#I might make a separate post just for all of its chapters
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The English Client — One
— PAIRING: Tom Riddle x F!Reader
— SYNOPSIS: The year is 1952. Tom is working for Borgin and Burkes. He is sent to Rome to acquire three ancient books of magic by any means necessary. One in particular proves challenging to reach, and the only path forward is through a pretty, young bookseller. A foreigner like him, she lives alone, obsessed with her work... until Tom comes into her life.
— WARNINGS: none for this chapter, just Tom being grumpy and hating the world
— WORDCOUNT: 3k
— A/N: This is a fic that was commissioned by @localravenclaw as a gift for @esolean 💕 It's going to be a bit of a rollercoaster, with angst and fluff and smut galore. I plan to post twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you will have fun reading it, my dears! 💚
I
Tom was twenty-five. It had been seven years since he graduated from Hogwarts, and just as many since he started working at Borgin and Burkes. Now, he found himself in a sweltering place with the world passing him by. Trapped, for his sins, in a moving metal coffin. If this was hell, it looked like rolling hills, houses nestled in the fog, narrow rows of poplars and puffs of grazing sheep, all set to the tune of clinking chains and carriage shuffles. He hated this assignment.
After taking the train from London to Dover, he caught the ferry that sailed to Calais, and from there took a series of coaches and trains meant to take him on to Italy. To Rome. They had just stopped in Lyon to pick up more passengers, and now they were on their way again.
He had fought with Burke regarding the logistics of the whole thing. Why couldn’t he just use Floo like a normal wizard? But the miserable old stoat said he’d sooner trust muggle transportation than Tom’s pronunciation of Italian or French — and besides, was Floo even networked all the way down there? It didn’t matter anymore.
Tom was convinced it was all done to save costs, and perhaps for Burke to not have to call in any favours. So off he went with one measly suitcase and two billfolds of franks and lira — all of which were merely enchanted oak leaves. They would inevitably transfigure back to their original form in a couple of weeks or so, but by then Tom should be long gone. Who said money didn’t grow on trees?
He tried to distract himself from all this misery by checking his notes again. His little book cracked open, snapping at the spine, and its insides were revealed to him like a cadaver cut through with a black spidery scrawl. It was a list of books and authors, with observations added vertically on the side to save space.
“The Secrets of Wisdom, N. Tamisso 1650 — high priority, any edition. The Lost Word, B. Trevisan 1661 — low priority, optional. Delomelanicon (or The Invocation of Darkness), A. Torchia 1666 — first edition, mandatory.” The latter word was underlined three times. His notes continued with the instructions Burke had given. “Check the rare book dealers, antiquaries, private collectors if necessary. If you can not find it, find out who can. If they will not sell it, take it anyway.”
Tom’s lip curled. Whatever joy there was in being away from the squalor of Knockturn Alley was soiled by what he had to do in Rome. It wasn’t the books he minded, and in fact, he quite admired Burke’s taste in this matter. But to be flung so far away from home on such short notice, and for such a length of time, was pitiful to him. The heir of Slytherin turned errand boy…
“Excuse-moi, est-ce que — Oh, bonjour.”
Tom turned his frown toward the sliding doors of the compartment, between which stood a young man in his twenties. Lanky brown locks fell into his eyes veiling the crinkles of a smile.
“Yes?” sighed Tom.
“I was wondering if this was free,” said the boy. And without waiting for an answer, he dragged his luggage inside — three suitcases, all leather with copper fittings looking ready to burst — and closed the doors behind him.
“I suppose it is,” mumbled Tom. He subtly closed his notebook and tucked it back into the messenger bag at his feet while he kept track of the stranger from the corner of his eyes.
The fine quality of the newcomer’s clothes was somewhat disguised by how carelessly they hung around him. His white and starched shirt was loosened at the top, revealing a hint of tanned skin sprinkled with sparse curls. A golden pin kept a red and blue striped tie affixed to it, and around his pinky finger was a silver ring thickly laid with marcasites and crowned with a malachite stone. His lips were full and purple-stained from wine. His eyes were a bright blue. Judging by his pressed trousers and clean leather shoes, he was a gentleman who had arrived at the station by car — or, at least, he was the spoilt brat of one.
“Clement,” the boy grinned, extending his hand.
“Tom,” he replied, giving him a firm, brief shake.
“I’m on my way to Rome!” Clement sighed, plopping down onto the seat opposite him. Almost immediately, he cracked open a cigarette case and started fishing for a lighter in his trouser pocket. His luggage lay strewn all around the floor, suitcases filled with junk, no doubt. “You?”
“The same,” Tom said and instantly regretted sharing anything at all. With people like these — the overly friendly types — it was best to not encourage conversation.
“Oh, magnificent. Vacation?”
“Work.”
“How sad,” tutted Clement as he popped a cigarette between his lips. He offered one to Tom as well.
“Don’t smoke.”
“Ah.”
He closed the case with a loud click and set it on the table between them. With a smooth, almost theatrical motion, he lit up his pocket lighter — silver, older than him, probably an heirloom, engraved with an elaborate floral motif featuring a fleur-de-lis — and let the flame dance on the tip of his cigarette until he was satisfied.
“Don’t talk much, either,” the boy chuckled. He kept his eyes on Tom as he took a drag, then started puffing away without a care. He attempted to blow rings of smoke but failed. “What do you use your mouth for, then?”
“Cursing, mostly.”
Clement laughed. “The same!”
Tom doubted it.
The compartment soon filled with smoke, and the narrow window open at the top only made it dance around inside. The muggy summer fumes were driving Tom to madness already, and he could only hope the train moved fast enough to clear the air. But as they went further into the rural parts of France, the scent of sheep took over. Maybe it’s not too late to try to Apparate directly at the station, he thought.
“So, what do you do?” asked the French boy, vowels gliding altogether in one breath between his lips. His arm extended elegantly to tap the ash into a cheap tray by the window.
It took Tom a moment to look at him and answer. “I’m in, er, publishing.”
“Truly?” he said, excited enough to lean over the table. “That’s magnificent. I intend to be published too.”
“Oh? What do you write?”
“Poesies.”
“Poetry? Ah, not my area, I’m afraid.”
“But you must know some people…”
Tom wanted to tell him that if he were any good he’d have found a publisher already, but intuition told him to temper himself.
“I might,” he said, “but I’m afraid I’m full up at the moment.”
The boy puffed away nervously as he tapped the round gemstone of his ring against the window, and kept his eyes on him. Tom turned to watch the view rolling past them, seeing without seeing. The sensation of being watched was as familiar as it was discomforting. It crawled down his thin cheeks, his narrow neck, and from there sank into his clothes like sweat. He gazed briefly at the tapping ring from the corner of his eyes in irritation, before focusing away again. For a few moments, he thought he’d successfully ended their conversation.
“Well, I’m in show business,” Clement said instead, grinning brilliantly. There was a gap between his first incisors that made him look boyish and pure. “Theatre.”
“Your parents must be very happy.”
“No,” he laughed. “Miserable. But,” he shrugged, “it is not their decision.”
Tom hummed and said nothing else.
“Your parents are happy with your job, no? You go on important business trips to France, to Rome, and… erm. Well, it is a good job, for sure. Makes them proud, yes?”
Whatever sunshine beamed through the window was chilled and clouded by the glare in Tom’s dark eyes. Why did this bothersome Frenchman have to talk to him? He wasn’t going to keep doing it the whole way to Rome, surely…
“I wouldn’t know,” he finally said. “They’re dead.”
“Oh… Oh, I am so sorry...”
“I’m not,” he mumbled. He didn’t think Clement had heard him, but he wouldn’t care even if he did.
The boy pulled the ashtray closer and put out his cigarette, then leaned his head against the glass. Fidgeting, he held the silver case in his hands and clicked it open and closed, open and closed… He did that for quite a while.
Tom could feel him staring. Could even sense to some extent the messy thoughts inside that head: curiosity, intrigue, and joy.
What could be joyful about that moment?
Well, if Tom was being honest, this wasn’t the first time he’d had such an effect on people. Memories of Burke’s clients came back to him accompanied by the customary shiver down his spine. Clement had the same flippant merriment about him that all the others did, those careless old witches and wizards. That unguarded look of innocence surrounded by the fog of greed. An airy absence of thought and feeling. Must’ve been the side effect of all that money.
Tom had once envied such people. Had even flattered himself with the knowledge that he, however distantly, was one of them. What greater destiny than to be born to glorious old blood? What greater tragedy than to be fallen from it…? He could even remember, with much clarity and shame, how he’d spent several months during his third year obsessing over the Gaunts and Riddles, chasing up on genealogies, and smattering the back pages of his diary with heraldic designs.
But the more he understood the upper classes — their uselessness, their inborn idiocy, their paradoxical sense of superiority which stood impervious to anything reality threw at them — the more he grew to hate them.
“I am sorry if I offended…” said Clement rather softly. “Sometimes, I talk too much.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t notice.”
“No, but I do, I do…”
Tom had overshot his subtleties, apparently.
“So you are not happy with your job? Forgive me for asking…”
“No, it’s quite alright.”
“A pity, you know…”
“Why?”
“To not like it.”
“Oh, it’s not too much trouble most of the time. Why? Do you like your job?”
“But of course!” he said, blue eyes twinkling.
Tom cast a scathing look his way. How strange… He couldn’t imagine enjoying any form of employment — other than the coveted post of DADA professor at Hogwarts.
“Why are you in Rome, then?” Tom asked.
“On vacation. I am, erm, meeting a friend,” he whispered with a grin.
“A girlfriend?” asked Tom with a smirk.
Clement shook his head and giggled. “A boy friend.”
Tom’s brows nearly reached his hairline. He’d never heard of such things being bandied about quite that openly before, at least not in England. Clement seemed not to care. Must’ve been a habit of his, as he seemed to not care about much at all other than enjoying life.
“You have a fun vacation ahead of you, then.”
“More than you know,” he winked.
Tom curled his nose at that and sat back, away from the whole conversation. But Clement leaned closer, arms braced over the table lazily, eyes flashing excitedly.
“We will rob this old fool, and run with his money.”
That captured Tom’s attention again. The boy was waiting eagerly for his reaction, and not a thought ran through his head that Tom might’ve been untrustworthy. Of course, far be it from him to ruin someone else’s fun, but the scenario Clement proposed was too absurd to be believed.
So what else could Tom do but laugh? The sound of it filled the cabin, and so out of use were those muscles that his cheeks began to ache. The sight of it seemed to delight young Clement. He leaned back and gave another one of his brilliant smiles.
“You can join us, if you like,” he offered smoothly.
“Sorry,” said Tom, his cheeks still flushed. “My schedule is full.”
“Oh, pity, pity… You would like my friend, I think. His name is Donatien. He is more serious, like you.”
“Is that so,” said Tom distractedly.
“By the way, what is your hotel?”
II
They entered Rome on a train that ran six hours late, and wobbled on its tracks, and stank of mouldy cheese and wine rust.
Clement talked most of the way there, and seemed to be satisfied with Tom mostly reacting with brief hums and tilted smiles. They even exchanged gifts. The French boy was enchanted by what was, in Tom’s estimation, a fairly average switchblade. He’d only taken it out to peel an orange. It was something he’d bought in London right before his seventh year, and although it was quite plain, it did have some delicate embellishments on its ivory handle of two writhing snakes. That seemed to appeal to Clement, who offered his own blade in exchange — a Swiss army knife that also had a screwdriver and bottle opener tucked in its red body. Considering it a more efficient deal, Tom shrugged and accepted the trade.
Faint details came up now and then about his plans with this Donatien, but most of it was lost in smoke and loud metallic rattles. As much as Tom hated flying on brooms, even he could agree it would’ve been preferable to this…
But at least he didn’t have to fear any Ministry or Aurors in these parts. Not any that were familiar with him, anyway. The Italians had their own Ministry of Magic, of course, but it was all the way down in Mirto, Sicily, and foreigners were a low priority for them. There were so many people from all over the world in Italy those days that it wasn’t worth keeping track of them all, or at least so Burke had told him.
The train slowed and pulled into the station, and pulled, and pulled… It groaned as if in pain. Clement took the jolt of inertia as it all came to a stop with cheerful clapping, and promptly got up to collect his bags.
“So, we are agreed?”
“Absolutely not agreed. Besides, I doubt my lodgings would be to your taste.”
“Ah Tom, you do not know my taste!”
“Very well, but best keep your complaints to a minimum once we get there.”
They struggled to get everything off the train with four suitcases between them. Tom was travelling light with just the one, about which Clement made some snide comment that he soon forgot, but he helped him anyway. His own belongings consisted of plain muggle clothes and some books that Burke wished him to barter with, if it came to that. Between the lines, and between Burke’s sparse and slimy brows, Tom understood he was expected to use his charms to get a bargain price — as per usual — but he did not intend to let some fat old antiquary put his grimy hands on him. Not this time. Besides, conversing with Clement had stained his dignity enough.
Being away on the continent had one advantage, at least: he was no longer under the vulturous watch of his employer.
Tom stepped out onto the platform, muscles sore from days of sitting down, and looked ahead as if he knew where he was going. People were chatting all around him, filling the cool hall with murmurs all the way up to its dome — some in German, some in French, others in variously accented English. Tom wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve and picked up his suitcase to follow Clement, who was hunting for a trolley to load his luggage onto.
As soon as they stepped out onto the street, the heat of Rome in August hit Tom in the face like an oven door and he, frail and pallid thing, was not prepared for it. He squinted in displeasure, to Clement’s great amusement.
“This way, Tom!” he said as he popped on a pair of sunglasses. “I see a taxi!”
Tom had spent most of the journey brushing up on his Italian with the help of a conversation guide he picked up at the Gare du Nord. His extensive knowledge of Latin came in pretty handy. But now that he saw Clement handle things, perhaps he needn’t have bothered. His companion could easily direct the driver to the dingy old hotel Tom was staying at, the Gallienus on Via Domenichino, and chatted a bit more besides.
“Vacation in Rome often, then?” he asked.
“I just know some phrases,” Clement smiled. “You don’t need much with these people.”
The driver pretended not to understand the slight.
“Where do you want to have lunch, then?” Clement asked.
“Lunch? I’m certainly not in the mood, not now.”
“Oh come ooon…”
“You can eat on your own.”
“We can leave our stuff and take the taxi to this place I know on Via della Mercede. They make the best seafood, the best!”
It had not been until now, with this journey to somewhere far away, that Tom realised how limited his world had been at Hogwarts. He’d once felt equal parts ashamed and at a strange advantage next to the other Slytherins, his peers, all purebloods, for knowing both the magical and muggle worlds. Now, exiled for this assignment among strangers, it seemed to Tom as if he were starting life all over again. He looked out the window and everything was new, everything was strange. The buildings, the street, the people, even the clothes were different. The city, like London, was massive, but the streets were broader, blazing white. Some disappeared into little alleyways that slithered like dark serpents. Tom could easily see himself getting lost in such a place.
It was… humbling. He didn’t like it.
