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iamtheprotagoneil · 4 years

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when i was writing my answer for the second part of this ask from alicia, i actually came up with a fic idea but since my schedule is pretty packed for a while to come, i probably won’t be able to turn this idea into an actual fic. so to keep this from fading away into the oblivion that is my awful memory, i’mma just do what ive made this blog for, which is rambling away:

there’s this hongkong tv show i watched ages ago, but one of the subplot really stuck with me. it follows one of the main characters on his journey to his eventual greatness. in this subplot, he’s stuck in an ice cage and, every night, he’d meet a girl (circumstances are a bit icky, but let’s digress). the ice cage is so dark and freezing that, to both of them, it feels more dreamlike than reality. they even prefer to each other as ‘mộng lang’ and ‘mộng cô’ which loosely translates to ‘dream man’ and ‘dream lady’.

later on, the girl (who turns out to be a princess) hosts an event to search for a consort (although, in honesty, she’s hoping to meet her dream man again). in the event, she hides behind some thick drapes that hide her identity, and asks her suitors questions that only her dream man would be able to answer – or answer correctly, anyway. the guy only comes to the event out of obligation, rather than any actual wish to be the prince consort. however, his intention changes as his turn to go ‘meet’ the princess comes, and then the questions, and then the realization that his dream lady is just behind those drapes.

i just find it so poetic that they only meet each other through bizarre circumstances, that they don’t even know of each other’s true identity, only falling in love with each other’s voice and wits. then, after a while apart, they find each other again, through sheer coincidence, and are able to reconcile on what they’d thought was only a lost connection.

which, ahh, makes me think of an AU, of sorts, for protagoneil. perhaps, they wouldn’t meet in an ice cage, but in a prison (idk, that’s just what my mind decided on), maybe in some place where they’re held captive in rooms next to each other, a place with rules so reclusive that they never get to see each other, only a voice as proof of the other’s existence. their situation – being locked up in a room with only a small window as indication that the outside world does exist, although distant – would make their interaction with each other so surreal, as if the other is nothing more than a figment of their imagination, another sign that they’ve gone mad in this captivity.

hell, we can make this even more tragic by setting in the tenet ‘verse, post-canon. perhaps a mission went awry, and the protagonist finds himself captured by some antagonists with greedy, self-serving purposes for tenet’s inversion technology. perhaps, the protagonist thinks neil’s voice – or whoever it is that sounds so much like the neil he once met – coming through the wall is just his mind coping to the loneliness and isolation. he’s never had problems with either before, but the circumstances are different now. now he’s got a ghost living up in his head, that he’s been missing and thinking about more than he’d ever admit to another soul.

i imagine their conversations can only be held in the night, spoken so quietly – barely above a whisper – so as to not alert the guards. the secrecy drown in complete darkness truly adds another layer of surrealism to it all. they never exchange names – the protagonist bc he doesn’t want to compromise himself, and neil bc well, if the protagonist doesn’t bother to offer name then why should he?

the things they talk about are simple, although unclear on whether what is true and what is warped into something not quite a lie, but close. they talk mostly to keep themselves sane (ironic, isn’t it?), to have a little distraction from the horrid things await them when morning comes.

i imagine the protagonist would wake up one day, call for neil, but get no answer in return. he tries more times, through many nights but still, no answer. neil’s just gone, so suddenly, and the protagonist can’t decide which sense of the word is worst. eventually, after a few more days of torture, of wondering and dreading, the protagonist finds his freedom.

it’s a joined effort, from himself and the tenet team sent to rescue him. i imagine the protagonist checking the room besides, finding it vacant of any furniture and living soul. he decides there that, yeah, perhaps the time in and out of inversion, paired with the isolation and torture he was put through, has really done a number on his mental state.

then, some months later, the protagonist would meet the voice in his head once again, but this time, with confirmation that it’s been real all along.

see, neil’s been moved to another holding facility. the antagonists have wanted him to work for them; have taken interests in the research he’s been doing on a particular field of physics and decided that he would be perfect to help them in their malicious plot for greed. neil... well, i wouldn’t say they broke through him, but he did agree eventually. the torture had been too much, and he was tired – he hated having to go back to the cell they were holding him in, facing this sickening dread as he questioned his sanity.

the voice in his cell had been a great reprieve from the undue punishments on his body, but not enough to completely elevate him from the pain of it. so he “broke”. he agreed to work with the antagonists, to save himself since it was obvious that no one ever would.

and that’s how the protagonist finds him again; when he breaks down the antagonists’ second location and discovers a compliant neil seemingly working for the people that was going to put a whole lot of lives in danger for their own greedy purposes. before they can say anything to each other, though, neil’s taken out by another agent – a sleeping dart placed carefully on his neck and pushed. the protagonist never did get the agents’ identity, having lost track of them in the midst of chaos going around him.

later, when neil is put in their medical care facility, the protagonist stands outside of his room, watching him sleep through the glass window and listening to a report about his conditions. it contains everything from the moment neil went missing from his london flat (presumed dead), to the time he’s spent under the antagonists’ captivity, to the point where they found him. then, the protagonist is shown a document, including various equations and graphs and terms that mostly went through his head.

he looks to the reporting agent, expecting a better explanation. the agent points out that the equations are wrong, but so delicately that she would’ve missed it if she hadn’t thought to take another, harder look.

“even if they’d gotten with it, their plan would’ve failed. that document you’re holding in your hand ensures that.” she turns to look at neil, regarding his sleeping figure. “he might’ve given into the idea of ever getting out of their claws, but he never gave in. he never truly gave them what they’d wanted from him.”

all of that winds down to one simple fact: neil’s passed the test, and the protagonist knows what that means. the protagonist has to wait a few hours for it, though; for neil to finally wake up and have his induction into tenet. in the meantime, he sits on the couch inside neil’s room, and waits, watching neil’s eyelids flutter in sleep, and feeling sorrow/rage/frustration grip tight to his being as he thinks about things that has and will happen to neil.

when neil wakes up, the protagonist is just right there to welcome him into the afterlife. he keeps his speech short, giving neil a brief overview of his situation, but neil isn’t really listening. the protagonist’s words blur together, not because of neil’s groggy mind, but because of a single, simple realization. it hits him so hard that he just can’t keep in the lone tear falling from his eyes. the protagonist sees this, and his heart aches – remembering how it’s felt when he was the one who was lying on the bed, getting told that his entire team had failed to make it out alive – and unlike his own recruited, the protagonist tries to comfort neil with, “listen, i know it’s hard—”

but neil just cuts him off entirely, reciting a phrase he’s said before, to the man he’s thought was just a dream his tired mind made up to keep him company at the late hours of the night. it stops the protagonist right in his tracks, staring down at neil, breathing harshly through his lips because he can’t believe it. he’s thought, also, but apparently, he’s thought wrong.

“i’m glad you’re real,” neil says, as he watches the same realization he’s experienced dawn on the protagonist’s face.

the protagonist takes a moment to respond, still a little bit stunned by neil’s words. then, he takes an easy breath, relaxing his tense shoulders, smiles down at neil - small and private, something just for the too of them - and says, “me too.”

because despite everything that had happened to them both during their time in that prison, they still had each other. they were there for each other, and the protagonist gets it now - the beautiful friendship that neil had alluded to. it is quite beautiful - poetic too, maybe - for them to have found each other in such a hopeless place, then lost that connect, then reconnecting it again because fate has willed it so.

the protagonist can’t help, even more so now that they are together again, looking forward to the things they will get up to - as promised. neil’s smile, sleepy yet sincere, tells him the very same thing.

#protagoneil #its only an idea so some parts are weird and super vague and just improbable #i really want to write it but damn i can't be profound enough to write something like this; and like i said my schedule is packed rip #and i have so many wips already ahhhhhhh #gotta finish them all before i can jump on any other projects and i just love this one to much to leave it there collecting dust #so here goes #if anyone wanna hop on this please do #you'll get my eternal love in return #also kudos for anyone who knows/figures out the show i'm talking about here #it's based on a very famous novel (that i have never read before; but have heard enough of it from my dad while watching the show with him)#(fun times; maybe that's why the show (or parts of it) really sticks to me hah)#idk what to tag this #*my ramblings #my prompt #ig???#i'll figure something out later but this will be it for now

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erin-bo-berin · 4 years

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Other than The Moment of Truth—which is a romance book in a series I didn’t have yet—the rest of the book order I’m placing this week are all by black or POC authors.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is about a teenage girl who discovers slam poetry and is told in verse. I own and read her other two books, I just haven’t read her debut novel yet.

On The Come Up and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas are books I’ve read before, but I don’t own them. I really want to add them to my collection though because I enjoyed them so much. Especially THUG because it’s such a powerful book about police brutality and what the black community really goes through.

Opposite Of Always by Justin A. Reynolds is a romance/contemporary. I’m not exactly sure of the premise, but this guy meets the love of his life then loses her when she dies suddenly, but he keeps reliving the first time he meets her over and over again? Something on that order.

The Vanishing Half and The Mothers by Brit Bennett are two books that have caught my eye and sound really good. I’m not entirely sure of what they’re about other than it deals with typical stereotypes against black people and racisim and they sound like they’re going to be really powerful books.

Learning To Breathe by Janice Lynn Mather is a contemporary about a young, black teenaged girl with a strict aunt. She’s never done anything to disobey her aunt, but when she gets pregnant and finds herself homeless, she ends up at this yoga retreat, hoping to find a home there and she finds so much more, including friends, support and love all around.

Color Me In by Natasha Díaz is about a girl who goes to live with her mother in her childhood home after her parents divorce. Being a biracial child—her father white and Jewish and her mother black—she struggles with finding her identity, especially when cousins on her mother’s side of the family claim she has no idea what it’s like to experience their pain and problems because she’s too white.

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Gilly Segal is another book I’m not quite sure what it’s about other than I know it involves two strangers—one white and one black—that meet in the face of racial inequalities and a race riot that turns their town upside down. It sounds like a great book that has important messages and also even a possible friendship in it.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams is another book I’ve been wanting to read for a while. It’s about a Jamaican woman living in London learning how to find herself after a breakup with a long time white boyfriend (I think I remembered that correctly).

A Taste Of Sage by Yaffa S. Santos isn’t actually a black author, but she is a POC author and this adult romance sounded intriguing. What pulled me in was the fact the main woman character who can cook also has the talent to know what a person is feeling by tasting what they’ve cooked. I think that’s what it is? But it sounds intriguing either way.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon is a romance/friendship strong contemporary. Three girls find out they’re dating the same man and decide to become friends instead of hating one another. For some self care, they agree for a year or so not to date at all and just focus on having fun with friends and each other, but apparently there’s a guy that comes along and threatens that no dating period for the main character. (This apparently is going to be a series, each book focusing on each of the three girls’ stories)

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow. Honestly all I know about this is that there are black mermaids and I was like SOLD!

The Invicible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen is a book that—and bear with me with this explanation—is one of my friend’s friends’ girlfriend. My friend recommended this to me since I was looking to support some POC authors and this takes place in the mid 1950s I think, when the main male and biracial character is sent to Alabama to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle and for the first time seems to experience difficulty regarding his skin color. Juniper Jones who happens to be the town’s outcast and doesn’t like to follow the society’s rules forms a friendship with him and the two take on the summer together.

The Wedding Date, Party Of Two, The Wedding Party and The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory is a series of adult romance companion novels. I already bought the Christmas themed one for this holiday season and I wanted to purchase the entire series.

Lastly, A Song Of Wraiths and Ruins by Roseanne A. Brown is a fantasy based of African folklore. Two characters, a male and a female are set out to kill each other, but at the same time are falling in love with one another. This one has me SO excited.

