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mysticfoxdesigns · 5 months

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My drafts were being weird @skatermusic so here we are

Heatwave headcanons

He was lower caste on Cybertron before coming to the Rescue Bots

This mf is shit at reading due to this, but he tries his best to hide it

His formal education is whatever they taught at the academy, and even then due to the age he was when he came in and his graduation year, his education level isn't as high as the others

He is street smart though, and has a basic understanding of things around him. He isn't stupid when you actually look into what he knows

Sometimes doubts his position as leader due to this. Majority of the team leaders have been fire bots, so he sometimes believes that is why he was chosen as Sigma 17's team leader

Doesn't help that their team's graduation was rushed. That part was never really explained to them

Out of all of the Sigma team he is closest to Chase, but isn't Amica level with him (that honor has been given to Blades)

Loves to lie to the humans about basic Cybertronian things. Things from how they sleep, refuel, if they can cry or not, all of that is fair game for him to lie about. Anything that can actually be useful for them to know, such as patching them up, he allows Blades to explain

Speaking of Blades, these two started to rough house more as Blade's confidence grew. The rest of the team likes to watch them wrestle with each other

Literally cannot tell if Quickshadow is either flirting with him or making fun of him. Blades does not make it any easier as well with his input

Blurr gets under his plating but most of that is due to him seeing a younger self in Blurr. He tries his best to guide Blurr away from making the same mistakes as him, but sometimes you just gotta let him learn the hard way

Will never admit it, but loves when Kade insists on them visiting different scenic areas of Griffin Rock. The scenery was one of the small things that made him want to stay

Speaking of these times, he will also never admit that he loves hearing the stories Kade tells him. When he isn't trying to pose up for others, Kade actually makes a good talking partner to the bot.

While he doesn't fully understand the whole Kaiju movie industry, he will admit that watching giant monsters beat the shit out of each other is entertaining. Kade has dragged him off to a Godzilla movie marathon

Cody throws off his guardian coding, especially with all of the danger he gets into

He teaches Cody with his holoform different self defense mechanisms, and sometimes drags Kade in to be the test dummy

Has broken his training dummy so many times that Boulder had refused to fix it for 2 solid months. After that they came to a conclusion to create a metal one

Will allow Chase to infodump about his detective movies and books, but if there were a test at the end, he would fail

Finds metal and punk music to be the most similar human music to his favorite Cybertronian genres of music

Use to follow Megatron's speeches due to his position in the lower caste, but gave up on him after the council meeting and the fall out after that

"Why the frag is half of this island brain dead?"

Has never killed a man or bot, but isn't opposed to it if he weren't a Rescue Bot and was under oath

Is very sassy after the bots are revealed to the community. Has ruined many of Huxley's clips by swearing in English

Swears the most in English, but Blades wins for Cybertronian swearing

Races Hightide in boat mode. Only won once because Hightide took pity

Would gladly fuck up MECH if they met

And those are some Heatwave headcanons! Hope you enjoy

#rescue bots #tf rescue bots #transformers rescue bots #tfrb #tfrb heatwave #tf heatwave #heatwave rescue bots #ask answered #ask response #tf headcanons #headcanons

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hatredmadeofgold · 11 months

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Revenge with a vengeance — The tragedy of Sam and Raiden’s canon relationship dynamic

Alternate title: SamuRaiden is THAT deep, actually.

Although MGR does not have as complex or well researched character lore as the main series, Samuraiden as a relationship is a lot more complex than common fandom tropes and interpretations of their relationship suggest. I don’t mind it when people make funny/meme content about these two, since MGS/R does come with its own flair of humour, it’s very exhausting for me as well as a few others I know who enjoy this ship for it to be reduced to just that — a joke. MGR being perceived as ‘goofy’ is mainly due to how poorly some of the character lines translate from Japanese to English, as well as it being more or less evident that either budget, time or both ran out over the course of development, hence the second half of the game feels rushed and underdeveloped. In fact, the great majority of MGR fans do not understand how serious, dark, hopeless and dystopian its message really is and that is saddening.

The world isn’t black and white, neither is it in MGS/R. Sam isn’t the just the villain (never has been, by the way), Raiden isn’t the just the hero (never has been either, by the way), I’d say it’s rather “depends on who you ask”. They are on opposite sides due to the circumstances of how they meet and not because they wouldn’t get along. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, if they would have met before 2016, they might have become friends based on the fact of how much they can actually relate to each other in many different aspects of their personalities, interests and experiences.

Before we get to fight Armstrong as well as during the Sam DLC (also through very subtle hints during their first fight on the train) we learn that Sam is just like Raiden and that Desperado forced him to become a shadow of who he once was, going against his own morals and values and only Raiden reminding him of who he truly was before Armstrong defeated him 2 years prior, ultimately crushing his spirit — he had no other choice, either die there as a failure or continue to live and become Desperado’s/Armstrong’s puppet [until someone would eventually defeat Armstrong and free Sam from his never ending nightmare — Did I already mention that Sam is a really fucking tragic character?]. Sam joining Armstrong’s laughter at the end of DLC is a reaction of fear, not agreement with him or enjoyment. And if there’s one thing that both MGS and MGR are really good at, it’s the accurate and very realistic portrayal of the human psyche under stressful and traumatic situations.

On the other side we can tell from Raiden’s reaction when holding Murasama after killing Sam that he, for once in the entire damn series, questions if that was the right choice he made. We know that Raiden enjoys inflicting pain and suffering onto others, he enjoys murder — but he did not feel that way when he killed Sam. It’s quite the opposite. It’s very subtle and if you’re not very observant like me, easy to miss. But the way his voice turns a bit softer, how his eyes look listless, almost sad; he regrets it. When Blade Wolf asks Raiden if that outcome was really necessary, he does not answer him, because he knows that Wolf is right, it wasn’t. And Raiden pretty much hates himself for it. To his team he confidently says that Sam isn’t a problem anymore since he killed him, but that’s not the same Raiden that he’s that moment in the badlands (which is another implication to me that Raiden doesn’t fully trust his teammates, although they are friends; he has major trust issues and the only emotions he shares with them is either anger or amusement but nothing outside of that). The way he sheathes Murasama is a way to honour him, and as far as I remember this is a ritual to honour a samurai’s defeat or death.

I believe that there has been a silent understanding between the two swordsmen that they respect each other from the very beginning, but they do not say it out loud. This is a case of “show, don’t tell” but also something I suspect has something to do with the game being written by Japanese authors, and Japanese is a high context language, meaning, very little words are needed to get the meaning across, and I think this may also translate into the words these two exchange with each other compared to how they truly feel about the other. Besides, they probably couldn’t truly speak honestly with each other in the first place because of the unfortunate conditions of how they met and were (more or less) forced to fight each other until one of them would eventually succumb to the other’s blade. Codecs and conversations were most likely recorded by their respective employers, and I highly suspect that in Sam’s case, he was even monitored 24/7 by Desperado since he never was an official member of the Winds of Destruction in the first place, and they didn’t fully trust him either.

At the very end of the game during the fight with Armstrong, Sam’s message plays, and we can hear how Sam also speaks with a different voice to Blade Wolf compared to everyone else (and technically, indirectly to Raiden but I cannot confirm or deny that Sam was aware that Raiden would ever hear this playback), it’s a note softer; Raiden learns the truth, which confirms to him that he was right about Sam after all, that they are alike, that they respect each other, and that there was more to Sam’s story than him being a part of Desperado, he doesn’t know what exactly, but he knows now for sure that Sam was not the person he originally believed he was (and lets his team still believe he thinks that way).

Would Raiden truly say Sam’s catchphrase “Let’s dance” before fighting and ultimately killing Armstrong, if he wouldn’t have been going through a gradual process between originally hating Sam to respecting and liking him but unable to ever express that to him or anyone else?

Would he ever admit to anyone what kind of emotional impact Sam had on him, besides the anger and hatred he openly expressed towards him?

Doubt so. Highly fucking doubt so.

Because sharing his true feelings is a liability to him, and Raiden learnt as a very young child that vulnerable feelings such as sadness or guilt would be used against him, so his psyche is conditioned to discard them immediately. But Sam made him feel those things in their full extent and Raiden is fully aware of that, but he would never share with anybody that he ever felt that way about Sam.

He may or may not take those feelings to his grave.

From Sam’s side, we can only guess how he truly felt about Raiden, but we can only guess by the way he hesitated to finish him off on the train during the prologue, the way he smiled at Blade Wolf before his death (which might be likely another case of a silent understanding between Sam and Wolf that the latter would share with Raiden what he knows about Sam or the playback of their conversation itself, if not both) as well as everything he says with giving Murasama to Raiden. Of course, Sam couldn’t even say out loud to Blade Wolf or Raiden that he planned to give Raiden his sword to take down Armstrong, and he had to be as vague as possible with the information that he shared with the robot dog. Not by choice, no. Most likely because he was being watched 24/7, he knew that Desperado nor Armstrong didn’t fully trust him and if they knew about his plans, they’d make sure to finish him off before Raiden had the chance to do so. Sam knew he would die, and that it would be the only way he would ever be free from Armstrong’s grasp. So he chose suicide through Raiden’s blade, and gave him his sword to finish what he could not back then.

The game’s title is REVENGEANCE — Revenge with a vengeance.

They both translate to the same thing in my native language German, but there’s a subtle yet important difference between these two nouns.

“Revenge means when you get back at your enemy who is responsible for hurting you and vengeance is the punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.”

But it was never Armstrong who hurt or wronged Raiden in the first place, and we know he’s an essentially selfish person who does not really care all that much about politics, religion or anything like that and he only fights for himself (I wrote in my essay about Raiden’s ASPD that his motivation to save these children from becoming cyborg child soldiers is a trauma response first and his rather lose and grey morality second) and the few people he cares about, so Armstrong being the one one who ordered to get N’mani killed is not the reason Raiden went after him or was that passionate about getting revenge or retribution on him either.

It was Sam who hurt him — wounded both his body and soul during the prologue — but when Raiden got his revenge, he realised that revenge is empty, that he didn’t feel better, and that he regrets killing him, then we get to the vengeance part. From the moment Raiden held Sam’s Murasama in the badlands, he felt no more hatred towards him and the emotional impact his death had on him made Sam transition from a person he hated to one of the few people Raiden truly cares about.

Armstrong may be the villain of the story, but the person who wanted revenge on him never had been Raiden. It was Sam. Always had been Sam, because it was Sam who got hurt by Armstrong, it was Sam who wanted to get revenge on Armstrong for defeating him and crushing his spirit, it was Sam who wanted to punish Armstrong for making him into a shadow of who he once was, making Sam speak about ideals he didn’t truly believe in (like, who the FUCK even thinks that Sam truly believed a single fucking word of that, because I for sure as hell can tell he never did, he either gaslit himself into believing that for 2 years until he met Raiden or only parroted whatever the fuck Armstrong wanted him to say so he would not get killed on the spot).

Revenge and vengeance are very deep feelings and actions of hatred, feelings that are too deep and complex to be associated with morality, hence why I highly doubt that the title of the game is directed at Armstrong from Raiden’s side at all. That between Raiden and Armstrong is not nearly as personal as it has been between Sam and Armstrong. Raiden eradicating Desperado and Armstrong had been about justice [for the kids being killed and their organs sold], not revenge.

"I said my sword was a tool of justice. Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now… Now I'm not so sure. And besides, this isn't my sword."

But when he says this, followed by “Let’s dance”, it became deeply personal for Raiden as well. Because he could confirm that his feelings about Sam had been right, and that Sam wanted to get revenge on Armstrong.

Raiden decides to avenge him, because Sam couldn’t get revenge himself.

Although Sam never told him directly, Raiden understood him from his actions alone, those subtle hints, reading between the lines what the other truly felt and wanted the whole time, eventually passing the “torch” — his sword — to Raiden, to finish what he could not. So while Raiden’s own reasons to finish off Armstrong were (mostly) justice for the innocent lives he destroyed and planned to continue to destroy, they also became feelings of hatred and anger — Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong.

In the end — revenge with a vengeance — is what Sam could get on Armstrong only through Raiden, after Raiden enacted his onto Sam.

Now the question is — if Raiden would’ve never killed Sam, by the chance of him recognising earlier than in canon that revenge is empty and that he won’t feel better after killing him, would Sam go by his example and abandon his revenge plans on Armstrong as well? Or would they fight Armstrong together and get justice?

We unfortunately can only speculate (or write stories about it).

What we can tell from canon though, is that Raiden’s (= Sam’s) passionate feelings of hatred towards Armstrong quickly vanish the moment he finished him off, and he looks into the camera with an empty expression, covered in blood and a crushed cybernetic heart in his hand.

And I think that is exactly what he feels — empty.

Because again, he got revenge and avenged Sam, led by what Sam felt, Sam’s feelings became Raiden’s feelings during that fight with Armstrong. But once that was gone, there’s nothing left. In the case of killing Armstrong, he doesn’t feel remorse or guilt. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Because revenge is empty.

Raiden defeated his enemies — but at what cost?

By killing Sam, he realised what he had actually lost — a potential friend (or more), someone who understood him in a way that no one else did. Perhaps he thought or felt that, if he avenges Sam, making Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong into his own, he might be able to deal with that loss better, but to no avail.

Because, and I can speak from experience as a person with the same mental health issues as Raiden, that emptiness is worse than regret.

MGR’s ending also implies that Raiden abandons his family and friends to fight his own war; essentially taking the same path that Sam once took in his past, ending up in a personal war and revenge act that knows no end, making one bad choice after the next. If Raiden hasn’t already become the villain of his own story by the end of MGR, then it’s just a matter of time until he becomes that.

And the cycle of violence continues, until the story repeats itself, over and over and over and over and over.

Did I mention already that there is a myth around Murasama being a cursed sword, that will drive its user either slowly insane or make them commit suicide if it doesn’t get a regular ‘blood sacrifice’?

—

“I really enjoy murder, but that one, that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

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tf-cyberaligned · 4 months

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will the cybertron the kids come to be Like in rid2015 or diffrent ? Also will they be able to breath there?

This became a loaded lore post. Enjoy the read!

What is Post War Cybertron like?

