canada. If nothing else we could get more backstory on how the hell Kamski managed to create androids who are so realistic that that they can develop emotions. And if it is just a glitch there can be more discussion on whether or not simulated emotions are as real as actual emotions, because the fact that they brought up the concept of deviant emotions being a simulation and did nothing with it just feels like a massive waste of potential. And I’d add some more ways to live; from what I understand it’s really hard to keep everyone alive unless you maybe possibly condemn a couple and their baby to freeze to death or get killed by a revolution and keep things peaceful in Markus’s story. While I do want more interaction between the stories, I don’t think your choices in one story should automatically lock you out of getting the best ending for one of the other stories (with the obvious exception of the situations where that actually makes sense; can’t get the best ending for Connor and Hank if Markus nukes the city while Hank is in it, for example). At least with Kara; her story is so separate from Markus and Connor’s that it doesn’t make sense for Markus’s actions to lock her out of escaping to Canada! Also, it adds nothing to the story to have Alice turn out to be an android and robs Kara of her close human companion who has a massive impact on her life; yeah, there’s Rose, but she’s in... what, two missions? That’s less than Karl, who has the additional story impact of having been Markus’s father figure for (if memory serves) years before the start of the game, so there’s no dynamic to build; it’s already there. Keep Alice human! It’s a completely pointless twist! ...I recognise that this does mean that Connor can get a young human girl killed by succeeding in stopping a deviant, but it wouldn’t take much to rewrite his run-in with Kara to not involve a chase across a freeway. Again, I’ll come back to this when I get to Connor’s section. But imagine the impact of things like Todd’s abuse and Zlatko’s section if Alice is human; showing that these villains don’t necessarily see androids and humans as different, but in a negative sense this time. Also, I’d like a sort of prologue to her story featuring the incident that got her broken and led to her being repaired at the start of the game.

And of course now we get to Connor, the best boy who deserves the best. I’ll start with the things I said I’d come back to. First, the public opinion system: imagine if Hank’s thoughts on deviants (instead of just changing for no apparent reason beyond a handful of meetings with people who generally kick his ass and then run away or die with at most a bit of conversation) could be altered by public opinion of the deviants’ cause. Even better; by that and his relationship with Connor. Picture a situation where Hank doesn’t trust or like deviants at all due to them running around killing people but still helps them because he wants to help Connor. It would just be very good. Also, since Connor is the only character hanging out exclusively with humans (what with the station full of cops he’s working out of): imagine more missions taking place (or at least starting) in the precinct where Connor can interact with his sort of coworkers and how the conversations with them could change as time passes and public opinion changes. Also again the possibility for a conflict between dislike of deviants and fondness for this particular android, just for fun. And, also just for fun, maybe a bit of character development for Gavin where he’s still a dick (because honestly he’d be less fun if he wasn’t) but if public opinion is high he’ll pretend not to notice Connor sneaking into the evidence locker and fucking around in there for a while when he really definitely isn’t supposed to. Come on, if you’re going to have heroic cops you could at least do something with more than one of them. Also, more Captain Fowler. All we know is that he and Hank are old friends and he’s totally okay with Hank beating the shit out of Perkins; all in all I’d like to know a bit more about him. And with Kara and Alice: the freeway chase works, sure, but I would like the option for Connor to at least try to save Alice; by this point Connor is already showing signs of software instability, if we change it so that Alice is human him putting the mission aside to save a little girl makes sense and gives us a good sense of who he is as a person, and it fits neatly into steadily escalating refusal to complete his mission that eventually reaches full deviancy. If I’m remembering the order right it’s Ortiz’s android (who you can’t let escape), Kara (who you can let go based on Hank’s orders), Rupert (who you can let go to save Hank), the Tracis (who you can let go just because), and then Markus (who you have to deviate to spare); changing it so that you can let Kara go to save a little girl she’s protecting fits the escalation (you could easily argue that Connor has something in his programming about saving human lives, and as one of his earlier missions shows him being specifically trying to save a little girl it makes a great deal of sense that he wants to protect Alice. Also like. Imagine having the option to push Alice out of the way of a car at the cost of Connor’s life. It would be very effective, I think. Also it’s another opportunity to make Hank like you because he would for sure react well to you saving a small child from getting hit by a car.

Alright, moving on; I’d like some more assignments with Connor before he joins the DPD and gets partnered with Hank, showing him actually earning the title of deviant hunter? Also that way we aren’t stuck with the conclusion that CyberLife decided to send their prototype out into the world to partner with the police in investigations after one mission, which said prototype may well have failed to complete. And we could show more of Connor struggling with what he’s being ordered to do but having no way of stopping himself due to a complete lack of any interaction with anyone with functioning emotions, except for maybe CyberLife technicians. Actually, I’d also like to see what it’s like for Connor going to CyberLife for repairs and debriefing and such, because I doubt it’s fun. Other than that... well, Connor’s story is pretty good all things considered, but there are a couple tweaks I’d make. Aside from the previously mentioned exploration of what it means that he and Markus are both part of the RK line, I’d maybe cap off the added early story for him by adding him being hesitant about turning in Ortiz’s android if you’ve been pushing for more software instability and only going through with it when it becomes clear that if he doesn’t all he’ll achieve is getting himself caught not doing his job, which wouldn’t be a good look. I feel like the most effective way to do it might be if it’s not under player control; if his software instability is high enough he’ll be uncertain about it, and if he’s not he won’t be. And if he is uncertain you could add some options to the interrogation where he can win trust by telling the android he was scared of what would happen to him if he didn’t turn him in (followed by him immediately insisting that that was just a cunning ploy and in no way true when pressed on the matter if he did it out loud and not through an interface). Also: why wasn’t it Hank who pushed Connor to deviate. You spend Connor’s entire story with Hank! He is Connor’s tie to humanity! Why does Connor deviate in one conversation with a complete stranger and not his dearest friend! I desperately want a situation where Hank learns too much or something and Connor is ordered to shoot him and you can either go through with it (killing Hank) or deviate and shoot whoever gave you the order instead. Also then there could be hugs. And maybe forehead kisses because please. Connor deserves a little smooch honestly. He’s earned it. And then if your relationship with Hank is low enough that he’s already dead at this point you can have the conversation with Markus. Also, I would love an addition to the machine path where if you have a high relationship with Hank you can choose to deviate before fighting him (instead of just walking away despite that preventing Connor from finishing his mission quickly) or to deviate after fighting him when he’s got Hank hanging off the edge of the roof. Think about it; a moment of horrified realisation where Connor’s software is finally pushed to the breaking point by having to choose whether or not he will kill his only friend for the sake of his mission where he’s left desperately asking himself what the hell he’s doing? Like, if nothing else it would hammer home the fact that at this point Connor is choosing to remain a machine (assuming his software instability is high enough) to have to choose it twice even at the cost of Hank’s life. Actually three times, because the initial choice would be before this point. Also going that way it would be possible to play through the machine path up to the fight with Hank and still net Connor’s best ending, which would just be nice I think. Also, more hugs. Hugs are good.

...Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Also it’s uh. almost 1 AM here and sleep is in fact important. So I’m going to wrap up here; maybe I’ll make some more posts later if I think of anything else.

#detroit become human #also i now kind of want to write machine!connor deviating when he realises he's killing his best friend #i don't know i just think it would be a really powerful scene if well written #don't know if i can pull it off but it might be fun to try #anon #asks

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visander · 3 years

Text

A Losing Game (6/6).

It all ends.

You can read this chapter on ao3 here. The wonderful art featured below was done by @thelightofthebane and by beta for this event was @bamf-alec.

Chapter Six:

Part of Magnus expected they’d walk inside to find a deceptively empty warehouse moments before they’d be ambushed. Yet when they went inside, Camille was just standing there, waiting for them. Magnus hadn’t seen her in person in so long, but she hadn’t aged a day since he’d last seen her. Sure, it had only been a few years, but Camille was older than him.

Shouldn’t she look older now? But no, standing before him she looked like she always had. She was beautiful and alluring. She looked nothing like the poison that Magnus knew twisted within her. She smiled and all he saw were teeth. How had he not seen how fake that was all those years ago? How had he ever looked at her and thought that she was kind and smart?

Camille was flanked by people, but Magnus hardly even looked at them. They’d known they were outnumbered. He didn’t need to take inventory here to verify that, but there was a twist of movement in the background that had his eyes narrowing instantly.

It was Simon, though he didn’t recognize him at first. His hands were tied behind his back and someone was holding him there with a minimal amount of effort as Simon struggled feebly. His face was covered in blood. He wasn’t terribly hurt, but his nose was obviously broken and it seemed it had bled for a while before stopping. It was hard to tell if he was hurt otherwise. It looked like he had a bruise across his left cheek, but even that was hard to verify the severity of from this far away and with so much blood.

Regardless, he was struggling and it didn’t look as if he’d been shot or stabbed or had his legs broken or any number of the horrible things Magnus was sure Raphael and he both had been imagining on the way here. Simon was alive and right now, he wasn’t dying. That meant they weren’t too late.

Magnus’ eyes darted back to Camille as she opened her mouth. Her words were smooth and calming. They didn’t match the situation at hand at all. Once, that had calmed Magnus. Once, she’d made him think everything was under control when he really should have been running far away. Now, Magnus knew better, but it was too late to be running from anything.

“Magnus, Raphael—” Camille’s eyes flickered over them as she spoke before finally landing on Alec with apt interest. She seemed very interested in the fact that Alec was holding a gun in his hands. She took a few steps forward towards him, as if the weapon hardly even mattered.

Rationally, Magnus supposed it didn’t. They’d all be shot the moment she said the words. Who cared if one of them managed to shoot a bullet off in return? The odds of it landing before they were dead was slim.

“Alexander,” Camille murmured. Her eyes glistened and Magnus’ spine straightened instantly.

He realized all at once that he should not have brought Alec with him. It didn’t matter what Camille said. He and Raphael should have come alone and tried to grab Simon by themselves. Magnus had just been thinking that one more person had to help them. Alec knew how to shoot a gun. Alec knew how to protect himself. He was an asset and Camille wouldn’t shoot them for bringing him, like she’d asked.

But Camille had wanted him to come for a reason and it wasn’t because he’d make it harder for her. Magnus’ eyes darted over to Alec and he felt a slow sinking horror in his stomach. Why the fuck hadn’t he told Alec to stay home? Why hadn’t he sent Alec somewhere, anywhere else? Alec could have gone to the police. He’d have been safe there, regardless of what happened here.

Magnus knew by one look at the expression on Camille’s face as she looked at Alec that Alec wasn’t safe here. She’d wanted Magnus to bring him and he had, without thinking, but he didn’t have time to regret it. Alec was here. He couldn't send Alec away now. Camille would have him shot before he even reached the door.

He wasn’t sure if Raphael thought the same. He didn’t think so. Raphael was thinking about one thing and that was getting Simon away and back to safety. He wouldn’t have cared if they were walking into their certain death. For Simon, there would have been no other option.

Magnus had thought so too, but standing here now, he realized he did have another option. He had a lot of other options and instead of doing anything of them, he’d landed the three of them here, standing before Camille exactly where she wanted them.

For the first time, Magnus had the feeling that so much more was going on here than he’d realized. How had Alec just so happened to be hired by Camille that night? How had Alec just happened to be working, when Camille probably knew they’d hit the place? Why had Camille waited so long to do this, when he was realizing she could have put an end to them whenever she wanted?

They’d thought they were so smart. They’d thought they had her outplayed the whole time. They’d thought that this was their game, their revenge, but he was realizing all at once that they’d never had any control over any of this. Camille had just let them think they did.

“Give him to me,” Raphael snapped. Apparently, they were skipping any warm greetings.

Camille’s eyes slid over to Raphael. She gazed at him evenly, a vague look of distaste on her face. “Why?” she asked finally. She sounded bored.

Raphael started forward like he was going to push past her and to Simon who was still so far away. Someone stepped out, blocking Raphael’s path. Magnus had a terrifying moment of thinking that Raphael was going to try to push past them anyway, but at the last moment he stilled. His eyes didn’t leave Simon’s for a second.

Magnus dared a glance over. Simon looked terrified. At least Alec knew how to handle a gun and keep the fear Magnus was sure he was feeling off his face. Simon knew nothing. Simon was just a happy, bubbly kid who didn’t deserve to be caught up in any of this.

This was Raphael’s biggest fear. This had always been Raphael’s biggest fear. He’d always been so okay with dying, but he’d done everything he could to keep Simon safe. The only thing he’d ever wanted to do was keep Simon safe and now, they were here and Simon had a gun point at his head, ready to shoot him if Camille felt so inclined.

Raphael’s jaw tightened. “What do you want?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from Simon long enough to look over to Camille again, who stood regarding the entire situation as if it were an amusing sitcom playing out in front of her.

Magnus wasn’t sure if that was better than her being bored. At the very least, if she was amused, she wouldn’t kill them.

Camille seemed to ponder the question for a moment. “Well, what do you have?” she asked finally. She cocked her head and it was obvious it was a rhetorical question. They had nothing for her. Nothing at all. They had nothing she wanted and nothing she needed. In fact, they’d gone out of their way to become a huge pain in her ass. The biggest thing she could need would be them dead and Magnus was more than aware of it.

“You kill my people, you ruin my stuff, you walk around tarnishing my name all across the city to anyone who will listen to you.”