Also I’m so sorry this is so long, I just wanted to share some great books and especially some written by POC authors. @spideyspencer @themetaphorgirl

#erin talks books #erin talks #personal #books #poc author #poc authors #bipoc authors #supporting poc authors #supporting bipoc authors #im so excited for these books

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paracosmcentral · 5 years

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Multiverse Cosm (Messaged Explanation Comp)

i haven’t decided on names yet so i’ll just use the names of the lhp paras they were based off basically there are multiple universes each with different possibilities but they all stem from the Original which is like the og plane of existence except nothing really happens in the og it’s like the og has all the basic information and then all the multiverses take that basic info and spin it into something like the og has all the basic character info, and then all the multiverses are fanfictions/story ideas that use it canon or not the og has the most basic info that is consistent throughout but nothing really happens in it or if something does we don’t understand it if you ever try to visit the og it’s very disorienting it’s like you don’t feel anything or know anything nothing happens except that you’re existing you don’t even know how, if you even have a physical form you just know that you exist but basically something happens and the Glass Collage Effect commences

no official names yet but basically shiro, hyunseung and hanbin do… something that causes the multiverse to overlap and conjoin over the Original it’s like when you have a bunch of random glass shards and they’re all so different but you try to make a collage of them but it doesn’t really work out bc you have all these random colors and shapes and they don’t fit or if they do it’s not very neatly and there’s cracks everywhere and some holes you need to fill with an excessive amount of glue and it might look kind of pretty if you’re optimistic enough but for the most part it’s very obviously not working out

that’s what happens with multiverses the multiverses are like the glass pieces that make the collage and the Original is the platform on which they were built and all those cracks and stuff where the glass meet in the multiverses, they are known as splits so now all the different variations of people are either conjoined multi-identities or are separate existences on different glass shards

our main focus: shiro, hyunseung, and hanbin’s characters and wooji, jin sun, xiao yi and abraham’s characters for background xiao yi is like shiro’s unofficial son unofficial for no other reason than shiro isn’t 18 yet but once her birthday comes around she intends to be his legal guardian and jinsun and wooji are stray foster kids who hyunseung saved from shitty lives and got adopted by hyunseung’s uncle jinho and abraham is this very quiet but sweet babie boy who’s friends with the others and has a nice little bond with hanbin

so there are androids, digitized consciences, rescue missions, revivals basically a big part of this is that we don’t understand a lot about the multiverse and how it works and that’s ok a large portion of this story is the characters trying to figure things out and make it work but ultimately no one can truly comprehend it all

so hyunseung, shiro and hanbin from one of the multis finds a way to hop through different multis and eventually finds a way to get onto the Original but it’s because of that, that everything goes to shit nothing from the multis are meant to be in the Original the lack of substance on the Original acts as a repellent of sorts to all the multis like opposite ends of a magnet the multis are distanced enough that they don’t collide into each other but sometimes an attraction occurs, and that’s how some people wind up experiencing moments on an alternate universe that’s where all those stories come from

idk how to explain what it feels like to exist in the Original to be a basis it’s not something that can be put into words i can barely understand it myself it’s like you don’t really have any form you exist but not really it’s really weird it’s something you feel except you can’t actually feel anything the Original just is yeah it’s a weird oxymoron thing it makes sense in my head just not in words

now the Glass Collage Effect it doesn’t erase the Original bc then as far as we know the multis would like cease to exist or something no one really knows but it’s like you know how you have a sheet of paper on which you glue all your collage pieces? it’s like the Original is a board on which all the glass shards (multis) were glued onto and remember how there are gaps that are overfilled with glue?

well the multis (as in the people) can sort of jump? through the verses the edges of the verses that connect to one another are called splits you can leap(?) through a split but certain splits lead to those holes and if you leap there you get thrown directly into the Original

the people multis are basically everyone inhabiting the multiverses so like us there are variations of us in all the different verses and now bc of this whole overlap thing you can leap through splits to access other verses but those holes that throw you into the Original the Original literally cannot hold you you’ll be viciously tossed around and feel the most extreme and foreign and weirdest sensations and then get thrown up into the nearest verse every case of this ends up with severely mutilated bodies like the Original is a stomach that can’t digest or hold you so you become vomited

but back to multis as in the people shiro, hyunseung and hanbin had temporarily transported into the Original and this was before the Glass Collage Effect so they didn’t get thrown up it was more like you know how you put something in your mouth but it doesn’t even get down your throat bc you reject it before it does and just spit it out whole that’s how it was for them except when they got spit out the Effect had taken place their split second presence in the Original caused it

now i’m going to explain something about the Original it’s the most basic of them all and has the basis for all the multiverses but nothing quite exists, but still exists there are some consistencies in all the multiverses vastly different, but you can still draw some kind of similarity they are all children of the same Original after all but these consistencies are bc of something in the Original called connections connections are relations between basis identities it’s like the Original has the most basic code, some of which is relevant to each other and then the multiverses are all that can be made from building and developing off of that

so bc of that when shiro, hyun and hanbin get spit back out everyone who’s basis identity had a connection with theirs all their forms across the verses become merged but bc of all the imbalance and shit memories are sort of flying in there you have vague recollections at best but for shiro, hyun and hanbin it was different as they were the ones who actually entered the Original all their identities are merged but not like anyone else’s you know how they say cats have 9 lives they lose one, there’s a second it’s like that, but each multiverse identity would be a “life”

it’s like a game and when they lose a level, they lose a life and when they restart the level, it’s with another life but the lives in question are the multi identities and this is where the androids come in the 3 find a way to exist within a literal split so not like on the planes themselves but the split so you can’t actually access it they create a hideout of sorts i guess and they make it so that their conscience is kind of like extracted from their bodies it’s like their physical bodies are within this hideout thing contained and then their consciences are physically separated though still connected non-physically and everytime they start a new life/ use a new multi identity the identity doesn’t take a physical form but rather becomes transformed into a form of energy that powers an android and the conscience of that android and the conscience of the original human is connected via that separated ball of conscience whatever tf it is

now here’s the thing this glass collage it’s being held together rn but it’s so delicate and unstable and weak that it’ll just break and then nothing will be restored bc it’ll be swallowed and vomited by the Original but then everything within the Original will essentially have no purpose (a lot of the plot stuff is kind of metaphorically about breaking away and defining yourself and like actually becoming yourself instead of becoming what’s written in stone and stuff like that)

so yeah all the androids powered by multi identities work together and leap through multiverses to figure out how to prevent the glass collage from imploding they don’t know what to do or how to do it or anything really but they work it out by failing and replaying “levels” until they win

now meanwhile the merged multi identities of wooji, jin sun, xiao yi and abraham are searching for those 3 trying to find them which involves a lot of redefining and learning themselves they run into “shiro”, “hyunseung” and “hanbin” a couple times not knowing those are actually various android forms and stuff

but basically they all eventually figure out that although the Original exists and the basis identities exist the basis identities aren’t fated destinies that define them so much as the destinies they’ve defined for themselves bc remember, time is technically a place so although at the beginning of the journey they weren’t really them

they eventually do become who they are now but instead of thinking of it as a time a vs time b thing in which case the application of the Original wouldn’t really work think of it as time is a cross-multiversal place and different times are different locations across time so it’s more of a place a vs place b thing in which case the characters had already formed their identities and shaped themselves but in a different location

idk if i’m explaining this coherently or not sksksk

#multiverse cosm #submission

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two-baes · 5 years

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Just gonna, leave this here for myself.

Main Batfam (ie; the ‘core’ fam) :

Athanasia - Sparrowhark - 14

Barbara - Batgirl - 29

Bruce - Batman - 42

Cassandra - Black Bat - 19

Claire - Gotham Girl - 18

Colin - (work in progress) - 14

Cullen - No superhero identity - 17

Damian - Robin - 14

Dick - Nightwing - 27

Duke - Signal - 16

Harper - Bluebird - 20

Helena W.- Huntress - 21

Jason - Red Hood - 22

Matt - (Flame) Robin - 13

Maya - Nobody - 15

Maxine - Oracle - 20

Stephanie - Spoiler - 19

Nissa - Batgirl - 16

Terry - Batman - 21

Tim - Red Robin - 18

Extended Batfam (ie; cousins / like family) :

Basil - Clayface - 37

Beth - Brightbat - 40

Bette - Flamebird - 24

Carrie K - ‘Robin’ - 13

Charlie - Misfit - 17

Helena B. - Huntress - 26

Jean-Paul - Azrael - 27

Kate - Batwoman - 40

Kitrina - Catgirl - 16

Luke - Batwing - 30

Maps (aka Mia) - No superhero identity (as of yet) - 14

Mary - Strix - 19 (physically)

Selina - Catwoman - 35

Tiffany - Sugar Glider - 12

Outer (ie; not quite Batfam but Batfam adjacent / Batfam friends) :

Calvin - Falcon/Falco (I’m undecided) - 31

Lonnie - Anarky - 20

M - Midnighter - 36

Tatsu - Katana - 33

Violet - Mother Panic - 21

Zatanna - 39

Other (ie; people I haven’t decided what to do with yet but they exist) ;

Lincoln (aka Thomas Jr) - Owlman - 39

Thomas - (currently undecided) - 62

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Breaking things down a bit - The inner fam ;

Dick, Jason, Tim, Cassandra, Harper & Cullen, and Maya have all been officially adopted by Bruce in this universe

More or less in that exact order.

They’ve all kept their respective last names, but will occasionally hyphenate and tack on ‘Wayne’ to the ends of them.

Maya was brought home one day by Damian, who insisted Bruce take her on as a ward. Bruce was more than happy to oblige, tho noting how close of a bond the two children already had (and how they were already referring to one another as ‘brother’ & ‘sister’), he decided to just adopted her.

Barbara and Stephanie are not adopted

Steph is however a ward.

Bruce did ask to adopt her but she feels that it would be too weird for her to be legally adopted, since her and Tim are dating. ---She is however, considered by most of the family (in particular Harper, Cullen, & Cassandra), to be an ‘honorary sibling’.

Barbara’s father is still very much alive, altho Gordon and Bruce often joke about shared custody. (Also Babs agrees with Steph in that it would make dating Dick awkward)

Bruce still thinks of them like his own, and they’re considered as a core part of the family by everyone else.

Both also have their own respective rooms at the manor. Steph because she lives there, and Babs because she visits so often.

Claire is more or less an unofficial ward of Bruce’s.

In this verse he took her in after the death of her brother, and has been helping her to get the help she needs to recover; she’s been healing slowly but surely.

She’s formed a close bond with Duke.

She’s been getting training so that she feels less inclined to use her powers and won’t shave any more years off her lifespan.

Duke and Colin, while not officially adopted by Bruce, are his wards

Duke’s parents are still alive (though Jokerized), in light of this Bruce has offered to adopt him, but Duke politely declined. The offer remains open should he ever change his mind, however.

Colin similarly has been made an offer to be adopted, but turned it down for unspecified reasons. (ie; I haven’t decided yet if I want to go the ‘Tiny Boyfriends’ route w/ Dami&Colin in this AU, so I’m holding off on making them adopted siblings)

Helena, Damian, and Athanasia are all biologically Bruce’s children

Helena is from the future (or at least a possible future) in which Bruce and Selina have a child together. She refuses to tell them what year she’s actually from, or reveal much about her timeline.

Damian is Bruce’s son by Talia. He came to live with Bruce when he was 10.

Athanasia is Bruce’s daughter by Talia, although she was more ‘created’ than ‘conceived’ (ie, very much like those spare clone babies Talia had floating that she showed to Damian in the comics).

For clarification, she isn’t a female-clone of Damian. Talia used a sample of her own DNA and a sample of Bruce’s to create a new embryo.

When Damian was sent off to join his father, Talia had Athanasia born; aged up to ten years old to match her brother. She kept her a secret, hidden from Bruce and Damian, training her in the ways of the league for the next three years, before having a change of heart and sending her daughter to meet her brother and father.

Terry, Matt, Nissa, and Max are all from a future timeline that was wiped from existence somehow, they managed to time travel back to the past to survive.

Terry and Matt are (because of genetic tampering done by Waller) biologically Bruce’s sons. Terry is aware of this information. Matt is not.