This Cybertron is completely different to RID2015 Cybertron. Bumblebee is in a place of commanding power, but it is actually Ultra Magnus who has been doing majority of the rebuilding commanding. His position as the SIC to Autobots is what left him in this position after he recovered from his injuries in Predacons Rising. Bumblebee is there to be a younger voice of reason, but he only ever knew war Cybertron, which is why he isn't leading the rebuilding.

As more Cybertronians return, there are small conflicts between ex-Autobots and ex-Decepticons. Quickly to maintain peace, laws are unanimously passed to make sure any kind of discrimination is not present. Now that rebuilding is happening, any kind of set backs are avoided to make sure that the now delicate population of Cybertron has a chance to regrow.

Multiple bots are needed in order to

Reconstruct buildings

Take care of the newly emerging Newsparks

Welcome back returning Cybertronian ships

Document the war for historical records

With all of these factors, I wanted to create a realistic peace time. This war had been going on for over 20 million years in Cyberaligned, bots are TIRED of the fighting.

Peace, while it may be difficult especially with personal grievances, is the number 1 priority of the remaining Cybertronians. After awhile, even Starscream comes around to the idea of peace, as he takes his throne in Vos. After Megatron's self exile, he even returns to Cybertron. He works side by side with Ultra Magnus to ensure that both side's of the war are equally heard.

With all of these policies in place, and the mutual want for peace, Cybertron is able to rebuild relatively quickly, especially when bots start reemerging from the Well. Bots who had a spark bond with another living bot were given a second chance by Primus. These returning bots had all of their memories intact, allowing them to easily adapt to being around their fellow Cybertronians again.

Even with Optimus Prime's return from the well, which marked the end of the reemerging bots, peace was able to be maintained. His position in this peace time Cybertron is not one of leadership, but a chance for him to relax. He works in the historical data base, documenting the war and organizing the constant stream of data coming from Cybertronians around Cybertron. His work is tied between Iacon and Kaon, with Kaon being reestablished as the capital of Cybertron once more.

A war monument is established near the Well of All Sparks, containing the names of every Cybertronian that had died in the war. There are segments for each fraction, Autobots and Decepticons, a segment for the civilian causalities, and a segment dedicated to the victims of the Rescue Bot Massacre. A museum is also near the memorial, containing the data that Optimus had gathered and organized, allowing any Cybertronian access to the personal accounts of the war.

When the humans and Sigma 17 finally reestablish contact with Cybertron, the Cybertron they visit has been mostly rebuilt. Peace is maintained, and the population is on it's way to returning to a fully functioning society.

Now, how do the humans breathe on Cybertron?

There are two options I have created for this.

The humans can stay in their bot's dens, where there is oxygen. The bot's cabins have filters that filter in the atmosphere's oxygen while expelling the CO2. All Rescue Bots and Wreckers contain these "dens," so Heatwave, Chase, Blades, Boulder, Hound, and Hightide have these dens installed. Quickshadow, Blurr, and Salvage do not have these upgrades due to the limited resources they have on Earth.

The next option, is the humans being outside of the bots. Team Prime is mainly the ones who are going to be on their bot's shoulders, as Bumblebee and Arcee do not have dens, and Bulkhead's doesn't have windows. So how are they able to survive outside of spacesuits and their bots?

Artificial Cybernetic lungs

Why did I choose this route? Due to Earth's declining air quality, and Team Prime's many visits to the mainland, their lungs were on a decline. The had to be replaced as the artifact that put their body into stasis didn't know what to do with lungs, so they remained normal. This allowed the air pollution to effect Team Prime, leading to the development of these cybernetic lungs. These lungs function with filters similar to the ones in the Rescue Bot's dens, allowing them to only take in the oxygen of the surrounding atmosphere.

However, would there logically be oxygen on Cybertron? I say yes. and this is why.

Oxygen on Cybertron

Cybertron's atmosphere appears to be relatively close to Earth's atmosphere. How I came to the conclusion was through the presence of fire on Cybertron.

Photo taken from the FOC trailer

Now fire doesn't need oxygen to begin. An explosion of fire can happen without it being present. However, as seen in the next photos, these are continuously burning fires. Oxygen is needed for that.

Photo taken from The FOC trailer

Nitrogen and Oxygen are the two most commonly found elements in fire. Due to the fire seen in the photos, they appear to be these common fires we see on Earth. Earth's atmosphere is made up of 78.08% Nitrogen and 20.95% Oxygen, as well as <1% Argon. By the logic of this fire continuously burning, Cybertron's atmosphere has to be similar to this.Due to this, I am allowing the cybernetic lungs to function, as well as the fact that they do not need the spacesuits for pressure regulation.

However, the reason the Burn's do not leave the dens of the Rescue Bots is due to the fact that Cybertron's atmosphere isn't a perfect replica of Earth's. There are unknown elements making up the rest of Cybertron's atmosphere. Their effects on the human lungs are unknown, so precautions are taken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopefully this answers both of your questions! I did not realize how long this actually became until I got to the breathing section, but hopefully you enjoy!

#cyberaligned continuity #cyberaligned lore #rescue bots #tf rescue bots #transformers rescue bots #tfrb #tfp #transformers prime #cyberpunk #cyberpunk designs #cybernetics #world building #anon ask #ask answered #tf continuity #transformers aligned

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athenaholmesartistsguild · 5 months

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All my Tarot Card designs

Pulled the 9 of Swords in a tarot reading recently and it inspired me to make my own card!

Check out the High-res version on my Patreon (for free!!!) Also it was available 2 days earlier than on Tumblr just letting you know kthxbyeeeeee

BTW. Hand lettering is harddddd. Just writing 'Blades' took for freaking ever! But I really like how it came out so worth in my opinion.

I tried something a little different with the shading, too! I incorporated some sharper, pen-and-ink type strokes because I like drawing squiggles to indicate tension. This wasn't initially intentional, but I think it also fits with the 'sharper' themes of the swords suit.

I did intentionally try to use cooler grays and whites for the shading. I wanted each suit to be distinct from the other visually so you could differentiate between them at a glance. The swords to me feel very cold and impersonal so I tried to make that come across in the actual art. I think I did a good job but lemme know lol.

Interpretations and my reasoning for choosing Kiryu for this card are below the cut so check those out if you're interested (I'd really appreciate it!!!)

The suffering depicted in the 9 of swords is rivaled only by that of the 3 of swords. The figure in this card is so consumed by their trauma, anxiety, fears, or worries (or even all 4) that it's nearly impossible to perceive the world outside of themselves; not in a selfish way, but rather due to the intensity of their pain.

The 9 of Swords is haunted by nightmares-- frequent reminders of their past: their mistakes, the ways they've been hurt, and the actions they could've taken to prevent all of this from happening in the first place. They've been so plagued by their thoughts that considering a future without this pain feels almost impossible.

With this card, we see the sheer power of the human mind at its most destructive. If this cycle is not broken, the 9 of Swords' pain will escalate to the 10 of Swords. This is not a sustainable cycle for anyone involved; changes must be made.

Reversed, we still see the pain depicted in the upright position, but there's a glimpse of a way out. While it's not easy to overcome your trauma or pain, the 9 of Swords at least has a desire to get out of this cycle-- to begin to heal. They've descended into their mind as far as they'd like and now they wish to venture outside themselves, back into the wider world.

Maybe they haven't healed yet, but they can at least hope that they can begin the process.

The design of this card was inspired mostly by the opening of Yakuza 2. Kiryu's plagued by the deaths of his family and is borderline suicidal because of this pain. He's having nightmares of their final moments and isn't able to be fully present in his daughter's life (Haruka's the one getting ready and cooking breakfast for the two of them).

When deciding on the background of this card, I wanted to try and depict the feeling of complete hopelessness that exists within this card. Normally, the Rider-Waite-Smith cards have backgrounds of varying complexity. I'd venture to say that the 9 of Swords is the only card where there isn't a background at all. Just the figure, their bed, and the swords, the constant reminder of their past. This person is literally incapable of seeing past their regrets and anxiety and fear because these emotions are so intense. It's haunting, in a way.

I chose to have the swords in this card pointed at Kiryu because a common theme in his grief, I feel, is that he feels that he's the one at fault. He believes that had he not gotten involved, his loved ones wouldn't be suffering right now. So the swords, rather than being passive elements lingering above, are sharpened, dangerous. They're ready to get retribution for the people that have been hurt. Unlike Kiryu, they'll inflict pain and feel no remorse.

On a lighter note, we see periods in Kiryu's life where he's able to somewhat escape his thoughts and attempt to make a happier life for himself, namely when he's running Morning Glory. This is the one time in Kiryu's life where we see him happy and fulfilled. He's still experiencing the effects of his past. He still has the habits he developed in response to this past, but he's trying to create a better life. One that he can share with his family.

What's important to remember about the 9 of Swords is that your thoughts don't have to be real. They don't have to dictate the course of your life. While it can feel like there's no escaping your pain, know that help is out there and there are others that are willing to help you.

#When I was rewatching the Kiwami 2 opening to see what Kiryu's room looked like #I realized he sleeps with the foot of his bed against the wall and his head facing the doorway.#At first I was like 'dude! That's bad feng shui! Your head is so exposed! You're not gonna be able to sleep well!'#But I think that's kinda the point...#I think I want to move onto the Page of Cups next? It's my favorite card in the deck I'm using atm. Haruka's gonna be the subject #yakuza #my art #yakuza fanart #kiryu kazuma #tarot card design

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goro-pancake-akechi · 2 years

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Let's analyze this image here.

As expected, Noah got the Shulk treatment and Eunie got the Sharla treatment. Everyone else isn't all too revealing, and honestly th-

WAIT

WHAT THE SCALLOP?! IS THAT A CORE CRYSTAL?!

I thought he was just a human using some weird technology!

Well, there's a few explanations. As I get further into them, I will delve deeper and deeper into late-game and end-game spoilers. Heed my warning.

The most obvious explanation is that he's a Blade. The weapon makes enough sense for a rare blade, and I see no real evidence otherwise.

We can rule out Flesh Eater. Flesh Eater Core Crystals are always a weird mix of the original color and a red/pink, except for Jin, whose Core Crystal is fully red due to being a complete Flesh Eater or something. Taion's seems to be a pure blue-green.

Perhaps a Blade Eater? That would also make some sense. We can't see any of the weird lines or anywhere that the Core Crystal was cut though, so unless Blade Eater technology significantly improved since Xenoblade 2, it wouldn't really work.

There is another very important detail though:

It's made clear that Agnians are naturally stronger than Kevesi. This is why all Kevesi soldiers use one or more Power Frames, to increase their strength to a point equivalent to that of your average Blade.

But does that really make sense?

I say no, for the following reason:

The average Xenoblade 2 human is no stronger than the average Homs.

For a few examples, take Teach, Miyabi, and Juniper, none of whom exactly seem to be Blades. Now, Teach is Indoline, so we can rule him out as being a Blade Eater, since that's their whole thing. Miyabi looks like a human, and her Core Crystal is weirdly shaped and a bit high on her chest, but that isn't enough evidence to say that she isn't a Blade.

But there is NO defense here for Juniper. Her Core Crystal is on her SHOULDER. And not only that, but she's GORMOTTI. There is no explanation here other than her being a Blade Eater, but that still doesn't make sense because she doesn't have any of the Blade Eater technology around the Core Crystal, and there isn't a cut!

But that's not all. Think about this:

If the average Human, Gormotti, and Indoline is around as strong as a Homs - way weaker than a Blade or anything associated with Blades - then how is the average Agnian soldier more powerful than any Kevesi soldier who doesn't have a Power Frame?

For the entire Agnian army to be made up exclusively of Blades and Flesh Eaters is as impossible as reaching the Military District in under 40 seconds.

Consider this:

Everyone in the Xenoblade 1 and 2 worlds - whether they're Homs, Machina, Human, Blade, Nopon, anything - seems to have their mind, soul, and genetic information stored within a Core Crystal inside of Origin. This could well enough explain how everyone in Keves and Agnus can use a Blade.

But it also leads into another, morebdefinitive explanation:

Every Human, Indoline, and Gormotti in Agnus has their Core Crystal awakened in some specific way within the Growth Modules in a process similar to becoming a Blade Eater. They do not become a Blade, but they are able to awaken a unique Blade weapon or Blade-like weapon, which is why Agnian classes have much more unique weapons than Kevesi ones.

Why is this done? One reason is probably to equalize power across Agnian soldiers. It just makes sense for every random soldier to be of around the same strength. The other reason is to make it more fun for Moebius. Agnus now has a unique power that only they can use, but they all have a Core Crystal, which can be a weak point. Kevesi soldiers have Power Frames which only they can use, which have their own various weaknesses. Basically, it makes it more fun for Moebius to hunt them down OR watch them fight each other if killing soldiers of different nations works in different ways.

So yeah. That's my explanation for swimsuit Taion.

Oh, and also Lanz has a funny outfit from what we can see of it.

#xenoblade #xenoblade 3 #xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade chronicles 3 #xbc3 #xeno series #xenoblade 3 spoilers #xenoblade chronicles 3 spoilers #xenoblade 3 dlc #xenoblade chronicles 3 dlc #nintendo direct

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bbsundae · 11 months

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Fallen Among Us pt. 1: Ma’am, This is a Flea Market

"Don't fucking say it." Tegan squinted, as she stepped out of the portal, looking around to see if they had made it to the right place before M pulled her away from it as it closed.

"Relaaax, T." They snickered, Tegan receiving that shit-eating grin from them, like always. "...but no promises!"

"Angel, if I hear "are ya sellin' fleas" to anyone at the flea market, I'm eating your goddamn shower curtains." The demon laughed at that as an opaque aura surrounded them, fading to reveal their human disguise. “Ya have yet to do so! Ya keep sayin’ it, do it!”

Tegan leaned way back, being as dramatic as possible before pushing M down in the dirt. “Mmmmmmm….fuck you.”

“Piss off!” They hissed as they crawled back up to their feet with a smirk and quickly ran back up next to her, both waltzing right into one of the tents. It wasn’t really hard to find interesting things.

“What kinda tools ya thinkin’ ’bout gettin’?” M asked as they picked up a dusty music box, seeing if it even worked. Unfortunately, it didn't.

“You know, might try and find something else…where are the knives at?”