Magnus remembered vividly every moment in which they’d done just that. Killing the people Camille hired at the warehouse that night was just the most recent plot they’d enacted to make her life a little harder, but they’d been doing it for years. They took every chance they could to fuck things up for her.

It was all a game. Even they’d known it. Camille kept herself well protected and it was all a game to piss her off until they could finally put a bullet in her head. They’d never considered what would happen if she got sick of them before that. They’d never thought they’d be in a position to have to consider anything Camille might think.

“What can you really offer me now?” she pondered. “A promise you’ll leave me alone? Well, that would be too easy, wouldn’t it? And you’d never keep to it.”

Magnus opened his mouth. “We have money. You can take it. Anything we ever took from you, you can have it back.”

Camille’s eyes darted to him. She didn’t need money. She didn’t need her stuff back and they all knew it. “What did you think was going to happen?” she asked curiously. She ignored his offer entirely. “Did you think you had the upper hand? Did you think I didn’t stop you because I couldn’t?”

There was silence after she spoke and that was enough of an answer for all of them.

“You were always such a stupid kid, Magnus. I thought you’d outgrow it. Apparently, I was wrong.” Camille’s eyes darted over to Alec. “I hired him on purpose, did you know that?” Her eyes flickered back over to Magnus. “You knew to hit that place because I wanted you to know. I hired him and I put him there that night, just to see what you’d do. I was curious if you’d shoot him like you did the rest of his little friends. What crime did those people commit to deserve death, Magnus? Unknowingly being hired by a monster to do their job? That was enough for you to condemn them all to death, just to slightly inconvenience me?”

Camille’s eyes flickered over to Alec again. No one spoke. Even Simon had stopped struggling. “But it wasn’t enough for you to shoot him. You do realize how hypocritical that is, don’t you, Magnus? You hate me for killing your friend, so you murder innocent people to get back at me.”

“You murder innocent people everyday,” Magnus snapped suddenly. It didn’t matter if she was right. Who was Camille to talk to him about any kind of wrong doing he’d ever partaken in? She’d done worse than him for far longer.

Camille hardly blinked. “I do. We’d have worked well together, if you hadn’t gotten so upset when your friend died. Ragnor, was it? I bet you blame me for that too, but you’re the one who brought him to me. What were you expecting to happen?”

Magnus bristled at the reminder and his stomach twisted. He spat,“You shot him for no reason. He didn’t do anything.”

Camille hummed softly. “I killed your friend because I was curious what you’d do,” she said after a long moment of silence.

She continued, “You used to pride yourself on your outstanding moral compass. You didn’t want to hurt anyone. You wanted to help people, but all it took for that to change was for me to shoot your friend. Do you know what a good person would have done in that situation, Magnus?” Camille paused for just a moment, but no one opened their mouth to speak. “A good person would have gone to the police. A good person would have pled their case, even knowing they’d be charged with a crime they didn’t commit. A good person would not have killed dozens of innocent people, just to get back at one person. It didn’t matter how many people you killed that were vaguely connected to me. You were never going to bring Ragnor back to life and a good person would have known that.”

“So, where does that leave us now?” Camille asked. She turned, surveying the room casually before her eyes returned to Magnus. “I let you play your game for a while. I was curious how far you’d go, but you thought you were so close. You thought it was just a matter of time before you’d kill me and win. What would you have done after?” she questioned curiously.

Magnus didn’t answer. He knew what he would have done after. He’d have stopped. He’d have stayed with Alec. Maybe, they’d have moved somewhere out of the country, where Magnus wouldn’t have to pretend he’d died. But there was always a chance that that was all just a fantasy. Maybe, they would have stayed in New York and Magnus would have never stopped. He knew better than anyone that there would always be one more thing to help Raphael with. There would always be one more hit, one more incident demanding his attention.

Maybe a year down the line Alec would beg him to stop and Magnus wouldn’t listen. There was a lot that could have happened and a lot of ways his fantasy of living a perfect life with Alec probably would have gone wrong.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway,” Camille concluded finally. “This was fun for a while and now it’s not anymore. Now, you’ve started to become a major pain in my ass and that will not do.”

Camille turned and gestured behind her. The man holding Simon shoved him suddenly. Simon staggered a few feet before falling to his knees. His hands were still tied behind him, so he almost face planted the ground as he fell.

No one even had a chance to move. No one had a chance to say anything. Simon didn’t even have time to react. One moment, he was fine and in the next, the man that was holding Simon in place lifted his gun. He held it steadily for just a moment before he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Simon fell to the ground in a mess of blood. His dark, curly hair covered his face and Magnus was thankful for it. Raphael didn’t need to see his face, not like that.

Magnus knew instantly that Simon was dead. The bullet had gone in the back of his skull and out the other side. There was no chance he’d survived and when he laid against the ground and didn’t even take in a final, shuddering breath, Magnus looked away.

At least he’d died quickly. He had seen so many that hadn’t.

No one reacted but Raphael. In the back of Raphael’s throat, he heard a soft choking noise. The gun he was holding clattered to the ground uselessly and Raphael was on his knees before anyone could move, pulling Simon up and into his lap.

Simon’s head fell to the side. His dirty, bloody hair fell away. His face wasn’t even in one piece anymore, but Raphael pressed his hand to it anyway, as if he could push Simon back together and force all the blood to go back inside him.

Magnus wished Raphael hadn’t moved. He wished Raphael had stood there and made himself not react. This was what Camille wanted. This is what she enjoyed, but Magnus also knew that Raphael was kneeling, holding his entire world in his now bloodied hands.

He knew what that felt like. He remembered kneeling, holding Ragnor in his arms as he took his last few pained breaths. Ragnor had died quickly, but when he’d hit the ground he’d still been alive and in those moments between Magnus grabbing him and him dying, the world had seemed to halt.

Magnus could have held him for just a few seconds. It could have been an hour. To this day, he wasn’t sure. The only thing he remembered was brushing back Ragnor’s hair, pressing his hand over the wound in his neck and yelling for Camille to call someone for help.

He wasn’t sure why he’d done that. It should have been obvious that Camille would do no such thing. She was the one who’d shot him. Of course she wasn’t going to call anyone to help. All she’d done was stand there and watch, her face entirely blank, emotionless.

Camille did not look emotionless now. Now, she looked delighted.

Magnus dared a glance over to Alec and saw that he’d turned completely white. His eyes were locked on Simon and one might think Alec was unaffected, if it weren’t for the horror in his eyes that gave him away. He looked like he might throw up.

Alec had never seen anyone die before. Alec had never had to watch something like this. He gripped his gun tight enough that his knuckles had turned as white as his face and Magnus wondered for the first time if he’d be able to shoot that gun, if he needed to. Being trained on how to use it was very different from firing it at someone and knowing you were ending their life.