Since they didn’t arrive with them, Terry and Matt believed Nissa & Max had died. However it turned out that their device had been damaged somehow, causing the timing of their arrival to be off by a year.

Breaking things down further - The extended fam ;

Kate and Beth are identical twin sisters, and are Bruce’s cousins.

In this verse Beth recovers from her ‘Alice’ persona and adopts the mantle of ‘Brightbat’, working alongside Kate as a vigilante.

Bette is the youngest cousin of Kate, Beth, and Bruce.

Jean-Paul isn’t related to anyone, nor is he adopted by, or a ward of Bruce.

He does however work closely with the family, and is considered an extended part of it. He’s like an honorary cousin more or less.

Luke also isn’t related to anyone, but works closely with the batfamily, earning him a spot as an honorary member, even if he's not a part of the core family.

Tiffany is Luke's youngest sister.

She's taken to training with and helping him out on the field. Don't call her his sidekick though, she hates that.

Helena B. has close ties to the batfamily, although she isn’t part of the core family, she is always welcomed by them, and in turn will always aid them when they need it.

She’s particularly close w/ both Barbara & Dick, as well as Cass. She also gets along well with Jason.

Mary isn’t officially integrated as a part of the core family, but she does live with them, having been brought to the manor to live by Babs, who she has grown close to.

She appears to be around 19 years old, in actuality she is much older. Because of the process she underwent when being made into a Talon, she doesn’t age physically.

She was taught sign language from Cassandra, although she still prefers writing as a means of communication.

While Babs fills the role as an older sister type figure for her, Mary seems to have latched on to Secret Six team-member Thomas Blake as something of a (reluctant) paternal figure.

Charlie isn’t exactly a full fledged part of the Batfam, so much as Babs has taken her under her wing and started to mentor her.

She lives with Barbara, and is generally introduced as her cousin.

Carrie is Barbara’s second cousin on her mother’s side, who randomly showed up on her door one way after finding out she had a relative in Gotham.

Eventually she discovered Babs was Batgirl and pleaded for her to mentor her.

Basil has gone from a former Gotham rogue, to a redeemed and trusted member of the batfamily.

He's particularly close to Cassandra, and has become somewhat of a second father figure to her.

Selina really is on the family friend/extended family cusp, with Helena’s arrival edging her a bit closer to the latter. --She’s not quite a part of the core family, but with a daughter from a potential future timeline showing up her dynamic definitely changes.

Her and Bruce have, as you can expect, had a thing. They have in fact, had several things. They’re very on-and-off.

When they’re 'on’ their relationship is sometimes left open (bc y’all kno I’m all about that poly)

Selina being the alleged long-lost daughter of Carmine Falcone is canon in this verse.

Kitrina isn’t quite a part of the batfamily on her own, however as Selina’s protege she’ll make appearances here and there during times of need at her mentors side.

Kitrina is Selina’s niece (unbeknownst to her, tho Selina knows.)

Maps is one of Damian’s very best friends, and has taken full advantage of that to worm her way into the (at least somewhat) inner bat circle.

She’s is --as Damian keeps reminding her -- a vigilante in training and is always asking him to mentor her so she can join in when he goes on patrols. She's even volunteered to be the Robin's sidekick.

Breaking things down even more - The outer fam;

M is for lack of better explanation, like that close family friend you have who is sort of like the cool/fun Uncle. He helps out here and there, gets along w/ most of the fam, and pops into the manor uninvited every now & then to get a rise out of Bruce.

Gets along well with Dick and Jason. (Tends to team up with the latter to tease the former)

Cullen seems to have taken a real shine to him, and has asked if M would mentor him since starting to consider becoming a vigilante. (M however is unsure he's the right fit as a mentor for the kid, since his crime fighting methods tend to be a bit brutal)

He’s not married to Apollo in this verse, though they do have an on-again-off-again type relationship (so I can occasionally hook him up with other people w/o leading to drama).

Zatanna also falls into the category of close family friend.

Her and Bruce have been friends since childhood, making her one of his oldest and closest friends.

Also her and Bruce have had a thing once upon a time. (There might still be some feelings on both sides, I’m keeping options open here...)

Violet isn’t part of the core batfamily, and she doesn’t work quite closely enough with them to be considered part of the extended fam either, but in this verse she’s close friends with (and maybe dating) Harper. which has lead to her working a bit more frequently with the bats than she usually would otherwise.

Calvin is an ally of the Batfam & comes to help them when called upon.

He gets along really well w/ Dick. Circus boys gotta stick together! ...No really, they've got like a whole act worked out together.

Tatsu is another close friend and trusted ally of the bats. Though she doesn't work often with them under normal circumstances as she usually has her own things going on, when they're in a real pinch they can call on her, knowing she'll answer.

Lonnie's position within the batfamily is...complicated, as he doesn't always see eye to eye with some of them.

Despite not always getting along (with Bruce in particular), he does help out the family from time to time when they have need for him, and has admitted that he prefers being friend over foe.

Gets along best with Stephanie and Harper.

Had somewhat of a rivalry with Tim when they were kids. They're both (mostly) over it now.

Sort of awkward around Jason since it's highly possible Lonnie's biological father is the Joker... in this verse it totally is canon

Whatever is left to break down ;

Lincoln - aka Thomas Wayne Jr - Bruce’s younger brother that he was unaware most of his life that he even had.

(I’ve not really decided what to do with him yet, he’s only been fleshed out in this verse far enough for me to have decided that he definitely exists here, his backstory will mostly follow comic canon but after that I don’t know yet)

Thomas is Bruce (and Lincoln)’s father from an alternate timeline where he didn’t die (so, again, also not a huge divergence from comic canon, except this one isn’t an asshole who tries to ruin his son’s life and break his spirit whilst claiming it’s to help him...)

(I haven’t decided yet what to do with him. Do I want him to also be Batman?? Do I want him to have retired??? We’ll see... He, much like Lincoln in this verse, hasn’t been fleshed out beyond ‘he exists’, yet.)

#my batfam AU #Earth 7777777 #7Sevens or 7s for short #I spent fucking hours writing this all up lmao god damn.#Helena being from an alternate timeline is the only way I could make the age I wanted her to be work w/ the ages I wanted Bruce and Selina

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brokenaishi-blog · 6 years

Text

timestamp (For the about and verse page)

Name: Ayano Aishi.

Age: 18

Height: 5'8

Weight: 168 pounds. (She has a dense frame. More on that below)

Gender: Trans female.

Eye color: Pink.

Personality: Thoughtful, cruel, cunning, smart, somewhat charismatic, sadistic in some instances albeit of conditioning rather than of sexual need. Incredibly sweet and loving to her loved ones. Puts on a face she think suits the situation for people she doesn’t care about or trust. (More on that below)

Looks: Pretty, cute but has a strong build.

Status: Recovering from trauma.

Overall the changes I present will be more morally gray leaning and occasionally messed up as a pathway for Ayano. This is challenging the Yandere approach and while still having Ayano as a Yandere? This is challenging the narrative and I understand completely what he’s intending for some features/backstory he’s revealed before asked about this. I did my research and re-watched a lot of videos in order to make accurate statements in response. I am not condemning the game utterly as I am fully accepting if the game turns around and does things in a different, more exceptional way, but I am fully willing to admit when it’s had some bumps as well. The game afterall: is still in development regardless of how the Dev is as a person, it is subject to change as this about is as well.

Things he’s missed the point of a Yandere:

Usually? Most popular Yanderes have a tragic event or childhood to cause such a drastic twist in mental stability and personality. EVEN SO much as addressing this as such and some popular Yanderes have gotten happy endings with everyone living or somehow reversed or it ends in tragedy in certain cases.

Yandere characters in the archetype generally as a rule DON’T WIN as their delusions and instability is toxic and usually end in their defeat or apprehension. This isn’t set in stone but overall an inevitably as that’s the main point of characters with the archetype: they’re harmful to themselves more than anyone else.

My Ayano never ‘wins’ her Senpai as he either ends up dead or she’s stopped by Megami and then rehabilitated by her in her main verse when Megami can’t sit idly by and see Ayano be far better than her mother in the need of help, Megami comes off far too morally righteous to allow that to happen. And then for her ‘bad end verses’, she’s confined to get help and her father spends the rest of his days in regret for not acting sooner. Her mother dies frequently however via execution after trial from what she’s done to Ayano, her father, along with her countless victims or is confined. Or she is simply killed by Ayano in her main verse after kidnapping a few ‘loose ends’. (More on that below)

Changes to her character’s interactions with others along with fluff info:

She will have some habits and customs from japanese culture. Her skirt will be at knee-length along with the other highschool girls for an actual dress code to a high standards school. Along with the changing of uniforms as? While I think he explained it, they still look far too middleschool for my tastes but the student council uniforms can mostly stay the same other than skirt length.

There will be no panty shots for Info-chan and instead she will be gathering information through various means and ways.

To go with the fanart and concepts that I’ve seen in canon videos and what not, I’ve decided to give Ayano the trait, Ocular albinism: meaning her eye color is pink.

Ayano unless in certain verses is less likely to murder as that makes zero sense as why she’d jump straight to that as Senpai wouldn’t love a murderer. Granted, she would use it as a last resort if there was no other option or time. However, she sees little to no reason why she shouldn’t murder or even torture actual ‘murderers’ in her eyes, or pedophiles along with others as in the worst of the worst.

In most scenarios with a physical confrontation or a forced one, Ayano will be keeping her identity a secret with a mask and beat up her target usually rather than outright killing them. Using intimidation, manipulation and cruelty in extreme circumstances to get what she wants.

Ayano is capable of becoming hyper fixated on other people once she gets over ‘Senpai’ in her recovering verse due to her disorders. Or the rp partner’s muse in question can outright be her Senpai.

Regarding my Ayano’s Ocular Albinism: aka why her eye color is pink. I never really specified her eye color exactly other than pink and how her emotions reflect it. So as you notice, you see blatant red on even my theme for her eyes and other artwork he’s made to have Ayano? And due to me liking the concept and explaining it as an extreme case of Ocular Albinism? I’ve further gone to say that while her eye color is pink? Depending on her emotions, such as getting angrier or feeling intense emotions of love? It can become darker shades of pink, even resembling a pinkish red. This actually happens in real life with our own eyes to a degree of becoming darker or lighter colors or sometimes partially different colors altogether depending on our moods, but Ayano’s being far more severe in pigment change. And because of ocular sensitivity? I’ve decided to give her protective contact lenses she wears over them as while she can go without them? It is uncomfortable on brighter days.

Changes to character’s mental state and addressing the ableist outlook placed upon her by the Dev.

Overall, while Yandere Syndrome is a fictional mental illness, Yandere Dev has confirmed she’s a ‘sociopath’ and a ‘psychopath’ whenever it’s convenient for him and the reasoning behind this is that even as a sociopath or psychopath, and there are actual ‘normal’ terms for that: as sociopath = anti social personality disorder. They’re literally JUST personality disorders that are often demonized and portrayed incorrectly and this game is no exception in that, look up the myths and do your research- these people can live happy lives if they get help either through self-help or third party to be more comfortable and happier. Regardless, morally righteous or not? The mental illness aspect of the game is poorly written and overall I don’t expect much out of his explanation why she has her ‘bizarre’ condition but also apparently actual conditions that are demonized by him. As using a fictional mental illness but also subtly demonizing existing ones and even incorporating them into your own character whilst having a fictional one? Like, make up your mind.

Literally you could have taken a ‘normal’ person and put them in the exact same scenario and they could’ve react the same way. As not to get political? But look at mass shootings and highschool murders and stabbing cases- perps more often than not are morally fucked rather than having anything MENTALLY ILL about them. So while I’m fully okay with her being mentally ill and explaining why she’s doing the things she does? You do not jump from point A to point Z. You go from A to B to C and so on. That’s poor writing otherwise for a character as I understand ‘a reflection of the player’ as a blank slate to project onto, but overall he basically admitted to giving up on the character’s personality and story, then contradicted himself in making her a backstory.