“Now ya fuckin’ talkin’!”

Being a flea market, there weren’t too many “amazing” choices in terms of designs or even knife variety, but hey, they were still knives!

“These fuckin’ suck.”

“Now hey, c’mon, let’s give them a chance.” The brunette said as she took a machete in her hands, swinging it around before grabbing a switchblade, which of course got some weird looks from a couple random strangers. M noticed, screwing around with a butterfly knife in each hand before pointing each knife at both of them.

“You fucks lookin’ at somethin’?” They grinned, “Have somethin’ ta say-“

Before they could finish, there was a bright light, only seeming like a flash before they realize it had hit them, knocking them back outside and had torn through the side of the tent.

The couple had run off after witnessing whatever the hell that was, and Tegan already had her sword out. "M! M, you alive out there??" She called as she ran out towards them. M hadn't even fully processed what happened, but instinct helped get them up in a more prepared position for another hit.

"Why wouldn't I be?" They called back as they looked around, their eyes landing on a cloaked figure facing them through the hole of the tent.

"Ah shit…" They groaned, not wasting any time glitching in different spots as the figure shot beams at them, just missing each time after they moved, allowing M to run right into them, knocking them down.

"Fuck fuck fuck.." Tegan clenched the sword in her hand before dashing over, blocking a beam that the stranger tried to shoot at her which ended up pushing them further away due to the force of it.

"Identity yourself!" Tegan said, pointing the end of the blade their way, though all the answer that she received was a hand in the air, and the figure disappearing from their position, only to appear behind Tegan and knock her down to the ground before disappearing again.

"Tegan??" M yelled before they suddenly found themselves being yanked away and thrown down to the ground, causing the human disguise illusion to fall, and they suddenly found themselves being wrapped up by ropes. "The fuck is this??"

The figure then stood above them, taking their hood down to reveal a girl, her face twisted in anger and disdain, which only earned a look of frustration and confusion from M.

"Filthy demon…"

She didn't appear far off from either of them in terms of age, perhaps a few years older at least. She had shorter brown hair that looked like it hadn't really been cut properly, along with different colored pupils: one lime green, the other a light greenish-blue. She wore a short blue blouse-like dress, and the cloak she had on had a symbol of a fish…with a cross on it, which made M squint. Not only that, but she was holding a spear as well. One meant for erasing demons.

"Oh fuck right off…" They said to themselves as the girl held up the spear right to them.

"You shall be punished for the sin you have reaped on this town in the name of-"

Though it seemed to be short-lived as Tegan sent a volleyball-sized ball of fire smacking right into her side mid-sentence, knocking her back a fair distance away as M glitched to get themselves out of the restraints.

"You okay?" The human asked as they wiped a small trickle of ink from their lip. As the girl pushed herself back up from the ground, all that she gave the two was a glare, and suddenly, she lifted a hand, making smoke and ash surround her, and she was gone, not appearing back anywhere after the next couple minutes.

"That's right, ya better run." M squinted as Tegan helped them up to their feet.

"Angel, that spear…do you recognize it?" She asked, dusting herself off.

"Yea, she held it to my face." They said as they dusted themselves as well, both of them exchanging the same confused expression.

"What the fuck was that all about?"

#ocs #gangvibes #writing #mywriting

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your-unholy-loves · 2 years

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❤️‍🔥I still remember so many intrinsic details from time around him. When I first met him, and his blind eyes passed over me, and his mouth didn't form into the shape of shock, cruel amusement, or disgust. When he learned who I was, and he calmly admitted that it would be difficult for him to not associate me with someone else. How he apologized, awkwardly but sincerely, in a voice low and slow, and promised me he would try to get along. The first time he ever intentionally touched me, exhibiting genuine compassion despite knowing fully the mistakes I've made and pain I've caused, and how gingerly he ran his fingers over my scars. I could barely feel it, but I could tell how gentle he was being. The first time he saw me, and how his expression shifted into a curious, sympathetic one. No disgust or revulsion. No fear. The first time he heard my voice, and how his eyes lit up in surprise and excitement, not even commenting on how my scars affected my speech, making it harder to discern because of the stiffness and lack of mobility.

The first time I ever kissed him, and how soft his lips felt, how moist his mouth was, the way I felt his eyelashes brushing against my cheeks like they were kissing me as well.

The first time I was ever inside him, how his body struggled to take it all in. How tight and warm, how soft he felt. How he looked up at me, and asked me if I was okay despite the katana from my wall nicking his throat, making a trickle of blood form, despite how stretched out I was making him. Despite the fact he was the one who had recklessly told me I could do whatever I wanted so long as I killed him. He wanted to make sure I was okay.

He was different from any client or boss or friends with benefits I'd experienced. Being near my age, being mentally and emotionally present, being kind yet disinterested, being in control despite being the one below me and craving death, and being completely vulnerable but unafraid. Not wanting me to control him despite how his life was placed in my hands. Not using me just to get off and nothing more, not viewing me with pity or assuming I'd be grateful for the opportunity due to my appearance, not looking for a quick or easy fuck for his own benefit or to alleviate temporary boredom. Not using my own lack of disregard for myself or my dulled pain senses to try out shit he'd be too afraid or prideful to try with anyone else. It was like mutually assured destruction blended with smatterings of an understanding and deep care only established between two people who truly see each other's brokenness, and the love of their fragmented but very real humanity.

When I disconnected his head from his neck, one of my own cold knives buried in my shoulder from his body impulsively choosing self-preservation in a final moment, and held his head in my hands, face quickly paling, body slowly falling limp while blood poured everywhere like an erupting geyser, painting my white tile floor a ruddy color. How pretty his face was, how his bloody lips tasted sweet despite the metallic flavor, and it felt like such a personal moment, made for my eyes only. How that moment made me realize I truly did like him, because I immediately began to miss him, wishing his face would curve into a smile, and he'd pull me down for another kiss, but I was left with a body rapidly growing colder in my arms, and blank eyes staring up at me, skin paler than a starving vampire.

How relieved I was when he was healed, how there wasn't a hint of resentment or anger when he learned of what happened because he trusted that he had asked that of me even though he didn't remember. How my heart began to race when he touched the new scar, one from a blade and not a burn, one he had given me, and he apologized for hurting me, lightly kissing it as a signal of good intent and well wishes.

When I was burned beyond recognition, and he spent hours carefully sloughing off charred skin and replacing it with skin grafts, a tenderness in his touch, a concentration in his tired, unflinching gaze. The way his bare hands felt once the anesthesia wore off later and my nerves began to reconnect and heal, and it was a sensation I realized I needed more of, and all the time.

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thefirstknife · 3 years

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Iron Lord Saladin Forge

Season of the Lost dropped some major lore about Saladin and I love every piece of it so I will make a huge post detailing stuff about and what's important.

The lore is on Iron Banner armour which you can see in-game when you go to the armour section. The lore is the same on each class so it doesn't matter which one you read. It's in the order of how armour is set, so helmet -> arm piece -> chest piece -> leg piece -> class item. There's some extras on Iron banner weapons that I'll add as well.

The rest under the cut due to length and also spoilers!

I'll link to the Hunter gear because I'm a dirty Hunter main and I read it from there and that's what I have open because I couldn't remember the names for other two classes, but the lore is the same on all of them. The set is called Iron Forerunner.

We haven't really had any substantial Saladin lore in D2 besides few lore pieces from Chosen and Splicer. Not nearly enough I think, especially since he wasn't properly introduced in D2 at all and it was kinda assumed that everyone would know about him from the Rise of Iron expansion in D1. He had plenty of voice lines, but with no real context. His voice lines in Season of the Chosen were interesting, but also made a lot of people think he's a bad person and a warmongering coward who sat on his butt during the Red War and was then preaching action for action's sake.

The situation is obviously more complex, but I've always said that it's Bungie fault for not explaining more about him prior to his involvement in the Season of the Chosen. Well, now we got some really interesting information at last!

Anyway, helmet first!

Flavour text:

"Some know the legend. We threw ourselves on the blades of tyranny so others may live free." —Lord Saladin

This is referencing the Iron Lords' fight against the Warlords in the Dark Age. Saladin is heavily influenced by his time in the Dark Age. It seems like some really old Guardians never get over the trauma of living through that (Drifter is another example). Side note: this could also be referencing the battle against SIVA since Rasputin is also known as "The Tyrant." It's not fully relevant tho, as Saladin was equally affected by both periods in his life.

This first entry details something we don't really think about when it comes to Guardians: death. It's a temporary thing with them so it doesn't really matter. But Saladin recounts how he remembers his deaths and how each one felt. Despite the fact that he will be brought back, the pain and struggle of dying are very real. There is also the associated trauma of the realisation that you will go through this over and over and over:

He laughed when his Ghost reassembled him. Then, he cried.

It's not something mentioned often, and definitely wasn't a point raised with Saladin. It gives some context to how seriously he takes combat, training and the lives of his fellow Guardians.

Saladin remembers the day he stopped counting deaths. "Something about you is different," Jolder had said, and put her hand on his.

This explains that his worldview of the role of Lightbearers changed the moment he was invited to become an Iron Lord. It's also important to remember that he loved Lady Jolder very much (in whichever way you want to interpret it) and that watching her make the choice to die a final death has had a heavy impact on him.

Saladin remembers all this and more when he looks at the Crow. He feels rage form a hot pit in his belly when Osiris tells him about the young Lightbearer's suffering at the hands of his fellow Guardians. Osiris asks him if he can keep a secret.

"I don't like secrets," Saladin says, and that's the end of it.

Saladin doesn't really say this during Chosen and his interactions with Crow, but it's evident from this that he cares deeply about the young Light who suffered in ways Saladin only remembers people suffering during the Dark Age. It's also important to note that the Osiris he speaks to here is Savathun. Saladin seems to be uniquely unaffected by Savathun's schemes. This will repeat itself again later.

Second, arms piece.

Flavour text:

"Some know the legend. We were forged in the fires of a burning world." —Lord Saladin

Same thing as before. Referencing the post-Collapse Dark Age. The lore tab details a really tragic story of the Iron Lords burying bodies, including the implication of Saladin burying the body of a child. He recalls that these people were victims of Fallen Raiders.

"It's a vicious circle," Efrideet had said as she tied off a funeral shroud with great care. Saladin remembers the bundle being very small. "One day, I'm going to break it."

Saladin remembers how easily the body fit in his arms, how light it felt as he laid it in the grave. He remembers, with shame, pretending not to hear Efrideet's words so he wouldn't need to respond to them.

He remembers not having anything kind to say.

He obviously regrets not having a stronger stance on this in the past. Where Efrideet seems to have always been keen on ending the cycle of violence, he clearly thought differently and is now ashamed of it. This transitions into more about his relation to Crow:

Saladin remembers all this and more whenever the Crow talks back to him. Sometimes, he bites down on the inside of his cheek. Sometimes, he looks up to find his Ghost focused on him with a knowing look.

He doesn't say anything to his Ghost either.

Because Crow was saying things that reminded him of Efrideet. Breaking the cycles of violence, extending a friendly hand, not treating everyone like an enemy. It's evident that this turmoil is still inside of him as someone who spent most of his time fighting for survival, only to be told by those younger than him that there's a way out of that war. It's a very common struggle of people dealing with trauma and specifically PTSD to not be able to imagine and/or live in a world of peace and to outright reject the possibility of peace ever existing. Saladin is very clearly dealing with that and here, we see it from his own POV: despite sometimes being harsh to Crow, there were times when he chose to say nothing because deep down he knows that Crow is right. Accepting that is a long process though.

Third, chest piece.

Flavour text:

"Some know the legend. We rose from the ashes of a dying world to save humanity from itself." —Lord Saladin

Same again, but this is an interesting way to phrase it. He's talking about humanity being a danger to itself, not about any external threat. Ultimately, the Traveler's gift was the first thing that harmed humanity post-Collapse, despite later being the thing that saved it.

This leads into Saladin's thoughts on the Red War, something we've been sorely missing for a very long time.

Saladin remembers losing his connection to the Light. He remembers thinking that the Traveler must have discovered his most secret doubts; the darkest thoughts he shared with no one—not even his Ghost. He remembers the strange sense of relief that had washed over him until his radio crackled to life just moments later.

His deepest secret? Probably that Light is a burden. When he lost the connection to the Light, he specifically thought it had only happened to him and then felt relief. Freedom from the eternal war he has to keep waging. I'm sure he feels incredible shame for thinking it would be better to just lose the Light and die a final death, but alas, he is bound by duty. Especially a Titan's duty.

He stands there thinking about it for a while before finally deciding to embrace that duty. And now we know what he was doing during the Red War:

"Saladin," his Ghost said again, and Saladin remembers moving. He remembers clutching his radio and rallying survivors—those strong enough to make the journey—to the Iron Temple.

It's been abbreviated as him "sitting out" the Red War because he didn't fight. Of course it was strange that the last remaining active Iron Lord did not show up to the City to fight alongside all the others, both Guardians and ordinary humans. That Lord Saladin, someone who endured so many hardships and fought so many battles since the Dark Age, hasn't come to help humanity in its time of greatest need.

But now this hits different. He didn't fight, yes. He couldn't. Losing the Light wasn't just something that made him scared (like all Lightbearers): it was something that made him scared of how he might actually enjoy dying a glorious final death. To end the trauma and the memories of all the horrors he's been through. So instead of throwing himself into a reckless death, he chose to stay in the Iron Temple and protect survivors.

So yeah, he didn't fight, but he did something equally important. The Iron Temple is an extremely well protected fortress that's very difficult to reach and breach, so any survivor he gathered was perfectly safe there until the Red War ended. Sometimes "sitting out" is more noble than fighting.

Saladin remembers all this and more whenever the Crow challenges him on his cowardice during the Red War. He wants to break the young Guardian's back to teach him a lesson about what it's like to feel helpless, but something stops him.

He remembers hearing stories about the Crow's life on the Shore before he arrived at the Tower, and does not raise a hand against him.

The lore entry ends with telling us that Saladin was clearly very agitated about Crow's teasing. But in the end, he remembered what Crow has been through and realised that Crow already knows what it's like to feel helpless. He did not need a reminder and Saladin decided to take the teasing without a response. It truly frames some of those voice lines in a different light, knowing this background.