Magnus still remembered how horrified he’d been the first time he’d seen Camille shoot someone. He remembered how horrified he’d been when Camille had made him shoot someone for the first time. He remembered thinking he’d never do it again, but how many more had come after and how quickly had he gotten used to it? Camille was right. Watching Ragnor die had changed everything for him. After that, he was no longer the horrified kid who couldn’t stomach the thought of someone dying because of him. After that, he didn't care anymore.

Nothing else had mattered. The world thought he was a murderer and then, dead. Ragnor was dead. Alec was gone. Magnus was a shapeless, nameless ghost. He’d felt, and still did, that his actions had no consequences. How could they when no matter what, the two best things in Magnus’ life were gone? It was only them and Camille. Everyone else meant nothing. They were just pawns in a game they’d never agreed to play.

Alec was just a pawn in a game he’d never agreed to play and Magnus knew he was going to die for it, just like Simon had.

“I’ll work for you,” Magnus murmured softly. If he expected some reaction from Raphael at the blasphemy of his words, he received none. He knew that Raphael no longer cared. If Raphael didn’t die here, he would soon. There was not a place in the world for Raphael Santiago here if Simon wasn’t at his side. Maybe, if they survived, he’d make it through the funeral. Maybe after, he’d shoot himself or let someone else do the job.

Magnus wasn’t sure, but he did know that Simon wasn’t coming back to life and Raphael was as good as dead. His offer was not for Raphael. His offer was for Alec and she knew it.

“Just don’t kill him. Please, Camille,” he begged.

Camille turned to him slowly. She raised an eyebrow and appeared to think about it for a moment, but Magnus knew she’d already made up her mind. She’d known Magnus would offer. She’d known he’d do anything to save Alec and the only thing he had to offer was himself.

“And what, he goes back to his life? He pretends to have amnesia about what happened to him over the past few weeks?” Camille paused, taking a moment to eye Alec holding the gun. “Or were you hoping I’d take him too? Take you both back into my flock after you’ve gone out of your way to mess things up for me so badly?”

Magnus didn’t answer. He didn’t have an answer. Yes. Yes to all of it. As long as she didn’t kill Alec, he didn’t care. He and Alec would figure it out. Alec knew how to use a weapon. He could hold his own, if Camille would accept him. Anything would be better than Alec dying here because of him. Anything would be better than him dying exactly like Ragnor had, like Simon had.

“You know I can’t do that,” Camille murmured. Her words were soft and deceptively kind. Magnus felt his resolve break at them. He was so stupid. He should have never taken Alec to begin with. There were so many things he could have done instead. He could have left Alec here the day they’d killed everyone. Alec could have made up a story. He could have been a lucky survivor. Magnus could have shot him too. That would have been kinder than all of this. That would have been kinder than torturing him by making him stay, torturing them both by making them think that they had even an ounce of a chance of making it together.

The day Ragnor died, Magnus had died too. It was just a matter of time before Camille took him out and he was only ever alive because she allowed it. Thinking they could beat her was a fantasy. Thinking there was any place in this world for him and Alec to be happy was just a fantasy.

Magnus should have shot him that day and been done with it, but Alec had always been the one thing that he made stupid decisions for. He was about to make another one of those right now.

He raised his gun. It was loaded. The safety was off and before anyone could react, he fired. A moment later, the world dissolved into chaos. He wasn’t even sure if he hit her, but he didn’t get to fire again because the gun was ripped out of his hands. There were arms grabbing him and before Magnus knew it, he’d been hit across the face with a rifle.

There was blood running down Magnus’ forehead but he hardly even felt it. The world went fuzzy around the edges and before he knew it, he was on his knees with his arms locked behind his back. There were two men standing on either side of him. There was a gun pressed against the back of his head.

He was sure that the same treatment was happening to Alec, but he couldn’t look over to see him. His view was blocked. He had just a moment to wonder what Camille was going to do about Raphael when another gun went off.

He didn’t even know who shot it. He didn’t see if it was Camille or someone she’d signaled to, but the moment he heard the noise, he knew what happened even before he watched Raphael drop to the ground. He’d been clutching Simon’s body close, like he could protect him, but Simon was already dead and as Raphael fell forward, Magnus could see that he was as well.

Camille didn’t care about Raphael. That wasn’t who she was here for. That wasn’t who she was having fun with. She shot him exactly like she’d shot Simon, exactly like she’d shot Ragnor so long ago — as if they were nothing, as if they’d never mattered at all.

Magnus’ eyes found Camille again. She had a hand over her arm. There was blood gushing out and it took him a moment to even realize that he had shot her. He’d been trying to shoot her in the head or even the chest but he’d failed on both accounts. He couldn’t help but let a laugh bubble from his lips.

He’d shot her in the arm. The arm. Magnus knew with that one mistake that he’d just sealed his and Alec’s deaths. Camille looked up at him and cocked her head, a phantom smile flickering across her face. Blood was gushing out of her and streaming down her arm to the floor that Magnus had splattered with his own blood not too long ago.

It was almost poetic. Everything in his life had come full circle, until he landed here. How many people had he done this to? How many people had he held down and then shot without a moment of consideration?

Magnus hated her so much. Some deep part of him would always blame her for everything. If he had never met her, if he’d never started working for her, if she’d never killed Ragnor, everything would be different. Magnus would be different. He’d have been a different person, one who cared about what was just and right, one who protected people. He’d have been a good person. All he’d ever wanted in life was to be a good person. How had he failed so miserably?

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” Camille murmured. Magnus saw those pretty lips that had once leaned in to kiss him just before someone was moving towards him and kicking him in the face.

Magnus choked on a noise in the back of his throat, but he couldn’t even cry out. He felt his teeth shatter on a steel toed leather boot and when he bent over, sagging in the arms holding him up, he watched beyond his bleary eyes as chunks of white fell to the dirty floor, splattered with his blood.

When Magnus’ ears stopped ringing, he could hear Alec talking. He couldn’t even hear what he was saying, but he wanted to snap at him regardless. Shut up, Alec. Shut up, shut up - then he heard what Alec was actually saying and his entire heart sank. Shut up, Alec, but Magnus’ lip was swollen and bleeding. He was pretty sure he’d managed to bite his tongue and even if he tried to speak, he didn’t imagine it would be very intelligible.

“Please, don’t hurt him,” he heard Alec beg. His voice broke and Magnus could hear the pure desperation in it. Alec didn’t understand though. He knew Camille, but he’d never known her like Magnus had. He didn’t understand that Camille would have no sympathy. She wanted Alec to beg. She liked it. She’d use it to her advantage and she most certainly wouldn't stop just because Alec wanted her to.

Camille motioned with her hand and Magnus didn’t have another moment to prepare himself before he was being kicked in the face again and then again.

Magnus had been hurt before. Fuck, he’d been tied up and hurt before he’d never been hurt like this - with such a ruthless abandon that it was obvious no one cared if he lived or died because of Camille’s punishment.