#Tom Riddle#Tom Riddle x reader#Tom Riddle x OC#Tom Riddle fanfiction#harry potter#harry potter fanfiction#sswallow;fanfics#sswallow;made a thing#fanfic;englishclient#whew here we go 😭#I dread to think of adapting the masterlist for this lol#I might make a separate post just for all of its chapters#there will be 40 in total
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"i have to go to sleep" i say
"i really have to go to sleep" i say again, four hours later
#WHEN THE WRITING GROOVE HITS I GOTTA STICK WITH IT#WHO KNOWS WHEN SHE'LL RETURN TO ME#listen this decapitation fic might actually get Done!#ive got the first part written out#all it needs is a re-write and a read and then i guess i could start posting#BUT! i won't until im done with it all#im not making that mistake...#absolutely unprompted#also i need to decide on How to post it#bc it has three little 'arcs'#the Event - the conflict - the resolution#and each one has its own separate chunks with different povs#so its like... each section posted as a full chapter#with distinct separated povs / scenes#or each pov is a new chapter?#but then if its that then the chapter lengths would be so uneven.#its be like 'oh ch.1 is 3k. ch.2 is less than 2k. ch. 3 is less than 3k#rrrgh. but then just posting three big chapters#would be like 'ok part one has like. 7k. part two has 10k. part three has whatever k'#so the question is!#three big chunks posted over the course of three weeks?#or up to 10 smaller chapters over the course of a equal amount of weeks?#im inclined towards the former....#wanna get this out before the next big update releases and smashes it all into tiny shards!#big chunks! three releases! Once Im Done With The Writing / Editing Process!#might ask a certain someone to beta read! who knows! i do have a person in mind that i'd ask!#we'll see we'll see
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since I've seen it talked about in several places recently:
if you are going to do a whump- or kink- or ANY-tober or other similar challenges please please please don't post them as one fic with 31 chapters unless it actually is one coherent fic. if they're 31 completely separate fics or ficlets then please just make a collection for them or just post them as separate fics. it doesn't matter if they're only 100 words or if you think they're too small or insignificant to post alone, they're not.
and why this?
because if you post all 31 of them in one fic the tagging is absolutely useless. if I look for things to read on ao3 I'm gonna look at the tags, and if the tags include something that's a dealbreaker for me, i won't even click on the fic. I might not even SEE the fic because I've filtered out the nope-tag! so I'm gonna lose out on reading 30 perfectly nice fics because of one fic that my nope-tag applied to.
ao3 is about archiving. it's about clear tagging and being informative. there is nothing informative about it if the tags in the fic apply to random chapters while others have nothing to do with it. it makes so much more sense to have each work as an individual fic with its own individual tags and warnings, so readers can make informed choices.
of course, you do you. I can't police what other people decide to do. but personally, I find it incredibly frustrating to weed through 31 chapters to find the ones I actually want to read. so I don't. I automatically scroll past all works posted like that. and I know some others do, too.
there is absolutely no shame in posting short things on ao3. there is no minimum word count. no one is going to look at you funny if you post a small ficlet on its own, I promise. it's just going to make some readers very happy when they can actually find the things they want to read.
so, please. at least consider the upsides of posting each work as their own fic.
signed, one very frustrated fandom grandma.
#ao3#fanfic#fandom#I'm not trying to dictate what others do#so if you still wanna keep posting#completely unrelated works as chapters of one thing#then go for it#i'm not your mom#but please at least consider the alternative#and how much easier it'll be for people to#both find it and to make informed choices#of what they want to read
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do not leave me in this abyss, where i cannot find you
sukuna x reader
summary: the higher ups succeed in kidnapping you and sukuna doesn't know if he'll get you back alive.
w/c: 2.85k
tags/warnings: fluff and angst. reader is kidnapped and gravely injured. depictions of blood. canon typical violence. "good girl". cursing. ft gojo. aged up!yuuji. fem!reader. not canon compliant. no use of y/n. *please mind the warnings for this chapter*
a/n: and finally folks, we've reached the climax of the series. there will only be one more official chapter after this one, so i hope this lives up to expectations. this could maybe be read as a stand alone, but it's certainly better when serving as a culmination to the other chapters. i'm a little nervous posting this, so i'd love to hear your thoughts :)
series masterlist // masterlist
brontë
sukuna isn't sure at first why the name is familiar, but he soon realizes that a great many of the books on your shelf are authored by women of that name, including jane eyre.
though he finds your copy of wuthering heights, written by an emily brontë, tucked away in the drawer of your nightstand, the headphones you'd asked him grab lying on top of it.
he pulls the book from its spot with care, as the cover is worn and frayed at the edges. flipping through the pages, there are quite a few quotes underlined and countless scribbles in the margins.
while you'd forced him to read jane eyre, he tucks wuthering heights under his arm of his own volition. he isn't sure if it's because you've kept this one separate from the others, or because it might give him an opportunity to know you better, or because he's positive it will make you happy, but he does it all the same.
when he steps back into the living room, he drops your headphones in your lap and takes the seat beside you, wasting no time in beginning the first chapter.
"what've you got there?" you eventually question, even though you know the answer.
he doesn't spare you a glance when he responds, "a book."
"oh, yeah? what kind of book?"
he elects to ignore you, which only serves to encourage your mischievous tone. "i thought romance novels were beneath you and your refined taste."
finally looking at you, he narrows his eyes at your childish taunt. "do you want me to read it or not?"
"of course—"
"then i suggest you be a good girl and behave yourself."
your mouth snaps shut so abruptly that your teeth click as they meet, something sukuna takes note of with a raised brow. you're thankful when he returns to reading rather than saying anything more.
so without any additional interruptions, he delves into the tragic story of heathcliff and catherine. or more precisely, the pain and destruction that follows it.
the further he reads, the better he discerns that while you seem to have a penchant for the brontë sisters, they seem to have a penchant for writing about men that are wicked and callous.
the very notion makes him chuckle.
maybe it explains why he's sitting here with your feet in his lap, while you try and fail (rather cutely) to stifle your giggles at some stupid youtube video.
"what?" you ask, taking out one of your headphones once you notice he's staring at you with a small smile.
"nothing. just enjoying the story."
the way you beam in response makes his mouth go dry.
"hah! i knew it! you're a romantic at heart."
you make a big show of pressing your hands to your chest and swooning.
"settle down there," he chides, his hand patting your thigh. "you're getting ahead of yourself."
two days later, sukuna feels that something isn't quite right. it's barely perceptible, nothing more than a minute shift in the atmosphere, but it grows more palpable as time stretches on.
yuuji's mission takes him farther from home than usual, to a little town about two hours outside of the city.
the curse he exorcises upon his arrival is much weaker than he's grown accustomed to, probably only a third or fourth grade.
yuuji doesn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, or at least, he pretends not to. sukuna thinks that's the problem with optimists— they don't take action quickly enough, too busy wasting their time hoping for the best.
when he returns home late that afternoon only to find your apartment door slightly ajar, his hand hesitates before pushing it open.
he discovers that the living room is littered with residuals, but it's eerie how nothing else is out of place... save for you, who is no where to be found.
in a disbelieving panic, he begins checking all the rooms, not hearing sukuna's frantic voice even though it's coming from inside his own head. "she's not here... idiot, she's not here. we have to go. we have to go now."
he eventually finds a note lying on the coffee table, but even this he hardly processes— something about surrendering himself and sukuna to the higher ups at headquarters in exchange for your life.
"listen to me, brat... you're wasting time... idiot!"
"what?" he barks abruptly.
"she isn't far, a couple blocks to the east at most—"
"it doesn't matter. headquarters is to the west. that's where we need to go."
"have you failed to comprehend a single thing i've said about the higher ups?" sukuna sneers. "they'll kill us, then kill her too. she knows too much about jujutsu society. they won't let her live, and that's if she's not... if she isn't already..."
he can't get the word out.
"no... no, they wouldn't..."
"now is not the time for your blind faith in the integrity of others." sukuna tries again and again to assume control of his vessel, and while the force behind it makes yuuji's head pound, it's no use. "for fuck's sake— please, yuuji!"
it's the first time he's heard the curse occupying his body say his actual name or use the word please, and in a strange way, it seems to ground him to some degree.
itadori yuuji has always been uncannily fast, but as soon as he makes his way out onto the street, it's like his feet aren't even touching the pavement. he appears as a blur to the people he passes by and it happens so briefly that they more than likely disregard it as a trick of the light.
the ruby decorating your neck leads them right to you, a low hum of frequency that only sukuna can hear.
yuuji comes to a stop in front of an old warehouse building. there are several wooden boards nailed across the main entrance, which splinter and fall to the earth under the impact of his impatient fist.
although the people down the hall quiet themselves upon hearing the crash, he can still sense their energy. he just can't seem to pick up on yours.
maybe sukuna is wrong? maybe you're not here after all.
"no," comes sukuna's voice, cold and hard. "she's here."
he makes his way down the stretch of hallway and to an open door where he stops, both of his feet planting firmly on the ground. everything appears to be frozen as he stares at ten sorcerers who quietly stare back.
it's clear they were not expecting yuuji, but he knows the higher ups assigned so many sorcerers just in case he did somehow figure out where they brought you.
he recognizes many of their faces and even knows some of their names, their familiarity no doubt intended to discourage him from engaging them.
after a few moments, yuuji's eyes land on your figure— motionless on the floor.
he has to admit, the higher up have put together a fairly sound plan. it's just that there's one small detail they failed to account for.
a curious and constraining sensation erupts from the center of his chest, and yuuji doesn't quite understand what's happening until he registers he's no longer the one in control of his body.
the king of curses remains completely still as he studies you from afar with a slight tilt of his head, his mind refusing to believe the scene right before his eyes.
when the gravity of the situation finally settles in, a gut churning agony blossoms in his stomach and bleeds into every part of his body. every bone. every pore. every vein.
the entirety of him burns, both inside and out.
the air in the room is heavy, overburdened with hostility and raw power. it makes the sorcerers' knees buckle and they nearly collapse beneath the immense pressure.
as sukuna takes a step toward the nearest person, the edges of his vision turn white.
he moves with deadly precision, at a speed which very few people on earth could even begin to comprehend.
it's a joke how quickly it's all over.
some of them are in pieces. others have exploded into nothingness. a few are burnt to ash.
in his haste, sukuna nearly misses the final sorcerer. he's probably the youngest of them all, cowering in the corner of the room. his eyes are wide with horror and his body shakes with fear.
"p-please, spare m-me. i didn't touch her," he sputters out.
the laugh that follows is utterly humorless. "do you actually believe that makes a difference to me?"
"i told t-them not to hurt her! i swear. that's how i got this." he points to his bottom lip, busted open and swollen. "she even told me she was sorry that i got hurt... that i didn't have to defend her."
this gives sukuna pause and his jaw clenches as he considers what you would tell him right now were you conscious.
so even as every fiber of his being screams at him to end the sorcerer's miserable, pathetic life... he restrains himself and pins him to the wall instead, pressing a forearm to his throat.
"go back to the higher ups. go and tell them that if anyone lays a hand on her ever again, i will ruin them," he spits, venom lacing each word. "i'll slaughter every last one of them. i'll level their homes. i'll take everything from them. tell them this is a promise they shouldn't take lightly."
when sukuna takes a step back, the young sorcerer crumbles to the ground. "i- i- i will."
"then get out of my sight," he growls.
returning his attention to you, his demeanor shifts in every respect.
you're going to be okay. you're going to wake up. he's going to take you home and it will be like none of this ever happened.
but when he falls to your side, his knees meeting the ground so brutally that it cracks beneath his weight, his conviction falters.
your blood is spilt onto the concrete. your skin is cold. he can't tell if you're breathing. he can't feel your heartbeat.
he determines that the gash across your side deserves his attention first and his hands tremble as they move to cover it.
he puts every ounce of power he has into his reverse cursed technique, but your eyes don't flutter and your chest doesn't rise nor fall.
his palms stain crimson, and while blood has never bothered him before, the fact that it's yours forces the bile to rise from his stomach and into his throat.
and his face is wet.
why is his face wet?
why are his lips trembling?
why is his vision blurred?
he wipes at his cheeks, leaving a trail of your blood across his face in the process.
"no," he chokes out. "please, don't do this. you're fine. please, you have to be fine. please."
the king of curses begs, but he has no idea who his desperation is directed toward. maybe it's you. maybe it's the gods. maybe it's some entity that's unknowable to him.
hell, maybe it's just whoever will listen to him. there has to be someone out there, right? something.
unbeknownst to him, and poetic in sorrowful sort of a way, his next pleas are reminiscent of heathcliff's after he learns of catherine's death.
"be with me always"
"stay with me, angel. please don't go."
"take any form"
"hate me for this if you want, for being the reason you're in this mess. you can't hate me anymore than i already hate myself."
"drive me mad"
"i'll read every single stupid romance novel on your bookshelf. i promise i'll play all of your ridiculous card games."
"only do not leave me in this abyss, where i cannot find you!"
"just don't leave me here without you. i don't want to be here without you.
"oh, god! it is unutterable!"
"please," he whimpers.
"i cannot live without my life!"
"you're everything. you are everything. you can't leave me with nothing."
"i cannot live without my soul!"
"i love you," sukuna laments. "i love you."
he doesn't even comprehend the words that have been tumbling past his lips, because they're coming from a part of himself that he long believed to be dead and buried.
it's the part of him that can feel suffering and regret and loss and love.
it's the part of him that you've been painstakingly unearthing whenever you send a smile his way. whenever you curl into his side. whenever you press your lips to his.
and he's so undeserving of it each and every time. he's known that. god, has he known that.
he thinks bitterly of the night you'd walked to the park together hand in hand— when you told him the universe had sent you to knock him down a peg.
turns out you were wrong.
the universe gave you to him, but only so it could take you away too.
and it won't just knock him down a peg. it will fucking destroy him. it will completely and irrevocably destroy him.
this is what he does deserve.
how is it that you can be both his salvation and his undoing?
"i love you," he repeats, his voice barely above a whisper.
it's ironic that the three words he's never once said in his entire life are the only ones he can manage in this moment.
he hears a quiet sigh escape your lips, but he knows that it's just his imagination— nothing more than the universe playing its final sick joke.
the sun is out and its rays are peeking through the window of your bedroom. sukuna thinks it's despicable.
everything should be cold and dark today.
you're lying in bed half dead and the only thing keeping sukuna's sanity intact is the shallow rise and fall of your chest.
he should go to jujutsu headquarters and deliver a slow, painful death to every single person involved in yesterday's events. then he should turn their headquarters to ash and stand there watching until the wind blows every last bit away.
but more than that, he should be by your side, so that's where he's remained.
it's been nearly a day and you still haven't woken up, so he's taken to performing reverse cursed technique on you every few hours.
yuuji had shoko come by last night and she assured him your body just needs time, but sukuna doesn't intend on taking any chances. aside from the brat, there isn't a single sorcerer he trusts.
so naturally when gojo teleports directly in the middle of your living room unannounced, sukuna moves swiftly to his feet and blocks the doorway to your room.
gojo regards him nonchalantly, hiding his surprise that yuuji is not the one to greet him. "what are you doing... out and about?"
"that's none of your concern."
"right. well, i came to check in."
"that's not necessary."
the two men watch one another carefully, before gojo eventually chuckles. "god, you actually care about her. i guess the whole soul thing should have been proof enough, but i couldn't bring myself to really believe it until now."
sukuna doesn't respond, so the other man continues. "you should know that the threat to her has been... dealt with."
"that so?" sukuna asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
"mhmmm. word of this spread to the three clans and they agreed civilians have no place in jujutsu politics if it can be helped. not to mention your little... messenger. it all caused quite the ruckus for the higher ups."
"i don't think ruckus is enough to deter them." his tone makes it clear that he feels gojo is wasting his time.
"this isn't the heian era anymore, you know. the higher ups may still be the figureheads of jujutsu society, but they have little say when all three clans concur on a matter." receiving nothing more than a blank stare, he adds, "besides, i'm rather fond of her myself, so i may or may not have made certain threats of my own."
sukuna's eye twitches. "anything else you feel compelled to share before you leave?"
"can i at least see her before i go?" gojo questions, peering over sukuna's shoulder.
"if you do not value your life, i welcome you to try."
a sly grin breaks out on gojo's face.
"eager to make good on your promise of killing me from all those years ago?" he pauses, his hand coming to rest on his chin as if he's pondering something of great importance. "as much as i'd love to see you try, we shouldn't wake our precious sleeping beauty before she's ready, so maybe another time."
with that, he disappears, leaving a very irritated sukuna in his wake.
"our," he repeats under his breath, shaking his head. "that unbearable imbecile."
when he turns on his heel, however, the malicious look is immediately wiped from his face because you're awake.
you're awake and peering at him from behind heavy lids.
"hey," you greet in a small voice.
his eyes grow impossibly soft and he sits on the bed beside you, his hand moving to caress your cheek. your skin is warm again.