Moving onto Ayano’s backstory: ‘Doctors knew she wasn’t ‘normal’, her parents knew she wasn’t ‘normal’ and her father instead of helping her cope? Tried to make her normal and her mother did nothing to help. Her teachers did NOTHING to stop the bullying it seems when she was younger and overall forced herself to act ‘normal’ and is numb 24/7’. That is the biggest copout for a character, as she is shown to have emotions when it suits him but she’s emotionless apparently? This whole narrative creates an unintentional sympathetic outlook on Ayano.

Why?

Her parents failed her, her father kept trying for her to be normal instead of getting her actual help. Her mother PROBABLY made it worse as why does a Highschool Girl know how to torture and mentally break people and brainwash them into her mindslaves to kill themselves afterward? It was Ryoba’s doing for how I’m making it and that’s incredibly damaging mentally for a child. (More on that below) Her doctors KNEW something was wrong at an early age? And she’d never be normal and instead of getting her therapy? They did nothing. She was bullied and while she didn’t mind it? Her teachers did nothing.

Society failed to help the little girl known as Ayano Aishi.

Now moving onto my Ayano’s actual mental and personality disorders: she’s a sociopath, has extreme obsession issues and severe ingrained trauma with needs for violence or isolation for the people she ‘needs’. Has varying levels of mental stability and coherency depending on the circumstances and can become extremely unstable.

Ayano’s actual emotions and character will actually exist instead of a ‘blank slate’ which he later contradicted himself with his backstory video of Ayano Aishi and that actually GAVE a lot of unintentional depth to her as a character as- ok, well I see why she’s messed up now as being numb 24/7 even when she has shown actual emotions in genuine response in the game and in his cutscenes. So yes, my Ayano is an actual person and for her ‘recovering verse’ and even outside of it. And has BECOME numb from everything as? That whole ‘numb’ narrative could still be kept if it was explained better.

Her mother and father and how they interact with her differently.

Ryoba’s mother has been conditioning her since she was seven for murder, starting her on animals to begin with and eventually moving her onto actual people when she was around ten to torture, murder and make into mindslaves as practice as she was ‘just like her’- as literally there’s no explanation why she knows how to do this other than ‘she’s a monster’ and that’s the biggest cop-out ever and demonization of a mentally ill highschool girl. Ryoba keep in mind while thinking about this as why I have her do this: IS A CANON rapist. As? Kidnapping someone, and coercing them and conditioning them into sex is actual rape no matter how you want to explain it and if even he came to agree to it eventually. That’s? Sex under duress and that’s actual rape. I feel as though Ryoba is underutilized in Ayano’s backstory due to her history and how she is, as I do explain her ability to instantly kill people in some instances from the physical training she received throughout her life from her mother. As some weapons would require MASSIVE amounts of strength to kill someone instantly with, yet Ayano can with ease in some cases and knows where to stab and so on and so forth and how to fight. That’s why she has such a weight because her frame is so massively dense and yes, there are people like this who exist- she packs a lot of power in that body of hers.

Her father in summary? Is a traumatized victim of rape and kind of an idiot as he actually never bothered to get his daughter actual help. And I blame this on the higher stigma toward mental illnesses in Japan for flavor text albeit Yandere Dev being shortsighted in plot devices as a possibility.

My Ayano and her place in the school:

She is considered a relatively popular and well known girl in the school that’s part of the student council, known for being oddly helpful even outside of her student council duties. Though she is somewhat intimidating with her physique and intelligence to other students but is highly admired, her personality often disputed and argued about as she adapts it to the situation. Though most are unknowing to this other than Megami.

Ayano’s likes from her partner(s). She likes to be laid on while intense smooching ensues. Likes to be held or partially cradled while sitting in their lap, perhaps fully cradled if they’re strong enough for it. Likes to sit on their lap preferably while being held from behind around her waist. Likes to hug with her legs whenever she can whether being laid on for smooching or sitting in their lap in reverse so she’s facing them. It can be purely chaste most of the time in the gesture, but can lead into intimacy. Likes neck and collarbone kisses leading up to her lips. Likes being petted. Ayano favors feeling like she’s soft so that’s why she does or likes these things done to her.

Picture reference for Ayano’s body build:

Ayano’s religion.

Ayano’s religion is known as ‘Shinto’ it was the state religion of Japan until 1945 and is as ancient as the culture itself. I don’t know TOO much of the practices of Shinto as it involves rituals and offerings, along with other bits of my research obtaining a basic understanding. Which reminded me of appeasing the vengeful spirits/kami/demons in-game. Along with the fact that they come as more akin to Yokai and an Aragami (other than the Succubus which I later found out there’s a term for actually being: Akuma as a western demon) more than anything to me? All mechanically will or can be offered gifts, tasks, and sacrifices for great boons in-game. So while I’ll be using this to explain how she can communicate and ask for their services from great, and hard tasks given in exchange for massive boons: I will be using this as a baseline to explain that she is naturally connected spiritually and quite heavily, as the occult club constantly try to summon the supernatural, but fail to every single week in comparison to Ayano who can just put a knife into a skull and bam- she did it, she can talk to them (Which might be made harder later to do, but we’ll see. He hasn’t mentioned anything regarding the mechanic). Albeit I will not go too much into the Shinto religion regarding the Aragami, as I feel I wouldn’t be able to accurately represent it and I don’t wish to appropriate holy or sacred practices.

The ‘three demons’, aka the dismembered Aragami, the flame Yokai, and the western ‘demon’ that’s an Akuma and the ancient evil. All four of these will have extensive plot-lines and rp potential if someone wishes to utilize them in an rp or have Ayano delve into it. Note that her interactions with these beings overtime may be subject to change, but her religion regarding Shinto and family origins will NOT unless I am shown otherwise it’s satisfactory story-line in canon wise.

The Aragami.

The ‘demon’ or Aragami that demands dismemberment comes off to me as an Aragami, which is those who are killed without being shown gratitude for their sacrifice: will hold a great grudge after death and become powerful and evil Kami who seek revenge known as an ‘Aragami’. The great Kami is ultimately appeased and befriends Ayano, albeit its great power will not be used often as that comes off to me as blatantly disrespectful to her religion. And instead will only be utilized under dire circumstances.

The Yokai.

The Yokai, the ‘flame demon’ comes off as more a spiritual, supernatural monster rather than an Aragami with his speech. And instead will simply have been appeased through odd, quirky means as some Yokai often are. His powers while still used more often, will still be rarely used as the powers of the supernatural can be devastating.

The Akuma.

I’ve flavor texted the clear western demon as a ‘foreign exchange demon’ for humor purposes, but also more accurately being known as an ‘Akuma’ that through various means, has befriended Ayano. As there is a term for a literal western demon apparently and can function as another term for another demon? And she is a Succubus currently quite evidently so she’s an Akuma for now.

The ancient evil.

I’ve flavored texted this seemingly new feature that may be implemented as a great, evil and ancient Yokai that through various means has been soothed and appeased by Ayano and currently has never been used for a boon due to its great and terrible power.

You may be asking yourself at this point? Why would Ayano be religious? Why would she even remotely care about abusing the power of Yokai, Kami, or an Akuma for the sake of her own gain to easily obtain ‘Senpai’? Why would she care about ANY of what I’ve said above? Well, I will be explaining this now, using her family origins and adding a sense of greater depth and potentially a greater mystery into a redesign of the game.

Ayano’s family origins.

To explain Ayano’s upbringing, along with slight insight into Ryoba’s own motivations into why she conditioned her daughter in such an extreme way physically and mentally, along with teaching her holy practices: is that Ryoba’s family sect dates back to an ancient and dark time of Japan where human life was valued very little that followed the family line in traditions and practices up to Ayano’s bloodline that progressively got worse as time went on in mentality.

To explain what the Aishi family’s sect was like in the past: they were highly religious, traditional and information gatherers for their leaders, along with being torturers and breaking people mentally to subjugate and break their spirit after capturing them to obtain vital information, and that’s where the art first began and overtime became honed into why: Ayano, a Highschool Girl has the knowledge to turn people into literal mindslaves with almost zero to needed requirements stat wise. (He might change this later, but he has made ZERO mention to it as he has with other things, so for now? I doubt it)

Why have I made it this way?

Mainly to incorporate things from the game rather than being a simple club accessory into a more compelling story with a sense of mystery even though I basically laid it all out for you as to why she acts the way she does and her family- as it is just a concept but a concept that’s currently more fitting to me than the current iteration. And why she can do and engage in certain things, rather than use a ‘bizarre mental illness that also is seemingly actual ones’ as a plot device to explain certain mechanics, along with the fact of knowing how to properly utilize poison among other killing mechanics, granted you need certain stats before doing that? Ayano needs to have a reason WHY she would know to be able to jump from point A to B to C and so on with that logic.

As for story-line? While I made it that this is rooted in tradition can seem highly unlikely as actually possible: for there are traditions in this world that have been going on for generations. In fact, some of even the most popular plot-lines in popular Japanese anime have involved outdated or dogmatic practices and traditions as being something they need to overcome together as a whole.

All verses will be typed as exactly in bold to separate them from one another. Ultimately there is a canon verse to this blog, but it is up to you the player rper decide on kind of path you want Ayano on to interact with your muse.

Eyes on you.

Ayano is fixated on the muse she is rping with and sees them as her ‘Senpai’ or person she wants to be forever with by any means necessary. This can be countered with the muse knowing and helping Ayano through her condition. This tag is limited to no specific muse so long as they’re in her age range as she can even become fixated on her ‘rivals’ for how casual I’m willing to be with this. Do tell me if you want it to be AFTER she gets help, as Ayano will attempt to kidnap them prior to being abducted by Megami to get help when Megami can’t sit idly by any longer. Muse must be in 2-3 years within age range for this to apply or be considered.

Hugs on you.

A recovered Ayano can be a ‘yandere’ for her friends or made family. To give an idea of how this tag differs from the other one: she’s completely loving as she is in her romantic fixations, though her actions are completely chaste in intention.

Living again.

Ayano’s main verse is recovering from a lifetime of trauma and overall did not follow in her mother’s footsteps completely, taking a morally gray stance in eliminating her rivals, doing her best to not traumatize anyone but making them back off through intimidation and possibly violence with her identity masked or befriending them on accident in the goal for Senpai’s affection but also from her own sense of warped morals. Only resorting to murder with the worst of the worst and while she did a lot of bad? She also did a lot of good and saved people albeit in order to be with Senpai, never murdering anyone outside of what her mother conditioned her with privately and forced her into.

In this main verse: she is living with Megami after killing Ryoba to save her and a few of her other rivals that were considered ‘loose ends that knew too much by her’. Megami is the one who originally apprehended Ayano after piecing things together and unable to idly standby while Ayano was in need of help and needed to be stopped, rehabilitating her in the process with therapy and freeing her from that fixation she had on Senpai as she saw the good in Ayano from an outside perspective but also on a personal level. Note: the Megami I’m rping with can be romantically involved with Ayano if they desire, that is up to them or to assume a more familial relationship, helping her deal with the tragedy she endured and protecting her during the initial reveal and overall therapy Ayano needs.

Note: this verse can start at any point in time of the verse, even so much as the first day of back to school.

Masked.

The mask itself is hard to rip off and you’d practically have to hurt her in the process to forcibly remove it fully. But it resembles that of something faceless and can only be seen out of, but not into. Its pure white in design and the material is easily washed and disposable. She has a voice distorter while this is on that makes her sound further intimidating, though she mainly did this on purpose- as rather than sound robotic. It sounds multi-toned, calm, soothing and yet eerie.

No going back.