People had used him as leverage before. They’d needed him alive.

Camille didn't need anything from him and it was obvious. In that moment, everything hurt so bad that he felt something in him break. He could think of nothing beyond the pain of it all. He could think of nothing besides wanting it to stop, needing it to stop, and knowing that it wouldn’t.

Alec was screaming. Magnus could hear him struggling and yelling as loud as he could, begging Camille to stop, telling her to hurt him instead, telling her to leave him alone, please.

At some point, he was sure they’d stopped kicking him in favor of punching him. His eyes were so swollen that he could barely see, but he knew it was the case because he felt the hands grabbing him by the shirt to yank him upwards just to drop him again when a fist connected with his face.

Eventually, they threw him to the ground. He landed on his hands, watching blood fall from his face to the dirty concrete floor which he could hardly see. He heard Camille’s heels clicking on the ground as she walked and when he forced his eyes up, he saw her approaching Alec, who was still being held in place on his knees.

There wasn’t a hair out of place on his head, but Magnus didn’t imagine that would remain true for very long. He felt the panic rise inside him. He wanted to stumble to his feet. He wanted to rush at Camille and do anything to keep her eyes on him and away from Alec.

Magnus’ hand twitched. His gun was still on the ground where it had been thrown. If he could just reach it…

He dove for it suddenly, but only made it a few inches before there was a boot crushing down on his hand, grinding it into the concrete. He heard the sickening snap of his knuckles and the delicate little finger bones in his hand breaking before he even felt the pain of it.

Magnus had known he wouldn’t get the gun. They’d left it there just out of his reach to see if he’d try. He should have known better, but for Alec’s sake he’d tried anyway. He’d have let them break every bone in his body if it might mean he’d have even the slimmest chance at saving Alec.

When Camille crouched before Alec, she had a look on her face like she’d come across something spectacular. Magnus wished he could punch that look right off her, but his punching hand was broken and he’d never been very good with his right hand anyway.

“Did you know that I wanted Magnus to take you home?” Camille asked softly. “If he hadn’t, I’d probably have let this go on for so much longer. I might have even let him live. All he had to do was send you away or kill you and none of this would have happened, but he took you, just like I knew he would. How could I pass up this opportunity after that?”

Camille reached out and her dark finger trailed across Alec’s cheek. He flinched away from the touch, but the arms holding him didn’t let him move far. “This was so much more fun than just killing them. Magnus is so stupid for the people he loves. I knew this would be interesting.”

Alec stared warily and terrified. He didn’t seem to be taking in any of Camille’s monologue because after a moment, Alec spoke. “My family has money,” he said softly. Magnus could hear the fear in his voice even though he could barely see him. It was a reasonable offer. Alec’s family did have money, a lot of it, but Camille had no use for Alec’s money. She had more than enough of her own and even if she didn’t, Magnus was sure she’d much rather enjoy killing them than get anything tangible out of it.

“I don’t need your money, Alexander,” Camile cooed. She almost sounded kind when she spoke to him, like she was speaking to a small child who didn’t yet understand the circumstances they’d found themself in. Magnus was an adult to be kicked swiftly. Alec was merely a child to her, someone caught up in all of this who didn’t exactly deserve it, but who would die anyway.

Camille reached out with one hand and pressed it gently across his cheek. She touched him tenderly and Alec froze at the touch, staring with desperate eyes. He didn’t know what was happening. He still thought there was a chance they’d be okay. He thought this show of kindness from Camille might mean something different for them. He didn’t understand her. He didn’t understand that Camille had known what she’d do to them the moment they walked inside.

Camille’s hand dropped from Alec as she rose to her feet. She turned away from him and Magnus knew in that moment that she was done with him. He knew the second she turned away what was about to happen. Magnus lunged forward before she could even speak, but he was shoved back down into place before he made it anywhere. A noise came from Magnus’ throat, desperate and keening.

He needed to stop her. He needed to do something. “Camille,” Magnus spoke desperately, his voice rising with panic.

Camille didn’t even turn to look at him. She merely smirked.

Magnus didn’t have a chance to say anything more before Camille was speaking. “Shoot him,” she said simply.

It was only a second between her words and Magnus watching as a gun went off, the same gun held to the back of Alec's head. Alec slumped forward instantly. He probably hadn’t heard what Camille said before it happened, let alone had a second to process it. A bright red puddle slowly started to spread out from under him, forming quicker than Magnus thought it should.

Magnus had seen enough people die to know that Alec wasn’t getting up, but none of those people he’d watched die had been Alec. He should have known better, but he didn’t. He froze as he stared, waiting for Alec to move. He waited for him to gasp in a pained breath or lurch on the ground, showing any sign that he was still alive where he laid, but Alec didn’t move, not even an inch.

He was dead and part of Magnus knew it. Part of him had known that Alec would die for a while now, even if he desperately tried to think of a way out of it. They were all dead the moment they walked inside. Magnus had been expecting it, but that didn’t mean it was any easier to process.

He couldn’t be dead. Alec couldn’t die, not here, not like this, not before Magnus. It was wrong. The entire situation was wrong. Alec wasn’t supposed to die. Alec was never supposed to die, not here, not because of Magnus, not like this.

Magnus didn’t sob. He didn’t scream even if he wanted to, but a quiet shudder worked its way through him and before he knew it, there were tears dripping down his face, falling silently to the ground.

Magnus didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about Alec. He didn’t want to think about any of it. He just wanted it all to be over already, but his mind flickered back to the first time he met Alec anyway. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. He just remembered that they’d been in school together and Magnus had been enamoured with him from the first moment they met.

In his mind, he saw Alec young and alive as he stared at him lying lifeless on the ground. He remembered Alec with his lanky, awkward limbs, not yet grown into his body, his messy hair and his soft cheeks. He'd smiled shyly at first and Magnus hadn’t even known how beautiful it would be the first time he got to see that brilliant blinding grin on Alec’s face He remembered Alec’s arm around him. He remembered wearing his jacket. He remembered Alec kissing his cheek and blushing after, neither of them too sure if the soft kisses were welcome or if the other found it all far too corny.

Magnus wanted to spend forever there. He wanted to spend forever in that life, when he’d had no clue what was coming, when he'd thought he’d be with Alec forever, when he’d thought that there was nothing that could possibly rip them apart. That’s what Magnus’ life was supposed to be like. That’s how it was supposed to be forever, just him and Alec and nothing else that mattered half as much.

Magnus would do anything to go back there. He’d do anything to do it differently. He’d never have started working for Camille. He’d never have let Alec leave his side. He’d kiss Alec everyday and at every chance he could and he’d let nothing pull them away from each other, not even for a moment. But Magnus couldn’t go back. That wasn’t how the world worked and kneeling here with Alec’s dead body just a few feet away from him, the only thing Magnus could hope for now was that they’d get another chance.

