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hypnomicimagines · 3 years

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In Another Life [Jinguji Jakurai]

You don’t know what you did to end up on the receiving end of a knife.

You had been peacefully slumbering, your parents in the next room over having finally quieted down after an extended fight that you hoped would lead to a divorce. It was a bit dark to think such things but you were a teenager now, you were beginning to understand adult issues and you could tell that there was something hovering over them causing these outbursts. Perhaps separating wouldn’t be in their best interest but you were simply tired of the yelling, of the constant negativity, of the inability to exist in your own house without having to be stressed about when the next fight was coming.

You fell asleep thinking about them but your dreams had been far more pleasant, a technicolor daydream of another life, one where you were unapologetically happy.

And then you woke up to a knife to your throat.

Your eyes met your attackers briefly, a chill coursing through your veins at that complete lack of emotion in them. You were used to being surrounded by anger and hatred, but there was something foreign about this look. It’s like his eyes (you thought it was a man, a boy, but it was rather dark) were devoid of any emotion, telling you ‘this isn’t personal’; luckily you were feeling enough emotions for both of you but remained too afraid to move, frozen in place as you lock eyes with your attacker.

What were you feeling now? Acceptance? You wished you could say goodbye to your parents. Would this mystery man at least let you do that? There are a thousand thoughts running through your head but you notice as time ticks on that he’s unmoving, that he can’t seem to tear his eyes off of you. You almost want to ask if he’s okay despite how nonsensical it would be to do so flinching when he finally moved. The knife is no longer pressed to your throat and as he’s pulling away, a sliver of moonlight drifting in through your window reveals that his hands are shaking.

Was he as scared as you were?

Was he feeling regret?

You don’t get an answer, your vision blurring before you’re left alone in your room once more. You almost think that he was simply a hallucination before you feel something wet sliding down your neck, fingers coming up to curiously feel around the area, stained red with your blood. You sat up from your bed and ripped the covers off, running screaming down the hall for your mother as you suddenly realized something bad had almost happened. The rest of the night is filled with your screams, your tears, life as you knew it ending.

You didn’t think much of it now that you were an adult.

You had a fulfilling career, owning a club of your own in Shinjuku where you often hosted costume nights and other little celebrations to give people a respite from their boring day jobs. You loved greeting all types of customers, making long-lasting friendships that might benefit you in the long-run, working until the wee hours of the morning when you finally dragged yourself home (though there was a backroom at the club that you sometimes made a temporary place of rest as you got too exhausted to walk back to your apartment). Your life had been on a steady track for such a long time you didn’t think anything else could possibly upset it, after all, what could be more senselessly tragic then finding the dead bodies of your own parents?

You had run into their room that night and thankfully, the carnage had been mostly hidden by the dark but the scent of copper hitting your nose made you realize quickly what had happened. Had that same person who ominously loomed over you killed your parents first? Or had it simply been a job done by multiple people at once? You didn’t want to think too deeply about it, for the sake of your sanity you knew you couldn’t play detective, but for many people it left a pressing question in the back of their minds.

Why did it happen? Why were you left alive?

All you knew was that you were alive. You had lived through that night, being shown some odd sliver of mercy from that dark, emotionless figure, and you weren’t going to squander what you had been given. You would live your life, unquestioning, mourning your parents but doing your best to live a life that would make them proud.

You met him one cold December night, walking down the street with an unfortunate number of shopping backs in your arms. They weren’t difficult or too heavy for you to hold but you were looking forward to being home, hoping that you’d get there soon so you could decorate your home with the new decorations you’d had. You were deep in thought when you’re suddenly bumped into by a gaggle of squealing women, eyebrow raised as you hear them speaking of some type of rap battle going on. You had been curious about the upcoming DRB, of course everyone and their mother had been talking about Matenro in Shinjuku, but you found yourself too busy to look too far into it.

But there they were.

The blonde was the number one host in Shinjuku, you’d passed the billboards countless times, and the other one was the most exhausted looking office worker you had ever seen. At first their leader, the one with long flowing hair adorned in a doctor’s coat, had his faced turned in the opposite direction, politely greeting some fans that had the courage to approach them. His mannerisms made him seem polite enough but those women were swooning, leaving you curious as to what he looked like. He had to be a bombshell, right? No one acts like that for some average joe.

And then he turns toward you, his eyes drifting through the crowd until they meet yours.

You’d recognize those eyes anywhere.

They’re different for sure, they’re no longer blank but filled with an emotion that you’re not aware of. You are, however, aware of how hard this man is staring at you now and as confident as you are in your looks, you’re pretty sure he’s recognized you as well. For a second you have to wonder if this is the end of the line, if this man is about to actually take you out since you know some rather scandalous information about him, but then again how could you ever prove it? It takes all the will power in your body to tear your eyes away from him, pushing back into the crowd that had slowly started to form around Matenro until you’d managed to sneak into an alley.

Your night continues unimpeded, thankfully no man is standing by your bedside when you wake up the following afternoon; you’re almost a little disappointed as he looked far more beautiful after all these years, you certainly wouldn’t have minded getting a house call from him. The trauma you had gone through was really rearing its ugly head with your sense of humor but it was amusing in the end to see that your potential assassin had turned his life around into not only becoming a doctor, but also a famous rapper. You almost wished you had approached him just to see what he would say, what he would do, but that plan had officially been canceled as you suspected you wouldn’t see the man again for a very long time.

That night was when he came for his first visit to your club.

You spot him sitting at the bar and he’s rather hard to miss, not to mention he’s so recognizable that you’d have to be blind not to realize who he was. Doing a quick internet search helped you refresh your memory on his name, Jinguji Jakurai, and there were quite a few articles about what a skilled doctor he had turned out to be (as well as his past experience being in a famous rap group which was often compared to the group he was part of now). Did his teammates know who he was? Did they know what he did? Or were they just as blissfully unaware?

“Did you come back to finish the job?”

You shoo away the bartender before speaking with Jakurai, knowing this is a conversation you’d like to deal with one on one. The club wasn’t technically open yet but he must’ve talked his way inside by flashing a handsome smile; you could only imagine all the things that smile of his could get him. You don’t get to see it as he doesn’t find your joke nearly as funny as you do, almost flinching as you bring up a past he likely wants to forget about. You have to deal with the reality of that past though and so does he, regardless of how you both personally feel about it. But you’re curious as to what this visit is about, ready to call for security at any given moment should things go south.

Jakurai takes a few moments to respond, taking a sip from his grapefruit juice (you noticed the lack of alcohol in his drink right away) before he responds.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” His hands remain wrapped around his glass, Jakurai casting a contemplative glass at its contents.