Ayano has resorted to murder of the innocent and also has no qualms about framing, or traumatizing anyone to get what she wants. This follows a ‘bad end’ route for the rp and will eventually result in Ayano apprehended by Megami and her forces and temporarily locked away for several years to get help with Megami’s intervention. With her mother imprisoned for extreme child abuse, murder, rape, and so on with possibly being put on death row? Ayano has to live with her actions for the rest of her life as Megami takes responsibility for her as I see her as the type of person to look at her father and just: ‘You’re bad at this, I’m taking over now’ with how morally righteous I see her as.

text

Interactions but online, as in if Ayano was using the internet on the actual website itself: tumblr. As there are a lot of canon interactions in the game on her phone? So it works as she will age in real time in this verse: she is currently only 17 right now.

tw (insert trigger here)

Exactly how it is. So tw blood, tw stalking and so on and it will be under a readmore anyway if it’s extreme violence and torture.

A Yokai’s scorn.

There are some muses that clash far too much with Ayano’s world to properly interact with her. So I’ve decided to give her a supernatural verse.

I’ve decided to make Ayano a mixture of immortal spirits for what kind of Japanese Spirit/Demon or ‘Yokai’ she’d be and I was leaning more towards spirits than anything.

Her inspiration:

Betobeto-San

Betobeto-san is a formless specter, and is only recognizable by the telltale sound it makes – the “beto beto” sound of wooden sandals clacking on the ground.

People who walk the streets alone at night sometimes encounter this harmless but nonetheless disturbing yokai. It synchronizes its pace with walkers and follows them as long as it can, getting closer and closer with each step. For the victims, this can be quite traumatic. The haunting sound of footsteps follows them wherever they go, but every time they turn around to see what is following them, they find nothing.

Teke Teke

As a young school boy was walking home at night, he spotted a beautiful young girl standing by a windowsill resting on her elbows. They smiled at each other for a moment. The boy wondered what a girl was doing in an all-boys school, but before he could wonder more about the girl she jumped out of the window and revealed her lower half was missing. Frightened, he stood in the sidewalk, but before he could run, she cut the boy in half and the boy was found dead but his lower half was missing.

What Ayano is and how she functions:

Ayano was born from human sadness, loneliness, love and yearning. That’s how she came into existence is manifesting from those innate desires, often seeking out those who wander alone with the same ones. Thus her willingness to grant boons without a question so long as it does not conflict with her own warped morals.

Basically I’ll be taking this as Ayano is a ‘born spirit’ and while immortal, can be dispelled temporarily or fought back if the person is supernatural themselves but as imagined? Can be hard to deal with as most of the time once angered, as Ayano at first is harmless and will simply follow lone travelers as a wandering spirit, having no disfigurements and appearing as a young Japanese Teenage Girl in traditional garments and only allowing glimpses to be seen before vanishing completely, though the clack of her sandals can still be heard.

Eventually, after a day of off and on stalking during the night, the spirit will converse with the traveler on really any topic at night. Maybe the weather, their lover, or even what era it is- the possibilities and accounts have been numerous. Albeit, there are occasions where the spirit will become enamored with the traveler she’s following if they’re a young teenager such as she, pursuing them more frequently and even flirting or complimenting them and capable of physical contact. However… if the spirit is rejected harshly or told to go away in any circumstance whether enamored or not other than politely and calmly asking to be left be: a farming scythe will appear in her hand as blood begins dripping from her eyes and a great wound appearing on her abdomen shows with entrails hanging partially out, the Yokai will then pursue relentlessly until her victim is mutilated and brutally murdered with a vicious smile. Then vanishing with the remains to who knows where.

Though if appeased after seven days and humored in her dealings, the spirit is capable of giving great rewards or even taking one favor and will fulfill it without question so long as it doesn’t conflict with their own warped moral code. However if simply asked to be left alone peacefully after three times each time she disappears and then reappears later, the spirit will leave and give no reward or punishment. But will give no reward if asked to leave even once if the duration is met to its end.

Often many times, the spirit will attack people who respond in fright in the heat of the moment, as it needs to be done ‘politely and calmly’ with no sense of hostility or horror. So as you can imagine? Things get quite messy at times for those not in the know of Ayano and her ways.

Weapon reference so people don’t get confused and think of the western version of a farming scythe.

The home.

Her home essentially is her own heart which consists of an endless hallway of flesh that constantly beats and convulses as if well- you guessed it: a heart. Inside, she sits on a regular mat when dormant if not seeking or being sought out with her offerings or gifts she has received over the thousands of years, the walls lining with countless masks of her victim’s faces that she carefully carves off and then places onto a wall to dry and harden and reform. The masks once taken shape, resemble the victim’s face almost exactly, albeit their eyes are merely darkened holes as if to see out and simply look like ordinary masks, having her own ‘special section’ for her victims she’s been fixated on that’s deeper inside her heart’s winding chambers. Although… visitor’s under her protection will often find themselves feel as though the masks themselves are following them with their empty eyes.

The leftover flesh is absorbed and essentially consumed as it becomes a part of Ayano’s ‘home’. This is to ease the emptiness she feels eternally in her ‘heart’ and that’s why she keeps her victims close to it, or well, more literally inside of it as a part of it. Taking the phrase ‘keep them close to your heart’ rather literally.

Habits.

She’ll often take the masks of her victims to temporarily meld onto her face to admire herself with their face and build.

She collects the faces of her victims to fill the eternal emptiness in her heart.

She is willing to trade faces with people from the victims she’s acquired of their own choosing, thus ‘visitor’s under her protection’ are a possibility when picking out and trying out masks for the ‘face trader’. The trader themselves will be able to either keep the face and build or simply the face, but never just the build. Albeit can leave some parts of the body unaltered, such as if the person in question is simply transgender and doesn’t wish for their sex to be changed as well or someone who wishes to change it entirely along with looks if they’re transsexual. The participant must be specific or Ayano will simply leave them in the new un-altered body if they wish for the build as well.

If simply asked for a boon when sought out via things to attract her, Ayano will fulfill this without question if there is no trade conducted. What this means: later on, without warning as years or simply weeks passed, Ayano will absorb them completely as if stalking them with the clacks of her sandals. However, when they turn around? Well… I’ll let that be a surprise for whoever wants their muse to find out as their face will appear in her heart’s wall.

She deems it as you always have to give her something if you want a boon, even if it’s yourself.

Will trick others into giving themselves to her when they ask for boons if she sees that it’s possible.

Is extremely affectionate to the few friends she makes. Will revisit previous companions she’s granted boons to with no strings attached to simply enjoy their company. Especially if she’s fixated on them.

A few powers to simply list them off.

Immortality, albeit not invincible but can return from being vanquished or forced away.

Reincarnating others through budding them in a large flesh cocoon that instantly hatches once dropped from her hand: this is necessary for a ‘face-trade’. And to take inspiration off certain myths and shows.

Absorption/Soul Absorption.

Dimensional travel and having a dimensional plane of her own.

Limited shape-shifting so long as she has the mask.

Limited wish granting.

Using her victim’s mask to form ethereal and formless wearers of it to deliver messages in her voice.

(Maybe more to be added later, I might be forgetting some)

How to seek her out and appease her rather than herself finding you.

Traditional offerings or sacrifices whether great ones or personal ones regarding loneliness, along with food and incense to attract her. Alternatively, you use a charm given to you by her, and while greeting offerings aren’t necessary after befriending her? They’re greatly appreciated and could actually earn you her friendship.

To trade with her.

It must be exceptional and befitting of a Yokai. Whether it’s an offered task to do for them such as to expand their influence to others with great statues, writings or knowledge, or to perform something at the request of Ayano on her terms if accepted. Or a grand sacrifice for a grand boon or a small sacrifice for a small boon.

#ooc #tbd #timestamp

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woodworkingpastor · 3 years

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Like a good neighbor... -- Luke 10:25-42 -- Sunday, February 21, 2021

The Narrative Lectionary brings us two very familiar stories this Sunday. The Parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary’s home might rank as two of our favorite NT passages, or at least two that we recognize as having great significance for our life together.

I want to begin by pointing out one way modern Bibles can hinder Biblical interpretation: it has to do with the section headers that that many Bibles have added to the text.

These section headers are not part of Scripture. Luke did not name these stories the Parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus visits Martha and Mary; the titles represent the choice of an editor, not the Holy Spirit. Luke just started writing and kept on writing until he finished. But that’s not to say that there isn’t some intention and creativity in the Gospel; Luke likes telling stories in pairs, often having a man serve as the main character of one and a woman the other. We saw this two Sunday’s ago in the healing of the centurion’s servant and the raising of the widow’s son in Luke 7. We see it again today. The section headers mask Luke’s writing style and cause us to miss something that he wants us to understand.

Furthermore, naming this parable after one of its characters—the so-called “good” Samaritan—might also confuse the point. Luke does not call the Samaritan good, he just tells the story. As long as we’re supplying our own titles, why not call it “the parable of the bad neighbors”?

Or how about this one: “A lawyer tries to trap Jesus.”

Reframing a familiar story

Maybe it’s because this is such a familiar story, but as I worked with this text these past two weeks I found myself drawn to this lawyer who questions Jesus. It seems that he’s the one we should be thinking about, if for no other reason than the so-called “good Samaritan” is a fictional character—albeit an important one—and the lawyer is a real person. Reframing the story like this gives us the chance to decide who we most relate to in this text: are we the man left naked and half-dead by the side of the road? Are we the priest or Levite? Are we the Samaritan? Or might we be the lawyer who asks Jesus a question and likely gets more than he bargains for?

I find verse 25 to be both interesting and contemporary:

“A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said,“what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

We don’t know his motives, but perhaps we can imagine that this question is a trap. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if most all of you told me that you’d been on the receiving end of a question like that recently:

What did you think about the election?

What do you think of masks?

You can likely supply a few of your own questions as well. What makes questions like these challenging is trying to determine if the people who are asking are interested in learning your answer or if they’re interested in judging your answer. Their opinion of you will rise or fall depending on how you answer. So does this lawyer—whom we might better label a theologian—want to learn something for himself? Or is he trying to corner Jesus? Is this a question or is it a trap?

One of the clues that suggests to me that this is a trap is that Jesus declines to answer it. Instead, he turns the question back on the man, asking essentially:

What does the Bible say? What did you learn in Sunday School? (Luke 10:26, paraphrased)

This lawyer is well taught: he knows that the Bible says to

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

For those of you who are fans of the Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, you can almost hear Jesus reply, “This is the way.”

But the man isn’t satisfied; his answer his correct but it’s application is open for interpretation. So he asks for clarification.

And who is my neighbor? (Luke 10:29)

This is when we learn of the so-called “good” Samaritan.

In the parable, no one is labelled good or bad. What we do know is that there is a wounded man whose identity has been stripped away from him. None of the people in the story have any idea if he’s good or bad, if he’s “us” or “them,” if he’s an “insider” or an “outsider.” We don’t know his ethnicity, or if he’s old or young or rich or poor. We don’t know if he has health insurance to pay for the medical care he will need. We don’t know why he was traveling alone down a dangerous mountain road that was known to be stalked by robbers. We don’t know anything about him; he’s just a naked man laying by the side of the road who will die if no one stops to help.

If the parable is about goodness, however, then surely the priest and the Levite are the good guys. The priest and the Levite represent the lawyers’ people—they’re the religious leaders of their community. If we’re measuring goodness, then surely these are the ones. But this isn’t a parable about goodness, that’s a modern title. This is a parable about neighborliness, and there’s not much of that to be found in these two.

It’s important to recognize that the priest and the Levite choose to not get involved. They saw the man and chose “to pass by opposite.” Jesus makes a clear grammatical choice here. There was a verb in the Greek language that means “to pass by.” Had Jesus chose that verb for his story, it would have left open some plausible denial that the priest and the Levite had done anything wrong. Maybe they didn’t see the man. Maybe they looked and were certain that he was dead. Either way, they could be exonerated for not getting involved.

But Jesus takes the verb meaning “to pass by” and adds the preposition “anti” to it. Not only does this modify the meaning of the verb, it modifies the intention of the priest and Levite. They didn’t just pass by; they chose to pass by opposite. It adds a layer of intent to their decision: they made a choice to avoid getting involved. But why? There are a likely several reasons; I think the most compelling explanation is that they’re traveling down this unsafe road alone, too. There’s already one man who has been beaten and who appears to be dead, and they don’t know where the bandits are.