"hey, angel."
taglist: @96jnie @ay0nha @sad-darksoul @bbysatoruuu @luciiferian @risuola @lirasmoon @disaster-rose @archivist-ghoul606 @creative1writings @sloppyzengarden @omismicrowave @cecesharktales @tanyeonn @hiqhkey @ruixrei @yellowsubiesdance @thefallofruins @anything-and-everything-here69 @emzalot @elusivemoon @annoyingstrawberryballoon @miabiar @hyeon-yi @iluv-ace @wineyoungie @vduxx @inflatabledinosaurs19 @harrystylesfan2686 @silentmajesticfox @am-the-renegade @certainduckanchor @moons-reblog @scarletrosesposts @th3-audac1ty @darlink-xoxo @ayeputita @nanmiik @namjooningera @hermxssaa @annieleonhardtsbitch @nugget-eater123 @integers @thefunbanshee @thepup356 @browneyedgirl22 @lantsovheiress @luckypeacevoid @kiki17483 @ruttteerr @yourbelloved @heyohalie // users in bold could not be tagged. if i forgot to tag anyone, my apologies!! just give me a heads up.
#m!writes#sukuna#sukuna x reader#sukuna imagines#sukuna angst#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jujutsu kaisen imagines#jujutsu kaisen angst#jjk#jjk x reader#jjk imagines#jjk angst#ryomen sukuna#ryomen sukuna x reader#ryomen sukuna imagines#ryomen sukuna angst
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Hi, I really love your work! If your requests are open and if it's allowed, can I request for headcanons of Vox/Val/Alastor/Lucifer with their biological baby w reader?? I'm sorry if this is weird I just die for family dynamics😭😭 like, how would they act, would they be present or neglectful, and that stuff!! Ik it's impossible to have a child in hell but HEY. ITS FICTIONAL. It's really your decision if this is super fluff or super angst, but personally I believe it would be angst because it's hell and they are really famous 😭 THANKU
AUTHOR RESPONSE: First ask but urmmmmmm OFC OFC OFC!!! I’m all in for dis req :3 I feel like i absolutely will eat up Al’s part of this post so stay tuned. Other ones are questionable because idk if it’s OOC or not but…I’m just a girl!! >.< (I’m a genderless dude as you can see from the name ^^) I’m sorry i’m not funny- These might be short btw im rushing a little bit bc i’m trying to start a multi-chapter fix yay awesome but uhhh i’m still having fun with this 💋
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AL, VOX, VAL, & LUCI WITH THEIR BIOLOGICAL CHILD
(and reader that gave birth to em somehow <3)
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PAIRINGS: Alastor x Reader, Lucifer x Reader, Vox x Reader, Valentino x Fem!Reader (ALL SEPARATE)
SUMMARY: Alastor, Lucifer, Vox, and Valentino are dads now. Aw shucks. (Headcannons)
WARNINGS: MINORS DNI. Breeding kink, (obv bc Val is in here), Val mention, reader is female because they literally gave birth to them, mentions of pregnancy, birth, Valentino being a weird fuck, Valentino again, unhealthy duck obsession in Lucifer’s area, Breastfeeding, Cannibalism, physical slaps, everybody being nervous shots but Vox, really rushed, lmk if i missed anything pookie (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)
please don’t steal/copy/translate my work. But thanks for liking it, though!!! (๑ᵕॢ૩ᵕॢ)*౨˚ൗ
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-Alastor is 100% nervous at first since he has to be the dad and his dad wasn’t…the best!! ^^
-But also doesn’t want to back away because, I mean, it’s kinda rude to just walk away from your creation that you INTENDED to make real.
-This gentleman’s baby was not an accident, I assure you.
-Alastor would absolutely dangle the baby off the edge of a balcony just to tease you.
-Also tried to feed the baby devil meat to make it a cannibal.
-Suprisingly worked.
-Um.
-He probably got taught to knit by Rosie so if the baby ever needs clothes he’s on it.
-Cradles the baby during his radio show hours, aw, and if the baby ever cries he immediately cuts to a quick song break.
-If both you and Alastor are like completely booked and can’t take care of the baby, he’s giving it to Rosie.
-Rosie can’t? Charlie.
-Charlie can’t? Cancelling all plans.
-He just cares for his bloodline, yeah?
-If the baby ever needs like a chewy sensory toy, he’s going to try and get one that resembles Lucifer.
-Like and apple or a snake OOO A SNAKE NVM
-Snake is better since it resembles two ppl mwuhehehe
-Alastor would be a great girl dad but in general i think he would be rlly doting to them.
. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠
. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠
-Oh, you thought Alastor was nervous?
-Oh, you’re so funny.
-‘Cuz Lucifer is QUAKING once he finds out you’re pregnant.
-and expecting.
-…and that it’s alive and out the womb.
-Basicslly all because he wasn’t really in Charlie’s life that much.
-But you told him that this can be a second chance?
-Which made him cry more than he was before.
-Yikes.
-Feeds the baby the most fine meals to ever exist for a baby to eat, even tried to sneak in some wine in its milk bottle.
-Then earned a slap at the back of his head from yours truly.
-You.
-I see him as a helicopter parent at first, but then is just chill once they grow more older.
-But he’s like, devoting his immortal LIFE to this baby 24/7.
-The nursery is themed ducks.
-Everywhere.
-Sometimes you get dizzy when you walk in.
-He even wanted to name the baby duck.
-You slapped him again, of course.
-This man acts like a 8th grade frat boy whenever you breast feed the baby like he just scoots away gagging.
-Another slap.
IM SORRY-
-One time in bed you guys were like getting freaky or sum and then you but his nip
-“Honey…what was that?”
-“That’s just how it feels, Luci.”
-“…What?-“
-“When i breastfeed B/N.”
-“…Ew.”
-“BITCH I-“
. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠
. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠. ◠ . ◠ . ◠ . ◠
-Bro is so confident in being a dad.
-The first day after the baby was born he cancelled all his special guests on his show just for the baby to be the only one.
-This man is fucking insane.
-Puts this baby on his. advertisements.
-We’re talking billboards, pop-ups, etc.
-Only lets his supervisor babysit the baby when needed.
-Don’t expect Velvette or Val to even step foot near this baby without Vox in the room.
-It’s like a sibling love-hate relationship :D
-Now i wouldn’t say this baby was on purpose…most likely?
-But honestly, it might happen again because he thinks you’re hot pregnant.
-Who said that what.
-Omg who typed that???
-Fuck this is so short uhhh He like puts on child shows for the baby if they sit in his lap.
-But the baby never ever sleeps in the bed you guys share.
-not in a million years.
-Puts those shirts that look like tuxedos on the baby but they’re just printed on.
-Feeds the baby deer meat.
-Has a deer head mounted above the baby’s crib.
-Takes him deer hunting.
-Vox just needs em to learn early.
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-Valentino was “so, so careful” when you guys did it.
-and this baby was 100% and accident.
-obviously you guys couldn’t abortion because like some health reason.
-Val cried that night.
-It was kinda funny that he was crying to keeping a baby.
sorry not sorry
-When the baby is born,
-Oh god should i write that
-Uh
-He’s probably recording.
-Not posting just like…saving it.
-Guys, come on, it Valentino, you should’ve seen this coming.
-Deletes it later though fuck that’s hilarious.
-He starts whining and crying when he sees you breastfeeding.
-“Your wasting the milk, mi precioso, are you kidding me?”
-He’s like in the middle of being a good dad and a bad dad.
-Suprised he made it that far on the scale.
-whenever he’s busy, he gives the baby to some random star and tells them to bring them back by like 10:30 or smth.
-with a coffee order. Very iconic.
-Same idea with Vox and liking you pregnant, and tried to get you pregnant again but you ask him why he doesn’t have a condom on if you don’t have your pills.
-He gets frustrated when that happens lol.
-Can’t wake up the baby!
proceeds to wake them up each night 3 times minimum
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: zomg this was sososo fun to write <3 But it’s so fucking short and i didn’t even realize until i was done. I’m actually so sorry. I still like these headcannons, very humorous, very real, thank you for asking me to make this because this is my first ask i got, i still have exactly 16 more, so ur just a little lucky duck, asker. Support is appreciated! New multi-chapter fix i’m working on might be posted on Friday-Sunday!! Baiiii!!!!
-Genderlessdude92, Kiki
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master list ouuu
#alastor x reader#hazbin hotel x reader#alastor x wife reader#hazbin lucifer x reader#valentino x reader#vox x reader#hazbin vox x reader#lucifer x reader
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[egghead spoilers, up to chapter 1110]
Sanji's humanity & Zoro's strength
(or lack thereof) - a theory of possible conflict between Luffy's wings before the end of Egghead arc. Long post ahead. Like.. very long post.
So the new chapter had a very interesting new "banter" between Sanji and Zoro, but no, actually just Sanji, because there was no usual back and forth quips followed after.
Yes, this whole post started because of these few panels: (" ...!!")
After rereading the chapter more times I realized, Sanji's not even speaking to Zoro or knows that Zoro can hear him. He's talking about Zoro, and calling him a burden to the team.
Which is just baffling to me? (fair, maybe I'm looking too much into it and next chapter it would be explained in different way) but for now, I need to put this out there and make my own small (long) theory on this.
There's lot to be said about the word burden here, and I will get to it later in the post, but for now, let's start with Sanji and his eyebrow!
It wouldn't be a perfect story if Oda didn't tangle threads of each respective characters from multiple arcs before and brought them up together later on during one of the most difficult times when Strawhats and Luffy are facing off with so much danger (reminds me of Sabaody but in a very different way).
In this instance Sanji's past could be brought up again, something that started worrying him since his fight with Queen in Wano, and especially given that his left eyebrow has been changing its shape quite a lot during the run of the Egghead arc.
Here's just few panels throughout end of Wano up to current Egghead chapter, where Sanji' left eyebrow is in the focus on the pages:
Chapter 1029 was the first part where Sanji was thinking his body might be undergoing some changes he couldn't control -broken bones insantly healed, stronger and faster than ever before, due to him beforehand using the Germa suit which possibly triggered this sort of superhuman modification he wasn't really aware of until then. When he realized he couldn't remember certain memories, he panicked, thinking he might be changing into something similar like his brothers, a scientific weapon created by his father. The worry and panic was all the more present because he thought he hurt someone without his knowing, and that'd slowly take away his kindness and sense of humanity. (Too bad I hoped the changes his body might be undergoing would only be realization of his non-cis gender status, but maybe that's still on the table for sometime in the future.):
^In this second panel his face is on purpose shadowed, which was the last time he was shown in that chapter,
and only again was in chapter 1031 - where his eyebrow changed:
and it takes him to think about Luffy and what his purpose would be if something so important of him would change. He knows why Luffy went after him in WCI, he knows what values are important for Luffy and his crew, and of course he doesn't want to be reminded of his family and his brothers and act as they did. He chooses the humanity, the kindness that Luffy loves in him.
Even to the extent to call Zoro and make a deal with him - to kill Sanji if anything would go wrong with him. "If I'm not in my right mind, I want you to kill me." That much trust he has in Zoro to protect the crew and Luffy!
Of course Zoro wouldn't do anything reckless without a good reason, but part of their banter and understanding each other would be to promise something like that - echo of Thriller Bark and the range of how far Zoro would go to take on someone elses pain. It's a promise to win their separate fights, but also this was something that Sanji put out there for Zoro to take notice of. (I will come back to that later.):
(still the "bad eyebrow" - he had that the whole chapter 1031).
After his fight with Queen (where it was also cleared what his actions were and weren't), he was only shown two times until he woke up, and both times he had his eyebrow back on good side.
1036 & 1044 (hearing Luffy awaken his powers):
All the way up to Egghead he seemed to have his eyebrow drawn this way, and it started to change only during fights -
ch 1075, still good eyebrow, tho.. ehh this behavior.. whatever:
ch. 1078, protecting his crew from Seraphim, bad eyebrow:
in between chapters 1090 - 1105 (most of which were flashbacks and Sanji nor Strawhats were shown) he appeared with his typical eyebrow:
and it changed again in ch 1107 - when he was again protecting Bonney / fighting against Kizaru:
interesting was chapter 1108 where he's standing between Saturn and Vegapunk, and he's describing Saturn with "he's less and less human by the minute" while his own face was obscured, (I mean.. interesting choice of words and what character said it, huh?):
and the next page he still has the bad eyebrow:
in chapter 1109 it's back on his typical side, where it continues from previous chapter of Sanji carrying Vegapunk- so at some point it must have shifted back (and I'm curious if these changes would be noticable in the animation). At this part he's watching how Saturn is summoning the other Gorosei to Egghead:
Which leads me to the point from above with Zoro.
chapter 1110 and their interactions (for me) was just off. I like their usual banter and bickering, it's funny (if it's in the manga and contained to few panels to make sense, not so much in the anime, but i'm not going into that now), but the thing to call anyone of their crew a "burden" just doesn't fit right. (Especially after WCI... c'mon Sanji, and especially to someone like Zoro, who's always the first one to think about the crew.)
I would understand it if he laughed along with the words to elevate their seriousness, or said something like "Finish it up, Mosshead, we need to get moving." but no. He calls him a burden. And again as I mentioned, it pretty much could have been even Sanji not realizing Zoro can hear that.
These words (in my opinion) were chosen on purpose for multiple reasons:
First we have the Zoro vs Lucci fight that goes on for a while in the real world - in the One Piece world it might be just few minutes - plus we don't know how tough were the fights with the Seraphim which let others be injured.
When Lucci attacked, Zoro immediately thrown himself with him away from the rest of the crew. Zoro was possibly stalling with the fight for time to leave. I feel he could have finished that fight earlier but that wasn't the point. The point might have been to hold him back from his crew.
also this was possibly the only fight after King where Zoro could test the limits of his powers and haki, just like Luffy in the Udon prison in Wano was basically training, this (and the Seraphim fights we haven't seen) could be something similar for Zoro.
Some people think that just because of these characters getting new powers it means they already understand how to use them/how it works, but that's usually not the point of how stories go - there can be progress and there can be setbacks, growing up but also falling back down, which makes the stories more interesting.
The words that Lucci used against Zoro were basically the same thing that Sanji said to Zoro few chapters later:
Amongst them he pointed out the Strawhats inability to cut off one of their own out of their crew to save others - like Lucci left Kaku behind just chapters before this fight when he attacked Vegapunk and Stussy (and Sanji trapped Kaku in the bubble prison). It's a play on very different characters and how they think and act to show clearly how they different they are.
The words burden or dead-weight really stood out, already when Lucci said it in chapter 1107, and the fact that they were targetting Zoro - someone who always blames himself (in his mind, not usually out loud) for not being strong enough, and someone who always has protecting his crew at the first place, was interesting in the connection to Sanji repeating basically the same words in the latest chapter.
I will probably make a different separate post only focusing on Zoro and his fear of being weak, but for the purposes of this post, just to pick a few moments where it's important in the manga:
One of the first time I've noticed how much Zoro keeps berating himself with words like "not strong enough" "too lax" "still too soft" "if I'd been stronger/ faster/ better..."
was just after Little Garden arc, where he almost cut off his ankles just to keep fighting. Time after time the crew encounters strong enemies and Zoro gets a new understanding how far up is the limit that he has to reach to keep the crew safe, so he keeps training. ch. 129:
When Luffy went to fight Crocodile and Zoro was worried and kept training on the way to Alubarna, this banter between Sanji and Zoro felt typical between them - it's about the two way street, the back and forth (that's why that new chapter and insult from Sanji feels so foreign, there's no reply, not quip back - only silence and some sort of determination, which isn't good nor bad, just.. weird.) ch. 179:
and after the final fight of Alabasta, possibly one of the first times I really started paying attention to how much it gets to Zoro, this question of how strong he needs to be. (along with what possibly was one of the first introduction of his haki and how he began training the Observation haki, disguised as meditation in the terms of the early manga) ch. 213:
Thriller Bark was one of the biggest arcs in this sense of Zoro and his protectiveness towards the crew and Sanji knows that - he knows what happened there, he even wanted to sacrifice himself in stead of Zoro for Luffy (but this is beside the point here, and I talked about it in other post before).
Zoro took on himself Luffy's pain, and after that arc he still went right to train as soon as he could despite being still injured, ch. 490. "still too weak!"
which goes through to Sabaody arc.