“That’s fair enough because I can say the exact same thing. But… Why are you here, exactly? Did you want a thank you for not killing me? Because like thanks and all, but you still got my parents so we’re not exactly even in my book.” Another wince of pain, but he takes your shot with grace, nodding his head as you continued on. “I’m glad to see life’s been treating you so well, Doc, but mines been a mess. So what is it that you want?”

“To apologize,” Jakurai stated firmly, eyes coming to meet yours. “For all the pain that I have caused you.”

“Your apology isn’t accepted.” He’s not at all surprised which sort of pisses you off, of course this assassin rapper man has it more together than you. There are long buried emotions beginning to bubble to the surface and you consider grabbing his glass to dump the contents all over him, Jakurai removing his hands from it as though he had read your mind. But as quickly as the anger bubbled up it simmered down, your heart still hammering in your chest as you tried to regain control of your emotions. “Can you at least tell me why? Did you… Were you the one who did it?”

“…I didn’t. I don’t believe that would make you feel any better about what happened but I… You were the first person who made me truly believe that I could no longer live the life I was living.” Jakurai’s voice softened, “You were like a light in the darkness, too bright to look at yet I couldn’t bring myself to look away. I wanted to thank you as well for all that you’ve done for me but it didn’t seem right to do it in the same breath.”

“You… I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to think of this. You’re thanking me? You didn’t kill my parents but you were definitely about to kill me but you… stopped because I was some light to you? Some person who made you realize killing other people was wrong? You know how that sounds, right?”

“There’s a lot in my life I wish to atone for.” Jakurai flashed that handsome smile that had gotten him into your club early, “I don’t expect your forgiveness but it wouldn’t feel right to be reunited with you without expressing my regrets.”

He stood from the bar and placed money on the counter, straightening himself out and brushing his hair from his shoulder as he prepared to leave. It felt wrong to leave it there, to allow him to exit your life once again as quickly as he had entered it, especially when you felt you were still owed something. You reached across the bar to grab at his sleeve, tugging on it and watching as Jakurai turned around with a surprised expression on his face.

“Just.. come perform here or somethin’, okay? Get me some business and maybe I’ll start to think about forgiving you. Maybe.”

Jakurai smiled but this time it was more amused in nature, as if he didn’t expect something like that from you.

“As you wish.”

And your wishes were fulfilled.

You met Hifumi and Doppo through Jakurai, listening to them both speak highly of their leader and all that he had done for them. For all intents and purposes, it seemed he truly had turned over a new leaf, as far as they knew anyway. He hadn’t really given you any reason to doubt his change in character, even now when you look into his eyes you could tell something had changed within him, and Jakurai did uphold his promise to have Matenro perform. He even came back whenever the three of them weren’t busy, increasing publicity for the club further as now it was assumed you were good friends of the three rappers instead of just a one-off gig.

You could say that was very close to what was happening.

You were fond of Hifumi and Doppo, you always threw free drinks at poor Doppo who came in to complain about his boss and laughed at all of Hifumi’s stories that were at Doppo’s expense. Chatting with them had been much too fun for you to cut it short so you spent your nights at the club with them at their VIP table, Jakurai quietly watching the interactions between the three of you with a content expression on his face. You didn’t know how happy it made him to see the three important people in his life getting along well, you probably hadn’t even guessed how important you truly were to him just yet.

“I still see you as that light,” Jakurai confessed one night after the club had closed, not a hint of shame on his face, “However, now that I’ve gotten to know you… You’ve become so much more to me. It feels out of line to say such things after all I’ve done…”

“Yeah, it sure does.” You feel a little awkward now because you felt the exact same way, completely fascinated by this man, enamored with him like a lot of the women in his life seemed to be. Yet you were the one who got to be close to him like this, who got to sit face-to-face alone with him while he wasn’t on the job, and that had to count for something. “But you… You mean a lot more to me now, too.”

This is the first time you’ve ever seen a look of genuine surprise on his face but you quite liked the way his eyes raised and the corner of his mouth twitched, not sure if he should smile or frown at your statement. He let out a sigh but he it was out of relief more than anything, knowing he didn’t deserve even that out of you after what he had done. To find love with the one target he couldn’t kill… How many sleepless nights had he spent thinking of you, worrying over what might have become of you?

“This is like, kinda fucked up, you know? Like what type of weird way to meet is ‘I almost killed you but realized I couldn’t and now we’re in love’? Like seriously, there’s gotta be like ten trashy, poorly written romance novels about-“

You continued to ramble on nervously, knowing this hardly made sense but at the same time who cared? This was your life after all, and if you wanted a pretty doctor to kiss you to make you feel better, then you would get it! Past be damned, you were going to take this God given gift of a man and use him for all he was worth.

Jakurai’s fingers gently touch your face, running along your jaw towards the small scar, the scar he had made, before he suddenly shied away. But you don’t want him to leave, you crave his touch now, putting his hand right back where it was and looking up at him with pure determination. There were heavy sins weighing him down, resting on his shoulders, but he had only been a child himself, something that made forgiving him a little easier to swallow. You believed him when he said he hadn’t been the one to kill your parents and you believed him when he said he was remorseful for the lasting impact he had on your life.

“Jakurai, I’ve come up with a way to forgive you.”

“Is that right?” Jakurai’s smiling his beautiful ethereal smile that always causes your heart to skip a beat, “How might I be of service?”

“Kiss me.”

“I have a lifetime of mistakes to make up for,” Jakurai whispered against your lips, hands cradling your face in a loving manner, “I don’t deserve you.”

“You say that yet…” You reached over to run your fingers through his silky hair, twirling a strand of it around your finger, “I can’t account for your other mistakes but that doesn’t matter to me now. You’ve changed for the better, you save lives every day, so as long as you keep doing that… I think that I… I forgive you, Jakurai. So please, accept my heart and protect it.”

Those words he never thought he would hear finally reach his ears and he’s so filled with joy he could hardly contain himself, brief tears gathering at the corner of his eyes before he leans in to press his lips against yours. You want to pull away, to tease that he had only kissed you now because he was trying to hide the overflowing emotions he was currently dealing with, but it felt far too good to leave Jakurai’s embrace now.

If you could help it, you’d never have to live without his embrace again.

#Jinguji Jakurai #Jakurai Jinguji #Hypnosis Mic #Hypnosis Microphone #Hypnosis Mic Imagines #Hypnosis Mic x Reader #Hypnosis Microphone Imagines #Hypnomic #Hypmic #Jinguji Jakurai x Reader #Jakurai Jinguji x Reader #Scenario

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slashbitch2 · 3 years

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Extra Complications PT3

Previous Chapter

"Don't bother coming back into work tomorrow."