Hustling along is a prudent choice that I believe we can appreciate. They understood the costs associated with neighborliness; it was more than just the hotel bill to needs to be paid at the end of the parable. Had we been in the same situation, would we have acted any differently?

So then Jesus sends a Samaritan down the road. Again, if this is a parable about goodness, then the Samaritan is automatically assumed to be a bad guy. But this isn’t a parable about goodness. It’s a parable about neighborliness.

Most of us have heard this parable enough times to know that the Samaritan is a controversial choice for a hero; it would be like a Baptist preacher in 1950’s Alabama making a Black man the hero of the story; it’s the kind of thing that you could lose your job over.

The Samaritan does the opposite of the priest and Levite: instead of passing by opposite, he came near enough to be moved with pity. The man is still alive; if the Samaritan acts quickly, he might be able to save the man’s life. The Samaritan measures the costs involved with mercy—both the personal risk and the financial costs—and chooses neighborliness. To borrow from a popular advertising tag line: Like a good neighbor, the Samaritan is there.

Jesus ultimately pushes the lawyer—and each of us—to wrestle with what it means to be a neighbor in a world that is more interested in the labels we apply to ourselves and to others. Notice how many labels there are in this story: lawyer, priest, Levite, Samaritan. Each person’s label—the way they are identified and the position that represents in the community—is a matter of tribal identity. How do the labels we apply to ourselves and others hinder our ability to be neighborly?

We dare not miss that the lawyer is not asked whether or not he would have stopped to help the man; he’s asked to offer spiritual affirmation about someone whose identity was an object of scorn and ridicule. Neighborliness becomes a commentary on our tribal identity. There are social costs here, too. If you’ve not followed the pattern of Jesus and chosen to answer one of the many trap door questions of our times, then you’ve learned what that is like. Jesus’ question,

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor… (Luke 10:36)

forces the lawyer to ask himself a hard question: “Will I affirm that someone who is not of my tribe can be an example of faithfulness?” He can no longer say, “I know we are to love our neighbors, but surely it doesn’t mean this!” How often we put limits on what Jesus says!

Now to the first commandment

Having answered (or silenced!) the lawyer, Luke takes us with Jesus to Martha and Mary’s home. This is more than just a stop on Jesus’ itinerary; it’s the completion of a vignette. The lawyer’s question revealed two issues related to faithfulness. The second of those—loving neighbor—was answered in the parable. Now Luke brings us the answer to the first one: what does it mean to love God?

The visit to Martha and Mary’s home is not a question of tribal identity, it is a question of spiritual priority. Martha is doing exactly what her culture expected of her—she’s the older sister, there are guests the house, hospitality must be shown.

Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. She has assumed the role of a disciple; she’s come to learn from her Lord. Martha has not chosen wrongly; she’s just chosen poorly. There will be time to fix the meal. Now we must learn from Jesus.

Because the world we live in is spiritually contested space, we will never learn to love our neighbors if we aren’t sitting at Jesus’ feet. We are surrounded by ideas and ideologies about who is important, valuable, or praiseworthy in every direction. Neighborliness will only come by sitting at Jesus’ feet.

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toycarousel · 7 years

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What is kin/kinning?

Ahahahaha~! I figured I’d get asked the question after reblogging that post. :’) Well, kinning in the case of the joke I reblogged, kinda just means talking about/being somewhat openly kin on your main blog. It’s a kin community joke, I guess. ; P

Now, what kin itself is, is a lot more complicated to explain, and I’ll try to be concise about it, because I know I ramble a whole lot, and I don’t want to make things even more perplexing, but I have a feeling I’m going down the rabbit hole here. :’)

***Essentially, being kin means that you are you, but also someone/something/some other essence or being. This conviction can be spiritual in nature, it can be related to mental illness, or it can simply be a person feeling like they identify so much with a certain animal, concept, character, etc., that they are exactly that thing they identify with~!!! And they use the term kin to communicate that to other ppl~!!!

***So, to boil it down, say a person refers to themselves as doll-kin. That means that, on a fundamental level of what that person considers their existence as, they believe they are, in addition to being themselves, also a literal doll. Same can be said of space-kin, ghost-kin, tiger-kin; anything at all~!!!***

My Personal Conception of Kin: For me, specifically, it’s maaaaaainly kind of a spiritual (???) thing (it’s a spiritual thing for a lot of otherkin, but they may or may not share my exact spiritual beliefs). I believe in parallel or alternate planes of existence that may have existed before, after, or at the same time as ours. In addition to that, I believe that creative energy (that writers, artists, original creators of any sort) draw a lot of what they create from the prior existence of parallel Universes. I think that they have the unique ability to tap into what Stephen King referred to in his novel “Lisey’s Story” as:

“...the pool where we all go down to drink, to swim, to catch a little fish from the edge of the shore; it's also the pool where some hardy souls go out in their flimsy wooden boats after the big ones. It is the pool of life, the cup of imagination, and she has an idea that different people see different versions of it, but with two things ever in common: it's always about a mile deep in the Fairy Forest, and it's always sad. Because imagination isn't the only thing this place is about.”

A related belief is that when someone comes up with a story, they’re either telling the story of a Universe that actually exists; or, they’re creating a Universe as they make the story (in some Pagan circles, there’s a belief that if you can imagine something, it already exists somewhere, and sometimes by imagining a world, we create worlds -- this stuff is all basically preamble as to what fiction-kin is, though).

And I know this is going to sound p wild to ppl who aren’t super spiritual, or who don’t believe in unproven/vague scientific theories, or who just have their own set of beliefs that clash will all this, and that’s okay~! I don’t feel the need to argue with anyone about whether or not kinfolk, therians, fickin, etc., exist. It’s a set of convictions that I, and many other kinfolk, have based on our fundamental beliefs, current spiritual beliefs, and deeply-felt instincts/intuition.

Fickin (fiction kin), which is more related to the spiritual beliefs that I talked about above, is basically when someone believes that they are a fictional character that exists atm. As an example of that, someone could say that they’re kin with Link, from Legend of Zelda, and that means that they literally are Link, and comprehend a part or a whole of their own identity as being Link.

Some common/reasonable misconceptions about what is and isn’t related to ppl who are otherkin:

Therians are often mixed up with kinfolk, and I am not very well educated on therians, so here’s a link as to what they could be defined as, by many actual therians (some also call themselves kin, and some don’t): http://otherkin.wikia.com/wiki/Therians (I wish I had a more comprehensive link -- if anyone out there does, feel free to send it my way, and I’ll publish it for anyone who’s curious~! I just don’t feel qualified to talk about it in-depth myself~!)

Alters are also confused with kins a lot of the time. Alters are usually more specific to people with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Alters can be characters, animals, concepts/objects, or individual personalities. They’re different from ppl who are kin, because these individuals exist on their own, but within one body. This state of being used to be called multiple personality disorder, to clarify (but don’t be fooled by media depictions -- they’re really not how they’re portrayed in horror movies and other things like that). Dissociative identity disorder is complex, and I’m also not an expert on it, so I won’t go deep into that one either. The difference between an alter and a kin could be very loosely described as:

kin = a person themselves, who has a singular consciousness, but believes that they are in some way non-human, or essentially different from how they currently live/present themselves.alter = someone else (or multiple beings, with their own personalities, lives, and memories) living within an individual, and who sometimes operate that person’s body, or “front.”

***I thiiiiiiiiiink that’s as short an explanation as I can make it, but I gotta clarify again that being kin is viewed somewhat (or even extremely) differently by every person who is kin. For me, it’s spiritual; for some people, it mainly means that they don’t feel like they literally are their kin, but they identify with whatever being/concept/character so strongly that they still feel they are kin; and for some people, they feel like being kin is related to specific ways of existing within a mental illness (I’m not mentioning this to say that kin ppl are mentally ill, or vice verse, I just happen to know a lot of ppl who do feel that they’re, personally, kin because of their mental illness(es)).

(About the joke I reblogged): Ppl who are kin are usually made fun of on this website (aaaaaand p much everywhere else), and a lot of us are p relaxed about that and feel comfortable with making jokes about ourselves -- I’m one of those ppl. I feel fine with taking the piss out of myself a lot, and that’s basically what the joke I reblogged was: a variation of a meme, but this time centring the fact that a lot of ppl reasonably don’t admit to being kin on their main blog because of the negative attention it garners.

I know I said this would be short, but goodness, if I don’t have a whole lot to say about the topic. :’) I did try to be succinct, so if a lot is missing (according to other kinfolk), pls go easy on me~! Feel free to send in your own experiences with being kin, and I’ll be happy to publish/talk about them, if y’all are interested~!

*******tl;dr: Here’s a link to someone else’s more comprehensive/direct definition and FAQ about otherkin, if you feel like reading it~

#I've been told I'm verbose and I'm trying to be better about that but here we are :') -#otherkin #kin #fickin #therians #alters #I know I butchered those last 2 defs though so feel free to step in -#ask to tag -#sorry I'm... convoluted... whoops -#anons #scotchasks

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troikacounter-blog · 6 years

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Rises from absolutely nowhere, don’t mind me I’m just here to dump my feelings and opinions on Episode Ignis. Spoilers below obviously!!

One hell of an essay located under the cut, complete with somewhat separated sections and everything.

Gameplay: In the main game, Ignis has been the one who specialized in support – specifically offensive support, with the utilities he brought as well as his powerful link strikes. Regroup is such an amazing skill as well. So I was really surprised that, as a playable character, Ignis’ playstyle was more or less relentless assault. Of the three Episode DLCs I was the most aggressive as him – countering is far more rewardable than just dodging, and his mechanic revolves around using the right form of attack depending on the situation. I felt like it’s another way to show Ignis’ personality when he’s not just functioning as a member of their quartet, when he’s not merely guiding and giving advice to his friends. It’s a glimpse of the commanding presence he exuded when their quarreling in the mines became too much, and in it shows his steadfast resolve especially in this DLC’s premise.

Aside from that, I love how the fights and the mechanics gave me a flurry of emotions. There are the grandeur of the boss battles of course, as well as the determination brought out from the conditions of using the ring. A lot of these were visually pleasing! And yet, this very serious and very emotional DLC features party glasses that light up, the ability to cook while there’s missiles exploding all around you, and this ridiculous “friendly match” that involves vegetables, falling billboards, and oh my god Noctis Lucis Caelum don’t use the Ring of Lucii against your friends???

Level Design: Oh, Altissa. Part of me dreaded this setting because I got lost in its city quite a lot when I was there. But fortunately this version had more accessible areas and Ignis was being very Spider-Man so it was less tricky to explore! (I still did copious amounts of map checking though.)

I love how the mood of this area – and the mood of the DLC in general – is a stark contrast to Episode Prompto’s. Prompto’s DLC was quiet and isolated, one that encouraged introspection from one of our more energetic and louder companions. Meanwhile, Episode Ignis threw one of their more composed individuals into a high-tension and chaotic battleground, and this is why we see him at his most emotional state of mind.

Ignis: Oh my god. So, Ignis has been my favorite character since the very start and I always appreciated how he was on details, on how he wanted be sure of everything around him and be able to see it with a clear mind. I love that despite his stoic demeanor he is very warm towards his friends and provides them with undying loyalty. To be honest, if I was given a twist that being royal advisor to the king also meant they are their personal assassins I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash because I always felt like Ignis would have been the kind of person to kill somebody with no hesitation if it was for Noctis’ sake.

And in a way I was right, but also oh my god. When his name meant fire I was thinking of homey bonfires not this intense raging flame. This wasn’t out of character for me at all, this were things I knew Ignis was capable of doing, but nothing could have prepared me for the heat and passion that came alongside it. I have thoroughly underestimated what Ignis was capable of, and now I love him even more for it.

(To even think my first guess of the alternative ending was that Ignis was going to betray Noctis! I was such a fool! The absolute and complete opposite happened here!)