Fourth, leg piece!

Flavour text:

"Some know the legend. We crossed a burning world with sword in hand, bringing justice and blood." —Lord Saladin

Once more, we are told that Saladin was mostly forged (eheh) through his experience in the Dark Age.

The lore page details a bittersweet memory Saladin has of him with his fellow Iron Lords and friends enjoying some good time over a meal and song.

He remembers Radegast asking him to sing the song taught to them by the people of the blacksmith's village, but agreeing only when Jolder and Perun promised to join in. Their voices rose like wolves in the night and were so raw by morning that none of them could speak.

This is honestly heartbreaking. Saladin being this happy and free to sing and enjoy himself: compared to how he is now. But even with that, he has retained the need to do it again sometimes, if he ever finds people to be comfortable around.

Saladin remembers all this and more when Zavala tells him Amanda has taken the Crow out to drink in the City's streets. He wonders what song they'll sing, if it's anything like the one he's heard everyone humming lately—even though he hasn't tried it himself.

I love how he projects his past joy onto the two young people and wonders if they'll do the same as he did once. Here we also get another hint about Saladin apparently not being affected by Savathun's viral chant. It might be a point relevant in the future.

Finally, class item!

Flavour text:

"Some know the legend. We crushed the Warlords beneath our heel so that they may never rise again." —Lord Saladin

Nothing new here. Just Saladin recounting how hard they went against the Warlords.

The rest is a very poignant lore page that details the relationship between Saladin and Zavala. Zavala studied under Saladin who was his mentor and it's been repeated often that Saladin has retained a "soft spot" for him.

Saladin remembers the first time he met Zavala. He remembers thinking that the Awoken had regal bearing like the stags he once hunted on the Steppes. His shoulders were broad, and his chin held high. When he moved, he did so with the strength and purposeful deliberation of someone with the power to determine his own place in the world.

"You'll never have a son," his Ghost had said, "but it isn't too late for you to take an apprentice."

I love when non-Awoken describe Awoken, there's always something ethereal about it. But I'm mostly putting this part here because of what Saladin's Ghost says.

First, I am incredibly soft for older Guardians adopting younger ones as kids and teaching them. Easily my favourite dynamic ever. Saladin seeing Zavala as a son makes me cry a thousand tears.

And second, is this finally a full confirmation that Guardians cannot bear children? It's kind of a strange place to put it, but it seems to be the implication. It makes sense they wouldn't be able to, but it's also nice to have some direct lore information about it in case it pops up as a question. I'm sorry if this ruins anyone's fics.

Saladin remembers their sparring matches. He remembers how Zavala always got back on his feet, no matter how many times Saladin put him down. He remembers refusing to offer the younger Lightbearer a hand up. Until the day Zavala finally bested him in combat.

He remembers lying flat on his back, left shoulder dislocated and ribs shattered, a strange pressure on his chest that made it difficult to breathe.

"Finish it," Saladin had commanded because that was the way of things. His Ghost would revive him.

Saying nothing, Zavala hauled him to his feet instead.

I love how this is placed at the end, paralleling the beginning of Saladin remembering his deaths and the pain of dying. But instead of "finishing it," Zavala pulls him back up. It's definitely something Saladin hasn't experienced before, especially not before becoming an Iron Lord, when all of his deaths were just gruesome ends to a struggle. Then seconds after, he'd be back up. He took the revival for granted, until Zavala offered him the alternative. Again, an interesting perspective about something we don't usually think about much. I do wonder how Saladin healed afterwards though.

Saladin remembers all this and more when his former apprentice calls him into his office and tells him about the face behind the Crow's mask. Zavala says he knows that Saladin doesn't like secrets; that it's unfair to ask him to keep one of this magnitude, but there will come a time when the Crow needs someone—the way Zavala needed Saladin.

"You never needed anyone," Saladin insists.

Zavala only smiles.

This page ends with the two bonding again. Despite their differences and disagreements, there's mutual respect between the mentor and the apprentice. The father and the son.

And Saladin thinks Zavala never needed him, but that is obviously not true and Zavala tells him so. He also tells him that Crow, and implied Guardians like him, will need the same guidance.

It gives us a full circle back to Saladin's musings about his purpose as a Guardian and Lightbearer. He may have doubted his place in the world before, but seeing as he's still here with us and actively participating and helping; training us through Iron Banner, helping with the Eliksni, refusing to side against the Vanguard despite the difference in opinion, now serving as Zavala's ambassador for the Cabal and easily bonding with someone he would've considered an enemy not long ago...

I think Saladin knows his place. He's one of the strongest Lightbearers and most principled among them. He is not swayed by lies and deceptions, he does not abide by them and speaks plainly. He has deeply rooted beliefs in justice and he will not compromise himself, even if it means conceding his position to make peace with a former enemy when that enemy proves their worth, honesty and good intentions to him.

He is a Guardian.

He is an Iron Lord.

#destiny 2 #lord saladin #lore vibing #long post #more iron lord lore bungie please?#iron temple as a social space?#please?#anyway i love this new lore about him so much #i wish we had it before people formed some crude opinions about him #but hopefully this can retroactively clear certain things up

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chocoladieimagines · 3 years

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Can I request obanai x black fem reader hcs

Thank you for the request! Also, it might take a while for me to post for any other submissions because I’ve been busy for the past few days✨Enjoy!☁️☁️☁️

Obanai Iguro x Black! Reader

- You would be the first in existence to be offspring from two different species; a human and a demon. Meaning, you possessed the genetic traits and abilities that were dependent of both of the species. Henceforth, you were a hybrid of your gorgon-demon mother; whose skin was tiny plates of scales shaped as small diamonds. She had beady, abyss like dark eyes that could become light enough you’d see her slit pupils conveying her agitation. She had a head full of sentient writhing ringlets and viperous locks; who often shared their senses with her as their host, flitting their tongues occasionally to taste the air. As a hive mind, her kin of serpents would share the same emotions as her, her menacing gaze distributed among them into glowing eyes with pre-warnings of hisses to create an intense presence.

- She may release her petrification in optic blasts but can will it into a smaller intensity; easing it into a proximity of a trance otherwise hypnosis. The hypnosis includes a seemingly mesmerizing presence which often occurred after unwillingness to fight or inflicting harm on others.

- And your father, who was a demon slayer sent on a mission to kill a demon that has caused many disappearances of the younger demon slayers. Numerous of their bodies were statues in a refuge of a garden during the night, full of bulbs of pink to white and lilac Hyacinths and yellow tubular shaped blooms called Foxgloves that seemed to be fully tended to. Your mother could remotely taste her surroundings to sense all harmful and beneficial things in the environment from a distance without having to use her tongue to make contact on him.

- By also detecting changes and disturbances in the air, she didn’t have to see him to know where he was and made it known that if she wanted to kill him now she could. She didn’t say it tauntingly but rather out of defense, keeping herself hidden in the shade of the trees blocking the moonlight. “I didn’t want to become a demon. It wasn’t my intention to harm them.” She said. “Don’t you hear that there are no animals where we are standing?” He taken into account that she feasted off the blood of other animals. “Then show yourself,” He told her. “If you’re unwilling to put up a fight, then show that you give up to me.”

- After some silence, he turned around while he was armed with his katana. He faced her presence with the point of the blade pressured against her neck but her eyes were closed. He had to admit that for a demon she was breathtakingly beautiful, despite having to live with the burden of having snakes for hair and scales for skin as a demon. It wasn’t too long afterwards that he began protecting her, letting her stay in his home until the two grew affection for each other. Then came you.

- You naturally exhibited no physiological features of a demon; mainly retaining your humanity by the basics of your dark pigmented skin, the morphology in the coils and kinkiness of your hair, the brown in your eyes sunlight through a bottle of whiskey, and the fullness of your lips that could always be captured by your mother’s. Being beautiful by nature made them question of the percentage you inherited of being a demon: whether it was half, a quarter or even smaller of that chance. They wouldn’t know until you were older to be capable of developing a monstrous inner nature.

- When you were about the age of 8-9, you precociously underwent puberty; experiencing a stronger and intense phase of emotions. It consisted of becoming more irrational into a feral, violent and angered nature. This drew out your innermost abilities; enhancing your body’s condition into a supernatural durability, stamina, strength, regeneration and augmentation. Most significantly, you could transform into a demon; inherently manipulating your hair into venomous snakes, manifesting scales, remotely tasting and petrifying opponents into stone. As a result, you would be more powerful than either of your parents’ race.

- Once you learned about your powers, you wanted to follow your father’s footsteps of becoming a demon slayer. Your parents were often protective of you, since it wasn’t a thing for humans and demons to be harmonious, or to the extent of having compassion for each other. He retired from the corps, afraid they would learn of his ventures and capture your mother to kill her. To make it worse, a child being the aftermath could only precipitate further consequences. At first, it was a no, since he wanted two of the beings he cared most about by his side where he could see and protect them.

- Suddenly, it was found out that a demon was located near the area you lived. A serpent demon was staying close to a family known as the Iguro Clan, posing as their benefactor since they lived off an excessive amount of riches that had been stolen by the demon whom they worshipped. The serpent demon fed off newborn babies as an exchange for providing the family with wealth. Your mother wasn’t associated with her as far as the similarity of having snake like abilities, but the difference might not be distinguishable to other demon slayers.

-For that reason, you took it upon yourselves to slay the demon—saving the time of worrying that they could mistaken your mother as the culprit. By the time, the serpent demon had already killed all fifty members of the Iguro clan for letting their first born son—after 370 years—out of their sight and escape. She pursued him until she was able to catch him and nearly ate him. You were the fastest out of both of your parents and managed to slash her body into slices like pieces of fruit. Your grown claws was encased with a green substance, subjected to turn anything lacerated by them into stone. Her surprise-stricken body was frozen in the mineral matter, as well as the boy who was stilled into shock.

- He saw your slit pupils, bared sharp teeth and patches of your body peeled with scales, but then your features turned normal; regular brown eyes, square teeth and the areas of your skin healed. “Did...Did she just turn back human? But how?....” The boy thought to himself, falling further into astonishment. You softly looked into his hetero-colored eyes; one a golden yellow and the other turquoise like the deeps of a pool. You knelt to him, gently holding his hand, as you carried your actions out carefully so you wouldn’t scare him.

- “My name is Y/N L/N, I am not here to harm you. In fact, my parents and I came to save you.” You tell him with a smile, shortly frowning while he still sat in silence. “I’m really sorry about your family. I wish the world could be just as compatible, unfortunately many of us fall short because of trauma.” Soon, you both see a person in the distance, coming into view from the fog who the boy seemed to familiarize as his older cousin. She looked in fear at her surroundings until her eyes landed on him, darting towards him in anger.

- “It was your fault!” She screamed. “It was your fault Obanai! Why couldn’t you just let her eat you?! It was your fault! You killed us all!” She violently attacked and clawed at him as he only brought his arms to shield his face in defense. You shoved her off of him and due to your irritation of her actions, you didn’t realize your strength and pushed her all the way into a tree. She was still able to stand up, looking at you and Obanai in disgust. “It was because you escaped, that our family is gone.” She said to Obanai. “If I was her, I would’ve took the chance to kill you the day you were born!”

- You couldn’t believe the words she resented towards him. “How could someone say that to their family? You’re the only two remaining of your clan out of the whole world and that’s how you treat them?” You thought in disbelief. You wanted to chase after her and scratch her just as she did the boy, or even maul her for being so selfish. “Y/N,” your father said. “Stand your ground.”

- You took a deep breath, counting by ten to a hundred to calm down. Then you looked to Obanai whose eyes still aimed into the distance where his cousin had stormed off. You only imagined that he absorbed her words and started to lower himself into her negativity—believing her words. “Obanai, was it?...None of that is true.” You said to him. “Your family was obviously selfish and immoral to sacrifice their own kin for their own monetary gain.” “What would you know?” He snapped. “I was born in some dumb family because I was destined to die. I was created because I was meant to be fed to that demon, but she only kept me alive because I was precious...rare. Today was my turn...my sentence but I got scared. It was me who was selfish.”

- “You poor thing.” Your mother said, stroking his tear blotted cheeks. “Don’t put the blame on yourself. You were incarnated to bring your family to their downfall. They should’ve repented the misdeeds they’ve been inflicting on their people. It needed to be brought to an end.” “We came to rescue you and your family, but you’re welcome to be in ours.” Your father said.

- From that moment on, you would be Obanai’s adoptive family. Despite being siblings by law, he couldn’t help but admire your bronzed features. He adored the spectacle that you could retain your humanity, especially through the natural ability of your skin protecting you from the sun. Some could say that it was magic, but he knew for sure other demons would be envious of your enormous powers due to your complexion. You possessed the naturalness of being human; having emotions that could teeter you right from wrong. It allowed you self control and to preserve humaneness. Soon enough, he realized his observations were actually out of infatuation for you, much to his fear. As you two trained to become demon slayers, he wouldn’t confess his feelings for years, believing you were too good for him because he and his family were so tainted.

- You and Obanai made it into the demon slayer corps; Obanai taking on Serpent Breathing while you created your own breathing style through your powers. You can control your “death stare” otherwise the notorious petrifying gaze, into a dreamy inducement. Much like snake charming, which hypnotizes a snake (particularly a cobra) by playing and waving an instrument called a pungi, you mollified the energy—that made your petrification physical or tangible through different attacks—into a type of hypnosis. Your katana is covered with the energy; willing to manipulate it to emanate illusions that creates an illusive appearance of you.

- The illusions included mesmerizing psychedelic visuals such as contrasting colors, kaleidoscopic patterns to morphing objects, strengthening based on the susceptibility of the opponent. You simulate everything while your opponent finds themselves subdued into a trance. You may make them mirror your movements or else control the hallucinations into powerful coils constricting and immobilizing them as if you were a snake. All of these capabilities are based on different breathing forms you make with the physical energy surrounding your blade. If you were to make a mistake, this could break the process.