Her words had been replaying in your mind since the final encounter, bouncing round like a taunting echo. It'd only been a week since you'd stopped working at Alchemex, yet had felt like a lifetime of boredom and fatigue. With no job or persistent villain to chase after, if you could even call Liv a villain anymore, there was no reason to get out of bed in the morning, nothing to stop you from moping around your apartment. The days blended into what felt like one long sick day, disregarding the occasional break to rescue a cat stuck in a tree.

Although, your only sickness was of the mind. Whenever you attempted to get some rest, your thoughts would inevitably drift to Liv; the cold, distanced tone to her voice, the look of betrayal in her eyes, how empty the week had felt without her. By the third night plagued with insomnia, you were starting to accept that your feelings towards her may be more than a simple crush. On the eighth night, you decided you ought to do something about it and began to formulate a plan.

Entering the building like you were still an employee would be almost impossible since anyone who left their job was rarely welcomed back with open arms. It'd also be better to avoid the security and CCTV cameras, which you'd learnt used face recognition technology. And finally, locating a security card would pose a potential problem, as walking round the facility until you happened to stumble across a janitor to steal from was unfortunately no longer a possibility. So, what was the solution to all your problems? Vents.

Which is how you found yourself scouring over blueprints like a cliched protagonist from a bygone age movie, but at least the irony hadn't escaped you, and thankfully laboratories generally required a great deal of ventilation, so you had multiple routes memorised by the time the bus had arrived at Alchemex. You'd spent the entire journey on edge, fearful that any fellow passenger might accost you for looking so suspicious. But apparently an agitated figure buried beneath a pile of blueprints wearing a spider-suit underneath a jumper was normal enough to be ignored.

Nonetheless, stepping onto the concrete ground of the car park was a relief which inspired a tad more optimism. Moreover, leaving the burdening stacks of blueprints behind further alleviated some of your anxiety. It felt like a final confirmation that this was your one and only chance, and you weren't about to mess it up. Even as the building loomed over you casting a shadow of uncertainty, nothing could discourage your determination.

There was the remarkable sense that you didn't belong here, though it was a familiar sensation. One that persuaded you to tug the mask over your head before darting toward the edge of the car park. It was your belief that as long as you stuck to the outskirts of the facility, few would pay you any attention while you were out in the open. Therefore allowing you to manoeuvre into position and take the quickest passage straight to Liv's office. Which is exactly what you did.

The first stretch of the vent system was a straight drop, a narrow plunge that went on for longer than anticipated. Like a slide with no angle of inclination and a lot less fun. You hit the metal base with an ungraceful clang, certain that your legs would've buckled upon impact had it not been for the lack of space to do so. Overall an uncomfortable start. The remainder of the journey was a lot of crawling and muscle cramps, your only incentive being the occasional grate to peer down which reassured you that your destination was drawing nearer. Everything was going to plan.

Until you heard her.

Olivia's voice rung clear as if from a dream. It stood out from the general ruckus, initially leading you to believe you were hallucinating, that it was some kind of audible mirage. Yet you refocused your senses and it didn't go away. She was almost directly below you, separated simply by a thin layer of metal. With renewed ambition, you crawled toward the nearest grate as quickly and quietly as possible, frantically lowering your head to find the perfect angle, all just to catch a glimpse of her.

"What do you mean the program hasn't worked?" Liv pinched the bridge of her nose, her words laced with an an uncharacteristic anger. You'd never known her to be an irritable person, she loved her job and every challenge that came with it. Was she uptight? Sure. Passionate? Undeniably. But never angry.

"I've tried rerunning and rewriting parts of the code. And it just doesn't work!" Some poor employee (Mark, if you remembered correctly) was fighting for his dignity below. You could see he was flushing, wildly flailing his hands around as he tried to justify his mistake.

"You've rewritten part of it?!" She repeated, volume rising in frustration.

"I- I thought I knew how to fix it."

"I told you not to mess with my work." She growled, stepping closer.

"With all due respect," He didn't back down, clearly caught off guard and unsure how to deal with an irritated Liv. "it's actually Y/N's work."

Upon hearing your name, you ducked out of view as if you'd been seen. Although, it was evident that this was not the case, so slowly you edged forward to peer down at them once more.

Liv's face had dropped at the mention of your name. But by the time you'd settled back in place, anger was already seeping into her expression, then was suddenly smoothed into disturbingly sweet smile. "Well, Y/N isn't here anymore. So I suggest you keep your incompetent hands off of things you don't understand."

Judging by her vague wording, you guessed she hadn't told anyone the real reason you'd been fired. A fond appreciation flooded your mind. Despite everything that had happened, she still respected your secret enough to keep it. You begun to consider that maybe Liv cared about you as much as you did her. Why else would she lie on your behalf?

Mark muttered an ashamed. "Ok." Then left to try and atone for his mistake.

Liv stayed where she was for another minute before taking a deep breath, shaking off her annoyance, and setting a determined path. You assumed she was heading for her office and were about to follow, but then paused. Was this really the best time for a reunion? She obviously wasn't in the best mood, and if you had to guess, it was likely due to your betrayal. Was it too soon to reappear in her life? You'd arrived here with the intention to apologise and make amends, however, you had no idea how Liv would react or what would happen after. If there would even be an after. She could attack you on first sight for all you knew.

No. You'd come too far to turn around now. You continued along the vent before you could overthink the decision. It would be foolish to turn around now: the end was in sight, and rapidly growing closer.

Reaching the final grate, you were greeted with the familiar yet new aerial view of Liv's office. It'd remained mainly the same since your departure. She hadn't even bothered to remove your lab coat, which was still carelessly thrown over the chair you'd frequented everyday. And Liv herself hadn't changed much either, disregarding the seemingly permanent anger lines upon her face. She was sitting at her desk, head in hand, mindlessly flipping through a folder. It occurred to you at that moment that she didn't look irritated, rather sad. Another unexpected emotion for her to display.

After a minute, she sighed, tossing the papers to one side and bringing her other hand up to crash forward into. She looked defeated, seeing her this way felt wrong. You honestly preferred the anger because it showed she'd maintained at least some of her usual intensity.

You sighed. It was time to fix this. With unsteady hands you delicately unscrewed the bolts holding the grate in place, careful to make as little noise as possible. It was as you were removing the final screw that you realised something: you had no idea what to say to her. No planned speech or prepared apology, you'd resigned to hoping for a spontaneous burst of thoughtfulness in the moment. You sat there for a minute, fidgeting with one of the screws while attempting to come up with what you would say. Should you start by apologising for breaking in, or for lying to her, or for applying to the job in the first place? You had a lot of things to apologise for.