I’m a bit upset at Square Enix, they were using my weakness against me. A change in the eyes to represent power? Intense violin solos? Being angrily optimistic and wanting to punch destiny in the face??? I’m still in partial shock, to be honest. Ignis actually did That. Ignis Scientia actually did All of That. What a hero.

Verse 2, Meta: Is it a canon ending? In my opinion, it is because it’s made by the game developers themselves. Making Verse 2 canon doesn’t mean the main game’s end isn’t canon either! A lot of games have multiple endings and this one isn’t different. They’re both canon. What that does irk me though is how a lot of people seem to dismiss Verse 2 as just some way to pander to the fans because oh look, it’s a happy ending! But it’s an ending with so much substance in it despite its vagueness, and this is why it brought in so much theory and discussion. It’s an ending that, in its own way, made sense.

It doesn’t mean that Verse 2 is enough to replace the main game, however. There’s not a lot of details in here and I understand that – this is a DLC for Ignis, and so the content of this DLC rightfully focuses on Ignis. We don’t know how Noctis and Ravus and company did their journey towards Niflheim this time. We don’t know how long Ardyn had Ignis in captivity. There is no Episode Prompto, although I would wager that the chances of Prompto discovering his true identity and ending up in a similar experience are still fairly high – after all, there’s still this giant metal death worm to take care of. God, I wish we got to see either Noctis or Luna yell very very angrily at Bahamut for being such a massive jerkwad. It can’t replace the main game because you would need a fairly longer experience for that – and that is what I feel like they’re building up on.

Verse 2 is a teaser. The fact that this is a scenario that happened in the game means that it is a scenario that abides by the rules of this game world. After all, a possibility has to be possible. Which means – yeah, that’s right, there is a way to bring back the Dawn without following the prophecy. If they’re searching Royal Tombs then it means that a clue may lie within the history between the Astrals and the line of the Lucii. Verse 2 also hints at Ardyn’s background, especially since he’s going to get his own DLC soon. And they’re still making more content for FFXV anyway, what Verse 2 shows is a hint of what happened in this world, and if we may get our explanations soon.

Verse 2, Themes: I will be honest, I’m lukewarm towards Noctis’ fate of sacrificing himself. I accepted it eventually because in that point in the game, Noctis was already trapped and it was really the only way he could have saved everyone. They were never given a chance to try for an alternative, and there was little they could have done the moments the daemons wreaked havoc into the land. But at the same time, I was something I didn’t completely appreciate. It was because there was no time to truly understand the circumstances, no time to really work out the choices they have. Hell, even now we don’t have a full picture! It felt like Noctis was robbed of his agency to the point where the only thing he could do is to at least guarantee the safety and future for his friends. I am good with heroic sacrifices, but not like this.

(This doesn’t hold much weight into this, but it also didn’t help that XIV was also very fond of heroic sacrifices during the point XV got released. At least those characters had a choice and did it out of their own will, but it made me very tired of this trope regardless.)

I understand that sacrifice is one of FFXV’s themes, but so is friendship and the comrades that were made along the way. The way I saw it, the conclusion from the main game focused too much on the former, and Verse 2 was there to emphasize on the latter as a balance. Yes, sacrifice is sometimes necessary, but must it always be something that is paid in blood? Dying is easy, living is harder. There’s so many ways to explore FFXV yet, and restricting ourselves to the main game scenario feels like we our limited in our options to experience that. Verse 2 has its own things to offer, and those things they offer are something quite beautiful.

The first one is for Lunafreya – I believe it was by her will that she was able to communicate Ignis the details of the prophecy, and I do believe that she did so in hopes of finding a different future for Noctis. I think without Ardyn’s intervention she would tell Noctis this herself, but…well. Unfortunately, it was something Ignis was incapable of acting upon when he ended up blind, but in Verse 2 he was given this opportunity. Thus he was able to pass on this will to others as well.

Verse 2 can’t be any longer for the reasons I mentioned before, but I would kill to be able to explore the ten year gap in this iteration. This was a ten year gap with hope and determination rather than a growing dread and desperation. They were able to prepare, and that preparation was something so many individuals participated in. People from sidequests, allies from previous moments, leaders of other cities. These were all the comrades you made along the way, it showed that long journey you took, all the detours you made – those weren’t just extra EXP and gil, those weren’t just for nothing. It wasn’t just your own fight now, it was a fight for everybody that lived in this world, and everybody did what they could in order to face this upcoming apocalypse.

One thing I screamed a lot on during montage is where we see Ravus alive and well inside his home in Tenebrae. Tenebrae is intact. TENEBRAE IS INTACT! This speaks volumes – for one, Ravus surviving meant that Tenebrae can still function as its own country throughout these years. Secondly, it meant that there is a high chance that Niflheim wasn’t able to set it aflame as it was during the main game. We don’t know what happens to Niflheim and chances are it fell apart still in this timeline, but if it was able to find somebody to take command, it alongside the other countries might have been able to conduct peace terms – proper peace terms, this time – in order for everybody to become united against a common threat. There would be other concerns later on, for sure, but those can be resolved at a later time, once the Dawn greets them once more.

Nope, Noctis, no sleeping in the afterlife this time. You’ll have a lot of paper work to do.

(I just want more politics in FFXV okay)

I’m not sure if Verse 2 would ever be expanded more upon, or maybe I’m just a blabbering old fool and this really is nothing but fan service in the end, still I won’t call this other end as just something to please the fans. The themes this Verse presented are still the feelings and the emotions these characters would like to express, their desires and wishes and capabilities. And I hear them.

#* dragonspeak #final fantasy xv #episode ignis #ignis scientia #ffxv spoilers #oh god it's gonna take me a while to recover on all of this #so much happened

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diddykongfan · 7 years

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(my heart is a kaleidoscope)

The “Emma and Graham are Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask” AU that literally no one asked for, but you’re all getting anyway. Previous writings in the verse can be found here, here, and here; but, as I have always intended, I have gone back to the beginnings of the verse to tell the story.

This part starts out heavily OUAT 1x01 Pilot (with some alterations to backstory & curse elements in order to make the Sailor Moon thing even sort of work), before taking an abrupt turn into a place where almost everything is different (because of the Sailor Moon thing, obviously, the turn we took led us over to the first chapter/episode of that instead). I’m trying not to do the entire present day section of the OUAT pilot, though, so there is some skipping about.

I have loosely (very loosely) planned out following four story arcs which combine ideas from both source canons. Of course, that may be my head being more ambitious than my time & muse, but we shall see.

Not a whole heck of a lot of Graham in this part (and only in his Tuxedo Mask persona), but, you know. it’s already more than 3500 words and, like i said, i’m kind of skipping around both pilots and trying not to completely rehash either one. That means making decisions about where and when and if to include certain aspects. And this chapter feels right to me as it currently is.

arc one, dark kingdom/dark curse, chapter 1/?

Emma Swan has no memories before waking in the woods at age 14, with four other girls who had the same problem – they all five knew their names, but nothing else.

She hasn't seen any of those girls since they were all put in foster care and split up.

And she hasn't let anyone close since she was 16 and she thought that– well. It doesn't matter what she'd thought. She had been wrong. Painfully so. But it's been a lonely 12 years, in the meantime, and as she blows out the candle on the cheap cupcake she bought herself, she lets the inkling of a wish expel with her breath.

And then there's a knock on the door, her head snapping towards the sound.

If she believed, in anything, she might think that some force up there was somehow granting the wish she may have sort of just made (please not another birthday alone). But she doesn’t believe, so – she’s not sure what to think. Someone at the wrong apartment, probably (it’ll be another birthday alone, won’t it?).

And she opens the door to see a kid.

(Clean. Not malnourished. Nice quality clothes. Kid comes from money. Although, as far as anyone could tell when they were found, the same could be said for her and the other girls. Still, no one ever did figure out who they actually were.)

“Um… Can I help you?” she asks. It has to be a wrong door. There’s no other explanation. Other than that, she’s still trying to figure out how she should proceed. There’s a kid, at her door, and that is not something that generally happens.

And if the appearance of a child at her doorstep wasn’t strange enough – “Are you Emma Swan?” – looking for her. No parents in sight. Just the kid, and the bag on his back.

“Yeah. Who are you?” There’s no sense denying, no matter how confused she may be. And giving an answer is probably the only way she’ll get answers in return, so-

“My name’s Henry. I’m your son,” he announces. Like it’s obvious.

For a moment, she doesn’t say anything, too stunned to react. The kid seems to take her hesitation as an invitation, brushing past her into the room. So not what she was hoping would happen – not that she quite knows what she was hoping would happen. Maybe that she’d blink and this whole thing would be a figment of her imagination?

Finally, her brain catches up to her situation, and she attempts to take control of whatever this is that’s going on here – “Whoa! Hey, kid? Kid? Kid?” As she follows him into the room, she lets the door close – she isn’t about to let any prying neighbors in on this business, if she can’t help it. “I don’t have a son.” Or anyone else, for that matter, no parents, no friends, no one. She doesn’t have anyone. And as far as she’s aware, that’s how it’s always been. “Where are your parents?”

“Ten years ago, did you give a baby up for adoption?” The exactness of his tone makes her pause. He came here knowing what he was doing, that’s for sure. Still, she’s not a mother. She gave that up. Tried to make sure that there was no way that the baby could find her. Hoped that he would never want to, that the family that adopted him would be enough. “That was me.” Ten years and a handful of months. He’ll be going on 11, won’t he? But she needs – she can’t confront this, not yet.

“Give me a minute,” she requests, and then, though she’s not proud of it, she shuts herself in the bathroom.

(This can’t be happening. She couldn’t be a mother – not back then. And now? No, she doesn’t have that right any more. Signed it away.)

(This is happening. He found her, somehow. Despite every precaution she took with the closed adoption.)

(This can’t be happening. Why would it be? He was supposed to get a good life, a loving family. He was supposed to never wonder or care about her.)

“Hey, do you have any juice?”

(This is happening. There is a kid on her doorstep that says he’s…)

“Never mind. Found some.”

(This is actually happening. Even though it can’t. Even though she has to put an end to it, as soon as possible. Biology aside, she doesn’t have a son.)

When she’s pulled herself together enough to try and face this, she exits the bathroom to find the kid – Henry – drinking her orange juice straight out of the bottle. She’s adopted her best stern-and-stoic expression, no-nonsense. But before she can say anything, try, once more, to take control of the situation, the kid smiles at her.

“We should probably get going.”

“Going where?”

“I want you to come home with me,” he requests, and, no. She’s not – she’s not doing this. She doesn’t need to be forced to intrude on a life that’s got to be better than anything she could have given the kid. She was nobody, back then, a lonely teenager who had nothing, who was in jail. Couldn’t have been a mother then, had no life to give the baby. She isn’t a mother now, not just because the kid walked into her apartment saying he was her son, like that makes it all cut-and-dry. No, now, she’s still nobody, still gets the feeling every day that she’s… Nothing. That her entire sense of identity – tenuous as it is, sometimes, with the missing years – is worthless.

“Okay, kid. I’m calling the cops.” In a few strides, she’s across the room, phone already in her hand.

“Then I’ll tell them that you kidnapped me,” the boy states, no hesitation.

And at that, she pauses. “And they’ll believe you, because I’m your birth mother.”

“Yep.” He seems awfully pleased with himself, like he knows for a fact he’s won whatever game it is he thinks he’s playing, barging into her life like this – but she’s not exactly as fooled as he seems to think she is.

“You’re not gonna do that,” she declares, confident. Of course, he meets her with confidence of his own –

“Try me.”

She lets herself smile, for a moment. Because here, she finally has him. Finally has the upper hand.

“You’re pretty good. But here’s the thing, there’s not a lot that I’m great at in life. But I have one skill. Let’s call it a super power. I can tell when anyone is lying. And you, kid? Are.”

She starts to dial, but then, in a tone much more deflated than before- “Wait. Please don’t call the cops. Please. Come home with me.”

And somehow, all at once, she can feel her resolve crumble.

“Where’s home?”

“Storybrooke, Maine.”