Chapter 510 until the end of that arc is just painful to go through again. Luffy was worried for Zoro and didn't know the scope of his injuries, while Sanji knew and was concerned in his own way too - that is another thing of how they care, sometimes wordlessly but there is that understanding of what to mention or not. ("Burden" still shouldn't be one of the words to use between them, not that far into the story.)
Now - fast forward to Punk Hazard where one of similar moments played out - Zoro telling Luffy not to goof around because they got in the New world and needed to take things seriously.
It was one of those small moments where Sanji was actually one of the few people shown with reaction to Zoro's words and his urgency, ch 678:
Sanji saying "He's so tough on himself" really puts into perspective how he sees Zoro - he knows what he's been through, and knows to what extremes he's willing to go to protect his crew.
He's definitely not someone who would carelessly call Zoro "a burden" even in the time and place and situation they found themselves on Egghead, if anything, he was supposed to be one of the first ones to know how serious is Zoro always about protecting the crew. (Even in the beginning of Egghead, Zoro stayed at first on the Sunny because "who will save them when they will need saving.")
There's few others scenes and parts where Zoro questions his worth and strength, especially in later Wano, calculating what needs to be done so they have strength to face off with Kaido, ch 980:
and later against King, ch 1033 "it was my strength that was lacking!" while unlocking his Conqueror's haki, still unknowingly:
The fact that it's been happening pretty much since the beginning of the story - how Zoro views himself as not strong enough, yet persisting in always getting stronger and protecting his crew - means so much for what character Zoro is and how much he values and loves his crew (just like all the other Strawhats in different ways), and also, as I've been catching up so quickly with the manga, there's been that hope for some call out of this behavior, to poke it where it hurts, to see what would happen if someone turns those words Zoro possibly feels in his mind against him out loud. And that's kind of what's been happening lately - and I'm curious what impact will this have on both Zoro personally and on the other Strawhats, depending who will be around for the conclusion.
Zoro is one of the few strawhats really thinking about the future, plans and what they need to still fight through, carefully calculating what his opponents might be doing, how strong they are and how much of a problem it would be to go through them.
And Sanji normally understands that, he knows how Zoro works and the other way around, that's why he still protected him when Zoro was injured, (if anything, in this moment Zoro could have been something like hinderance or annoyance to Sanji, yet he never said something like that), ch. 1015:
Even on Egghead, where there was temporary truce with Lucci and Kaku, Zoro pointed out how to recognize the Seraphim's weaknesses, and apologized for 'wasting their stamina' - again, calculating on his strength, ch. 1077:
Zoro isn't just fighting for the sake of a fight, he does have his dream and does know what's important to focus on (he himself always keeps the crew in focus when it's important!)
So it's difficult to have a conclusion about the whole Zoro vs Lucci fight without knowing what is Zoro thinking - hopefully in next chapter we will have more info on it (that is number 1111 - Zoro's birthday and bounty! so I hope it will be a big focus on Zoro again). But even beside that, it was obvious in such short time two people around him suddenly called him a burden to his team - something he takes very close to his heart and mind, something that will hopefully have some consequences for us to see and read, because as Oda is choosing words definitely carefully to have the right impact, two very similar words like "burden" don't seem like a coincidence.
To wrap this up - with Sanji telling this to Zoro felt different than their usuall banter, and as I said before - maybe because Sanji wasn't even speaking to Zoro. At the same time, on Wano Sanji gave Zoro a clue that somehting was happening with him, the fact that there was a panel with just Zoro's ear twitching and then being silent, thinking, and not replying to Sanji with anything that would hint to us about his state of mind, and it could mean he's also aware of some difference in Sanji's acting.
The way he says this reminds me of the what Sanji was thinking during his fight with Queen - "what would be more useful to Luffy, regular flesh-and-blood body? Or a cruel, cold emotionless warrior of science." Even for this small part of seeing him speak with Jimbei and hearing what Zoro was up to until then, he speaks without almost any emotions beside anger? Even with his eyebrow not indicating the change, precisely, it doesn't have to be connected in this way, except physical fights, but there could be something still changing within Sanji to make him act this way, a way that really isn't something we've seen before. I think if in next chapters he speaks to Nami, Robin or some other woman without his typical over-the-top pleasanteries, it could indicate how much of a problem this could be for the Strawhats.
So we have Sanji's need to stay human and kind, the pact created with Zoro to kill him if anything felt wrong; and we have Zoro - someone who's biggest purpose from the beginning was to protect the crew and Luffy, while many times we've seen him question his own strength, and now two people in the span of like 5 minutes in the One Piece time are calling him a burden.
It will be interesting to see if this is heading towards a clash or conflict between Luffy's wings while Luffy needs the support to fight / flee from the Gorosei.
To end this too long post, I feel it's very on point for One Piece not to have a sole focus on just one character going through it™ in one arc, but it's always a few crumbs here and few hints there. This sort of conflict would be perfect to deal with both of Zoro and Sanji's respective fears - because this is very much about fears in their minds, while at the same time if they can resolve this, it would only strengthen their crew once again.
#upssss this got really long but im happy with it now. and can stop thinking about it for the next week yay#honestly i just want to talk more about zoro and his fear of being weak like.. please oda.. i know youre putting something together#one piece#one piece spoilers#zoro#sanji#roronoa zoro#op spoilers#egghead spoilers#one piece ch 1110#mine#gif:op manga#gif:op meta#one piece theory#one piece meta#one piece analysis#zoro one piece#sanji one piece#monkey d. luffy#rob lucci#long post#one piece 1110
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project : get the guy — enha hyung line smau.
SYNOPSIS : chaos ensues when you're assigned to do a project with the four supposed "cool kids" of the university and even more chaos when apparently one of them likes you, just that you have no idea who.
( or thinking being assigned with Heeseung, Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon would end with a successful project, a good grade, and perhaps even in Mr.Jeon's good graces was probably your biggest misconception rather you ended up with more irritancy for humans, possible grey hair from dealing with their questionable sanity, them having to deal with you *shivers* but on the bright side who would have guessed you might have just gotten yourself your dream boy? )
PAIRING : enhypen hyung line x gn!reader, ?? x gn!reader.
GENRE : short smau & written, crack/humour ( attempts ) angst, fluff and romance.
WARNINGS : attempts at humour, sexual jokes/suggestive tones, sunghoon ( yes he’s a separate warning ), possible making out, cussing, kys/kms jokes, mentions of alcohol…etc ( each chapter will have its own warnings )
FEATURING : all of enhypen, namjoon & jungkook ( bts), wonwoo & mingyu ( svt ), chaewon & sakura ( lssfrm ), more to be added !
STATUS : ongoing.
TAGLIST : OPEN.
CURRENT TAGLIST : @strxwberry-skiess ; @whippedforbeomgyu ; @urszn ; @cha3w0n-hearts ; @cassie6392 ; @nicholasluvbot : @xiaoderrrr ; @eleanorheartschishiya ; @wonunuwoo ; @antonsgirlfriend ; @aygotnobitches ; @dimplewonie ; @hoeinthehouse
! PROFILES.
the slayers 🙏™ | F4 ( at home edition ) 🔥 | da krabby patty secret formula 🙀
¡ CHAPTERS.
project #1 : this is literally targeted hatred.
project #2 :
project #3:
A/N: ah yes here we go, a remake/repost of this smau that I never did in fact write! i found the gc screenshots I made and suddenly it inspired me to want to write this cause there was potential 😔 tagging the people who asked to be tagged before ( the og post ), lmk if you want to be removed ! but hope you like this as much as I'm excited because I have the profiles ready and first chapter almost done :D let me know what you think!!
all written works as well as images and edits (unless credited) belong to pri. do not plagiarise, repost, re-edit or claim as yours. pics mostly found on pinterest.
writingmeraki Ⓒ 2024
links : main navigation | enhypen masterlist | info
#— gtg 📃#[ pri works ]#k labels#k films#heeseung x reader#sunghoon x reader#jake x reader#jay x reader#enhypen#enhypen fics#enhypen x reader#lee heeseung#park jongseong#sim jaeyun#park sunghoon#enhypen heeseung#enhypen jay#enhypen jake#enhypen sunghoon#jake#jay#sunghoon#heeseung#enhypen smau#heeseung smau#jay smau#jake smau#sunghoon smau#enhypen fanfiction
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Do you actually believe the DFO theory? What do you think supports it? (Genuine question)
I do think Deku and AFO have a yet-to-be-revealed connection, and back in my early BnHA fandom days I did think Dad For One was a possibility. nowadays though, I'm convinced there's a different explanation for the link between them -- namely, that OFA and AFO are actually the same quirk, and Deku is effectively a horcrux of AFO. I have a post here which explains this theory more in-depth, but basically the gist of it is that OFA was never a separate quirk at all. Yoichi really was quirkless, and when AFO attempted to force a quirk on his brother, he accidentally gave him a piece of his own quirk in the process. just broke off a lil section of it, like a Kit-Kat bar.
I will say that regardless of which theory turns out to be true, there's definitely something going on between AFO and Deku. chapter 217 in particular is practically overflowing with hints that the two are linked. Katsuki sees it right from the start, and even theorizes that AFO might have something to do with the SIXQUIRKS activating. and rather than disagree, All Might simply says "I didn't want to raise that point," meaning he made the connection as well. and then they just freaking drop the entire subject never to mention it again. and Horikoshi lays this panel on us as a parting gift.
which to me is confirmation that we'll be revisiting this at some point. simply because you do not lay the symbolism on that thick without some kind of game plan for the future. this isn't merely setting up OFA and AFO as foils; this is deliberately (and ominously) drawing attention to the numerous "coincidental" similarities between their two quirks. such as the fact that OFA is the only other quirk capable of holding multiple quirks within itself. and the only other quirk capable of being passed down to another user.
not to mention there's also the as-yet-unexplained link between Deku and AFO. the fact that Yoichi can "hear" his brother, and vice-versa. back in Jakku, the pre-Danger Sense Deku somehow knew that Tomura was awake before anything had actually happened. and when Deku first activated SIXQUIRKS, AFO was somehow aware, even miles away locked up in Tartarus. and we're just supposed to pretend this is all perfectly normal and makes total sense, lol.
so yeah there is definitely some sort of reveal coming up before this all ends. but I think DFO is more likely to be a red herring at this point. Horikoshi definitely knows about the theories, and that's probably why he still hasn't revealed anything about Dekupapa. he's the Hagakure in this scenario. distract me us with speculation about her, when in reality Aoyama was the culprit all along. it's the same tactic here. convince all the fans that AFO is Deku's father, when in reality the truth is even more insidious. he's not Deku's dad -- he's Deku's quirk. and the final final boss, secretly lurking not within Tomura, but within Deku himself.
tell me that's not the perfect final showdown setup. you know it's true. you know it's coming. or at least I hope it is lol.
incidentally, during the process of typing this all up, it occurred to me that if AFO is capable of creating horcrux!quirks (which we know for a fact he is regardless of how this theory pans out, since that's essentially how TomurAFO was created)... then why not Deku as well? which immediately led me down a whole new different theory rabbit hole. that's going to have to be its own separate post, though. my mind is now going a mile a minute, holy shit. this is going to be a busy weekend.
#bnha#boku no hero academia#all for one#midoriya izuku#one for all#bnha meta#bnha theory#horcrux!deku#all for one for all#bnha spoilers#mha spoilers#bnha manga spoilers#makeste reads bnha
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The dubious nature of Iris' name (and what it means)
Sister Iris Fey Hawthorne of Hazakura Temple finds herself in a rather peculiar situation for the Ace Attorney franchise in the fact that she is one of very few characters without a canonical last name. Of course, this hasn't stopped fans from assigning her one—for the purposes of tagging and categorization (or simply to distinguish her from Iris Wilson from The Great Ace Attorney series, because "Iris Ace Attorney" is no longer specific enough), every Ace Attorney fan seems to have a different answer as to what they call her, whether it be Iris Hawthorne, Iris Fey, Iris of Hazakura Temple, or simply Sister Iris. This confusion is understandable given the lack of a clear answer in canon as to what her legal last name is as well as her unusual upbringing; what with being raised in Kurain Village as a Fey, taken away by her father as a Hawthorne, and then sent to Hazakura Temple to become a nun. However, before we delve further into Iris herself, there's something a bit unusual (that I don't often see acknowledged within the fandom) that I'd like to bring up—that being, that this name drama not only affects Iris, but her twin sister Dahlia as well.
Simply put, Dahlia Hawthorne being named Dahlia Hawthorne doesn't make much sense when you think about it. Dahlia was born to Morgan Fey, the then-leader of the matriarchal line of spirit mediums of the Kurain Channeling Tradition. As such, it's safe to assume that she and her twin sister were also given this name upon their birth—so why, then, does she have her father's (or possibly her stepmother's—it's unclear) last name when we meet her in-game? Children generally do not have their last names changed when their parent remarries, so what's the deal? This strange situation makes slightly more sense when you remember that much of Trials and Tribulations builds up to the reveal that Dahlia and Iris are Morgan Fey's daughters; as such, Dahlia appearing in Chapter 1 and introducing herself as "Dahlia Fey" would be a MASSIVE spoiler for the events to come.
As for an in-universe explanation, we obviously aren't given one, but we are given a bit of insight from Dahlia (while disguised as Iris) regarding their father's perspective on leaving Kurain Village:
"He hated the place. He said it was a hick dive, and that he had no reason to stay there."
I think it's not an unreasonable stretch to say that their father wanted nothing more to do with the Fey clan after its reputation had been destroyed post-DL-6, and likely went to great efforts to separate himself (and his daughters) from anything that reminded him of it. With this in mind, who's to say he didn't have the twins' name changed? Now, obviously whether this affected Iris herself is still up for debate—it's possible she had already been sent away to Hazakura before this had all happened. But given that Dahlia implies Iris had only been sent away after their father's second marriage, I find it more likely that her name was changed beforehand. That said, it's still just a headcanon based on my personal preferences—I like the idea of Iris having the last name "Hawthorne" because I think the association with the Hawthorne effect (in which one modifies their behavior in response to being watched) fits her really well, but I don't disagree with those who choose to use other names for her because there are good arguments to be made there as well.
However. However. The intrigue behind Iris' name doesn't even end there. We hear from Sister Bikini very early in Bridge to the Turnabout that it's Hazakura Temple tradition for nuns to choose a "temple" name—meaning that even Iris' given name might not be her real one. I hesitate a bit on this idea considering her name already pairs up nicely with Dahlia’s due to the shared flower theming (and Iris having a lack of respect for acolyte tradition in that regard would give her an interesting resemblance to her mother which I REALLY like), but if it is true it creates another fascinating bit of symbolism—Iris’ first name is a lie. A facade. Which fits in with her lying about her identity to Phoenix for 8 months and her general tendency to put up a front of whoever the person she's talking to wants her to be—whether that be Dahlia's obedient co-conspirator, Bikini's sweet and good-natured daughter figure, or Godot's accomplice and the scapegoat he can use to protect Maya. And neither of the common last names given to her by fandom accurately reflect/show the full picture of who she is either. Fey is what she was born as—but that name comes with a whole host of burdens and generational trauma that she likely does her best to distance herself from considering her tendency to run away from conflict like she did with the fake kidnapping and the aftermath of Doug Swallow's murder (she’s a lot like her aunt in that regard). Hawthorne ties her to the sister she so dearly loves—but also weighs her down due to her sister’s crimes, her role in said crimes, and the family she was sent away from against her will (even if it ended up being better for her) before it tragically fell apart. Neither one truly fits—the Iris name debacle is a perfect representation of the identity crisis of her character and that is nothing short of beautiful to me.
#ace attorney#aa#pwaa#ace attorney trials and tribulations#aa3 spoilers#iris hawthorne#iris fey#iris of hazakura temple#dahlia hawthorne#morgan fey#sister bikini#phoenix wright#godot#meta#my meta#finally posting some of my iris meta here woohoo!!!!#if anyone has additional thoughts feel free to add#iris lovers PLEASE interact she is everything to me#local woman going feral over sister iris ace attorney for the 261478th time. more at 11
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Wait does Eureka have its own established lore for how different supernatural creatures work?