And unfortunately, the chance to think it through any further was taken from you as the screw slipped out of your hand. You gasped watching it fall, hitting the ground with an faint thud. Although quiet enough for most people to ignore, you knew Liv was too thorough to not investigate. And as expected, following your sharp intake of breath was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, then footsteps gradually approaching.

Liv appeared below you, bending down to inspect the screw before glancing up. Her eyes locked with yours through the mask and widened in shock.

"Hey." The casual tone to your voice sounded forced and you grimaced. But rather than dwelling on it, you dropped from the exposed hiding place and pulled off your mask. You smiled awkwardly, eyes scanning and overanalysing her reaction.

Liv stepped back to lean on the desk for support. Her mouth was agape, but otherwise her face was worryingly blank.

"If this is a bad time I can come back later."

Still no response. The room was drowning in a tense silence.

"Well, actually I probably can't come back." With no social cues to interact with, you began to ramble aimlessly. "I'm guessing you'll find a way to patch that particular security breach." You gestured up to the gap in the ceiling and laughed lightly. "Sorry about that. I didn't know how else to-"

You're cut off as Liv moves impossibly fast, grabbing your shoulders and shoving you backwards against the wall. A thousand different thoughts run through your mind at once, all wondering what she's about to do. The majority are focused on the possibility that she's going to hurt you in some way, although, even if she did have the intention to cause harm, you wouldn't fight back. You were tired of conflict, especially when it involved Liv.

She was standing close, breathing heavily and saying nothing. You couldn't help but let your eyes flicker down to her lips, the temptation to kiss her becoming increasingly vehement. So instead you forced your attention up to her eyes, which held an air of confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was deep, full of unvoiced emotions.

You licked your lips, glancing at her mouth one last time. "I came here to apologise. I didn't mean for any of this to go so far."

"You're lying." She backed away slightly and you immediately missed the proximity.

"I'm not! I just-" You stuttered, then admitted in a quieter voice. "I never meant to hurt you."

She inhaled shakily and swallowed, your eyes tracing the movement of her throat. "And?"

"And because I care about you too much to let you think I did any of this on purpose." You lowered your head, her invasive glare becoming overwhelming.

Soft fingers firmly gripped your chin, compelling you to look up. Her eyes displayed distrust, confusion which you suddenly feel the need to wipe away. You wanted to make your affection for her clear, but found yourself annoyingly speechless. All the recurring thoughts and confined confessions that had been plaguing you for a week suddenly gone from your mind. You were infuriatingly at a loss for words. Although, the warmth of her fingers against your skin reminded you that actions speak louder than words.

You leant in slowly, giving her sufficient time to stop you. She didn't move so you kissed her lightly at first, searingly next. Your arm shifted to wrap around her back tentatively and she moaned faintly in response. Although, it wasn't until you allowed her to take control that any remaining anger dissipated. At that point the kiss became bruising, her hold on you tightening as a wave of shared desperation rolled over the both of you. Before the desperation could reach its peak, however, you separated from her.

Liv was almost panting, her cheeks tinged pink and hair a mess. She promptly attempted to kiss you again, though you dodged the advance and she whined. Her mouth latched onto your neck, sucking at the skin there.

Your head fell back against the wall, dizzy from lust. "Does this mean I can have my job back?" You quipped, running a hand through your hair.

"Depends." She murmured in between kisses. "Do you have anymore secrets?"

"None that I can think of." You smiled, the prospect of returning to what you'd come to consider as normality was an appealing one. Of course there were things you would need to work through with Liv, and many, many extra complications alongside having a relationship with your boss. But nothing easy was ever worthwhile, and Liv was living proof of that.

"Alright. You're hired."

#olivia octavius x reader

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multiplefandomfics · 3 years

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Kidnapped

Pairing: Alpha!Bucky Barnes x Omega!reader

Warnings: Dubcon, smut, A/B/O dynamics, age gap, underage, forcefully induced heat, mind control, hypocrisy, breeding kink, knotting, trauma, hydra

Words: 3615

A/N: Hi guys, so this is my first attempt at ABO. I’ve read a lot of those so I hope I’ll get this right. So don’t be too hard on me. And now enjoy.

Omegas had become almost extinct. More and more kids were born who turned out betas and the rest were almost always alphas. So maybe it is easy to understand that when you turned out to be an omega at the age of 17 your value to your mother suddenly skyrocketed.

Your other siblings were all betas but you were suddenly special. The first heat your body put you through was a terrible strain on your body and took a lot of strength from you. A whole week was spent in delirium between fever and hallucinations. Your mother, a beta herself, had no idea how to help you and asked your family’s doctor for help.

He was very interested in you and your presentation and handed your mother a number to call.

A week later two very polite men who looked like they had fallen out of a 1940s crime movie, stood in front of your door.

“Mrs. Y/L/N? You have contacted us to take a look at your omega daughter?” the taller of the two asked.

“Yes. Please come in. We are in desperate need of advice. Her first heat was so terrible and I don’t know what to do if this gets even worse.” The men followed your mother to the livingroom and took the seats offered to them.

“Our facility is very well equipped and we are very skilled in dealing with young omegas. We would be able to monitor her closely and give her the right suppressants to quell her natural heats.” one of them explained.

“So you would take her with you?” your mother sounded sceptical. “Would we be able to see her? And when would she return home?” she asked.

The men shared a glance before continuing “She will be able to call once in a while and we will try our best to get her hormones in check and her home quickly.” the man ensured her.

Your mother hesitated and the men noticed so they changed their tactic.

“Mrs. Y/L/N. Your daughter is suffering badly and it will only get worse. We are the only ones who can actually help her. There aren’t a lot of experts in the field of A/B/O dynamics left. We definitely are your best shot. And if it helps to convince you, we can pay you handsomely for taking your daughter and giving her a shot at a normal life. How does 250.000$ sound?” your mother almost choked on her tea. “You want to pay me a quarter million dollars for her? You think I would sell my own daughter?” she was enraged, jumping up from her chair. “I want you to leave my house immediately.”

“Consider our offer for a moment please. We could help your daughter and learn from her case and you could finally sell off the mortgage to this house. We know that if you don’t take our money now you will have to move out soon. Do you want to move into a 3 room apartment with 4 children?” They knew a lot about your family which irritated your mother but she also quickly understood that they were right.

After your father had died in Afghanistan 3 years ago it had not been easy for your family.

As a single mom of 4 and just a part time job at a dentist's office she worried greatly how to make a future for them. The money from the strange men would take a lot of those worries away from her.

“Maybe you are right. She will come back to us quickly, right?” she asked to quell her guilty conscience.

“Of course, Mrs Y/L/N. She would be back in no time at all. We are very successful in what we do.” the men knew they had her in their grasp.