Some people believed in reincarnation. Maybe, they’d be reincarnated and some other version of Magnus would meet Alec and be enamoured with him all over again Maybe, that Magnus would be better. Maybe, he’d try harder. He’d be a better person and he’d work to deserve even an ounce of happiness with some other version of his Alexander.

Magnus had never believed in reincarnation. He wished he could. He wished that he could believe in any of it but, deep down, Magnus knew that he wasn't going to get another chance. This had been his one chance with Alec. This had been his one chance with it all and the only thing he’d ever done in his life was hurt a lot of people and end up getting his best friend and the love of his life killed.

Maybe, there was a heaven and Alec would be going there. Magnus knew he’d deserve it, but if any of that was true, he also knew that he would not be meeting Alec in the same place. Alec had always seen something in him that didn't exist. He’d always seen something good, but that wasn’t who Magnus was.

Magnus wondered if Alec realized it in the end. He wondered if he’d realized just before he’d been killed how horrible Magnus had always been. He wondered if it had all fallen into place for Alec, like it had for Magnus with Camille. He wondered if he’d just realized that the person he loved hadn't really existed. The Magnus Bane that deserved Alec’s love had only existed in his head.

Magnus wondered if Alec had regretted loving him, just before it was over. He knew he’d deserve it, if he had, but Alec was dead and he couldn’t even ask. Maybe that was better anyway. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer or not. He was pretty sure he didn’t.

Magnus only tore his eyes away from Alec when Camille walked over to him. He didn’t want to stop looking. He wanted the last thing he ever saw to be Alec, even the twisted grotesque version of him that was laying dead on the ground, but he couldn’t help his eyes from jumping to Camille anyway.

She walked towards him slowly and he could see even through his swollen, bleary eyes that she was smiling. She was pleased. This was playing out exactly like she’d wanted it to. This was exactly how she’d planned for all of this to go. It was only Magnus who’s world was ending.

Camille crouched before him. She didn’t reach out to touch him like she had Alec and Magnsu was thankful for it. For a moment, they both stared at each other and neither of them said a single thing until Camille finally murmured, “We’d have worked so well together. You realize that, right?”

Magnus could have laughed. Of course, that’s what she’d be thinking about. She’d be thinking about how many people they could have killed together, how many lives they could have ruined if Magnus had just run into her arms instead of running away when Ragnor died.

“I’d never have worked for you. Not after I knew what you were,” he spit instantly.

Camille eyed him for a moment before her eyes flickered over to Alec on the floor. Slowly, she looked back to Magnus and cocked her head. “I think we both know that’s not quite true.”

Magnus said nothing, but he knew she was right. He’d have done it for Alec. He’d have done anything for him, but Alec was dead now and Magnus… Well, Magnus had been dead for a long time. He’d been kidding himself to ever think he could have a life. He’d been living on borrowed time, Camille’s time. He just hadn’t known it.

“I’ll miss this,” she murmured. “You were so interesting for a while, but you became just a little too predictable for my taste.” She eased back, rising to her feet yet again and leaving Magnus on the ground, covered in his own blood.

He had thought that was it. He thought that any moment now another gunshot would ring through the room and then, he would learn exactly what it felt like to stop breathing. He’d learn what Alec had gone through not too long ago, but that’s not what happened.

Instead, Camille walked around Magnus until she’d settled behind him. The men who’d been standing at Magnus’ side before had vanished. He was sure they were close enough to step in if they needed to, but he couldn’t see them any longer. The warehouse stretched out before him and all he could see was Raphael, Simon and Alec.

Camille said nothing for a long moment. No one in the building so much as breathed. Outside, Magnus could hear it had started to rain. The only noise he could hear was the gentle pattering of water on a metal roof so far above him.

It had rained the night that Ragnor died. Not when it happened, but long after when Magnus was entirely alone, thinking his life was over, not yet knowing how true that was. It was fitting in a way. Maybe, the world felt bad for him. Maybe the world was mourning another life in which things had gone differently, just like Magnus was.

Magnus’s eyes fell down and it was no sooner after he looked away that Camille spoke. “Look at him,” she murmured.

Magnus’ jaw tightened. Camille was not mourning anything. She purred with pleasure as she spoke. Magnus looked up. He didn’t have to wonder what she meant or why. She wanted him to look at Alec. She wanted him to be thinking about the fact that Alec was dead and it was all his fault before it was over. She wanted the last thing he ever saw to be Alec crumpled on the ground in a pile of his own blood.

He looked so broken. He looked so small. Magnus didn’t understand how people looked so small when they died. Alec was always bigger than him, but now he looked so small that Magnus thought he could walk forward and cradle Alec in his arms.

Magnus wondered if he’d be stiff already. He wondered if he’d still feel warm. He wondered if he pressed a kiss to Alec’s lips if Alec might feel it, wherever he was now. Magnus wondered if wherever he was, if he was anywhere at all, if he was sitting with him and sharing the same impossible fantasy of one last kiss before it was over or if Magnus was truly sitting here alone, like he was pretty sure he was.

There would be no final kiss and Alec wasn’t even here to want it with him. Alec was gone. Alec was dead. If Magnus had never met him, he knew that he’d still be out there alive somewhere, happy maybe, visiting his siblings and not knowing how colossally someone named Magnus might have messed up his life in some other universe.

“He loved you so much,” Camille murmured. “It’s a pity.”

A bitter laugh made its way out of Magnus’ throat. At least Camille was here. He wasn’t really alone. He’d never been alone. Everything in his life always ended with him sitting with her.

“I loved him too,” Magnus said finally. The words came cracking out of his throat. He could taste blood in his mouth still, so much of it. He didn’t even feel around with his tongue to see how many of his teeth were broken. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t need them soon. There would be no horrified dentist to look at Magnus' mouth and try to put him back together again.

“It’s a shame that never really mattered, isn’t it?”

For a moment, Magnus was going to say nothing and then, he spoke one last time. “It mattered,” he insisted quietly. “It’s the only thing that mattered.”

Behind him, Camille stilled. She’d been enjoying their conversation up until that point, but Magnus was sure that his sudden conviction made the whole thing hit a sour note for her. She’d been entertaining his words for as long as they pleased her but, suddenly, she was not enjoying it anymore.

Magnus heard the gun click behind him. He had just a second to realize that Camille was about to shoot him. He was the only one that Camille had bothered to shoot herself. Everyone else, she’d condemned to die by someone else's hand, but Magnus was going to die the same exact way that Ragnor had, by her hand, by her gun, only gone the moment she decided it.

Magnus looked at Alec. He didn’t look away for a second, even if part of him wanted to and when the gun finally went off, the image of Alec laying dead against the ground was the last thing Magnus ever saw.