Yes, it does!
(I’m going to preface this post by saying that just about everything I’m talking about here, and more, is available FOR FREE for you to read in the free pre-release version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook that you can download from our website. Go to Chapter 8 to start reading about the supernatural lore. The rulebook itself will do a lot better job of explaining all this than I will, because it has the exact details of how each one works, and I’m just hitting the highlights and going over what those details mean.)
Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a game about very human and believable investigators digging into dangerous (often supernatural) mysteries way over their heads, and sometimes those very human and believable investigators will be supernatural creatures themselves.
These supernatural creatures are every bit as human and “normal” as their mundane investigators counterparts, they have jobs, friends, families, hobbies, etc. They live among mundane society, not outside of it.
Most modern fantasy settings have some kind of separation between normal society and magical society, like you see in Harry Potter where there is normal society, and then a separate, secret magical society hidden away from it, or Vampire: The Masquerade, where vampires all have an agreement to keep themselves a secret from normal society despite acting within it.
In Eureka’s world, there is no “masquerade,” but that doesn’t mean that magic and monsters are well-known and well-documented phenomenons. Supernatural creatures such as vampires, wolfmen, etc. are exceptionally rare. Don’t take this as an exact number, but you can probably assume there’s about one of these per every 3.3 million normal people.
This rarity, as well as the fact that each individual has little to gain and everything to lose by revealing themselves (try “coming out” as a person who regularly assaults people and drains their blood), has led to them going largely undocumented in the modern day. Sure, this is the digital age, there are videos, but viral videos are not exactly scientific evidence. For every real vampire caught on camera, there are a thousand hoaxes and horror short films.
There is no secret vampire government controlling things from the shadows—most vampires don’t even know any other vampires, let alone enough to form a secret society with any effect on national politics.
As for how they work, well, that’s one of my favorite parts to talk about.
There are five playable monster types in Eureka (The Vampire, The Wolfman, The Fairy, The Witch, and The Thing From Beyond) plus two extras that are Kickstarter stretch goals (The Dullahan and The Gorgon), but in the interest of time, I’m only going to really go into detail with one of them.
Most playable monster types in Eureka are very, very old-school, with an emphasis on actual historical folklore over just making up all our own lore. That doesn’t mean Eureka doesn’t have a unique approach to the supernatural, though. Little of it is “new,” but it is certainly unique, because to my knowledge no other RPG has ever taken the old stuff this far before. A PC being a monster in Eureka isn’t just a few +1s here and there and maybe a little extra damage from silver weapons, it means playing by an entirely different set of rules from fellow investigators.
The vampires and vampire lore you see in movies are not folkloric vampires, they are mostly a 20th and 21st century pop-culture creation. Eureka’s vampire abilities, weaknesses, and other traits are based on pre-1900 vampire legends, with older traits usually taking precedent over newer ones. Thus, a lot of assumptions you might have about vampires going in could end up being very wrong. For instance, in movies, vampires instantly die when exposed to sunlight, but the first ever instance of a vampire in a story being killed by sunlight was in the 1922 film Nosferatu. In Eureka, sunlight is still awful for vampires, it strips them of their vampiric powers, but it doesn’t do any real damage to them. Sunlight is an issue vampires have to deal with, but it is far from instant death. That doesn’t mean being a vampire is inherently easy though, because in addition to having all the powers that folkloric vampires have (which is a TON), they also have all the weaknesses, and it is the emphasis on weaknesses that really makes the moment-to-moment playing of a monster PC in Eureka the most interesting. A few of my favorites for vampires are the refusal to enter homes without a direct invitation, and the compulsion to count large numbers of small objects. I think most vampire media these days considers these to be “silly” weaknesses and don’t want to acknowledge them in the lore of their “serious” scary horror vampires, but honestly I think that the “sillier” vampire stuff can still be used to great effect in horror. Imagine knowing that the only reason a vicious killer at your door hasn’t stormed in to rip your throat out is because they’re being polite.
A vampiric investigator will need to work around these weaknesses, and more, in their daily life, all while being sure not to reveal their true nature to their more mortal friends. It’s something that really changes how a character behaves and goes about problem-solving.
For instance, the rest of the party may be able to break into a house no-problem, but the vampire cannot. They need a invitation. That’s a problem. That’s a puzzle. It makes me excited just thinking about it.
This was originally going to be a much longer post where I went into more of the themes of monsters in Eureka, but I have decided that that would be most cohesive as its own post, an upcoming essay titled "How Eureka Handles Disability." So stay tuned for that.
Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is kickstarting from right now until May 10th! Back it while you still can!
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If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!
If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!
You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!
Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!
We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.
#eureka: investigative urban fantasy#ttrpg#rpg#roleplaying#eureka#monsters#tabletop#coc#vampires#vampire the requiem#vampire#vampire core#vampiric#vampire art#vampire girl#vampirism#vampiress#ttrpg art#ttrpg community#ttrpg tumblr#indie ttrpg#ttrpg character#dungeons and dragons#roleplaying games#pathfinder#werewolf#werewolves#lycan#shapeshifter#lycanthropy
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y’all we need to fucking talk about how deep the lore for Love and Deep Space goes. I’m literally crying after reading all three of Zayne’s Anecdotes back to back.
Spoilers for those Anecdotes: A Pure White Heart, Never-Ending Winter, and Still in Dark
A Pure White Heart is the account of an intern who temporarily gets to work under Dr. Zayne.
This is for sure set in the timeline/lifetime/whatever that we (MC) play in; Zayne is a renowned and respected doctor, with a cold exterior that makes it hard for people to see the utmost care and dedication he has for everyone. The pedestal he’s placed on as a top surgeon as well as his demeanor isolates him from everyone around him, and it takes a while and genuine effort for people to understand him.
(never mind how sad I got when everyone in the operation room was talking about a type of strange dish, Zayne pipes up with a joke, and everyone just froze—silent and unsure if Zayne was scolding them or something. Poor guy. I’ve got chronic RBF so i felt way too seen by this anecdote)
Never-Ending Winter is also most definitely set in our timeline with the Zayne we know. This anecdote sheds way more light on the Mt. Eternal Incident in the Arctic we as the MC heard about on our trip there.
I’m unsure just how much time has passed since this Incident to where we were in the timeline of going there for our reasons, just that Never-Ending Winter took place before the start of our story in Love and Deep Space.
Y’all the writing for these anecdotes is batshit, and I say this before even getting to the third anecdote. The dark shit that happened on Mt. Eternal rivals that of mainstream analog horror and modern creepypasta.
It was tragic af too, and all it really does after answering some questions I didn’t know I had about Mt. Eternal and the Incident, is give me more questions about what Zayne is doing back there after all this time. The end cutscene after where the story leaves off in chapter 8 shows him doing something over the ice in the Arctic, no doubt being the unfinished business he had planned when we parted ways. Is he excavating William???? because OHHHH BOYYY. Zayne was the source of William’s corruption? Which leads into the third anecdote and what it tells us about Abominations.
The third Anecdote, Still in Dark, is n u t s. Similar to the Little Mermaid-esque timeline/“Myth”/AU/whatever that Raphael has going on, this doesn’t seem to be set within our current reality/timeline/whatever(it’s so hard to say, with constant overlapping with others and questions left unanswered). Linkon City seems to be a thing of the past, and the way of life for everyone has changed in to something a little more post-apocalyptic.
Zayne is a serial killer who is hunted by a detective!!!!! LET THAT SINK IN. WHAT THE HELL. On top of that, he’s not killing people in cold blood like what the detective initially believes, but hunting down people that are turning into Abominations, a sort of precursor to Wanderers that may or may not be the cause of frequent exposure to Protocores. (source: the mother of Georgie that reached out to Zayne in fear of her fate after watching her coworkers change for the worst. We have to learn in the hardest of ways that it might not just be due to exposure to Protocores— that it might be contagious. Poor Georgie.)
On top of everything else going on, higher ups seem to actually be aware of this situation!!! ITS A GOVERNMENT COVERUP. THIS IS WHAT I MEAN WHEN I SAY IT RIVALS THE WRITING OF ANALOG HORROR MASTERPIECES AND CREEPYPASTAS.
Again, Linkon City seems to be something of the past—this Zayne seems to be connected through it through space and time through his dreams of a separate reality or timeline with MC. If this is actually the same timeline, and instead just way later down the line with some reincarnation shenanigans or something, something bad happened to Linkon City. The Abomination outbreak is reminiscent of the Mt Eternal incident and what happened with Zayne and William. Zayne was the source of William’s infection. Just what the fuck happened up in that mountain??? Not to mention the fact that in our current place in the timeline, Zayne is back there, POSSIBLY excavating William. What if he’s the one setting off the apocalyptic events that make Linkon City a place of the past tense? Chillsssss.
It doesn’t even stop there with the web of connections; something happens with Zayne at 27. The MC in Zayne’s dreams notices something is off with him. She (we) can tell it’s not Our Zayne. Maybe I’m just thinking of the worst case scenario, but what if it parallel’s Georgie’s fate. What if Our Zayne is the dream of the monster—the abomination, and it wakes up on that special day. And This Zayne is reliving it through time and space because it’s all just one big circle.
Beyond the Anecdotes and the current story, the Jasmine Flower that has a little cameo in Still in Dark is incredibly significant. It’s seems to function as a countdown in Still in Dark. To what? Who knows. Zayne turning into an abomination leading to the death of MC? A Future Diary’s-esque countdown to Love and Death?
But it stems (ha) from Zayne’s Myth: Tower of Secrets. I’m not sure when this takes place in the big ol’ timeline or whatever, but it’s seemingly the most detached. I’m only about 59% through it, but the fact that it’s in a very different time/universe/reality is clear from early on. Zayne is literally a cursed wizard in a tower and it’s giving Magic-High Fantasy instead of the usual Science Fiction-Spacepunk the usual story is.
I could go on for hours. Sorry if this seems like the ramblings of a madwoman. This has been the most consumed by an otome game I’ve been since Mystic Messenger and its cathartic and All Coming Full Circle for me. I don’t have anyone else to talk to about these things so here I am, shouting into the void.
#pls talk to me#love and deep space#l&ds#l&ds zayne#love and deepspace#love and deepspace zayne#love and deep space zayne#lore dump#otome game#dating sim
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Soulmate au jason todd fic
its here. like i promised. months ago, maybe. chap 1 is done. chapter 2 is underway. flower language for titles with meanings.
NOTE: This mixes the arkhamverse AND the lazarus pit together, so KEEP THAT IN MIND. i was like "haha omg what if i mixed the two together" and everyone was like "YES" and by everyone i mean this discord im in
will make a separate masterlist post for this, maybe. heavy emphasis on MAYBE.
might just smack it all onto my already existing masterlist post, who knows!
this fic will be a series of chapters and parts, and written to Isabella's Lullaby. From The Promised Neverland. enjoy :3
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
Blue Salvia
blue salvia; i think of you
When he was Robin, running around with Batman to fight crime on the streets of Gotham, he’d sometimes get distracted. By you, of course. Not that he could see you, but he could hear you.
Specifically, he could hear you whenever you sang to yourself. Your quiet little humming always made him smile, and he’d always get distracted listening to it.
“Jason, were you listening to anything I just said?” Bruce asks, and there’s most certainly an unamused look on his face behind his mask.
Jason is snapped from his daze, giving a sheepish grin as he just gives a silent answer of no, he was not listening. The only thing he’d been listening to was the humming of his soulmate, who always had a habit of singing to themselves when they were doing something or trying to fall asleep.
Getting distracted by the sound of your singing whilst he was patrolling Gotham with Bruce probably wasn’t the best idea, but he couldn’t help it. Your voice was always so pretty, after all.
Sometimes he’d get distracted in his classes, too.
When one day, Jason’s in his boring history class, back in those days when he was younger, he hears you humming again. He smiles, of course. How could he not?
You did have a truly pretty voice.
Or could it be more-so described as beautiful?
Either way, Jason’s focus is solely on your voice now, and not the history lesson the teachers spouting off. It’s nice, and it’s certainly something Jason would rather hear than whatever that teacher was spouting off as he forces himself to focus enough to actually finish the notes he was taking.
However your humming only lasts for a few brief minutes, and Jason is forced to suddenly listen to the teacher drone on and on about some particular subject he didn’t care to pay real attention to.
Even now as the Joker cackles in his ear, bringing the crowbar back down to hit his ankles, hard, Jason grits his teeth in pain for a moment. Before eventually it turns to gasps for air.
The only way Jason could even last and endure the endless torment the Joker put him through was by imagining you. Imagining what you might look like, that is.
After all, the first words you’d ever say to him in the future were inked like a tattoo in the skin of his arm. How could he not let his mind wander to try and put pieces of you together, like some sort of puzzle without a guiding image?
It had been awhile since Jason last heard you humming to yourself. Had you stopped singing entirely, or were you just busy as of late?
His gaze, despite the pain making his vision swirl into an unfocused haze, moves to look at his soul-mark. His soul-mark, which are the first words you’d ever speak to him.
Are you okay?
Those words. Three simple words. Words that gave him hope that someday he’d get out of this hellhole in Arkham.
“Get your head in the game, bird-brain!” Joker cackles, bringing the crowbar back down onto his leg again, making Jason grit his teeth and suck in a harsh breath of air, bringing him back to reality in a dizzying flash of pain. He’s hoping Joker didn’t notice just what specifically was distracting him, considering his Robin suit kept his soul-mark hidden.
But unfortunately for him, Joker had. “Something you wanna share, birdie?” Joker taunts, reaching a hand out to grab at the hem, where the glove covered the sleeves edge. Underneath which held your first words to him.
Are you okay?
Three little words. Words that helped him stay sure he’d make it out of here. Make it out of here to you.
Jason so badly wishes to close his eyes, block everything currently happening out when Joker spots his soulmark. Wants to forget everything when he hears Joker sadistic cackling when he reads those little words. “Ooh, got yourself a soulmate, huh? Maybe they’d like to join in on this little show, hmm? What do you think of that, bird-brain?”
Jason, for once in his life, hopes you don’t live in Gotham. That you don’t live anywhere near this shithole or anywhere Joker has power to find and reach you.
At night when Jason get’s some relief from the torment, the beatings, it’s quiet. He hates it. He’s never liked silence, and now he fucking dreads it. Makes him think about how everything hurts, how badly he wants everything to end. He’s on the verge of breaking, he can feel it. That last little cord that’s about to snap.
He’s so close to giving up.
And then, for the first time in what’s felt like years, he hears it. He hears you. You’re singing again. It’s soft and sweet, your voice. Just like every other time he hears it. Jason tries his hardest to keep his eyes open, to listen to that melody you’re almost always humming. It’s the same one every time.
But in the end, he can’t help the way his eyes droop, or how you manage to lull him to sleep like some child. Jason can’t help but be so easily soothed by your voice. Because for the first time in months, Jason is able to sleep.
And for the first time in months, it’s a restful sleep. One without nightmares. And he dreams of you, what you may look like.
For just a little while, he get’s a little reprieve from all this pain and anguish.
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
#jason todd x reader#jason todd fanfiction#jason todd imagine#jason todd angst#jason todd#jason todd x gn!reader#jason todd x you#dc universe angst#non canon compliant#arkham knight jason#arkham knight#arkhamverse#batfamily#red hood#red hood x reader#red hood x you#red hood imagine#angst#dc fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction
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DEEP DISH!! ROTTMNT FANFIC RECS (OVER 15,000 WORDS)
It’s me again, folks. Do you enjoy good fanfic? We’re reaching the end of the line, but I’m here to hook you up! Whether you’re new to the fandom and diving into the ROTTMNT fic scene for the first time, or a veteran looking for content you might have missed, my hope for this project is to point you to something you’ll enjoy!
This rec list is the last of three and focuses on longfic in the fandom, with a word count reaching anywhere over 15,000 words. You’ll find a variety of fic here, from novellas to full-blown novels—some complete, but many still ongoing! Though it may be heresy on the streets of New York, this is the list you want when you’re craving something really thick to sink your teeth into: a sit-down experience exploding with flavor. Don’t have time for that, actually? Then consider checking out my previous rec lists as well!