“Alright then. I will go upstairs and explain everything to her and then I think it is best when you take her immediately.” she got up and went upstairs.

A few moments later they heard yelling and then crying from upstairs. But suddenly it was quiet.

Another few minutes later you stumbled down the stairs, cowering behind your mother who held a duffel bag with some of your clothes and personal things.

“Hello Y/N. How are you feeling?” the taller man smiled at you.

“I’m okay, thank you. So I will go with you?” she asked back. “And you can help me with my biology?” You seemed very innocent to the men and they were sure that you had no idea what your intended purpose was in this world.

“Indeed we will make you more comfortable with your presentation. You will be able to return home quickly.” they ensured you too.

“Alright then.” you gave in. “Tell Joe, Lea and Maya that I love them and I will see them soon.” you instructed your mother and she nodded with tears in her eyes.

The men lead you to their car. The whole ride was silent. You looked out the window and saw landscapes passing by. The driver took so many turns that it didn’t take long for you to be completely confused and you had lost your orientation.

The journey seemed to take forever and at some point you closed your eyes and fell asleep.

You awoke disoriented and confused. You were laying on a bed in a sterile white room without a window but an adjoined bathroom. You sat up slowly to take in more of your surroundings. When you had decided to venture out further you noticed that the door was locked. You were trapped. Panic rose in your veins. What did that mean? Was this a kidnapping?

Just when you were about to have a mental breakdown the door was unlocked and a man you had never seen before stepped inside.

“Hello Miss Y/L/N. How are you feeling?” he asked you.

“Y/N is fine. I’m okay but why was the door locked?” you asked hesitantly.

“We didn’t mean to startle you. It was to your own protection. The compound we are currently in is comparable to a labyrinth. We just didn’t want you to get lost. Someone is going to come by later and give you a tour of the rooms you need to know. I am here to check out your vitals and ask you some questions. Is that alright with you?” He seemed nice enough.

“Ehm, yes it’s alright, I guess.” you sat back down on the bed while he took a seat on a chair.

“Very well, how long ago was your first heat?” Those kinds of questions seemed very personal but after all they wanted to help you.

“My first heat was about 2 weeks ago. It was awful. Hurt so much and lasted about 6 days.”

“Good, that is interesting information. Have you been intimate with a male before?”

You swallowed thickly “No never.”

“So no potential alpha around?”

“No.”

“Good, good. Is someone in your family an omega?”

“No, I am the only one as far as I know.”

“That is quite rare. Normally this is hereditary. I will take your pulse, blood pressure and temperature now.”

After the doctor had left someone came and took you to a room where you were served some dinner.

The night you spent tossing and turning. So many thoughts coursed through your head until you fell asleep of exhaustion.

You were rudely awoken by the cold neon lights being turned on. They ripped you out of a nice dream and you inwardly cursed them for it.

“Good morning Y/N. Did you sleep well?” the voice of a tall blonde female doctor- or agent, or whatever, you were still not sure where these people belonged to- reached your ears.

“Good morning. I had some trouble sleeping. I felt somehow on edge. Probably the new surroundings.” you shrugged.

“That is possible. I need you to get dressed. Breakfast is ready and then we will start with your training and testing of different medications.” she smiled and you did as she asked.

Breakfast consisted of fruit and porridge and then they took you into the opposite direction of your room.

You were led down multiple corridors until you reached a doctors room.

“Hello Y/N. Please remove your shirt and lay down.” The doctor said. She was the first person in this organization who smelled different than the others you had met. Everyone else had a neutral scent other than her and it wasn’t a perfume but you couldn’t place it and let it go for now.

“So you are an omega.That’s why they brought you to me. I presented as an omega too when I was 16 years old. My biology dictated my life for years and that’s why I am quite happy that we can make it easier for you before it gets too bad to handle.” that explained the different smell.

“I don’t want to sound rude, but you are not on suppressants right?” she shook her head no. “I thought you smelled different. So that’s one of my superpowers as an omega?” you joked.

“Indeed it is. Do you have any more questions?” she saw your hesitation. “Don’t be shy. You can ask me anything.”

“Ehm… well during my first heat… I felt really hot and I had those very explicit fever dreams and then my body produced this… fluid out of my… ehm… you know.” you pointed toward your groin.

“Yes, I know what you mean. When you are in heat your body longs for a mate. Preferably an alpha to satiate your natural urges. The slick that your body produces is only a natural lubricant to make it easier for the alpha to slide in without hurting you.” she explained.

“So my only purpose in this world is basically to mate and give a few children to some alpha?” you asked unbelievingly.

“Not necessarily. We could find the right meds and suppressants for you and you could live your life alone until you decided it was time for a family or not. Your choice.”

“I like the way that sounds. So when do we start?” you asked exited.

“We will start right now. I am going to administer your first shot of a medication which will make you feel better.”

She put on some latex gloves and prepared a syringe with a clear fluid.

“Alright, don’t move now please. I will give this right into your upper arm muscle.” said done. It stung a little but if that actually worked it was definitely worth it.

“All done. I will bring you back to your room now. These meds need some time to settle and you might feel a little uncomfortable later.”

When you had arrived at your room she sent you inside with the words -“Someone will have an eye on you the next few hours. I will see you soon.” and locked the door behind you again. For your own protection they had said…

Before you had time to think about all of this your head hit the pillow and you were fast asleep.

The next time you woke up you were in terrible pain. Your abdomen was cramping and your throat was bone dry. That could only mean one thing: the heat was back. But that should have been impossible. It wasn’t due for another 2-3 weeks. But here you were, sweating, hurting and in desperate need for something you weren’t ready for.

You didn’t even get the chance to get out of bed before the door flew open and two men grabbed you to pull you behind them. You were too weak to fight them when they pushed you into another cell which looked almost the same as yours. Only in that one someone was waiting for you.

The moment you were pushed into the room his eyes shot toward you, almost hidden under his shoulder long brown hair. His nostrils flared as he took in your potent scent.

“Omega.” he breathed and his pupils dilated.

He looked downright feral so you shrunk into the corner next to the closed and locked door. Though he really tried to hold himself together. You knew that he wanted to give into these primal urges the omega in you tried to push you to, too.

Suddenly he wiped the hair off of his face and you had a first clear glance at his handsome face. And to your amazement you recognized him from your class trip to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. the year before.

His name was James ‘Bucky’ Barnes and he had fought in the 107th infantry in WWII. He had also been Steve Rogers- or as most people know him, Captain America’s- best friend and later part of the Howling Commandos. The only thing that didn’t add up here was the fact that he was supposedly dead since 1943.

But you were so sure that the man standing before you was not a ghost as much as you were sure that he was not the same man who had gone to war in the 40’s.