- You two made it far in the corps, working together as lower ranks and becoming each other’s strengths and weaknesses up until you became recognizable for your achievements and rewarded as Hashira. You were practically best friends, always seen together and recognized of having a “brother and sister” relationship as adopted. Obanai became protective of you, especially since you were secretly half demon and doing good undercover as a human. Associating some of the strongest members of the corps made being a Hashira stressful since you had to take on more missions. Although, you and Obanai would be paired together on missions because of the compatibility of your breathing styles, much to his relief.

- When it was brought up to the Hashiras that Tanjiro Kamado has been traveling with his demon sister, Nezuko Kamado, Obanai immediately thought of you. While the others refused to accept the siblings despite Kagaya’s sympathy for the two and willing to provide a letter that Sakonji (the ex water Hashira) and Giyuu will commit Seppuku if Nezuko harmed innocent humans, you found it heart wrenching that they still couldn’t look past it. Obanai built more empathy for people after spending his life with you, realizing that not all demons are harmful but in fact very much still human.

- Obanai was quiet but you expressed your opinion that you didn’t mind at all if Nezuko were to stay in the corps. It could truly be seen of the love they had for each other as siblings, that she’s retained her humanity through the memories she has of her family embodied into the life that needs protection. It was how she redeemed herself as a human, not a demon. However, while Sanemi Shinazugawa antagonized her by stabbing her, you were beyond pissed—not only with Sanemi but the Demon Slayer corps as well. You found it frustrating how the world was truly incompatible and inharmonious, Obanai could hear you silently growling next to him.

- He could see the pupils in your eyes contract into slits again as you glared at the actions being allowed before you. Your body shook from resisting to jump between them while he tried to lure her with his blood dripping on the tatami mats. Repulsive and discourteous. “Y/N,” Obanai spoke to you in a murmur with his hand feeling on your shoulder. “Stand your ground.” Listening to his words, you closed your eyes and sighed, leaning into Obanai’s touch. You’ve barely felt body contact from him before, unaware of the blush on his face as he could tell his actions calmed you down. After the victory of Nezuko resisting Sanemi’s marechi blood, you two were spending time together while you didn’t have any missions.

- You thought to yourself about your feelings for Obanai as you offered Kaburamaru, his white pet snake, some of your sucker. You giggled when the snake actually flitted his tongue against the candy, “See, I told you he would try it.” “He doesn’t know better.” Obanai said, making you laugh. “Would you like some then?” Obanai rolled his eyes but looked at you again. “What?” You questioned his sudden attention on you. “Nothing...it’s just...nothing...” He recanted. But you held his hand and softly smiled, unable to lose his gaze away from your eyes, another one of your subconscious abilities without having to use your powers.

- “I just...was always surprised how you could be so powerful. Not from being half demon, but evening it out peacefully with your human side. You can have empathy for other beings, noticeably with other demons. You’re also sitting in the sun right now like it’s nothing, instead it’s only making you prettier....”He tried to yank his hand away but you only held onto it and brought it up to your cheek, reassuring him. “...Really really prettier,” He continued. “I always felt this obligation to protect you. I always wanted to be pair on missions with you. I always liked you....” He managed to pull his hand away since you were surprised, mentally cursing himself of how he wasn’t supposed to confess to you.

- You brought up your hand to Obanai’s cheek, watching him as he tried his hardest not to blush. “I always liked you too,” You said. “I just thought it was wrong because my parents adopted you and you would by law, be my brother.” “....By law.” He emphasized. Not biologically, but by law. “Right,” you spoke. “But seeing you develop as a person only made my feelings for you stronger. I wanted to win your trust a-and your touch.....may I?” You looked at his bandaged mouth, knowing that would complete to winning each other’s trust. “You’ll think I’m ugly.” He spoke in a hushed tone. “No I won’t. I promise.” You held your hand against his cheek as you slowly began to undo his bandages with the other. His mouth was cut wide to his ears to appear as a snake’s, the flesh scarred as narrow threads of silver glowing in the sunlight.

- When you notice his slight panicked pace of breathing, you kissed him on his lips, feeling him melt into the soft sensation of yours. He attempted feeling his hand on you, like he did earlier, to pull you closer to him. You flowed with the vibes and pulled him closer, so there was no personal space between you two but the shell of your body protecting your beating hearts.

Thank you for reading! Please stay tuned!🤎🍫

#demonslayer #demon slayer x poc!reader #demon slayer x black reader #demon slayer x reader #Obanai x reader #obanai iguro x reader #Kny x reader #Hashira x reader #anime x black!reader

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witcher-lore-enjoyer · 3 years

Text

Viper Witchers

Cat | Griffin | Bear

Gorthur Gvaed

The Witcher School of the Viper made their home in the stronghold of Gorthur Gvaed. Guarded by a remarkable tower adorned by a frighteningly ominous spiral coiled around its contours. Yet it held not a candle to the terrifying moat that surrounded it—deep by several hundred feet and truly… breathtaking. No one could tell if what was filling it should still be called water. The smells above the moat were, to put it mildly, hard to forget. Viper witchers, who survived the fall of the stronghold, later joked that it was the stench that led the Usurper’s army to find Gorthur Gvaed. Countless soldiers died in this gutter. According to legends, so many perished that one could have made their way to the other side of the moat on a bridge composed entirely of their corpses. And the odour grew even worse

Located in Tir Tochair (a scarcely inhabited mountain range that divides the Korath desert from the modern-day northern and central provinces of the Nilfgaardian Empire. It is known as the largest lasting enclave of gnomes.)

There were many scrolls and manuscripts about the legend of the Wild Hunt.

Founder

Ivar Evil-Eye

There’s a terrible tale behind each and every scar⁠—you’d be surprised just how many are true.

Ivar was one of the unfortunate few who endured the mutations extremely well, and so was selected for further, more complicated experiments. Of those subjected to these enhancements, only he survived—perhaps due to the mages only managing to partially complete the trial.

As a result of these experiments, Ivar gained his moniker, as well as a new sight. His so-called “Evil Eye” saw a different world. Many other worlds, really. With his eye, he watched as ghostly riders dashed along the Spiral, and observed how they’d kidnap, kill, and conquer. Forever haunting Ivar’s special vision, these spectres became his obsession.

Training

Each student is given a pet to raise during their stay at Gorthur Gvaed, in order to form a strong emotional bond throughout their training. Years later, before becoming a fully-fledged witcher, they are ordered to slaughter their companion in cold blood.

Viper Witcher Mentor

Viper mentors are especially cold and ruthless in order to prepare their students for the harsh life that awaits them.

Some Lore from Gwent

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or weaker. It depends, really.

It is often said that witchers took on the characteristics of their schools' namesake creatures. Without a doubt, this was true of the Viper School. They were agile, quick, and frequently made use of deadly poisons.

As with the other witcher schools – the Wolves' Kaer Morhen as sole exception – none were aware of the Viper School's location. Only one detail ever became widely known... That it stood somewhere south of the Yaruga. In Nilfgaard.

Perhaps it's no wonder then that Vipers were less inclined to neutrality than other witchers. The Empire would never recognize such a stance. There is only obedient servant... Or mortal enemy.

Emperor Emhyr var Emreis gave them a choice they could not refuse: assassinate a few kings in the Northern Realms in exchange for rebuilding the school to its former glory.

The emperor, however, did not keep his promise and instead of rebuilding the school, he sent bounty hunters after its few remaining members to remove any loose ends.

Armor and Equipment

Viper Witchers are trained to fight with twin blades, often referred to as “fangs”. This style focuses on fast and furious strikes aimed to overwhelm their target, be it monster or man.

These blades would often be coated with poison as the school made great use of its knowledge of alchemy.

No need to strike deep when but a scratch will prove fatal.

Five More Witchers

Letho of Gulet

Witchers never die in their beds. - Letho

Some friends you see after many years apart and you immediately develop a headache. Not out of antipathy, but as a somatic premonition of the hangover sure to follow your drunken reunion. Seeing others, however, gives you an itching pain in your back and a desire to reach for your blade. For Geralt, Letho of Gulet had a foot in both of these camps.

Letho, if Geralt doesn’t ask him to go to Kaer Morhen, says, that he will be heading to Zerrikania citing a possible reason that it's a matriarchy and he's always had a deep belief "that it's women who should rule the world."

Serrit and Auckles

He seems different, but in reality is so similar. Our paths have been the same: we survived the Trials, endured the same training and have slain so many monsters that we no longer keep count. So many men, also. The difference is in the details – when I see him moving in combat, I want to laugh, but I also see that he is just as effective, if not more so. There is, however, one critical difference I cannot describe adequately. He has a goal, he is committed to something. He doesn't wander the world as if blown about by the wind. I believe he feels emotions at a level I cannot attain, yet these emotions are not typically human. Is it an illness of some kind? I think he teeters on the brink of instinct and emotion, and that he uses up a lot of energy to maintain his mental health. I hope I get a chance to know him better and learn from him. Nothing specific – just life. - Serrit about Geralt

Serrit was a lot more hot-headed than his brother, complaining about the lack of action they had in the past days.

Letho's got a plan… what could go wrong? - Auckles

Auckes seemed to be the less serious of the brothers, being sarcastic at times while being very confident of his skills.

He appeared to regard Geralt as a friend, which is reflected when he asked if Geralt wasn't hanged for Foltest murder and Letho asked him if he wanted to see him hanged, he lowered his head and just answered "no".

Along with his brother, Auckes was fond of using bear traps.

Kolgrim

Fate seemed to take pleasure in torturing Kolgrim. Fortune only smiled upon him if it was accompanied by a stroke of very bad luck. It was always thus, even before Kolgrim became a witcher. When he was still a young harmless brat...

On the eve of Saovine small Kolgrim was kidnapped by a weeper, which replaced him with its own cursed offspring. Fortunately, the monster was slaughtered by a witcher that very same night. The boy's savior, having taken pity on him, decided to escort him back home. Kolgrim was relieved to be returning to the warmth and safety of his mother, unaware of his impending misfortune.

The woman greeted the witcher with hatred in her eyes, not believing a single word that came out of his mouth. Blinded by her contempt, she refused to even look twice at her own crying son, utterly convinced that the weeper's baby was her real child. With the door slammed shut in their face, the witcher had no other choice than to take Kolgrim with him – straight to the Viper School.

Over many future years, fate mocked Kolgrim many times – both during his murderous training and the later travels around the Continent. His life ended most ironically. For he, who was once stolen and then rejected from his mother, was accused of kidnapping a child.

Warritt The All-Seeing

By slightly modifying the Supirre sign, Warritt gained the ability to see... everything.

Supirre is a Sign enhancing the auditory perception of the user. Drawn on a solid surface, it allows the people near the Sign to hear sounds which would be normally inaudible due to the distance or background noise. As such, it is often used for eavesdropping.

It compensated the monster hunter's lack of sight by giving him the ability of echolocation.

#the witcher #witcher #school of the viper #viper school #viper witcher #viper witchers #witcher school #witcher schools #witcher reference #gwent: the witcher card game #Letho #letho of gulet #Warritt The All-Seeing #Serritt #auckles #kolgrim #ivar evil-eye #Gorthur Gvaed

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systematicallycapricious · 3 years

Text

Persona x Soul Eater AU

Spoilers for Personas 3-5 (and their remakes FES, Golden, and Royal), PQ1 (Shadow of the Labyrinth), and the P4: Arena series below, as well as the Soul Eater and Soul Eater: Not! anime (and potentially manga? it’s been a while, so I forget)!

Cast (We = Weapon, M = Meister, H = Human, Wi = Witch, O = Other):

SEES:

Minato Arisato - M | Aigis - Multiform-We | Ryoji Mochizuki - We

Minako Arisato - M | Yukari Takeba - We | Ryoji Mochizuki - We | Aigis - Multiform-We

Junpei Iori - M | Chidori Yoshino - We (presently)

Akihiko Sanada - M or We? | Shinjiro Aragaki We or M?

Mitsuru Kirijo - We (Meisterless and badass; probably a rapier?)

Ken Amada - M | Koromaru - We (a non-human Weapon)

Fuuka Yamagishi - Wi (??? animal)

Investigation Team:

Yu Narukami - M | Teddie - We (potentially a non-human Weapon)

Yosuke Hanamura - M | Labrys - Multiform-We

Chie Satonaka - We or M? | Yukiko Amagi M or We?

Kanji Tatsumi - M? | Naoto Shirogane - We?

Rise Kujikawa - Wi (??? animal)

Phantom Thieves:

Ren Amamiya - M | Morgana - We

Ryuji Sakamoto - M or We? | Yuuki Mishima We or M?

Yusuke Kitagawa - M | Ann Takamaki - We (a whip)

Makoto Nijima - We or M? | Haru Okumura - M or We?

Goro Akechi - M | Robin Hood - We (a bow) | Loki - We (a greatsword)

Kasumi Yoshizawa - M | Sumire Yoshizawa - We (a ribbon wand)

Futaba Sakura - Wi (??? animal)

Etc:

Daisuke Nagase - We or M? | Kou Ichijo - M or We?

Rei - H

Zen - We, H, or maybe O?

Takuto Maruki - H

Sho - M | Minazuki - We (separate entities in this; Minazuki's a katana)

Shuji Ikutsuki - H

Takaya Sakaki - M | Jin Shirato - We | Chidori Yoshino - We (formerly)

Marie/Izanami-no-Mikoto - Wi (??? animal)

More Notes:

The 'Wild Cards' in this just have really good partnership/Resonance abilities with everyone in their groups, so they can work with any of the Weapons in their groups (and even outside of them a lot of times... looking at Ren and Loki for an example. xP) uncannily naturally.

The Navis in this are all Witches, but good-natured ones, and use their magic to support their respective groups/help make the world a better place. For example, Futaba would probably be able to 'hack' souls somehow with her magic, and also her reclusiveness in this would be at least in part due to being terrified of people finding out her true nature as a Witch. I'm not sure how welcomed/persecuted/the general climate of Witches are/is in this AU yet though.

The Arisato twins and Ryoji are all children of Death in this, with Ryoji being the older sibling and the twins being twins. Death is still Death like he is in SE-OG in this AU, more or less.

Ryoji and Aigis tend to float between Minato and Minako as their secondary partners, though Aigis tends to stick more to Minato as his primary partner and much less often swaps to Minako, while Ryoji shifts between his two siblings more frequently. Yukari swaps about as much as the rest of SEES's Weapons do among their Wild Cards, which is more or less situationally or for fun. Despite this, Aigis and Ryoji still don't get along particularly well with one another, only putting up with each other for their Meisters' sakes.