…

The kid has a book, it turns out.

Well, the backpack probably should have given that away, but give her a break for a second? She was a little busy freaking out about the kid finding her to consider what was in his bag.

It’s a book of fairy tales, from the looks of it, and he’s reading it pretty intently while they’re on the road.

Maybe it’s a bad idea, because she’s trying to remain detached, so that she can get this over with and go back to her life, the reason that she’s calling him kid instead of Henry, trying to think in the same terms, but – she tries to engage him about the book anyway, asking “What’s that?”

(It’s going to be a long couple hours either way, but she’d maybe rather it wasn’t a long uncomfortable silence.)

“I’m not sure you’re ready.”

Well, that’s not cryptic or anything.

“Not ready for some fairy tales?”

“They’re not fairy tales. They’re true. Every story in this book actually happened.”

“Of course they did.” Her sarcasm is half-muttered, under her breath, but the kid calls her out on it.

“Use your super power. See if I’m lying.”

It doesn’t feel like the kid is lying, but it wouldn’t. If he’s really convinced of something like that, then to him… It is true.

But that doesn’t make it true. There’s a difference. There’s always been a difference. She’s gotten pretty good at understanding that much.

“Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true.”

“That’s exactly what makes it true. You should know more than anyone.”

What? No, that’s not how it works. Not at all. People believe things that aren’t true all the time. She had believed that the nice woman from the state would be able to find out where she had come from, how she had gotten to the woods with no memories – that was what the woman had said, when they’d talked. It’d never happened. She had believed that Neal was a good person, who loved her, who wouldn’t abandon her. Clearly, that hadn’t been true.

If there’s something she knows more than anyone, it’s that believing something doesn’t make it true. That you can believe and be so very wrong.

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re in this book.” He says it so confidently she almost believes him, for a moment. After all, there was that chunk of time that she can’t remember, everything before that day in the woods. Still… Whatever happened back then, whoever she was, she has a hard time believing that it would be in a book of fairy tales.

“Oh, kid. You’ve got problems.”

“Yep. And you’re gonna fix ‘em.”

She pauses. Her? Fix the kid’s problems? No.

“And how is that?” she asks, though she’s not sure she wants to know the answer.

He digs around in his bag again, and after a few moments he pulls out a round, golden… What is that, a brooch? A compact? Whatever it is, it’s engraved with a crescent moon shape and inlaid with four small jewels in different colors around the edges, and fits in the palm of his hand.

“You’re Sailor Moon,” he declares. “And you’re gonna find the other Guardians, and the Princess, and you’re all gonna break the curse.”

Maybe he was right when he said she wasn’t ready for the answer. She isn’t sure whether she wants to simply scoff at the notion of her being some sort of… Curse-breaking Guardian? Or something? Or if she wants to laugh at the idea. It’s completely ridiculous, after all.

But, she isn’t heartless, doesn’t really want to hurt the kid’s feelings by dismissing him in this outright. So she doesn’t laugh. Instead, she tries to gain a little more insight into this… Theory, or whatever it would technically be called. Tries, once more, despite herself, to engage with the kid.

“And what’s that thing in your hand got to do with all of that?”

“It’s a transformation brooch. It’ll help you unlock your powers. I don’t know exactly what they are, but you’ll see.”

…

She’s almost to the town line when she spots that the kid left his book and the shining golden “transformation brooch” in her car. She would applaud his nerve, even lets herself grin at the sneaky move, because, hey, it is a little impressive. It’s bold, and she can appreciate that. Even if it is boldness being used against her.

And then there’s a wolf in the road, and she’s swerving to avoid it when things go black.

…

When she finds the kid at the playground by the shore, his “castle” as his teacher called it, she tries to reason with him. Tries to explain that – that there’s no way that she’s in some book of fairy tales. That she’s real.

She’s a little surprised when he shoves the brooch back at her, shouting a challenge.

“Prove it, then! Prove you aren’t Sailor Moon. Try and transform. Say the words. If nothing happens, fine! But try first!”

The metal is warm in her hand, the weight of the object almost familiar. She pushes that thought aside, raising the object above her head, before reciting the words the kid had shown her in his book. They’re pretty much random, the words that make the supposed phrase of power, but if shouting them out will prove there’s no such thing as magic and curses, simple as that, well, then, she’ll say them.

“Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!”

She’s not expecting the ribbons of warm light that envelop her the moment the last syllable has passed her lips, and yet, she experiences them anyway. The feeling doesn’t last long, but that something happens at all is enough to prove her wrong, isn’t it?

She’s… Sailor Moon. Whatever that actually means.

Looking down at the outfit she’s suddenly wearing doesn’t do much to inspire faith in herself, though. Short skirt, ribbons everywhere. Elbow length white gloves, every material on the outfit something light and, unless she’s mistaken, something that would be susceptible to damage in a fight – not that she knows for sure there will be fighting involved in this whole thing, but what else would a “Guardian” do, if not fight to protect someone or something? The boots feel sturdy enough, at least, and the heels would probably hurt someone if she kicked them.

Also, reaching up to her forehead she feels that she’s wearing a tiara.

Looking back at the kid only means seeing that he’s grinning like the cat that ate the canary, unfortunately.

(Unfortunate because it means he sees the new outfit too and knows he was right – or at the very least onto something – obviously.)

“Okay,” she starts, cautious of being too encouraging, as of yet. Just because something happened doesn’t mean she’s ready to just accept it yet, ready to uproot herself from her life in Boston for this.

Not when she doesn’t really understand, yet, what this even is.

“I still don’t know what it is you expect me to do, with all of this,” she gestures to the outfit, “Shiny new clothes don’t do that much in the way of bestowing knowledge and powers.”

“The Evil Queen wanted to hurt Snow White,” Henry opens his book, turning it to face her so that she sees one of the illustrations that grace its pages. “So she allied with an ancient and spiteful being to create a curse, a curse that would take away everyone’s memories and happy endings, except for hers. There was a prophecy, though, that Snow White’s daughter, the princess, and her four Guardians would be able to fight back, to break the curse. So the five of them were trained, until they were fourteen. But then the Queen was finally ready to cast the curse, so the Blue Fairy used the very last magic bean in order to send the Princess and the Guardians through to the Land Without Magic before the curse could affect them too. But it must not have worked right, because you and the other four didn’t know about that, right? If you already knew you would’ve believed me without transforming.”

He turns the page, and the last illustration – that is her, and the others who were with her that day in the woods. Even if she didn’t recognize herself, recognize them, she would remember those outfits that they were found in, the dresses and cloaks that she had quickly realized were not exactly normal, everyday wear for most people. So–

“You can come and go from Storybrooke. So you can go and find the other Guardians and the Princess, and- And until we figure out where they are, you can stay here and fight the monsters.”

What.

“You didn’t say anything about monsters before, care to explain that part?”

“It’s the being that the Evil Queen was working with. Metalia. It sends out these creatures, ‘cause it needs them to collect human life energy so that it can sustain itself in this world. Only the Guardians, like you, have the power to stop them. The people in this town are getting hurt, every night, and they don’t even know it because the day just sort of repeats all the time.”

The shriek that sounds at that exact moment sounds as close as though it might be directly in her ear, and that does make her cringe – causing Henry to look at her strangely.

“Did you hear that scream?” she asks – the only explanation she has for him.

“No,” he shakes his head. “But I’m not the super hero, here. Maybe you should follow the sound, someone might be in trouble.”

Hard to follow a sound that, even when it repeats, feels like it’s practically on top of her.

But she supposes she has to try, doesn’t she? Has to see if there’s--- If this is---

If the kid is right, this, whatever this whole Sailor Moon thing is, the fighting monsters and finding princesses and all of it – somehow, it’s connected to her past. Connected to the mystery she’s never fully been able to set aside – who was Emma Swan, before that day, where did I come from?

So, is she positive she’s going to stay?

No.

But she’s already standing in this town, in the most impractical outfit she’s ever worn, and, well, it can’t do much harm to try, can it? To give this whole “Guardian” thing a test run before coming to a decision?

Probably can’t hurt. Too much, anyway.

So, when the shriek sounds a third time, she lets her instincts guide her, turning on her heels in a quick spin before running in that direction. Her stride is more powerful in her transformed state, she realizes; she’s covering far more ground, quickly, than she would normally consider herself capable of.

That is, obviously, nothing compared to the moment her instincts cause her to leap onto a rooftop and then across the town at that level, taking a shortcut she wouldn’t have dreamed possible. When she finally alights on the ground again, she’s in front of a jewelry store – signs proclaiming massive and frankly unrealistic discounts in the windows, though that’s not nearly alarming as the sight through said windows, the number of unconscious women on the floor.

And the young girl cowering in the corner as a taller figure advances on her. On first glance, it appears to be a saleswoman, but a little bit closer look would be enough to see talons instead of fingernails. Looming over the kid, poised to strike.

And she knows she can’t let that happen.

So, yes. She is in fact still running on power-driven instinct when she nearly knocks the door off its hinges, letting out an angry cry of stop right there!

It gets the attention of the woman with the claw-hands, at least, draws her away from the kid.

She doesn’t have a plan, though. And that is probably not a good thing.

“So the Sailor Guardians have finally arrived to fight the Queens,” the woman says, looking her up and down, assessing. “It will be Morga’s pleasure to deliver you to them in pieces!” In an instant, one clawed hand shoots forward, attempting to rake across her stomach and gut her. She’s fortunate for the increased agility and speed that the costume came with, allowing her to dodge backwards with ease.

Still no plan, as she continues to dodge Morga’s assault, ducking and weaving her way through the shop, attempting not to step on anyone, but at least the focus is on her, not the kid. The kid that she really hopes will run soon, instead of staying in the corner petrified.

It’s probably about five minutes of that before the people on the floor rise, jerking like puppets. Their eyes don’t open, they don’t make a sound, they just advance, boxing her in, as Morga smiles, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Somehow, Morga is controlling her victims. And every Sailor-instinct that Emma is trying to follow pulls hard against the idea of fighting her way through the innocents.

And then Morga is reaching a claw out to strike her again, and she lets out a scream of pure frustration as a – is that a rose? It is, it’s a rose – as a rose streaks through the air, piercing the creature’s hand, causing it to withdraw from the strike it was about to make, as the unconscious victims to drop again.

“Now would be a good time to do something, I’d think” a voice says from the shadows, a glance in that direction revealing a man in a tuxedo, top hat, cape, and mask standing there, holding on to a rose very much like the one that just came out of nowhere.

She nods at him, despite still not knowing what she’s going to do. The instincts that came with the transformation haven’t led her wrong yet. Takes a deep breath, even though she doesn’t hardly have time –

And reaches up to the tiara, which jumps into her hand. Pours her intent into it, causing it to glow golden, and then, pulls back her arm like she’s about to throw a Frisbee, and calls out a new set of words, unsure where she got them but knowing they’re right –

“Moon Tiara Boomerang!”

The tiara is off like a shot, connecting with the monster in a flash of light, and when the light fades, the tiara is back on her forehead and there’s nothing but a pile of dust where Morga had stood.

The man is gone from his place in the shadows, and the women on the floor are groaning and starting to come to. The girl comes up to her quickly, though, tugging on her skirt, looking up at her in awe. “Who are you?” she asks.

And Emma says the only thing she can.

“I’m Sailor Moon, the Guardian of Love and Justice.”

#gremma #reluctant magical princess #(my heart is a kaleidoscope)#dark kingdom/dark curse #THE SAILOR MOON AU IS LIVE PEOPLE #no but seriously this was stalled out at like three paragraphs for months #also Graham is neither Sheriff nor the same huntsman that spared Snow #he WAS abandoned & raised by wolves but he - like the other Guardians - has been shifted to Emma's age group #how he came to the lwm and doesn't remember his past when it was only known for a fact that the girls went through will be explained #(only known for a fact i say when i in fact know that my artemis stand-in among others knows that it was not only the girls to go to lwm)#(he doesn't know the whole of it either but he does know more than he's telling Henry via the book)

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