“James?” you whispered. He cocked his head so he must have heard you but he didn’t know what to do with your question.

“You are James Barnes born on March 10th in 1917. You don’t remember?” you asked in a louder voice.

“No.” he tried to sound secure but you could hear his voice slightly wavering.

You wanted to help him so you took the risk and stepped closer. It might seem strange, standing in front of this intimidating hunk of a man, and feeling safe. The pain in your body had also almost disappeared.

“What do you remember?” you asked him. He seemed really nervous by now, always trying to scent you.

“Pain. Missions. Training.” was all he said and you felt really bad for him.

“I am sorry to hear that. Do you want me to tell you everything I can remember about you? Maybe you will gain back some memory. And maybe you can tell me who these people are and why they forced me into heat early.” in that moment another terrible cramp invaded your lower abdomen and your legs gave out. But before your body could hit the ground his arms caught you and he carried you to his bed.

“Mhh omega you smell delicious. Can barely hold back.” he mumbled into the crook of your neck and you felt it too. The tall alpha seemed to somehow soothe the ache inside you but it wasn’t enough.

In that moment you just let the omega in you take over. You started pulling frantically on his and your clothes until they were lying long forgotten on the floor of the dusty room.

“Need you ‘mega. You’re mine.” he growled at the sight of your boobs.

“Alpha please make it stop.” you whimpered and he growled louder at you calling him by his presentation.

You let your biology completely rule you and followed your instinct. Crawling onto your hands and knees pushing your face into the pillow and your ass in the air.

“Good omega. Presenting for your alpha.” his approval made you mewl.

He was quick to get behind you. In this state there was no foreplay needed.

His right hand grabbed your buttcheek. It was soft and warm. When the index finger of his left hand followed your spine from the neck down you shuddered at the cold metal.

“Tell me ‘mega, have you ever been with an alpha?” he asked while stroking a flesh finger through your glistening folds.

“No alpha. Haven’t been with anyone.” the realisation that you were a virgin let him hesitate for a second.

“Mhh I’m gonna make that virgin pussy feel so good. You want my cock ‘mega?”

“Yes, alpha please. Make the pain stop.” you begged him.

He took that invitation and slowly pushed the head of his massive length against your opening. “Relax ‘mega. I won’t hurt you.” his pressure got harder and then he slid in. The pain was intense for a moment until he slid in further. It felt like your channel was made for him.

“Fuck doll you’re tight. Squeezing me so good. Gonna breed you ‘mega. You want that? Me filling you with pups.” he groaned and your channel squeezed him tighter in confirmation.

In that heat of the moment none of you cared that this might be a bad idea.

He sped up his thrusts and your moans got even louder when he hit that magical spot inside you.

“Feels so good.” you mewled.

“Come ‘mega! Come for me!” he commanded and something that had waited for his okay snapped. Your pussy clamped around him and he pushed in that bit deeper. His knot popped and he filled you with his cum all the while pulling you up with his metal arm across your chest and biting into your neck hard enough to break the skin, laying claim to you.

When you both had come down from your highs he rolled you over to lay on your side. He was still locked snug inside you and that would probably stay like that for a while.

“You wanted me to tell you why they brought you here. The answer is for this exact cause. They want to keep me- or rather my alpha- in check. And they want to find out if the serum can be inherited.” he suddenly spoke up after a long pause.

“And do you want them to do that?” your question seemed to shock him a little.

“I didn’t expect that question. No one has ever asked me what I thought. And no! If we have pups I don’t want them to be treated the way I was. We would never know what happened to them.” he said sadly.

“Then let’s get out of here.” His knot had finally gotten down which gave you enough room to turn around.

“How? I may be able to vanish on my next mission but I won’t be able to take you with me.”

“Then play the part. They don’t know that you remember who you are. So when you get out of here the next time you get help and get me out later.”

“And who do you think would help me? A murderer.” he let his head hang low.

“Steve Rogers. He was found a few years ago and has most recently been working with a group of people who call themselves The Avengers. I know you have the possibilities to find Steve and get him onto your side to help. Until then you will have to pretend you are still the brainwashed assassin they created because if they notice you will be put on ice or erased again.”

“I gotta admit that does sound like a plan. I will try everything in my power to succeed. I promise that I will get you out of here. Unscathed. You are my omega now. That means something to me.” he kissed the top of your head.

“Thank you- Bucky. Is it fine when I call you that while we are alone?” you asked him.

“Yes sure. I love when you say my name.” and then he gifted you with one of his rare smiles.

The next few days were spent almost the same way. Until your heat was down. They took him away from you and you didn’t see him for at least 6 weeks. Hard to keep track of time without daylight.

They had brought you back to your room and you didn’t see any of the old doctors you had seen before your forcefully induced heat. They probably thought you would attack them.

In week 7 they finally found out that their plan had worked. You were indeed pregnant. Oh, how you wanted to tell Bucky but everytime you asked for him they shut you down.

More weeks passed by. They didn’t tell you anything. Not even about the baby.

By esteemed week 22 you were able to feel the pup kicking in your tummy and you were talking to him or her. You missed Bucky more and more. Up to the point where you thought they had wiped him again and he had failed your mission.

One night you were awoken by chaos outside your door. Before you could get up the door bust in and in the frame stood Captain America himself. The relief you felt in that moment could hardly be measured.

“Captain Rogers. I’m so glad to see you.” you expressed your feelings.

“Good to meet you Y/N.” he smiled at you then spoke into the comms inside his ear “I’ve got her. Room 503. She’s fine.” then he came over and insisted on carrying you out of the building.

Somewhere on the way to the Quinjet you met Bucky again.

“Bucky! You`re alright! Oh, thank God. I missed you. And I’m pregnant. We did it.” you beamed at him.

“You’re alright too. I love you. Let's get you home.” he took you from Steve’s arms and carried you inside the jet.

A few months later you and Bucky moved into an apartment with your son and daughter.

#Marvel #ff #BuckyBarnes #JamesBarnes #Bucky #smut #Buckyxreader #WinterSoldier #a/b/o #au #steve rogers #hydra

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thecitythatdoesntsleep · 3 years

Text

Vampire Master-Guide

First of all I want to start off by saying I've gathered inspiration from MANY vampire medias. Fictions, games. The biggest influences are Vampire the masquerade (primarily bloodlines) and Vampire Knight (manga). As well as honorable mentions to Vampyr (game), Queen of the Damned (movie) and Van Helsing (movie, anime). So if anything sounds familiar, chances are it is. I highly encourage you to explore them as they are a few of my favorites.