NEW YORK STYLE, BABY!! ROTTMNT FANFIC RECS (UNDER 5,000 WORDS)
STUFFED CRUST!! ROTTMNT FANFIC RECS (BETWEEN 5,000 AND 15,000 WORDS)
DEEP DISH!! ROTTMNT FANFIC RECS (OVER 15,000 WORDS) — You’re here!
If you enjoy any of these fics, make sure to reblog and spread the love! Don’t forget to check out the other works by these authors; many of them have written multiple wonderful stories not featured here that are just as good. Additionally, consider leaving the authors a comment! I’m not always the best at that myself, but fic writers work hard and deserve all the love in the world.
With all of that said, it’s time for the recs. Let’s dig in!
Quick note: On previous lists, I separated the recs by the general time period they took place in. I’m not going to that here, largely because—uh. Well. Nearly all of them are post-movie! This fandom’s sure been active in the last couple of months, huh? Given that, I’ll be sorting them by a broader method, but yes. If you’ve not seen the movie, this is your warning that spoilers abound in the recs below.
➤ ➤ ➤ CANON COMPLIANT
The Aftermath by Starrcrossrose
57,262 words, 9/? chapters (last updated 11/03/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone (Leo-centric)
Genre: Angst, Family Drama, Hurt/Comfort
It would’ve been easier to say what he was feeling, but he honestly didn’t know how. He wasn’t sure why, either. He knew his brothers would understand and comfort him and be there if he wanted them to be. Hell, Donnie’s surprise sleepover and everyone showing up for it in the living room had been proof of that.
Yet he still couldn’t do it. He’d tried to talk to Donnie and the pain on his brother’s face had been enough to make him never want to speak about things ever again. He didn’t want them to hurt the way he did; he wanted them to be okay and normal and happy.
You know they aren’t happy. Why do you keep pretending to be fine when the others aren’t either?
Leo squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face into his knees as he pulled himself into an even tighter ball. He wanted to go into his shell as much as possible, but at the same time, a searing energy was making his legs feel like he could run or swim for miles. He could just go and go and go until he collapsed.
Maybe… maybe that'll help.
Set a few months after the movie, Leo struggles with the long recovery time needed for his injuries to heal, both physical and mental. Unable to talk about it, he turns to unhealthy coping methods instead. The rest of the family is doing no better from the fallout of the invasion, however, with each of their own stresses mounting the longer things go unaddressed. That is until Chapter 8, when things come to a head...
There are a lot of post-movie recovery fics out there, each one unique. The Aftermath’s hallmark has to be in its slowburn foreshadowing, and excellent character writing. Throughout many chapters, we get a glimpse into the heads of just about every beloved character the series has to offer, including April and Casey Jr. Little clues to what’s going to go wrong are set up early on, but just like the characters, I was blind to how serious of a turn things were about to take until the problem finally reared its head. This fic does a good job of showing how important it is to talk to one another, even if it’s hard.
Aftershocks by Katiemonz, McBethins, octolingkiera, theashemarie, and this_kills_the_man
153,543 words, 12/15 chapters (last updated 11/06/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone
Genre: Family Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
“Good game,” Leo said to Donnie, smiling at Mikey in the same sly way as before.
“Thank you, Leonardo, but as I’ve said Uno is—”
“But you still lost,” Leo continued. He swept the cards up and began to straighten them for another shuffle.
“Second place is hardly—”
“Honorary title,” Leo cut in again. “Mikey won, so we owe him.”
“Owe him what? I have—”
“Keep your money, Don. In this game we’re dealing in secrets.”
“Secrets.”
“Yeah, specifically what’s up in that brilliant, big head of yours after all that Krang shit. C’mon. You owe him one secret.”
Picking up from the end of the invasion but spanning the weeks after, the day’s been won, but no one came out of the Krang’s attack completely unscathed. There’s a lot of trauma to unpack here—unfortunately, talking about it is the last thing just about anyone in the family wants to do.
Another recovery fic, Aftershocks is unique for being a story told from five perspectives (the boys and April), as written by five different authors. As the brothers avoid each other, each arc’s events end up having quite the different take depending on whose POV you’re currently following, even in moments where the same scene is being retold. Truly an ensemble fic that focuses on everyone’s trauma, I’ve especially enjoyed that April was included. As the longest fic on this list, Aftershocks is heavy on introspection and exposition, but the characterization always manages to shine through in the details. I especially love the scene I quoted above; “Trauma Uno” is totally a concept I could see the boys coming up with.
A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx
47,202 words, 6/? chapters (last updated 11/06/2022)
Character Focus: Ensemble
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Crossover
"I need to find my brothers," Raph mumbles. "That's if they're even here."
"And then head back to the spirit world."
"It's not the spirit world!"
"Right," Toph grins. "This so-called 'other dimension' without benders."
"There are no benders in my world."
Toph reaches and places a hand on scaled skin. Huge muscles twitch under her palm and the spirit stops. "No benders?"
"Yes!"
She nods. "Like the spirit world."
Raph throws his arms up with a scream and Toph cackles.
For a crossover, this fic requires quite a bit of investment in the second fandom to follow; you’ll want to have seen all of ATLA Season 1, and potentially even Season 2 if you want to keep track of what’s going on, especially for moments when episodes are retold, but with the turtles added in. Additionally, the POV is solely with the ATLA characters. Is this fic worth recommending despite that? Abso-freaking-lutely. This might be one of the most creative crossovers I’ve seen in any fandom, and I’m absolutely hooked.
The plot is deceptively straightforward—the four turtles mysteriously appear in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, separated and with no idea where the brothers are. Their arrival changes everything, with the people of the world seeing them as powerful spirits and guardians. I won’t spoil who ends up with who beyond what’s shown in the excerpt, but it paves the way for fascinating political intrigue and character development on all sides, our fave turtles included. Donatello’s position is perhaps the most fascinating for what may come of it, but everyone’s new groupings have been an utter delight. The banter feels charming and wholly in-character, and I can’t wait to read more. This is definitely a fic to keep your eye on, if you’ve not found it already.
Brother Dearest by Wardenov
69,666 words, 22/? chapters (last updated 11/03/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone (Donnie-centric)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror
“You came here looking for answers, weakling, because you messed with powers far beyond your understanding.”
“I’m not-”
She doesn’t let him continue. “Our brother may be dead, but the glory of our kind is that we are never truly defeated, not as long as our mark remains.” And as if to make her point, she raises a tentacle and delicately touches the glass - tendrils spawning from the point of contact, rapidly expanding across the surface like a frenzied contagion before freezing in place and crumbling under the extreme cold. “We cull the weak and assimilate those worthy, we bestow the blessing of Krang upon those who deserve it. You-” she spits, remaining tentacles scrambling to climb the glass where Donnie stood, “-you have stolen our gift.”
He says nothing.
“But,” she continues, sadistic smile returning, “your transgressions have ensured our survival. Our continued conquest. Whether you like it or not.”
Set a few months after the Krang’s invasion, things have seemingly gone back to normal for the Hamato family. Everyone’s doing their best to get by, and back to familiar routines and hobbies. Donnie, though? His newest project throws all of that into new chaos, showing that no matter how well-meaning, there are some things man (and turtle) was never meant to tamper with.
I’m absolutely feral for this fic, and desperate to impress upon anyone seeing this why they should read it. It might be one of the very best fics the fandom has to offer. Seriously. You want plot and worldbuilding on par with the Season 3 we never got? Exploration of the Hidden City, and the Council of Heads that run it? High stakes, suspense, action, and family drama? Look no further, fam. Brother Dearest has it all, and every character (even Mayhem!) has a big role to play. April’s sleuthing, Mikey further develops his new mystic powers, Leo has some heavy choices to make as leader, and Raph isn’t as home free after the Krang invasion as he thought. Make no mistake, though, the star of this show is Donnie in his unwitting supervillain arc. Will his family be able to save him from himself? Only time and new chapters can tell, but this fic dug its claws into my heart and won’t let go, it’s so good.
Drift and Chemical Reaction by Bronte
26,949 words, 7/7 chapters (split between two fics)
Character Focus: Donatello & Leonardo, Ensemble
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding
"Piña colada?"
"What the—?" Donnie cuts him off before he can finish, cramming a green and yellow striped straw between his teeth. Leo wears some of it, the yellow, smoothie-like drink dribbling down his plastron. "Wait, where did you—what is this?"
Donnie smirks. "Pineapple, coconut, rum. A taste of the tropics."
Leo blinks and glances down apprehensively at the ‘Better Late than Ugly’ mug in his hand. "...does this have alcohol in it?"
"Does this have—pfft, I would never. Do you know who I am? Donatello, upstanding citizen of Manhattan proper?" Donnie barks a laugh, tossing his head back before leveling him with a look. "Of course there is. As the Bard himself said, self-love, my brother, is not so vile a sin as self-neglect."
As two sides of the same story, these fics are being recommended together! Set after the movie, Drift is told from Leonardo’s POV, both during and after leaving the prison dimension, where Chemical Reaction tells the story from Donatello’s POV.
The real charm of this fic, though? It has to be the banter. Reading this, I could totally hear the character’s voices in my head, which was only made better once the piña coladas came in. You think the twins are disasters; just wait until they’re drunk. These fics would be worth reccing on their own for that scene alone, but there’s actually a little bit of plot involved as well as Leo struggles to regain his ninpo, while Donnie... Well, something weird is going on with Donnie. Needless to say, both of these are a great read!
Every Night the Longest Day by ashtreelane
33,731 words, 13/? chapters (last updated 10/27/2022)
Character Focus: Leonardo & Family
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Medical Drama
“What’s wrong, Leo?” Raph asks from where he is curled around him, the snapper’s chin nestled on the top of his head.
“Can’t sleep,” Leo mutters. He smells worry, sudden and sharp, and when he opens his eyes Raph has whipped around to look at Donnie, eyes blown wide, looking for an answer. Donnie is looking at him too, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“We- okay. Raph, don't freak out. This is to be expected, remember?” Donnie is saying, his voice just barely on the wrong side of too calm. He’s freaking out too. Why? What’s happening? Oh, he’s being addressed now, he should probably pay attention.
“Leo, you were cursed six days ago to be unable to fall asleep. Your memory is suffering because of it, but we’re all right here, okay?”
Leo kind of knows what they’re talking about. He remembers it, he remembers that it happened, but the… events are… foggy. What- what had they been talking about?
“What are we talking about?”
When Leo is cursed to be unable to sleep, he and the family must wait for a new moon to break the spell through a ritual. Unfortunately, that new moon is nearly two weeks off. As Leo is forced to stay awake for days on end, his mental and physical condition quickly begins to deteriorate. Through it all, Leo’s family stays by his side to help him through it, beautifully balancing hurt with comfort through the beginning. As the story goes on and Leo’s condition worsens, though... Well. Things aren’t looking good, let’s say.
I have such a soft spot for this fic, though. It’s grown quite popular lately, so many of you reading this list may have already heard it, but there was a point when I was following early on where the author was debating shifting the POV around or sticking with Leo as an unreliable narrator. I was really proud of them for sticking to their guns and going with the latter, and I think it’s paid off in spades. The way the author experiments with formatting styles and missing scenes really makes the fic stand apart from the standard whump setup, and turns it into something akin to low-key psychological horror. If you’re into that sort of thing it’s a lot of fun; even if you’re not, the moments of family bonding peppered throughout the fic are so wholesome, and definitely worth your time.
Fallout by GauntletKnight
50,677 words, 20/? chapters (last updated 11/05/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama
“We are here. We are alive. Raph and Mikey are downstairs. Dad and April and Casey are on the way. You’re alright, Leo. You’re safe. We are all safe. No one is here to hurt you…or us.” There is no special inflection to his voice, but his words are firm, unmoving. Leo shakes for a moment, squeezing Donnie’s hand…and then he blinks, his eyes clear and he tries to take a breath.
Violent coughs wrack his body as he tries to dislodge the blood that had built up from his sobs. Bright red spatters down his front and across Donnie’s hands as he holds onto Leo’s arm. Each breath is like nails on a chalkboard.
Draxum steps in instantly, checking the monitor for vitals. “I’ve gotta get to that punctured lung…or else getting this blood transfusion in him isn’t going to do anything.” He turns to Donnie, holding out plastic gloves, “Can you-”
Leo shakes his head, finally getting a rattling breath into his chest. “N-no…Don’s…not great with this kind of thing. S’ok…he’s so good at everything else he had to leave some for the rest of us.” He smiles up at Donnie like Donnie hung the damn moon and stars, his eyes still shining with painful tears. It’s…a weirdly genuine moment between the two of them…
Donnie doesn’t like it.
Set between the final fight and grabbing a slice in the movie, this fic follows the immediate aftermath of pulling Leo out of the prison dimension with a bit more urgency and attention to everyone’s injuries.
As I’ve said before, every movie recovery fic I’ve found has their hallmark, and I’d say Fallout’s is its heart and emotion. By focusing on the aftermath of the battle where everyone’s stresses are still running high, there’s a lot going on here, and it makes for some tense, but evocative moments. The story is lightly focused on Leo’s mental state especially, but everyone is going through it and as the POV shifts every chapter, each character gets some focus as they work through their injuries and messy feelings. Fallout is very satisfying read, and one I often come back to over and over.
hamartia by Punable
40,364 words, 9/? chapters (last updated 10/30/2022)
Character Focus: Donatello & Family
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
It felt nothing like how he imagined dying would feel.
Donatello was a man of science, so it would have been foolish of him to have not, over the years, devised theories around what results certain situations would generate, what or who they might take out of commission, and what he would need to do personally in order to gain the best possible outcome. He would sometimes note down how he believed these situations might affect him or his brothers, both physically or mentally - he wasn’t an expert on emotions, far from it, but he could at least logically assume that getting, say, struck by lightning (one of his planned-for possibilities) would leave its own traumatic scar on any man or turtle that happened to experience it, so he’d dragged in April for those certain emotional areas and promptly abandoned her as a research partner when she’d told him he was being obsessive. He was not obsessive, just thorough.
He couldn’t help but feel as though some of that research time may have been wasted, though, as he lay on his side, his newest project slash rework shattered into almost unsalvageable pieces on the floor across from him. (And really, that felt almost like the harshest blow - how was anyone except him supposed to salvage that hunk of junk? Was that all that he was leaving behind?)
He felt it had been time wasted, maybe, because dying didn’t feel at all like the soft, slowing breaths of passing peacefully into sleep, or the fast tight gasping of someone going out from a bullet wound. If anything, it felt like he was breathing too deeply, every breath filling his whole body and stretching out every wound and puncture and fracture, oxygen making his head light (or maybe that was the blood loss). He didn’t feel at peace, and he certainly didn’t feel as scared as he thought he should’ve been, as he had read he should have been.
Mostly, it just felt like an inconvenience.
Donnie almost dies, and that’s just the start of this angsty tale. What follows is an interesting exploration of what Donatello thinks of himself and his role in the team, and his family’s growing concerns when he won’t give himself time to recover. Donnie’s brush with death has lasting consequences, and a large part of the fic is dedicated both to how much they affect him and how long he can hide it from his family (and the audience). Once the truth comes out, though? Oof.
The newfound disability is handled well, imo, and you really feel for everyone involved. There’s a lot about mental health that the author just does really well in general, actually. The focus on family and everyone’s concerns for their brother is where this fic really shines, though, and there’s a lot of emotion that hits just right. Basically, the hurt is done so well, I’m looking forward to when we get to more comfort.
i go there with you by bobtheacorn
21,649 words, 15/? chapters (last updated 11/04/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Humor
"But seriously," Donnie says seriously, brandishing his tablet screen above Mikey's head and pointing at it, "I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you be Very Honest when I ask you to scale your pain using this -" He cuts his eyes toward Raph, who grins. "Emoji Scale. Which dramatization would you say you find the most relatable at the moment?"