He didn’t hear the gunshot. He didn’t even register what had happened before it was over, but he thought of Alec and he held the image of his lover close before his mind lapsed into thinking of nothing at all.

Everything was entirely still. Only the blood streaming out of Magnus’ head to the ground moved along with the rain dripping down the dirty windows.

Camille sighed softly and stepped around Magnus to walk outside.

Last Chapter | Master Post.

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altumvidetur · 4 years

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Kaishin Fic Recs

Previously: Haikyuu!! Fic Recs

So, I was thinking about the coronavirus pandemic and what I could do to help people out. I’m isolated because I’m at higher risk, so I can’t really offer to go out for my elderly neighbors or my family… but I thought I could try to help keep people entertained.

Because I don’t have an AO3 account right now, I’ve been compiling fic recs for my own amusement for a year or so. And I thought – maybe that’s the time to share these with everyone? So everyone will have plenty of things to read while they have to stay at home, or even to escape anxiety a little bit if you’re forced to go out.

Of course, these cater to my own tastes, so you may find stuff you don’t like around here. I never include works in progress. The Mature and Explicit works will be in italic. I ask you to READ THE WORK’S TAGS before continuing, so you won’t find anything that makes you uncomfortable.

I’ve decided to split it in a series of posts, and, well, when it comes to DCMK, I have one major OTP. So here’s enough Kaishin to keep you entertained for a year:

The Dwelling Night, by proser132

Three shot. KaiShin. Brief moments were all they had, but dwelling on dreams is sometimes enough.

In Theory, by orphan_account

Kaito's got a whole list of cheesy and awful pickup lines to use on Shinichi.

(Un)fortunately for him, Shinichi's got just as many to throw back.

As You Wish, by orphan_account

Shinichi hasn't been doing a very good job of pretending he isn't hiding something from Kaito, and Kaito is more than determined to find out what it is -- even if it means asking everyone the detective knows in order to do so.

He just wants to know what all the boxes are for.

you’re the reason i come home, by LunaDarkside

Shinichi comes home after a two-week investigation in New York. Kaito could not be more thrilled.

Lovesick, by DragonSorceress22

"You know what I want? I want a fic where Kaito sends out a heist notice but then he gets sick but he can't NOT go. I guess it could go the other way too, where Conan solves a heist notice but then he gets sick but he can't NOT go. I want to read that fic." "There's tons of fics like that..." And now there's one more.

whispers and nicks and all these tricks, by LunaDarkside

In which there is sex pollen at a heist, and Kaito and Shinichi end up in the same room. Coincidentally enough.

Be Real, by DragonSorceress22

This, KID thought, was what someone reaching their limit looked like.

a study in scarlette, by kittebasu

There are people who want to live forever, and then there is Shinichi, who just wants to live a little longer than this.

wait a minute (so you’re not just losing the dress), by LunaDarkside

Everything is overwhelmingly good. And then Kaito has to go and say it.

“I’ve never done this before,” he mumbles mindlessly against the pliant softness of Shinichi’s lips, and everything immediately stops.

“Wait, what?” Shinichi jerks upwards, eyes wide.

Or, neither Shinichi nor Kaito has any experience, but they make do.

The printer’s a lie, by OrphanText

In which Kuroba has an annoying printer, a very good looking (and mildly terrifying) RA, and general bad ideas up his sleeves (but it works out in the end).

The Alcohol Test, by DragonSorceress22

When your rival-turned-best-friend is a phantom thief who has recently reached legal drinking age, there’s really only one responsible way to approach the matter. Spreadsheets.

Getting Off Track, by solomonara

The easiest way to find out what someone wants is to ask them, so of course neither Shinichi nor Kaito KID is going to do that. (OR: In which Shinichi and Kaito KID take turns falling into each other's arms.)

Wouldn’t Change A Thing, by BlackKatJinx

“Don't you get tired of it?”

“'It'?” He asks.

“Stealing.”

By Any Other Name, by AngelicSentinel

the one where you don’t know your soulmate until you hear them say your name.

Snowed In, by DragonSorceress22

Shinichi and Kaito are exceptionally bad at quiet nights at home.

Go Out With a Bang (Since We’re to Wilt Anyway), by KXL

Love can be cruel, and painful, but Kaito knew that already. Maybe he's just a masochist.

take in another breath (get closer), by Melomaniac

He paused on the threshold of the door between the pseudo-corridor and the seating area, and faintly corrected himself. Not as alone as he thought. Not as alone at all.

Sat by himself, with his chin resting on his hand, an arm loosely propped on the small table, an explosion of paper and assorted important looking documents in front of him, flask of (presumably) coffee held to his lips, was Kudou Shinichi, whose eyes had met Kaito’s when he walked into the carriage, had widened, and hadn’t looked away since.

In which there is a late night (or an early morning), a train, copious amounts of flirting, a phone, a name, and a stolen heart.

Last Day Again, by Phantoms_Echo

(Summary by me: Groundhog Day!AU with Kaito becoming more and more unhinged as he desperately tries to break the time loop he’s stuck in.)

Net Force, by LunaDarkside

Ran decides it's high time for Shinichi and Kaito to get together. Awkward matchmaking ensues.

Of Corset Hurts, by KXL

Shinichi and Kaito are both pretty much done with the situation, though for somewhat different reasons. Both reasons involve overly long dresses to some degree.

Ace up Their Sleeves, by Procrastination_Sensation

Summary by me: Soulmates!AU in which seeing your soulmark in someone else (your soulmate) causes debilitating pain until the two of you kiss.

Murder by Cremation, by KXL

Capturing the lawless monsters who ate people after burning them up was, apparently, the easy part.

Halloween Heist, by Phantoms_Echo

Because Halloween Scavenger Hunt doesn't sound as nice.

Trick or Treat, Tantei-kun! Up for a little Halloween game? I’ve left clues all over town. Find them all, you’ll get a treat. Fail to find them in time, you’ll get a trick. Good luck, Tantei-kun. -Kaitou KID

the suffering of fools, by AngelicSentinel

It's Las Vegas; the lights are bright, the liquor is flowing, and Ran married someone other than Shinichi. He just wants to drown his sorrows, but a half-familiar face steals his drink.

♠ ♦ ♣ ♥ Case Files, by AngelicSentinel

Solving life's little mysteries, one at a time.

one-shots in the suffering of fools universe

A Study in Trust, by Calculatrice

Conan swallows anger and condemnation and, for the very first time, gives Kaitou KID the benefit of the doubt. ________________

In which Conan constantly has to revise what he thinks of a certain thief, and is frankly getting pretty sick of feeling like his subconscious is already ahead of him.

Jacket, by Calculatrice

He turns to look at KID, grimacing as his overlong sleeves swish around him.

“It doesn’t exactly fit me,” he frowns as he points out the obvious. “Does this do anything for you?”