Second of all this is going to be massive, so I'll be putting it under a cut. But it will be a comprehensive guide to my personal vampire lore that I've crafted and worked with through the years. If you like it, feel free to use it! I'd absolutely love to be tagged (so I can shower the creations with praise) but it's not required. I'm just out here making one more version of vampires that hopefully inspires you. There will be a couple different categories that I will touch base on.

History (this part is super short)

Physicality - Medical Information

Physicality - Appearance/Body

Mental Effects

Society

Anything from my vampire lore will be tagged #vlor

Now follow me under the cut, lovelies. But please be Warned: We'll be discussing blood, violence, physical and mental illness. As well as regular vampire related things. If any of this could trigger you, please kindly skip this post because you're far more important to me!

'History'

The original vampire to walk the earth, cursed by the heavens was Caine. After committing the first murder, a blood-soaked punishment was to forever be banished to walk the darkness with a constant reminder of his crimes. Thirst. Craving for the same blood he shed against his own kin. The sin was carried through the years and he came upon another outcast kindred by the name of Lilith, cursed by God in a different way and hexed with powerful disciplines.

They bonded as kine and Lilith taught her chaos to Caine in hopes they'd rule together. In the end his nature stayed true and his now empowered wrath befalls Lilith, committing murder yet again and taking her life.

To feed upon and be fed, was a now animalistic instinct that spoke louder than supposed human nature ever could. And thus the curse spread. To anyone that drinks from the tainted or is bitten by a rabid, is surely to bear it at the final heartbeat. The path to redemption is sealed but survival is nearly infinite. So long as the beast is obeyed and satisfied, there is no constraint on lifespan. They will be damned to an eternity enslaved to thirst.

(Primarily from VTMB but I really like the idea of it being some sort of ancient curse from the gods so I thought I'd include this tiny historical bit. Onto the good stuff.)

Physicality - Medical Information

Vampires are anemic, let's just establish that all vampires are what modern day medicine would consider anemia. But they also have super aggressive red blood cells that function x100 that of human white blood cells. All in one combo of super cells. No illness spreads. No disease can contract, nothing can live in their system. They don't fall ill with colds or flu. STD's aren't feasible. Their systems are far too strong and combative to infections, bacteria.

Their integumentary systems regenerate about x200 - x300 times faster. Within seconds (if there is or has been fresh blood in the system recently) their skin regenerates and goes even beyond that. Mere hours and limbs grow back, bones realign.

Vampires don't have functioning organs. (If they are turned from humans they are there but they don't work and will eventually wither.) Hearts don't beat, lungs have no need for air.

Vampires can't drown. They don't breathe and even if water fills their lungs, they would be weighted down but not die. They also don't float like humans do naturally.

Vampires can go out in the sun but they have hard times with sun poisoning. Think of a sunburn but more like a rash. They can't process the vitamin D very well and almost all of them have trouble with getting severely burnt very rapidly or having a rash from the sun. Prolonged exposure can make them feverish, nauseated and give them body cramps and fatigue. Even longer can make them violently ill and can essentially melt their skin. It can be healed but takes longer.

Staking their hearts immobilizes them but does NOT kill them. They can be detained this way and it is excruciatingly painful. But it doesn't kill you.

Vampires can't eat food. Only few can consume liquids aside from blood. They have no ability to digest it and no longer make acid. They'll usually heave it up along with whatever blood content is left in their gut.

They have perfect eyesight, hearing, hyper senses of taste and smell. Touch is extremely sensitive as well. Their skin isn't fragile, in fact it's a bit thicker than average skin from how fast it regenerates and is constantly maintaining itself.

They are very resistant but not impossible to scar. Scars from human life are erased with first turning.

Vampire blood tastes like flat soda or icky, room temperature tap water. Unpleasant to other vampires but in a desperate pinch, it will sustain but nowhere near as good as foreign blood does. Even animal blood takes better care of a vampires system than another body of recycled blood. (Think of it as they've already taken the good stuff out of it for their own bodies so all that's left is the taste and a few stray nutrients.)

Vampires fangs grow back indefinite. At about x10 the rate of humans losing and replacing their first set. No matter what comes of them, their fangs will always grow back. No other teeth mutate like this.

Fangs lengthen and retract when around blood or not. It's not something that can be helped or even trained out. When blood is present, fangs will lengthen even if there is no intention to feed. Automatic reaction and a painful one at that. They get used to it but it's a sharp pain like having a human tooth extracted but it doesn't have prolonged swelling or discomfort. Only when getting longer or retracting back in.

Whenever they're in bloodlust or a state of starvation, they gain a sense of x-ray vision but instead it's vein mapping. They can see through skin to arteries and if it's severe blood lust, they can even see the smaller, tinier veins in fingers and faces. This is a sight that ever vampire possesses in order to obtain blood easier or figure out a good place to bite. Anything that is living will be seen in a structure of veins. Animals, humans, other vampires.

Severing the brain stem from the body is one of the few sure-fire way to kill a vampire. Alternatively burning them to pure ash and scattering them or holding them in separate vessels. (If ALL ashes are contained somehow and mixed with fresh blood, there is a reanimation process so beheading them is more permanent.) Silver weapons or exposure to silver prior to wound can result in death as well.

Alcohol is SUPER effective when they drink it. Think of one shot making them drunk because it hits their bloodstream almost immediately. A double would have them seeing double and acting like a hot mess. 3+ for even the beefiest of men would have them blacked out and vomiting on the sidewalks.

Drugs effect them but only in extremely high doses and for nothing really over 2 hours or so. Short, short longevity but they have the same crash that humans do. If it's hard detoxing symptoms for humans, it's the same but faster. They can do a hard drug, feel the high for maybe 1 - 2 hours and immediately go into hallucinating and shaking from the aftermath. The same goes for Pharmacia. There's really no medicine that works.

Garlic is a myth. So is wolfsbane.

Silver on the other hand is a very real, very deadly weapon that still rings true. A single pinprick of a silver sewing needle and it can render a vampire powerless. Slow them down to the speed of a human, take away their rapid healing and remove all of their heightened senses. Silver directly into the bloodstream essentially renders them as they were before they turned in physical response and structure. It's the only metal that burns vampires skin and will char it if it sits in one spot for too long. Silver is the only kind of metal that can forge chain that vampires cannot break and can successfully be restrained in. Any wounds inflicted in silver take longer to heal.

They can't reproduce after being turned. Purebloods + Purebloods are the only exception and it's still extremely rare. (Only 9 children born in over 2,500+ years.)

Physicality - Appearance/Body

Whatever color their eyes are, blood-lust accentuates the brightest color. I.e: Brown eyes turn Yellow/Gold, Blue eyes turn White/Purple exct. (Different powers can change this depending on the vampire and their history, sire.) Just think neon, glowing eyes in the dark if they're thirsty or hunting.