Strega did exist in this, though I'm not sure yet what their aim was, or the fate of its members. At the very least, they were some kind of rogue antagonist group, and Takaya used to be the Meister of both Jin and Chidori. Chidori ends up defecting to DWMA though, or whatever organization Junpei is a part of.

Aigis, maybe Ryoji?, Mitsuru, Labrys, and Minazuki are all Weapons that can fight without Meisters. Loki and/or Robin Hood might also be among them? I'm undecided.

Originally, I was considering having the cast have their Personas as their Weapon-partners, and just have them have personalities based off of their Shadow-selves' but more aligned with their accepted-selves, but I decided against it in the end. Akechi gets to be the exception, because he's Akechi.

Speaking of Akechi-- Robin and Loki are very powerful Weapons in this AU. Loki's 'chaos magic' would become an incredibly chaotic/maddening soul-wavelength that most others wouldn't be able to handle contact with on its own, as well as perhaps some Madness magic or abilities of some kind? Robin's soul meanwhile would be much calmer and help to counteract/cover-up Loki's from those who can sense souls, as well as perhaps provide some tactical abilities; I'm undecided on that for now. I'm not sure who's side Akechi would be on in this AU yet, like if he was being manipulated by a Shido-like person or not, and for what reason if so.

As for Robin and Loki's personalities and appearances in this... Well, the latter would be somewhat similar to their Persona forms probably, including some of the less-human traits given OG-SE characters (*stares intensely at Excalibur*), and the former would also be somewhat based off of those, as well as sort of how Akechi acts in relation to both of his 'masks'? So Robin tends to be calmer and more polite, though he still possesses a small amount of vengeful desire or bloodlust, whilst Loki is a lot more chaotic, hot-blooded, and very vengeful/aggressive. Both share a tendency towards showiness however, and sometimes get in small competitions with one another to up the other to impress their Meister or be the better Weapon among themselves (since they both might think already that they're superior to other Weapons in general? Unsure).

Also speaking of manipulated and abused children, Sho and Minazuki, alongside Ikutsuki, more or less replace Crona, Ragnarok, and Medusa in this. Not fully 1-for-1 however. Ikutsuki is very much a human, albeit a Mad or power-hungry one (still kinda looking to create a Kishin or otherwise bring about some kind of catastrophic destruction), and Minazuki is a separate Weapon, as opposed to how Ragnarok is Crona's Black Blood. Minazuki and Sho might be twins however, just with one a human/Meister and the other a Weapon. They look almost identical physically in this AU, even down to haircuts, but Minazuki lacks the iconic X-ish shaped face scarring that Sho possesses (and overall the two have a different patterning of scars across their bodies), and Sho's irises appear to be more gray while Minazuki's appear to be more blue. Weapon-form-wise, Minazuki looks like Sho's OG katanas, just in different colors and as a singular blade rather than a pair.

Ikutsuki is still forcing Sho and Minazuki to become stronger in similar methods to Medusa in some ways however, such as going out and obtaining/consuming great amounts of human (and maybe even Witch) souls.

Sho's a little less messed-up than Crona is, due to Minazuki being supportive of and dedicated to him as opposed to bullying him into submission like Ragnarok does to Crona. That being said however, I don't yet know why Minazuki hasn't yet defected from Ikutsuki. P: Other than that, Minazuki is kind of like Sho's impulse control and logical reasoning at times, due to being able to control when he transforms into his Weapon form and thus deny Sho access to his weaponry in times where he's being reckless or unreasonable. Soul-wavelengths-wise, too, Minazuki's soul just in general helps to keep Sho's soul/wavelength more stable probably?

Also in terms of replacing SE cast and plots; The IT replaces Maka et al for the sake of the main story most likely, with SEES being their upperclassmen or alumni and the PT being their underclassmen, if they even attend DWMA at this point anyways.

Lotsa dead people in OG are alive in this AU; Minato, Minako, and Ryoji, Shinjiro, Kasumi, etc.

Speaking of Kasumi; she fights kind of like Sumire does in Royal, that being making use of their gymnastics and priorly-athletic builds. Both sisters are gymnists in this still.

Alternatively, Sho and Minazuki's situations almost ended up reversed, leaving a highly impulsive/aggressive Weapon-Sho and a Meister-Minazuki who would have the kinda backwards idealology of trying to protect his Weapon partner in times where it would be best left to the Weapon to defend their Meister, but also really good at getting Sho to focus when wielding him as a weapon/in resonance (and can in general reign him in to some degree while others can't), making them an exceedingly deadly duo. I kind of prefer Minazuki as the Weapon however, as fun as the reverse could be, as it gives Ikutsuki a bit more leverage over Sho's situation I think? Also in that vein, it would make a lot of sense, given OG, for Minazuki to be more like a Black Blood entity like Ragnarok; however, I like Minazuki being able to have his own body in this, so that can be left for another AU perhaps. xP

Ikutsuki would infiltrate/be trusted by the DWMA in this AU at first, like Medusa was, but eventually get outed for his true intentions most likely. He might be a teacher or other kind of faculty rather than a nurse however?

Maruki meanwhile gets to play the role of school nurse in this. He's not a few screws loose like his Royal counterpart is though, he's just a humble nurse. However, he does still have his interest in researching dangerous subjects, though I haven't yet decided if that would be magic, Witches, Madness, Kishins, or what. It could potentially put him in knowing-contact with the Navis, if they aren't already known to be Witches by the DWMA anyways.

I'm not yet sure on what to do with Adachi or Nyx yet. Nyx might be some kind of Madness-related catastrophe, power, or individual perhaps however?

Rei and Zen are probably just civilians in this. Zen just happens to be really devoted to protecting/looking after(?) Rei still. xD

I'm undecided on if Marie should be amnesiac about her Witchhood or if she should be more like Izanami-no-Mikoto from OG in this.

Yusuke is still obsessed with artistry and beauty in this, so you can imagine what he's like as a Meister. He is still capable as a fighter and dependable when needed... more or less, but is also still easily distracted by, and places higher priority on, such things.

Ryuji kinda gets the short end of the stick because I didn't particularly know who to pair him with or what really to do with him at the moment. Mishima's a big tentative as his partner as a result of that, though I think it could prove to be an interesting relationship potentially.

I'm hoping to add more SL/Confidant and secondary/tertiary/background cast peeps eventually into various roles, but I'd need to do more refreshing/research on them first. I also haven't decided on if I should include Metis in this or not.

If the SE info is inaccurate, it's because I haven't seen the anime or read-up on it in like years. I might do clarifying/fact-checking research some day, but for now, nah. xP

#Capri's Persona-AU Musings #Persona series #Persona 3 #Persona 4 #Persona 4 Arena #Persona 4 Arena Ultimax #Persona 5 #Persona Q: SotL #Soul Eater #Persona x SE AU #pretty much involves the casts of all of those games #not the SE cast really though as it's more using the setting of SE with the Persona cast; sorry folks

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stxleslyds · 3 years

Note

Can you please do the list of Jason's and Dick's skills and how good they are at it compared to other skilled people? Of course only if you want to.

Hi! Thank you for the ask anon! I am sorry that it took me so long to answer your ask, I found myself going back and forth with how I wanted to write this out.

Just a heads up, the skills that I will depict here are the ones that I remember and found are attributed to each character in the current timeline. I think it’s important for me to say this because this current Dick Grayson has been nerfed greatly compared to his pre-New 52 counterpart. As for Jason, he has had many things incorporated into his training and some others have been completely erased (even though some of Jason’s training was erased he hasn’t been nerfed by any means).

When I say that Dick has been nerfed, I mean that some of his abilities have been erased in canon and some others have been washed down as the reboots happened.

Now, let me do a little ranting before I jump into listing Dick and Jason’s skills.

If you search for Jason’s skill set in wikis and other places, they might include his Lost Days training as something that he still has but as of New 52 and Rebirth that training has been erased and replaced with Talia sending Jason to the All-Castle right after he came out of the Lazarus Pit.

Also, while many places say that the Lazarus Pit has granted Jason regeneration and the ability to not age, I can safely say that those things aren’t true. As far as I know, the Lazarus Pit can only heal injuries, physical and mental (to a certain extent for the last one).

I assume that the concept of Jason “not being able to age” comes from the fact that Ra’s Al Ghul has the ‘longevity ability’ because “through the use of the Lazarus Pit, Ra's has acquired a greatly extended lifespan, allowing him to live a near-immortal life for centuries”, the thing with this is that Ra’s uses the Lazarus Pit fairly often, Jason only used it once.

So, just to be clear, Jason can age just like any other human character, and the regeneration ability is also untrue because Jason spent a long time recovering from his injuries after the “Death of the Family” event and RHatO vol.2 #25.

Also, there has been no proof of Jason actually having magical abilities (after being submerged in the Lazarus Pit). The All-Blades are summoned through his soul but he doesn’t do magic with them and the summoning was mastered after non-magical training. And the “Magic Negation” move is an arcane martial art move.

Wow, sorry I spent so much time explaining my line of thinking. But I can be confusing when I talk so I thought it would be better if I explained my thought process a bit. I promise I am done though; I will now start listing Dick and Jason’s abilities.

Let’s start with Dick!

Acrobatics.

Aviation.

Criminology.

Espionage.

Genius Level Intellect.

Disguise (Acting).

Escapology.

Leadership.

Multilingualism (12 Languages).

Indomitable Will.

Martial Arts (Boxing, Eskrima, Ninjitsu, Stick Fighting)

Peak Human Condition (Strength, Speed, Stamina, Agility, Reflexes, Durability).

Throwing (Escrima sticks, Wingdings)

Weaponry (Escrima sticks, Firearms, Swords)

Abilities learnt with Batman:

Eidetic Memory.

Forensic Science.

Investigation.

Tactical Analysis.

Tracking.

Interrogation.

Intimidation.

Stealth.

Surveillance.

Jason’s Turn!

Aviation.

Computer Hacking.

Genius Level Intellect.

Indomitable Will.

Martial Arts (Dim Mak, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun).

Multilingualism.

Occultism.

Peak Human Condition (Strength, Speed, Stamina, Agility, Reflexes, Durability).

Weaponry (Firearms, Master Swordsman)

Abilities learnt with Batman:

Investigation.

Tracking.

Interrogation.

Intimidation.

Stealth.

Surveillance.

Abilities learnt with the All-Castle:

Summoning of the All-Blades.

Abilities learnt with Talia Al Ghul:

Magic Negation (a martial arts move)

All in all, both of them are incredibly well trained. There are abilities that one of them has and the other doesn’t. Jason has had more training outside of Batman’s teachings due to Talia having taken Jason to the All-Castle after he was submerged in the Lazarus Pit. And he was also trained by some of the members of the League of Assassins, like Lady Shiva.

If I were to compare Jason and Dick’s abilities with, let’s say, Barbara, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian, I would say that Jason and Dick are far more well trained and knowledgeable than them. Cass could beat both of them in hand-to-hand combat but I feel like it would still be a long fight for Dick and Cass or Jason and Cass, maybe Jason would have a harder time with her because he is so big compared to her.

I would even go as far as to say that both Jason and Dick could take down Batman if they really wanted to. Let’s say that for some reason Dick and Bruce or Jason and Bruce decide to battle it out with everything they have got, then I would say that the odds are in Dick and Jason’s favour.

Now, those comparisons that I just made, I did them with uncertainty because I don’t keep up with any of those characters. When it comes to DC I really don’t go beyond Dick and Jason centred content. I don’t even read Batman (I only read it if there is an event that has Dick or Jason as a major player).

So, I don’t really feel comfortable comparing their skill sets with other people, what I don’t know I prefer to not talk about. I was being a little cheeky with those comparisons that I made before; they are very surface level.

I can talk about what has actually happened in comics though. From a combat perspective I can say this:

Jason was able to master the “Magic Negation” move with little training from Talia, and she hadn’t even mastered it way back when she was training him before he became Robin (yeah, that was a thing that happened in zero year, RHatO vol.1 #25). So that would give you a little insight on how overpowered Jason has been written in the past 10 years.

The second time that he did that move he used it against Ra’s al Ghul, that Ra’s was charged up with the power of the Untitled but in reality, the power wasn’t strong at all because Ra’s didn’t have enough “soul” for the Untitled to latch on to. Jason, however, was able to channel that power and the All-Blades against him. All that should have drained Jason pretty quickly but he had the whole “chosen one” thing going on for him. Here is where the magic aspect of Jason would come from but I am still not sure that Jason can actually manipulate or do magic, I feel like it’s more like letting something like the All-Blades or the Untitled latch on to you like a parasite (that will kill you if it does it for too long) to get a boost in power. Maybe you or somebody else sees that as magic but I don’t.

So, overall, I would say that Jason is a very strong opponent. But you have to take into consideration that weapons like the All-Blades aren’t accessible to him at all times, they only can be summoned when true evil is presenting itself as a threat to Jason and they consume/corrupt his soul, so their power isn’t unlimited either.

Dick is a very strange case because while he was able to fight and defeat a proper Talon and a ‘second-hand’ Talon (that was still a notable opponent) in the New 52 run and he was able to defeat his enemies just fine, in Rebirth things took a dark turn, all of his skills were either gone or watered down by a lot, he was everyone’s punching bag.

As time went on though Dick seemed to be written better and he fought Cheshire and some LoA people fairly easily and so on. But then… Ric happened and the whole manipulation and being played with as if he were a toy happened and that set his characterization on fire again. He defeated Jason easily when he was under Joker’s control but he was sloppy against Barbara so, there isn’t really a lot of rhyme or reason in that one.

After he regained his memories mid-way Joker War, he was an excellent fighter all of the sudden and everything was easy for him. When the event ended and he was Nightwing again he didn’t only beat KGBeast (the one that had shot him) but he absolutely humiliated him, it was like Dick snapped.

Now, under Tom Taylor’s writing, Dick is… I don’t want to say dumb because he isn’t, but I will just say that Taylor isn’t doing Dick any favours. He promised us a lot of things, like giving Dick the respect and level of expertise that he deserves but so far, I have seen none of it.