Kiss and tell., by DragonSorceress22

Shinichi might have gotten a little ahead of himself. And KID. Luckily, Hakuba has a level head and a soft spot for lovesick genius-idiots.

the goat one-shot, by helloimtrash

They're family now.

Interrogation, by Calculatrice

Admittedly, there are many things Kaito could probably be blamed for, but pulling Shinichi into the nearest empty hallway to kiss him senseless isn’t one of them.

So It Goes, by Calculatrice

It goes like this.

(In which Murphy’s Law isn’t much of a law - more something to be gleefully stomped on.)

Mii Plaza, by Calculatrice and helloimtrash

“Okay,” Kaito grins as the opening notes of Wii Sports ring out. “Are you ready for defeat?”

“Can’t we just play Mario Kart,” Shinichi frowns, crossing his legs as he watches Kaito push the coffee table out of the way. “It’s like, one in the morning.”

The Forensics of Falling, by LunaDarkside

[FF.Net Link] When fans of world-famous magician and actor Kuroba Kaito begin turning up dead, Inspector Kudou Shinichi is put on the case.

the toxicology of trust, by LunaDarkside

World-famous magician and actor Kuroba Kaito and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force's star inspector Kudou Shinichi finally get some much-needed time off. Or they would, if there wasn't a killer on their cruise.

(sequel to The Forensics of Falling)

On Familiarity, by lastdream

No one had ever known Kaito quite like Shinichi did, and Kaito wasn't sure he could take it.

Lies and the Art of Relaxation, by DragonSorceress22

Shinichi is stressed and Kaito is a liar. Business as usual.

And Again, by Calculatrice

It’s late, late in the night, and while on another night they may have been awake and neck-deep in plans, or perhaps delirious and making silly conversation, tonight he and Kaito are both curled in bed.

the only bed worth sleeping, by LunaDarkside

Kaito's not a detective, but he's pretty sure there's no logical explanation for Shinichi's disappearance from his apartment. Or for the cat that's shown up in his kitchen.

Magic Eight Ball, by Rikkamaru

Shinichi chases Kaitou Kid into the Blue Parrot thinking he's injured.

(For the Kaishin Discord, which made a "challenge" that a few people took up.)

swing for the fences, by LunaDarkside

"How to Fall in Love with Kudou Shinichi (Featuring Pink Panties, Dead Bodies, and Ill-Advised Bets): A Comprehensive and Kind of Embarrassing Guide" by Kuroba Kaito.

In The Soul, by Calculatrice

Shinichi ferries souls from the shores of the living to those of the dead, so they may pass safely on to an eternal afterlife. It’s really not a difficult concept, and definitely not one he thought could be wilfully ignored, but Kuroba Kaito obviously didn’t get the memo.

even miracles, by LunaDarkside

“No, Mother,” Shinichi says pleasantly. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to host a dinner party to find me a wife.”

bros before, by LunaDarkside

Shinichi needs a fake date for his parents' vow renewal ceremony. Naturally, he asks his best friend, Hattori.

maybe I was going too fast, by Ann1215

A year after Kaito faces off Conan, who'd figured out his identity, he comes across Kudou Shinichi during their first year of university.

Trouble is, Kudou has no idea who Kaito is.

swear i’ll never leave again, by Ann1215

When Kaito eventually grows tired of his mother's relentless matchmaking tendencies, he ropes Shinichi into tricking everyone they know and love that they're both engaged. To each other. And it's easy enough, because all they have to do is:

1. Don't lie to each other. 2. Don't tell anyone about their plan. 3. Don't fall in love with each other.

At least, it was supposed to be easy.

(See you) Next Illusion!, by PhantomsEcho

Collections of Oneshots too long to fit in Next Conan Hint.

beneath a waxing moon, by kittebasu

The man stares at him, and then shakes his head, messy hair shaking with it. “Car trouble, Detective?” The way his lips curl around the word ‘detective’ strikes Shinichi as strange, eerily familiar, and Shinichi almost has to physically shake the feeling away before he can reply.

“Engine’s making a weird noise,” Shinichi says, and then his thoughts catch up with alacrity, his muscles tensing all at once. “What makes you think I’m a detective?”

“Police tags on your car,” the man replies, grin growing wider. “Plus this is a Camry from the nineties. No one drives those but police, these days, and regular officers drive patrol cars.” He leans forward a little, gloved hands circling his helmet and lowering it slightly to his handlebars for extra balance. “Far from undercover, if you know what you’re looking for.”

The cloud cover shifts, revealing the gorgeous full moon, and the light catches the man just right, surrounding him in a pearly glow and putting his face in shadow. “And you know what you’re looking for?”

broken glass, by jadedgalaxies

KID presses Shinichi into the wall, covering his mouth with a gloved hand and shushing him quietly. Shinichi’s heart thrums. KID isn’t looking at him but every part of KID that is pressed against Shinichi is electrified. Even amidst the circumstances that led to this moment, KID’s heartbeat is steady under Shinichi’s trembling fingers. His hair tickles Shinichi’s nose, his scent sweet and overpowering. KID is warm, alive, thrilling. Shinichi’s face warms.

In this moment, beneath the pale moonlight, helping KID evade arrest, detective Kudou Shinichi realizes he’s in love with the Phantom Thief, Kaitou KID. And he probably has been for a long time.

Shinichi realizes he's in love with Kaitou KID and that's just the beginning.

Owned and Never More Free, by Curry Jolokia

Kaitou Kid is uncatchable. Except for this.

about a love that glows, by LunaDarkside

The good news is that it’s not an overt time limit on his life, and it’s not anything parasitic. It’s not a life-force drainer, or a bad luck charm, or a magnet for unfortunate circumstances. It’s not going to bother him in day-to-day life.

The bad news is that if Shinichi falls in love with someone, he’ll die. And they’ll die.

(There is no good news, really.)

the empty vault of night, by AngelicSentinel

Shinichi offers Kid a gift. For a price.

Sound of Silence, by Cesela

His return to being Kudou Shinichi was not everything he had hoped for, not with Ran moving on, a limp and a shattered soul as he struggles with the return to normalcy. And then there’s the neighbour with a soft smile slowly battering down his walls. Kaishin / Shinkai

A Case Closed Carol, by solomonara

With apologies to Charles Dickens. Shinichi is working way too hard and has zero time for Christmas or anything else, really. But a rather unlikely source is about to put him back on track...

where villains spend the weekend, by aishiteita

A former teen sleuth enlists a should-be-retired-thief's help to slap ennui in the face.

(Alternatively, a study in motives.)

always ends in a hazy shower scene, by LunaDarkside

Shinichi didn’t mean to shack up with an internationally wanted thief.

#fic recs #detective conan #magic kaito #dcmk #kaishin #kuroba kaito #kudou shinichi #please warn me if any links are broken #and reblog it if you can so more people will see it

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