"Okay, so defo… this guy," Leo says. He thinks he manages to lift his finger but that's all the juice he's got. "On the… left."
"That would be the thumbs-up emoji, Leo," Raph says cautiously.
"Awww," Mikey gushes, "Is that one because you love us?"
"Hang on," Leo says around another small huff of maybe-laughter, "You… can't prove anything. But also…" He moves his finger again. "Also this guy on the… on the far r-right. Like, for-real for real."
"Oh, the sad-angry-crying emoji, fantastic," Donnie says with a bit more pep, tossing the tablet and turning to Splinter, who's closest to the monitor, "Papa, would you do Leo a huge favor and smash that morphine button, please? Like, right now, immediately."
Set immediately after the invasion. This fic is a series of interconnected one-shots originally written for Whumptober, but by Chapter 9 breaks into its own thing. The whump remains a focus, but it’s tempered by a good dose of comfort and humor as well, which the author is a master of.
If you want a recovery fic after the events of the movie that matches the feeling of the show, i go there with you is the fic to start with. The characterization and banter are spot on, as is the emotional whiplash. All of the characters gets some love and introspection in this one too, which is always fun.
Now That’s What I Call A Vacation! by WayWardWatson
56,238 words, 9/? chapters (last updated 11/06/2022)
Character Focus: Splinter & Family
Genre: Family Bonding, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort
Splinter turned his attention back to Big Mama, the flirtatious mood from earlier dissipating. “I am calling in your favor.”
It was like he had slapped her with his rat tail with how she reared back in visible disgust. Her fangs clicked in irritation and she scuttled further down, closer to where Splinter was standing. “Remind me, when have I ever owed you a measly-weasly favor?”
“When you misused demon armor for profit that nearly resulted in the end of human and yokai kind alike?” Splinter evenly said. “Oh, and the time I rubbed your feet, all eight of them, when you were on bedrest.”
“I thought that was an act of love.”
“Kindness.” He corrected because his heart hurt too much when she said love. “I was being kind. Though, if you want,” Again, his voice dipped into a purr, splaying out his arms wide in open invitation. “You could be kind enough to give me and my family a free round trip to Japan? I know you can do it.”
More scuttling as a low hiss escaped her maw. “That is a big, dimbly favor to ask.”
“I thought we were calling those acts of lo- kindness?”
“Why,” She drew the word out as she finally reached the bottom and pressed her broach. Suddenly, a swirl of light engulfed Big Mama and, with a whoosh of mystic energy that smelt like nutmeg, he watched as her stature began to diminish. Just as quickly, the light fractured and then separated into small motes of bioluminescent dust, casting a dim, golden glow around them. Now in human form, Big Mama stepped in close enough to touch. “Do you want to go to Japan?”
Without thinking, Splinter’s eyes trailed down then up and he swallowed. His heart was beginning to pick up, but certainly not from fear. He took a moment to gather himself. “My children need a vacation.”
Splinter takes one look at the S2 finale and the movie and decides that’s it, this family needs a break. Deals are made, mystic disguise brooches are acquired, itineraries are made, and with that, the family (including April!) are off on an exciting vacation to Japan! As with all scenarios involving the Hamato Clan, however, nothing goes so simply.
You’re getting so much bang for your buck picking up this fic. A family trip to Japan is charming in and of itself—and the author has done so much research on the country that some passages feels like taking a tour of your own—but this fic actually has a lot going on for it. How they even get to Japan involves some fun mystic worldbuilding, and the cloaking brooches open the door to interesting commentary on body dysphoria. And of course, things take quite a turn when the fam runs into a figure from Splinter’s past who has questions he struggles to answer. A refreshing story with creative ideas, Now That’s What I Call A Vacation! also has an excellent grasp on all of the characters, in and out of vacation mode. It’s a darling read.
odd man out by cosmocrow
22,676 words, 4/? chapters (last updated 10/29/2022)
Character Focus: Future Leonardo & Leonardo, Future Leonardo & Casey, The Hamato Family
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama
“Master Splinter,” he greets, almost impressed by the fact that his voice isn’t wavering like he feared it would. “I’m sorry for barging in– like. Barging into your timeline? I– I can explain.” He really can’t, but that isn’t the point.
Splinter only raises a hand. “Don’t worry, Casey has brought us up to speed.” He turns to deposit the tray onto a cart, before folding his hands into the sleeve of his robe. Leonardo can feel those yellow eyes look him up and down as he straightens up again. Splinter takes a step closer, craning his short neck to be able to look Leonardo in the face. Melancholy dances on his features, but the rat smiles nonetheless.
“Look at you, you’ve gotten so tall, Leonardo.” The soft usage of his name almost makes Leonardo stumble. He hasn’t heard it from his father’s mouth in a long, long time. A familiar burn starts to prickle within his eyes, so he starts blinking in order to quell the itch, pressing his lips together, so his mouth won’t wobble. He isn’t sure why he’s trying – he knows that Splinter knows.
His father always knew everything.
Splinter steps even closer, lifting a hand from within the confines of his sleeves. Like a magnet, Leonardo bends down, so his dad can cup the side of his face. Gently, the old rat rubs his thumb into his cheek, just below his mask, over his red markings. Splinter’s sad little smile falls, and he tugs down the blue mask over Leonardo’s face.
“But,” he says softly, “you look so tired, my son.”
Several months after the movie’s conclusion, a familiar face from Casey’s averted bad future appears, just as everyone else is startling to settle back in. Predictably, this throws everything into confusion.
Tl;dr, Future Leonardo is sent back into the past and has to adjust back to a world sans apocalypse, and the family takes him in with open arms. Things between him and younger Leo are a lot more tenuous, but there’s a resolution early on that feels very true to their personalities—one less sure of himself, and the other who’s learned his lessons the hard way—that resonated strongly with me and made me fall in love with the story. Add to that some genuinely heartwarming moments with the family bonding, and you’re in for a good, if bittersweet time.
Recoil by unorthodoxx
63,236 words, 10/10 chapters
Character Focus: Ensemble
Genre: Action, Team Bonding, Angst, Crossover
“Hey guys,” he yells. “You might want to see this.”
It doesn’t take long for the three of them to spill into his lab. Leo comes in first and drapes himself across the back of Donnie’s chair. “What’s up? You find the secret ingredient to Luenzo’s Pizza yet?”
“No,” Donnie scowls. “They’re locked down tighter than Fort Knox, but it’ll fall soon. They always do. No fellas,” He enlarges the email, “We’ve been invited to a meet-up of sorts.”
Raph’s hand settles heavily on his shoulder as the larger turtle leans in to read. “Dear Genius Built…….Talk about…….agree to meet…..love…”
“IRONMAN!!?!?” Mikey shouts. “THE Ironman wants to meet us!”
“Wow,” Raph whistles. “The Avengers. That’s some top-level hero stuff.”
ROTTMNT crosses over with the MCU! Set in a world where both universes exist in the same setting, this fic takes place after the Krang Invasion, but fairly into the MCU’s history, long before the superheroes have their falling out. So long as you have any familiarity with the first Avengers movie, you’ll be able to follow the story fine, as it’s straightforward: the appearance of the Krang was as abrupt as their defeat, and Tony Stark can’t let sleeping dogs lie. After uncovering the turtles’ involvement, an in-person meeting is arranged to handle the fate of the Krang Key.
Most of this fic is just a fun excuse to let the ROTTMNT characters bounce off the MCU characters, and it’s fun to see who gets along and who doesn’t. That’s the thing I love in particular about this story—the author is true enough to their characterization that not everyone is friends by the end, in a way that makes whole sense. The Avengers are disasters themselves, after all. The plot of handling the key is done exceptionally well too, and there’s a lot of high octane action at the end that’s quite thrilling. If you’re looking for a good time, you’ll fine it in Recoil, and if you enjoyed it, there’s more where that came from! The author has planned out several other stories set later on in the same series, the first of which (where the turtles meet Spiderman) is already out. So keep an eye on that!
this kind of weather by ihaveathingforpink
21,526 words, 2/4 chapters (last updated 09/18/2022)
Character Focus: Leonardo & Michelangelo, Raphael & Donatello, Ensemble
Genre: Action, Hurt/Comfort, Crossover
“Well, if it is business you seek, Krang has a proposition for you. There are two turtles Krang wishes for you to…remove from the board as their tenacity has proven to be as obstructive as it is predictable. For our plans to proceed, it’s too dangerous for either to remain alive.”
Takeshi takes another sip before asking, “Turtles? As in the ninja turtles that reside beneath the city, whom everyone pretends doesn’t exist? The people of New York won’t be pleased if I do anything to harm their heroes.”
“Oh, I want you to do more than simply harm them. First, they need to suffer.”
“Suffering costs extra. I don’t do anything for free.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“Yet you said two turtles when, last I checked, there’s four.”
“Ah, yes. They are of little concern to me. Krang only need you to get rid of two, and you must follow Krang's instructions precisely. Otherwise, you will fail. First, you will need to get rid of the little orange one; he may not look like much, but he’s one of the strongest mystic warriors of all time. I suggest you handle this one quickly—he can be quite slippery—but the blue one, Krang implores you to take your time.”
This story has one helluva hook. A surviving Krang puts a hit out on Mikey and Leo, and saying more than that would unfortunately spoil the twist of the first chapter. With just two chapters, though, this story is fascinating and deserves a lot more attention than it’s gotten. It has high stakes, great action, and is an emotional roller coaster that doesn’t let up. It’s also a bit of a crossover, though longstanding fans of the TMNT franchise will recognize these faces right away. That’s right, this is a crossover with Usagi Yojimbo! Besides characters of that series, though, there’s also a lot of familiar faces from previous TMNT series that Rise never got enough time to tackle, like Tiger Claw and Renet.
You can probably guess from the latter’s name that things are about to get timey-wimey up in here, and you’d be correct. There’s an absolutely killer plot at work here, emphasis on the killer, and whether they want to or not the turtles have to take a divide and conquer approach to it while at one of their lowest points. Seriously, check this one out.
Under Pressure by ParvumAutmaton
21,560 words, 4/4 chapters
Character Focus: The Boys & April
Genre: Suspense, Angst
“You know April, right?” The voice on the other end of the line asked. “You’re one of her gamer friends?”
Donnie blinked. The voice sounded familiar but that didn’t help him at the unholy hour where way too late morphed into way too early.
“And you are?”
“Her mother. Please, did she spend the night at your place?”
“No, she did not,” Donnie answered, forcing himself upright, his exhaustion evaporating with that question. “I believe she was planning on some extracurricular club activity yesterday afternoon. So we weren’t planning on seeing her.”
“I don’t suppose you know which club?”
“No, I do not.”
“Ok,” The waver Donnie heard in her voice implied that it wasn’t. “You will let me know if April gets in touch?”
“Of course Ms. O’Neil.”
The call ended.
Donnie stared at his phone.
One of the few fics on this list not set after the movie, this story takes place after the S2 finale on a dismal day when April goes missing. Investigating her disappearance leads the boys to a van and a lake, and an exploration on the dangers of cave diving.
As you can guess from that description, this fic has quite the creative setup that’s both atmospheric and suspenseful. Be sure to heed the tags because it does get dark, but it’s still a great read, and the turtles’ determination to find their sister pulls at the heartstrings.
➤ ➤ ➤ CANON DIVERGENT
big sister by Darth_Sunny
18,090 words, 6/? chapters (last updated 10/24/2022)
Character Focus: April & Family
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
April O’Neil wasn’t an only child anymore. She had four younger brothers, whom she loved with all her heart, and who she’d burned the world down for if anything were to happen to them. She’d fight every ancient mystic evil the world would throw at her if it meant keeping them safe. And if she couldn’t be there for them at the moment, she’d be there for them in the aftermath. She was their big sister, their oldest and only sister. : was the self-proclaimed protector, but even he needed someone to protect him and to help protect their younger brothers.
So that’s why, when she watched the portal close up, slicing the Technodrome in half, stopping the Kraang for good, knowing that he was trapped back in that prison dimension, April O’Neil felt her heart break into hundreds, thousands, millions of little pieces.
This one’s a fic following April’s perspective on the end of the invasion, from Leo’s sacrifice, to picking up Casey, and reuniting with the boys. It mostly follows canon, but there is a fairly major change revealed partway through that makes it canon divergent from the movie’s ending. It’s unclear if other changes will follow, but just in case it’s being slotted in the canon divergent category all the same.
That’s not the focus, though. No, this fic is centered squarely on April and her relationship with the rest of the Hamato Clan. I love that it impresses how much April is a part of the family, and that the boys aren’t just her friends but her brothers, and that their pain is her pain. Watching the aftermath of the invasion unfold from her perspective is a fresh and evocative take.
Like Father Like Son by eternalglitch
132,982 words, 25/? chapters (last updated 11/02/2022)
Character Focus: Everyone (Leo-centric)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort
“Here, Boss!” Huginn darted back across the room, wings straining, as he carried a very… familiar…
“Uh, wait up, no,” Leo said, eyeing the blue object as Huginn dropped it into Draxum’s waiting hand. “Do you even know where that thing’s been? Have you properly washed it at least?”
Draxum’s roots suddenly shift, dragging Leo upright until he’s forced to stand on his tip-toes to have any sort of purchase. “I happened to have had it offered to me by the mutant that you call Meat Sweats,” Draxum said, admiring the collar (for that’s what it actually was, even if Leo had never called it that when it was just a gift from his brother) in the light. “He was quite helpful once I mentioned what I wanted to use it for.” Draxum started to approach, the collar held aloft.
“So, what,” Leo bit out. “You’re gonna stop me from saying my one-liners? Big whoop.”
“I think you’ll find,” Draxum coolly said. “That this has been modified to do so much more than that.”
This fic needs no introduction. In fact, there’s a high chance some of you heard of LFLS before they even saw Rise; I’ve heard of people who only watched the show just so they could read it! It’s the most popular fic in the fandom for a reason. If that’s scared you off, though, or if you’ve avoided it for other reasons, let me tell you why you should give it a chance.
The fic takes some of Rise’s best villains and settings, and explores the darker sides of them (do heed the warnings in the tags). Leo goes through the absolute wringer, but the effect his disappearance has on his family plays a central part of the story as well, with all of the brothers getting full blown introspection and character arcs. Donnie’s in particular hurts me. The emotions are high and the plot is juicy, with some of the tightest writing the fandom has to offer, including intelligent plans and dialogue. As far as hurt/comfort goes, this is definitely a slow burn with a lot of angst, but the author has promised a happy ending. Between that and consistent updates (it’s been going strong for two years), what more could you ask for?
Three Days to Live by Werepirechick
93,992 words, 13/13 chapters
Character Focus: April & The Boys
Genre: Cyberpunk, Action, Human AU
The heiress and former target lowers her hands, keeping them placidly by her sides. “K-tech is a vicious, unrelenting company,” she says, glasses gleaming in the room’s light as she lifts her chin in defiance. “The people who run it are the same. They don’t let people get away, and they don’t leave loose ends. You were all on their shit list as much as I am, the second you signed on.”
Leo shifts his stance, tightening his grip on his gun. “So what are you proposing?” he asks coolly.
“Like y’all said. I’m the heiress to the company. In three days I’m going to walk into a courtroom, sign the papers that frees K-tech from the control of my guardian, and walk out the richest, most powerful person in North America.” O’Neil smiles bitterly. “That is, if I can survive the next seventy-two hours. That’s where you come in.”
“You want us to guard you,” Raph states.
Ohhh, this fic is an absolute gem. You can’t say no to a good Human AU in this fandom to start, but to top it off with a cyberpunk twist? Trust me, this is a match made in heaven. The plot kicks off when the boys—hitmen in this universe—are hired to take out April O’Neil, an heiress to one of the world’s largest tech companies. When things take a turn, she makes them a deal: protect her for three days instead, and she’ll make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
The plot that follows is filled with danger, intrigue, and high octane action. The world is incredibly thought out and immersive, and makes for a great way to work ROTTMNT’s mystic powers into a new genre. The banter, though. If you’ve read any of Werepirechick’s other fics, you’d know that’s their specialty, and it’s no different here in Three Days to Live. While on the run from the powers seeking to destroy her, the boys and April bond and their friendship is perfection. The series also blends in characters from other iterations of the franchise, but it’s not too distracting, and for the most part remains firmly rooted in the Rise style. Do yourself a favor, and give this one a read!