Something that has to be taken into consideration is that Dick isn’t fully recovered from his head injury, so, he is written as not as skilled as he is supposed to be and he is also making decisions that aren’t good for his health because if you run the risk of falling unconscious in the middle of a fight, you shouldn’t be fighting at all.

From Batman’s training’s perspective, I can say this:

Dick has always given me the “mentee surpasses his mentor” vibes. He is a better detective and he is also overall better than Batman in what he taught him and also at being Batman. Sadly, just like his combat, his detective skills along with all the other Bat training have been watered down for Dick. It’s absolutely awful, DC has been doing Dick dirty for far too long.

I wish I could say that things are picking up for Dick now, but Tom Taylor put “drama” as his priority instead of giving Dick back the skill-set that he once had (I know, I complained about Tom Taylor’s lack of action before but I really needed to do it again).

Jason has been done dirty too when it comes to his detective skills and other Bat training, mostly in Urban Legends: Cheer but quite honestly it wasn’t as bad as what they did to Dick. Jason has never really been as good as a detective as Bruce or Dick so yeah. But there is a clear difference between the Jason that we have now and the one that appeared in UtRH.

So, I would say that as of now Jason and Dick are treated as if they were on the same level detective/bat training-wise, which I think isn’t fair to Dick. Because he should be better in those aspects than Jason (or, at least, that’s how I see it).

I really don’t know if this answer is what you wanted or if it is good at all but I hope that if you read this you don’t end up feeling like I wasted your time.

I promise I will get better at answering asks! And I hope you have a wonderful day anon!

#dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #dc comics #asksss #Jason Nation

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fantasyinvader · 3 years

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Beat Binding Blade tonight

So, right off the bat I'm going to admit. I abused the arena and save states. This is a really, really hard game. And while I enjoyed it, I'm going to give three things I didn't like about it.

1)Enemy reinforcements arrive at the end of the player phase, and can attack during the enemy phase. That is unfair, especially when I assume that parking a unit on the spawn point will prevent them (It doesn't) or my healer just happens to be in the area. I like difficult games, but when I fail at something in those I want to feel like it's my fault for doing so. When I die in Bloodborne or lose a unit in Fates Conquest, I'm willing to accept it because I felt it was fair (plus I'll just restart the chapter in Conquest anyway). I could have not died if I had played a little better. This game was not fair when it did that.

2)The supports. A lot of the stuff about the characters is locked away in their supports, since this is one of the old Fire Emblems where it throws units your way because it's assuming you didn't reset the game when one died. They don't get cutscenes to be important, and with only five supports per character (barring if one dies, then any unit that had supports with gets those supports back). And even then, getting an A rank doesn't pair up any units except for Roy. So you don't get to play love doctor here, it's only really there for the stat boosts. But in the case of my boy, he needs those supports in order for his character to fully come through.

3)I can take 8 units into the final battle, and they're the only ones who get full ending cards. Everyone else just gets a single line. Kinda weak if I use someone like Fir for most of the game, but bench her at the end to give Rutget Durandal.

Even with my cheating, I still enjoyed this game. Mostly for the story. When Fire Emblem first appeared in Smash Brothers Melee, as a kid it instantly caught my attention. Roy and Marth just looked so cool with their swords and armor (true fact: My favorite design for Link is the Skyward Sword design, simply because it has chainmail under the tunic. I get it, the tunic is iconic but SS's Link just looks practical), and I preferred Roy because I though his fully-charged shield breaker hurting him was cool. I even keep a Cipher card of his in my wallet for good luck. I wanted to know what Fire Emblem was, what kind of game it was. My friend showed me a screenshot of the upcoming GBA game in Nintendo power, which I got for the following Christmas (sadly, I didn't get Sacred Stones as I got a PS2 the following year). I loved that game, but the idea that I was playing as Roy's father always was a bit of a sour point for me. It's because of that game when I got a 2DS a decade later, because I wanted to game but kept getting pulled away from my console, I eventually went back to Fire Emblem.

And, I'm going to admit, Binding Blade hurt me because I played Blazing Blade first. It really did. I mean, Hector dies early on, Lyn is presumably dead hell a lot of my old comrades probably died in this war, Eliwood's wife dies shortly after they are married while Eliwood is more useless than ever, the kid I saved in Bern becomes a genocidal maniac, and the fact that the characters of Blazing Blade kinda caused this to happen by releasing the seals on the Legendary Weapons in their own quest... It kinda bugs me that the Legendary Weapons I used in Blazing Blade are in their trap filled storage places. Like, who returned them there? And if I have characters from that game returning in Binding, I find it strange they don't comment on needing them again. But this is a case of the game trying to be a prequel to a story that wasn't written with it in mind.

But at the end of the day, one thing just kept popping up in my mind. Binding Blade is the antithesis of the Crimson Flower route from Three Houses. I know they said Genealogy of the Holy War was an inspiration, but I can't help it. I've seen so many people try to praise that said route as some sort of denouncement of the rest of the franchise. That it's about putting power in the hands of the people (it's not) instead of having some Lord be the good king. Granted, the Mandate of Heaven seems like it's a running theme of the series, so without understanding what that is I can understand why people don't grasp what that part of the message. But Binding Blade, it just hit so many things on the nose that I needed to say something.

So without further adieu, I'm just going to bring up a few points.

With Regards to Humanity

It's interesting how both Zephiel and Edelgard come at this from different angles. Sure, they both lead wars of conquest across the entire continent, and I'm guessing Zeph didn't tell his troops what he was planning on doing once he won so there's likely a level of deception going on there as well. He really doesn't care for his fellow man, and the game goes out of it's way to show us why. Hatred, greed, or even selling out your people in the name of self-preservation. The game doesn't shy away from showing us any of this, saying that it's wrong and thus why Roy has to kick some guy's arse. Zephiel knows this, but in Edelgard's case? She's out there fighting for absolute power, destroying anyone who won't bend the knee to her while those who do out of self-preservation like House Gloucester are rewarded for it.

In essence, Edelgard is everything Zephiel saw wrong with the human race, she is why he felt we needed to go extinct. The very things he condemns humanity for are the things she reward. Zephiel would have actually handed over power to those he felt deserved it if he had won, whereas Edelgard is demonstrably shown to hold onto power until near the end of her life. One wants humanity dead, the other wants all the dragons. They even oppose each other in their classes. Edelgard is based on the red emperor archetype, she wears red, her class is the heavily-armored Emperor and her weapon of choice is an axe. Zephiel is a king, armoed but wearing purple and he uses a sword in battle.

Even if they both have screwed up history with their family's due to their father's inability to keep it in his pants, they're both presented as villains despite being ideologically opposed which goes to show with Fire Emblem the method IS the message.

Ancient Wars, Super Powered Weapons and Lies.

War of Heroes vs. The Scouring. The former is an event where the full details are shrouded in mystery, up to the player to piece together the clues and figure out the truth for themselves...or in Crimson Flower's case, ignore the truth and act out in your ignorance.With Binding Blade though, when the truth starts coming out, it hits hard. I mean, right from the beginning of the game we're told man was the one who broke the peace by attacking the dragons, but then we learn that those legendary weapons messed up the environment, resulting in dragons needing to use human forms only to be slaughtered by man. Dragons were blamed for the environment, the people who used those weapons were revered as heroes. We don't know why mankind launched their attack, but we do know that they weren't able to slay the Demon Dragon, one who had her soul destroyed in order to control her, because the Heroes felt sorry for her. It's making dragons out to be the victims here, much like the dragons in Three Houses. But Crimson Flower only serves to demonize them, acting like they can't understand humanity when the dragons in that game are a lot closer to humans emotionally than the ancient dragons in Elibe.

The Elites in comparison weren't heroes, and that lie has been confirmed as Rhea trying to make peace.

The good ending for Binding Blade is being able to save the dragon whose soul was destroyed, whereas Crimson Flower ends with slaying a dragon after you've spent the entire game triggering her (and is the ending that leads to oppressive rule under Edelgard, in addition to the only ending without sunlight. What? You thought you'd get the good ending when her final boss theme was playing on the last stage?). Also, you need all the Legendary weapons in order to unlock the final stages, which all play into the big mystery. Crimson Flower requires the player to not understand that the world-building was done to support fighting against Edelgard instead.

Merits of a leader

Let's not beat around the bush here, Roy will not carry you through Binding Blade. His bases are low, and while he has good growths he is unable to promote until the very end of the game. Even then, you need to save the Binding Blade's usage to ensure you get the good ending. Roy is also very unsure of himself, thrust into a position of leadership despite his young age. But look at what happens when he succeeds, he manages to overcome the odds and take down the mightiest army on the continent. At the end of the game, he's shown himself as more than capable of leading. Not to mention, he also believes that humans and dragons can live together, even seeing this in Acadia (and if Ninian was his mother, he's unknowingly proof of this as he is 1/4 dragon himself. May explain his poor bases). If he marries Liliana, he even becomes a King for likely much of the same reason Byleth does in SS/VW (most leaders are dead following the war, plus combining his territory with Ostia which had already taken over Lyn's land after she abdicated/married Hector). Roy learns the truth as already established.

Compare this to Crimson Flower Byleth. Byleth leads the Black Eagle Strike Force, but credit for it goes to Edelgard. Byleth never gets any recognition for this, no position of authority despite proving themselves, instead that goes to Caspar Jenkins of all people, and ends the war continuing to fight TWSITD from the shadows to support Edelgard's regime. And if you read between the lines, Edelgard is NOT a good leader, resorting to bribes, threats, cronyism, secret police, propaganda, and even TWSITD's support and later stolen tech in order to maintain her rule. Byleth lost whatever emotional development they got from White Clouds during this route, once again becoming the Ashen Demon, and is even willing to let themselves die if they can't keep their “humanity” in check showing a distaste for their own draconic heritage (showing humans and dragons can't live together in this timeline). They didn't grow into being a leader, they devolved into being Edelgard's unthinking muscle. Byleth never learns the truth in this route, falling for Edelgard's manipulations resulting in them losing Enlightened One/Nirvana status.

Not to mention, Heroes Relics have really low weapon levels. In theory, they can be used by anyone but only safely by those with Crests and most fully with a matching Crest. Legendary Weapons, on the other hand, can be used by anyone with an S rank in their type. Your characters have to EARN the right to use those things and you'll need them to deal with all the Manaketes during the final level, whereas Relics aren't exactly that level of broken.

Honestly, seeing the ending of Binding Blade and Idunn recovering put at least one tear in my eye. Crimson Flower's just made me feel like the game was calling me an idiot (which considering the Nirvana/Enlightenment thing, it kinda was). I would love if Binding Blade got the Echoes treatment, or even if they just did a GBA collection for the Switch. But after all these years, one thing is as certain now as it was when I was a kid.

In this house, ROY'S OUR BOY!

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flutteringphalanges · 3 years

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Summary: “Am I in Hell?” Agatha’s voice was hoarse, a hint of fear in her tone. “That depends on your definition,” Dracula answered. “Perhaps.” His fingers felt cool against her burning skin, the fever raging through her body. “If you’re going to kill me, then do it,” she mumbled. The count chuckled, gazing into her eyes. “On the contrary,” he smirked. “I’m going to save you.”

((In which Dracula cares for a gravely ill Agatha))

Characters: Agatha Van Helsing/Dracula

Rating: M

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N: Well it’s been several months! Hope you guys haven’t forgotten about this little fic! I won’t keep you waiting too long! I highly suggest you read the second author’s note which can be located at the end of the chapter on either FFN or AO3 if you have any questions! With that said, feedback is greatly loved and appreciated! Huge thanks to @mitsukatsu for always letting me bounce ideas off of her! Thanks, girl! Hope ya’ll enjoy! -Jen

Chapter Thirteen

Though the sky was shrouded in near darkness, the full moon peaked through just enough to illuminate the scattered clouds that blanketed the night. It was eerie to say the least and even Agatha, despite what she now was, stuck close to Dracula as they made their way down an off-beaten path towards the small village. If her still heart could, it would be beating with such ferocity that her very chest would've felt the crushing blow of each throb.

"You're awfully quiet." Her mate commented, offering his hand as they stepped over a log. "You have nothing to fear. It is quite a simple process and I assure you that I would not allow any harm to come to you."

"That's not what I'm afraid of you." Agatha said quietly. "I am not worried about my sake."

"Then what?" The Count inquired, stopping them both in their tracks. "This isn't about your moral standards is it, Agatha? We've discussed this on numerous occasions. I only wish what is best for you. I think in time you will see that. How much, I cannot promise, but it will get easier." He smiled gently and tilted her chin to press his lips to hers. "Come," he urged. "Let us not wait. Time seemingly moves much faster than one would presume."

Part of her wanted to say something. Outright deny any participation in this immoral act. But perhaps it was her selfish love for him that even made her consider the possibility. Why was romance so damn desirable? Holding her in a vice grip where eternity with her former enemy was a far more pleasant option than being without? Was this love sickness? Could he feel the same way? That only made it worse. The former nun sighed, trying to clear her head of such thoughts. So much had happened in these past few months. Her skull hurt and she wasn't quite sure if it was due to her fall or just the strain of it all.

"Ah! We're here!" The excitement in Dracula's voice pulled the former nun from her thoughts. She looked to the vampire, his teeth glinting in what little moonlight shone from the clouds. "It's right outside the city of Brașov, secluded enough that we shouldn't be bothered." He reached down and gave her hand a squeeze. "Fear not," he murmured. "I will be right by your side guiding you the entire time." Though his words offered little relief.

The village was nothing special, far from appeasing to the eye. It was small, perhaps used at most for those passing through or people making just enough to get by. Agatha absentmindedly dug her nails into the palm of her hand, feeling their newly found strength press indents into the skin. Dracula was speaking to her, but his words sounded so distant as she took in her surroundings. As a greater part of her wanted to turn back and return to the castle, an unexpected sight captured her immediate attention.

"No, please! I'm begging you! Leave me be!"

From the entrance of an alleyway, a woman stumbled backwards, her hands outstretched as if in some poor attempt to protect herself. Agatha stepped forward instinctively, but found her mate's arm outstretched in front preventing her from going forward.

"Wait." He said quietly. "Allow this to play out."