Posted: 11/06/2022
#rottmnt#rottmnt fic#rise of the tmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#fanfic recs#the fics got longer#thus so did my commentary
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A Matter Of Fairness Or Maybe Fear
the next part of the mumbomaid au is four separate mini stories that will be posted as one chapter on ao3, but I thought it might be cool to post them separately here (and since this one’s done, I thought I might post it earlier before the rest goes up on ao3 >:D)
This call marked Scar’s 129th over the course of two days, and quite frankly, his persistence was starting to wear at Etho’s resolve. Maybe ‘resolve’ wasn’t quite the right word actually- patience might be better. This marked the sixth day Etho had been stuck in a little outlet away from home, burying himself in the mud day in and day out, and he was really getting sick of it- sick of Joel, actually, and Scar calling him every free moment of the day was getting quite frustrating when he was waiting on messages from Joel.
Etho let it ring. It wouldn’t stop Scar. Yesterday while sending Joel a very long and very angry message, Etho had accidentally declined Call 4 before the first ring concluded, so Scar knew Etho had his phone. Since then, Etho had also accidentally declined Call 7, 68, 70, and 103.
Call 129 ended and Call 130 began. Call 130 did not end before Bdubs rang at the same time, and that hurt, so Etho submerged himself to avoid it. Soon enough, it too was over. Scar’s insistent calling replaced Bdub’s ringtone without pause.
131. 132. 133.
Finally, it stopped, Scar probably running out of time on his work break. Thank god. Etho had enough on his plate without Scar breathing down his neck, but if he was really being honest, being bitter about Scar’s knowledge on his and Joel’s split souls probably wouldn’t change his behavior today. Scar had a habit of spam calling, and Etho did not know him to give up.
Call 134 just a couple of minutes after the 133rd snapped the last remaining thread of Etho’s patience.
Etho pounced on his phone, picking up with a wrathful hiss, “Stop calling me,” before hanging up. After Call 173, Etho was pretty sure this would never end until he grew a pair and answered the phone. With great disdain, he accepted Scar’s call.
“Hello? Etho? Are you there?”
Etho didn’t respond for a while, too busy fuming to speak. “I’m here.”
“Are you in immediate peril? Do you have time to talk?”
“I have time.” Etho spoke every word through gritted teeth. Scar was quiet for a long moment.
“Then hang the fuck up and call Bdubs you fucking asshole. He’s one more anxiety attack away from filing a missing person’s report, and I’m honestly shocked he hasn’t already! He’s convinced you’re dead in a ditch somewhere or kidnapped or something, and I don’t blame him. If you have your phone and you’re not bleeding out on the fucking rocks, there is literally NO REASON you haven’t called him.”
The wind of Scar’s anger left a heavy silence in its wake. Etho wasn’t quite sure how to break it, but he had a feeling Scar wasn’t going to just let him hang up without another word.
“I can’t call him,” he said instead, all too aware that Scar’s assault of his ears would only continue.
“Give me one good reason why you can’t call your best friend and tell him you’re okay. It’s nearly been a week, Etho, come on. The longest you’ve ever been gone at a time is three days, and you told us beforehand. And I swear to god if you say-“
“Scar, I can’t just call him, I’m not human.”
“You don’t have to fucking video call him!”
“I sound different, Scar. I can’t,” Etho insisted, desperation spilling through in sick waves. Scar didn’t get it. How could he make Scar understand? “What if he asks where I am? What am I supposed to tell him? I can’t call him.”
“You do not sound different! At all!”
“I do.”
“I didn’t notice! It can’t be that bad. Over the phone it won’t even matter- I can not believe you’re fighting me on this. Come on.”
“I can’t, Scar,” a soft whistle broke through behind the words, making Etho feel all the more pathetic. He didn’t want to be here. He’d give anything to be home right now, not worried about being seen or overpowered or caught- he’d give anything to go home, eat normal food- He had work too, he had deadlines! He didn’t want to be in this position at all! Etho didn’t- he didn’t want to upset Bdubs either, of course not, but how was he supposed to explain?
“When are you going to be home then, Etho? Because I need to tell him something. I’m going to tell him- at least that you’re okay. Do you even understand what you’re putting him through right now? Would you really rather let him think you’re in trouble than have a difficult conversation with your best friend?”
“I don’t- I don’t know, Scar. This isn’t my fault- it’s not like I want to be away at all! Please don’t.”
“I’m not mad that you’re not home, Etho. I’m mad because you have a phone to call your roommate with and you’re not using it.”
“He’ll ask questions.” Voicing the thought sounded so much worse, so irredeemably meager. He was being selfish, wasn’t he. Scar was right. But Scar didn’t- Scar didn’t understand the fear- the anxiety- How easy it must be for Scar to stand by the sidelines and tell Etho what was right and wrong. He had no idea.
Scar interrupted his train of self righteous anger before it could build further, “Bdubs has every damn right to ask questions! And even then, he probably won’t. He’d do anything to keep from stepping on your toes on issues like this, even when you treat him like shit. I’m serious. This is fucked. This is cruel. Cleo’s worried sick as well- we’re all worried.” Scar stopped with a huff and Etho heard him mess with his hair over the line, “You know what, this is a waste of time. I’m just going to call him.” Scar hung up without another word, lighting a sharp panic in Etho’s chest. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want this. But he didn’t want an angry Scar telling Bdubs anything about his situation much more.
He fumbled over Bdubs’ contact, pressing several wrong buttons before finally dialing his number. The phone didn’t even pass the first ring.
“Etho? Hello?” Bdubs spoke, drying the words off Etho’s tongue. Not that he had anything to say in the first place. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready for this. His mind seemed to dry up as well, leaving nothing but static in the wake of his panic. “Are you there? Etho?” Bdubs’ voice was faint. Terrified.
Sudden guilt wracked his body, physical in its pain like being caught in the middle of a head-on collision. “I’m here,” his voice shook, but he was hardly aware of it, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
Bdubs was quiet, the silence crushing, “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”
Neither of them spoke, tension thrumming through the air just as clear as audible sound. Etho didn’t think he’d ever be able to breathe again. This was so much worse than he’d ever imagined this conversation going, and he had imagined it.
…
Bdubs sobbed, and all at once Etho crumbled. Mermaids didn’t have the right anatomy to cry, but Bdubs didn’t question the strained noises of distress that bubbled out of Etho’s throat. Bdubs never did question anything, did he? Not to do with Etho’s disappearances. Not for years.
That wasn’t really fair at all, was it.
That wasn’t fair at all.
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New tag game bc I'm bored
List 5-10 of the most obscure crossovers you have floating around in your brain !!
1. Dumbass!crimeboys x halcyon!crimeboys
-> arguably the most obscure since it's a crossover between two aus that aren't even posted publicly, but i gen adore it sm<3 db!crimeboys is a hero au where tommy is just. Welp. A dumbass<3 he's my fav tommy ever guys 😭😭 he's my friend's au and I just SOBS most precious guy ever... And halcyon crimeboys is a detective au. Basically take the dumbest tommy and tired older brother Wilbur and make them meet the smartest crimeboys. It's very silly:))
2. Psych x Dsmp
-> okay hear me out. Hear me out. Shawn Spencer is literally Tommyinnit. They are the SAME. Now Phil as Chief Vic, Techno and Wilbur as twin detectives who both function as Jules and Lassiter (platonic ofc), and Tubbo as Gus. It fits way better than it should 😭😭
3. Critical Role (specifically Mighty Nein) x Dsmp
-> guys. Guys. I went on a rant on here like a year ago BUT CADUCEUS AND TECHNO'S CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE EERILY SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER. Tall pink dude w animal traits (cad is more cow, tech is more pig)? Cad is like c!Phil and c!Techno to me... (Is it bc of the tea obsession? Maybe...). I just also think that clingyduo would get along with Jester and Nott/Veth like a wildfire. OR OMG FOOLISH-- Does anyone remember Foolish building dick statues everywhere?? Yeah, he's definitely a follower of the Traveler.
4. 911xMCU
-> okay ngl guys this just came 2 me bc I realised that everyone calls Bobby Cap like how all the Avengers call Steve Cap and I was like lmfao imagine a scene where someone says Cap and they both respond to it.
5. Cw Flash x Pjo
-> okay this isn't my idea but it's one of my fav fics ever WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL LMFAO
6. Spider-Man x Dick Grayson & Wally West
-> PETER IS LITERALLY DICK AND WALLY IN ONE PERSON 😭😭 SUPER SMART SCIENCE BRAIN + SILLY GOOFY + ACROBATS they're the same. I need them to meet so badly sobsosbsosbsosvsosbsosbsisbsjs Not sure which versions of which I just. Need it. Pls 😭😭😭
7. Justice League Unlimited x Young Justice (tv show)
-> This one has its own separate post here, but omg it makes me SO UPSET GUYS 😭😭😭
8. TMNT x Batfam
Okay not obscure bc they have had both a movie and a comic BUT HEAR ME OUT. SPECFICALLY THE 2007 MOVIE VERSION OF TMNT. This scene is literally Dick and Jason I can't do this guys WHY DO THEIR COLOURS EVEN MATCH
9. Dceu!Bruce & Barry x MCU!Irondad
-> okay my mental illness is full blast here but omfg they are the same duo THEY ARE THE SAME I need them to swap sons for a day plspslspslspspspdlfkfdishskdfjdksklaskd
10. Any vigilante au Tommy x Spider-Man
-> this is hidden in my notes app and is both like my own version of Tommy and Spidey but omfg I'm attached it's such a fun idea to play around with rahhhshshshss. I have a scene where Tommy and Spidey have a miscommunication over Blade lmfao and it lives rent free in my mind. Like Blade is a vampire but does NOT dress the same as Technoblade who might also secretly be a vampire in Tommy's universe lmfaooo
Okay and Bonus One that literally no one will understand except me
11. Magnum PI remake x Orphanduo (Techno and Skeppy)
-> Katsumoto is literally Technoblade guys. THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON. And omfg Magnum and Higgens are so happy duo ngl 😭😭😭
OKAY THAT'S ALL FOR NOW YIPPEE
Tag time :D
@sammiekel @jiksvokrat @cristalmystery @ghosts-and-blue-sweaters @sleepdeprivedofmycorn @sunflowervc @angrilydancing and anyone else who wants to join in!!
#foxie rambles#tag games#was this just an excuse to ramble about my fav crossovers? maybe...#but now u are all forced to join in mwahahhaa#dc#batfam#mcu#spiderman#dick grayson#wally west#peter parker#yj#young justice#tmnt#crimeboys in these aus are strictly my own and not connected to the ccs#tommyinnit#sbi#philza#technoblade#critical role#cr#mighty nein#caduceus clay#magnum pi#dceu#barry allen#bruce wayne#911#cw flash#oops max tags lmao
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Aaaand we're done! \o/
Well... "done" in one sense of the word since I just did a very quick search and apparently there's like another 140 chapters of side stories and counting. Possibly post-epilogue stuff??? Didn't look too closely since I don't want too many spoilers if I can avoid it. I already saw one vague spoiler relating to 49% Dokja's side story. 😢😢😢
Though at least now with the main novel+epilogues finished all of the mysteries have been wrapped up (as far as I can remember).
I guess I'm still curious about the Library, but even if that's never touched upon in any side story chapters, I think I kinda get it with my theories and how he broke up into many, many different Dokjas and/or was two different Oldest Dreams?
Oh, and the stuff with Dokja & 1863's Sooyoung's blurry faces, I would have liked to have seen that resolved. There were mentions of Dokja slowly getting less blurry that were kinda glossed over but nothing concrete ever popped up for why his face was blurry or if/when it fully stopped being blurry? Unless I just missed some subtle thing?? Like I guess the epilogue did mention that Sooyoung had fun writing in stuff about him being the Ugly King but I don't think she made him ugly, that was just her memories of him?? Either way, poor Dokja. 😭
idk maybe I'm the only one obsessed with things like that. (I literally eventually started a separate section in my ORV Scrivener notes just for all the times Dokja's looks are mentioned in any way.) So maybe it just wasn't deemed important to "resolve"? Or, again, it was but I totally missed it.
Or maybe there's still something about the Library and his looks (and other mysteries I may not be currently remembering) in the additional 140+ chapters out there?
Unfortunately, English translations of Chapters 552+ don't all seem to be in one place, or at least I wasn't able to quickly find them in my first search. I'll keep looking, though. Might just have to cobble together the chapters one by one from various sources. If anyone happens to know where I could possibly find them...
Though I'm honestly not certain if I want to immediately jump into them or if I want to give it a moment to breathe. I actually am a little bit disappointed that I jumped right into the 40+ chapter epilogues right after finishing the main story since I feel like it stole some of the impact from him finding his two separate ■■.
Even if I was really happy to see how they continued living on in the system-less world and how Dokja felt after losing all of his companions to be Oldest Dream. Seriously you never get to see those sort of things after the "happy" ending.
And I did love seeing how it all tied back together with Sooyoung being the author and ORV itself being Dokja's story (which Sooyoung also wrote!) which in turn is our story and getting to see Secretive Plotter and the 999ths again and poor Joonghyuk just not knowing what to do with himself after losing his purpose as a protagonist and him and Sooyoung wanting to save their precious Dokja more than anything and both of them coming to understand Dokja better and so on and so forth.
But if nothing else, I do really want to finally read some fanfiction and otherwise engage with fandom now that the big mysteries are solved. And if I can make one final prediction it's going to be that the top fanfic is some kind of modern, no powers gamer AU or something. Because that's just how these fandoms seem to go. 😂
Anyway, I think it should be obvious from my many, many ORV posts but I really enjoyed the novel! I am very happy that so many things were so well foreshadowed, so much was so carefully planned, so many loose ends were tied up in a very satisfying manner, etc. It's very impressive for such a long, looooong story. I mean, just the fact that you could get inklings that something was up with Secretive Plotter before we even hit Chapter 100 yet not have the reveal come until much later is impressive just on its own.
I guess if I had one complaint it'd be that I didn't quite vibe with the whole "multiple walls to open the Final Wall" thing. Like, I totally was into the idea of Dokja's Fourth Wall being the largest fragment, and I actually thought that Jang Hayoung's wall was pretty clever since it's all about commenting/texting others when Jan Hayoung was created due to Dokja's comments.
But I'm not quite so into the Wall of Samsara and Wall That Divides Good and Evil. Like, I do get how they relate to the story, what with Dokja literally reincarnating into multiple worlds himself and the fact that a lot of Dokja's main theme was that he didn't nicely fit into a box of good or evil. I mean, his literal Modifiers are Demon King of Salvation and Watcher of Light and Darkness. Not to mention, Dokja went through a ton of the novel saying that just because they were evil in one turn doesn't mean they're evil in the next and vice versa, as well as the fact that the had companions on both sides of the spectrum.
So I'm not saying that they just came out of nowhere, but personally I find something to be a little off with them when compared to the other two walls? idk these are just my initial thoughts and I might feel completely different once I re-read the novel and can better appreciate things.
Which, speaking of, I'm debating with myself if I want to do the truly ridiculous thing and start this entire novel over right from the beginning in true Dokja fashion or if I want to be good and maybe give some other universe some love. I was looking at The World After The Fall but...uh...
Not to say that things with tiny fandoms aren't also good!!!
But it does make me kinda side-eye it a little and wonder if I shouldn't just read Solo Leveling...
...or read whatever side stories I can find, aaaaaalllllll the fanfic, and then read ORV all over again. 😂
We'll see.
FYI when I do start reacting to the side stories I think I'll use the tag "orv side story" if anyone wants to block it preemptively to avoid spoilers.
#thanks for everyone that came along with me on my journey!#I'll have to find my own ORV liveblogger to follow now 😊#orv#orv spoilers#orv novel chapter 551#orv epilogue spoilers#omniscient reader's viewpoint#orv liveblog
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