Agatha threw him a look of horror about to protest when a stranger strode out from the shadows something glinting in his hand. Without warning, the figure slashed the object at the woman's neck causing a gurgling choke of surprise to escape past her lips. Something sweet filled the air. The scent was more alluring than any blossom the former nun could remember smelling. Blood. Fresh blood. Human blood.

Whizzing, the lady collapsed on the ground, too weak to ward off the man as he began to dig through what little satchel she carried. Finally snapping from her trance, Agatha looked in horror at the sight before her. At the intense feelings that bombarded her mind after witnessing what she had just seen. How both her former and immortal sides were battling against her sanity.

Agatha's eyes remained locked on the man's as he stood unmoved just meters from her. With her new found abilities, even in the nearly moonless night, she could make out the thick, crimson liquid as he dripped down the shimmering blade. It was almost teasing. Watching it fall to the ground below where it became soiled by dirt.

"What are you waiting for?" A voice coaxed softly from behind, its excitement barely masked. "Go, I'll follow."

Yet Agatha's attention was not drawn to Dracula. Instead, her gaze briefly flickered to the figure lying nearly lifeless off to the robber's side. The woman's hands wearily grasped at the deep slash drawn across her throat as her life blood gushed between her fingers. An easier prey, she knew, but not one of good consciousness. If the former nun was to kill, then there had to be a reason.

"Two for the price of one." She heard Dracula say from behind. "The girl is merely a mercy kill."

They had different ideas about compassion, and the younger vampire's attention redirected once more to the man. The soon to be murderer. If it could, her blood would be boiling. A strange emotion began to fill her. Almost primal in nature. Her smooth teeth began to shift as she took a step forward towards the thief.

"Stay-stay back!" The man warned, swinging his knife shakily between Dracula's and Agatha's direction. "I'm warning you!"

But Agatha's ears no longer heard the desperate, empty threats. Nor did she feel the anticipation of her mate by her side. Instead, she lunged forward and knocked the man to the floor. Predator finally becoming prey.

Fangs cut through soft flesh like a spoon through room temperature butter. Instantly a flood of hot, sweet liquid coated her tongue and flowed down her throat in deep, hungry gulps. Agatha wasn't sure what she had been expecting. As a child, she'd once fallen and bitten straight through her bottom lip. Through the pain, the blood had tasted salty. Unpleasant. But now, here where she feasted, it was like honey straight from the comb. This wasn't the putrid taste from animal gore. No. No, this was far, far delectable.

"Agatha."

A hand clamped down on her shoulder but Agatha ignored it, choosing instead to keep suckling away at whatever remained of her victim. The grip, though gentle, tightened slightly causing an unanticipated low grumble to escape from deep within the former nun's throat. Finally, she sat up, blood dripping unceremoniously down her chin. She blinked, slightly confused for a moment as she began to take in her surroundings once more. Dracula smiled fondly at her, an almost proud sort of expression. Agatha blinked again and, looking from the dead man to her lover, quickly wiped away at her chin in slight embarrassment.

"I must admit I am quite impressed." The Count mused, admiring her handy work. "You took to it much better than I had anticipated." He ran a hand through her hair, his dark eyes flickering away from the body. "Now might I interest you in some dessert?"

The blood that bubbled around the entry wound on the woman's neck was already blackening with clots when Agatha arose to her feet. With great care, the younger vampire made her way over, careful not to step on the crumpled body. The lady gazed up at her with grey, uncertain eyes, each breath more raspier than the prior. Perhaps she didn't see the act Agatha had just committed, or was too out of it to even fully absorb what had occurred.

"Scared…" It was about all Agatha could clearly make out. "Please…"

Ignoring what Dracula could possibly be thinking, his Bride gingerly sat on the ground and cradled the woman like one does a babe. Her skin was grey, cold as what little blood left stuck to Agatha like a paste. A waste, she knew, but her own needs were none of her current concerns. She held the woman close, as best as one could for both being around the same height.

"There is nothing to fear." The former nun said softly, her eyes locked onto the woman's. "Soon there will be no pain. No horror. Be at peace with your Savior. Go now with God."

Her pulse stopped and Agatha watched the woman's chest rise and fall one more time before all with still. Gently, she closed both eyelids, covering the irises that reflected the moonlight like glass. She turned her head to see Dracula watching her, his expression hard to read. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she lowered the woman back down onto the ground and rose to her feet.

"She didn't deserve to die like that." Agatha finally said, not turning to meet the vampire's gaze. "No matter what you say, I made the right call."

The Count exhaled. "I take it you know your way enough to start walking back towards the direction of the castle?" Agatha merely nodded and Dracula cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose then I'll clean up for tonight. We can make that a lesson for another day." He smiled, trying to lighten the tension. "You did well, Agatha. Give yourself some credit. We'll have to celebrate amongst ourselves."

Dracula kissed her cheek and Agatha forced a small smile. She tried not to look at the two bodies as her mate gave her hand a small squeeze. Though she physically hadn't felt this great in a long while, the repercussions of what she had done had struck her hard.

Honestly, she quite yearned for the vampire's company as she followed the trail that led back to their home. Right now, the idea of being alone wasn't all that pleasant. Then again, crushing the chest of a human to prevent it from turning was far less appealing. So she went by memory, trying to push past what she had done until the castle was in sight.

"Foolish, foolish…" She thought to herself, the brush and stone crunching under her feet. "Just let it slip away. If there is some higher power that thinks I have done some good enough to deserve the least bit of mercy, allow me to forget for a few precious moments."

A humorless chuckle escaped from between her lips. At least Dracula hadn't called her out on her biblical speech. That had taken her by some surprise. But as a nun, the dying always seemed calmed by the idea that God awaited for them with open arms and complete, forgiving nature. She hadn't quite understood that. Then again, she hadn't quite understood much of that the more she considered it.

A pair of arms wound themselves around her waist just as Agatha reached the top of a hill. Dracula pressed his face into the crook of her neck and inhaled. She could smell the heavy scent of blood on him, though it was far from pleasant. Corpse blood never did have the same effect she was beginning to pick up.

"You walk too terribly slow." He murmured against her skin. "If I were a fox and you were a rabbit, you'd be dead."

"Always lovely with your analogies." Agatha snorted, rolling her eyes. "And we both know I'm too wise to be a rabbit." She paused, hesitation in her voice. "Is it done?"

"As I've said before," Dracula turned the former nun so that she now faced him. "You are my true bride. I have no intention to turn others." Her eyes narrowed, pressing him for a better form of confirmation. "Yes. You have nothing to worry about." The Count exclaimed, admiring her in the moonlight. "Have I told you how ravishing you look tonight?"

Forget. Forget. Agatha gazed up into his dark eyes, taking in the lust and excitement that they held. She could taste the thief lingering on her tongue. Feel the dried blood from the innocent woman against her skin and on her clothes. Forget. Forget. She wanted to block it out. And here stood Dracula. Completely unaware, far too focused on what he thought was right. Was okay. In that moment, she needed him to help her forget. Wanted him to make her forget.

"Then show me." She whispered, his eyebrow quirked in surprise as she moved his arms to the straps of her dress. "You tell me I'm exquisite, but words have no meaning over actions." Agatha locked eyes with him. "Take me here. Right now."

Dracula's lips curled into a smile. "I did not realize how much tonight meant to you."

A blur of emotions. A tidal wave of feelings. Agatha bit her lower lip, glancing once at the night sky before back at her lover. They still had time. A few hours before dawn. They'd make it back. She just needed to be distracted. If just for a little while. Forget.

Agatha forced her second smile of the night. "Then let me show you."

#Dracula #Dracula 2020 #Dragatha #Agatha Van Helsing #BBC Dracula #Dracula x Agatha #Bad Moon Rising

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ravenclaw-craftsgirl · 3 years

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~IDENTITY (AS OF 6TH YEAR)~

Name: Sagira

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Birth Date: August 3rd, 1973 (Speculated)

Species: Human

Blood Status: Pure Blood (Speculated)

Sexuality: Bi-Sexual

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Ethnicity: Arabic (Speculated)

Nationality: English

Residence: England (Inducted into the Child Services system)

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ESFP - The Entertainer

1st Wand:

Apple Wood

9 1/2 in

Slightly Rigid flexibility

Horned Serpent Horn core

Applewood wands are not made in great numbers. They are powerful and best suited to an owner of high aims and ideals, as this wood mixes poorly with Dark Arts. It is said that the possessor of an apple wand will be well-loved and long-lived, an assertion supported by the fact that Garrick Ollivander often met customers of great personal charm to find their perfect match in an applewood wand. An unusual ability to converse with other magical beings in their native tongues is often found among apple wand owners, who include the celebrated author of Merpeople: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Language and Customs, Dylan Marwood.

Animagus: None

Misc Magical Abilities: Blade Dancing, a previously thought extinct form of spell casting originating from the middle eastern countries, primarily areas of high Dervish congregations.

Limited Parsel Tongue

Boggart Form: y1-y4: Abuser from her previous foster home

y5-present: Chiara loosing control and dying

Riddikulus Form: Unknown (has never been able to fully confront her fears

Amortentia (others): A slight smell of ozone, like sand during a thunderstorm

Amortentia (Sagira): (before dating) Fresh Air during laundry day

(after dating) Wet grass in a forest, the smell of late night dew on grass

Patronus: Egyptian Cobra

Patronus Memory: Chiara confessing her love, giving Sagira purpose

Mirror of Erised: A Family, mother and father, who had actually cared to keep her.

Specialized/Favourite Spells:

Serpent Sorcia

Diffindo

Incendio

~APPEARANCE~

Height: 5′5” (154 cm)

Weight: 140 lbs (63.5 kg)

Physique: Toned/ Dancers build

Eye Colour: Silver

Hair Colour: Raven Black

Skin Tone: Well Tanned

Body Modifications: Single Belly piercing (Diamond Stud)

Scarring: Due to previous Street Living, Sagira has sustained many scars. The most noticeable scar is the one on her eye, going from brow to cheek bone cause by an overly aggressive homeless man attempting to steal her meal.

Other Psychological scars are unknown, but varied.

Inventory: Most of what Sagira carries are what she can fit into her pockets, including but not limited to:

Several Knives ranging from Pop-out Stilletos to Karambits to Balisongs.

A pen and paper

A small onyx charm bracelet from when she was a baby

A smooth Opal, a gift from Chiara

Fashion: Sagira doesn’t particularly have a sense of fashion, being raised in the streets. Nearly any piece of clothing is used until completely unusable, often wearing two shirts until the most damaged one finally gives out.

The few times that she has nice clothes, she generally wears nice, light clothes that allow her to breath.

~ALLEGIANCES~

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Affiliations/Organizations:

The Order of the Phoenix (Honorary Member)

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Professions:

Freelance Herbologist

Musician/ Singer

Dancer

~HOGWARTS INFORMATION~

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (T)

Charms: ★★★★★★★★★★ (O)

DADA: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (A)

Flying: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (T)

Herbology: ★★★★★★☆☆☆ (E)

History of Magic: ★★★★★★★★★★ (B)

Potions: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (O)

Transfiguration: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (A)

Electives:

Advanced Potions

Alchemy

Care of Magical Creatures

Extra Curricular:

Potions Club

Magic TheoryAncient Runes Club (Honorary Member)

Dance Club

Favourite Professors:

Professor McGonagall: Perhaps the closest Sagira has had to a mother, McGonagall is stern yet fair and often a voice of reason for the young orphan. With a constant focus on Sagira’s well being, attempting to steer her in the right direction as a growing young woman.

Least Favourite Professors:

Professor Snape: While he is stern, it also comes with a degree of malice that Sagira has known to be a bad thing within anyone. Teachers, care givers and peers. She simply follows directions, never getting close and deliberately going out of her way to avoid snape. To her credit, she may be Snapes favorite student aside from Penny.

~RELATIONSHIPS~

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Love Interest: Chiara Lobosco

Despite the stark differences of childhood, the two are bound by tragedy. One cursed to flesh not her own, the other cursed with a mind not her own.

The two accidentally met during a full moon, when Sagira was alone dancing. After an attack from another werewolf, in which Sagira saved Chiara, the two started to communicate more. With communication came understanding and healing, with healing bloomed love.

So they may be cursed, but they have each other and that’s blessing enough.

Best Friends:

Rowan Hubei Khanna (Female Khanna)

Rowan Harrow Khanna (Male Khanna)

Ethren Whitecross

Penny Haywood

Badeea Ali

Andre Egwu

Nymphandora Tonks

Rival: Diego (Who can dance better)

Enemy:

Patricia Rakepick

Dormmates:

Penny Haywood

Nymphandora Tonks

(Unnamed Hufflepuff)

Pets:

While she needed a Familiar, Sagira was very reluctant to accept one on the basis that she was homeless. However, she later caved and accepted a Niffler named Pluto, due to his very regal attitude and the silver stripe that runs down his back.

Closest Canon Friends:

Penny Haywood

Diego Caplan

Closest MC Friends:

Helene Adler @heleneplays

Septimus Crowe @brothergrimm71

Ethren Whitecross @hogwartsmysterystory

~BACKGROUND/HISTORY~

[Due to several graphic and upsetting contents related to poverty and the injustices of the Social Systems, I am intentionally leaving this section blank.]

~PERSONALITY~

Sagira is an odd mixture of Shy and Cheerful that comes from being an abuse survivor. She hardly trusts anyone completely and if that trust is ever shattered, it will never be formed again. This is a defense mechanism she has developed while on her own to further her odds of survival without being harmed more than necessary.

Aside from that, she is an often curious individual, though as to what she is curious about often varies on the situation. One moment she could be inquisitive on the aspects of the world, the next she could simply be asking for the brownie recipe you just used. Kind, sweet and caring yet cautious, Sagira is one to tread carefully around.

MISC

An old Beanie cap, made of gray wool, will always be on her person. It used to belong to a surrogate father, a fellow homeless named Rusty. Rusty taught her how to survive on the streets only to later die of pneumonia.

Sagira is often partial to romantic picnics with Chiara, most commonly during the full moon where Sagira keeps Chiara company while gently stroking her fur.

(Artwork gratefully done by @lgvalenzuela

#Sagira #maybe she'll have a last name later on #depends on the stories #Biography

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