They stay frozen in whatever physical appearance they're turned in. Their metabolism is whack so they don't really lose or gain weight, it's down to cosmetic changes or cosmetic surgery. Which at least it heals flawlessly and doesn't ever change. But there aren't many options for personally invested physical change.

Their hair and nails grow super fast.

Vampires usually have the hair color they have when they are turned but around 15% experience graying or whitening of their hair within a few days of turning. Due to a semi-common genetic string in humans.

Vampires don't tan. They burn. No matter what their skin color is. Most are the palest/pasty tone of their natural skin color merely due to anemia and lack of blood circulation.

They don't blush or show physical signs of fever.

Vampires don't sweat or flush when exerting or exercising. They don't have to regulate their body temperatures.

They get dry skin pretty often and it's important to combat it with baths and soaks and lotions/oils whenever possible.

They are usually a lukewarm body temperature. As low as 15°C|59°F to as much as 21°C|69.8°F.

Every vampire has a certain amount of charming allure to them. In whatever form or fashion suits them the best, it's a natural attractant to their human counterparts. A glint to their eyes, a certain smile, the pitch or timbre of their voice. Endearing, seductive, mysterious, whichever shines through in their personality. They are magnetic, attractive to the human eye, no matter what they tend to look like.

They can see themselves in aluminum coated mirrors. Just not silver.

Mental Effects

There is a staggering 95% probability that 'created' vampires will have amnesia unless turned by a pureblood/noble/king/queen/high ranking blood vampire. They remember nothing of their human lives and this is extremely common. It's actually very rare to remember anything prior to your awakening. (That's why there are usually strict laws about siring without consent and proof of consent.)

It is very easy for vampires to be blinded by fits of rage when starving for blood. They can fly into blind anger and attack people they normally wouldn't or even foes they have no chance of winning against. Depending on their remaining strength when this tipping point of starvation happens; it can be extremely dangerous to be around.

Most turned vampires suffer a psychotic break in their early turning years. (Between 6mo and up to 25 years of awakening age. I.e: from the date of being bitten.) The brain is the last thing to be altered in the physical process and because of this, it's believed that their mental state has to crumble to be built better. It's unknown as to exactly why this happens but it's almost guaranteed. It's the vampire equivalent of 'adolescence'.

Over 75% of vampires experience periodic depression and random bouts of sadness. Another 39% live with bouts of mild to moderate psychosis. (This has been suspected to happen because of the physical stasis and improper circulation of chemicals/hormones/exct. Many believe it's because of the guilt of their King, Caine.)

Mental illnesses that aren't born from physical imbalances are in cases of amnesia, cured. Those that are chemically related are usually worsened by the stagnant physical changes of vampirism. It's rare that those with amnesia remember their traumas or emotional upsets after turning.

The "amnesia" of turning is the death of a human psyche. With the staggering rate of permanent amnesia, it is hard to figure out exactly how it happens but it's widely known.

Society

Humans are not fully aware of vampires. This still rings true with the fear of world war and or wiping out the human race given their species.

There is a high society "government" type of monarchy. Each clan or type of vampires has a leader "elder". This is usually the oldest vampire to date of that specific type. Sometimes it's a group or a family of elders. In most modern day they have adapted to a more "presidential" route and have to establish themselves as leader types to be considered for any kind of law making or enforcement. (I.e: Noble bloodline, diligent efforts of servitude such as public service, military or other.)

There is a strict law against turning humans. Vampires are required to have clearly given consent and the process is to be looked over by an elder or enforcer. They must show strenuous documentation of that persons preservation in the name of probable amnesia. They must have a comprehensive processing of that persons interests, personality traits, societal standing, proof of occupational termination, familial status and situational agreement. (Basically they don't want humans forgetting their lives entirely and they want to make sure that they are able to move somewhere or hide from their families until they're well trained enough to be around them again. It's a very long to legally accomplish it.

Every city handles turning differently. Some require the sire to pay the death penalty and others are strictly against killing the one person responsible of their turned kindred.

Vampires are in every day jobs, doing anything and everything that humans do. From trash collecting, to law and doctors. Fame, fortune, poor, criminal; they all live as many walks of life as humans do.

Anti-vampire establishments are alive and well. Most are run by other vampires. Some humans share their beliefs but most typically it's a resounding amount of vampire extremists. This is legal due to the fact that they try to adhere and coexist for their sanctions ordinance. Helping enforce justice for their regions and implore an opposing force for rampaging vampires or other law breaking kindred.

Most human killings are covered up, tampered with or has someone on the inside working on doing both. It's a constant job but a needed one to keep their existence safe from being proven.

There is a massive shortage on vampire doctors serving other vampires or studying from what little information there is on vampirism. The ratio looking like 1 to 300. 1 doctor for every 300 vampires.

The most vampire dominated and lucrative occupations are generally law, publishing and sex working. There are 3 vampires with these jobs to every human worker.

Here is an additional post about how vampire blood would effect humans.

So that was everything I could think of for the time being. I may continue to edit and update this as I have time or I think of something that I haven't touched base on yet. But this is just the general lore I work with when I do write about vampires or when I think about them in general. Feel free to skip certain parts or like.. adapt it however you'd like. I made this to more so inspire people not to show a list of HOW things should go. Take of it what you like and ignore what you don't! Add more if you think of something!

Some of it gets a bit random but it's still things that I've either incorporated in some unpublished fics or talked about with some friends or just fantasized about in general. There's bits and pieces in all media for vampires that I really enjoy and I think every new style spins something different and makes for wonderful content!

#whump prompt #vampires #vampire prompt #whump list #character development #character reference #character sheet #vampire reference #character guide #vampire #vampire list #tw blood #tw violence #tw vampires #vlor

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the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

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thoughts on Bela///Donna?

What a lovely can of worms you've placed in my inbox, dear nonnie. I cannot wait to open it and lose followers (regardless of what I actually say).

Since this is, uh, a subject of some debate among RE8 fans, I will be inputting my thoughts on the idea of the ship (and the possible controversy), as opposed to doing HCs or something for it (which I recognize might be what you were asking for, despite the excessive /s).

This is all based on my playthroughs of the game, as well as what I've managed to double check on the fandom/wiki for it. I know that a lot of people who read fanfic for the game haven't actually played it, likely having been lured in by Tall Vampire Milf, and so I hope that some people will be open to a reminder of, like, canon vs fanon? I've mentioned in a previous post that there's a lot of details for RE8 that are not made clear, and I feel the need to reiterate that in this post. Capcom left a lot of stuff up to people's imaginations, or kind of just hinted at in game or in concept art.

But more importantly, regardless of what game we're talking about, regardless of the conclusion I come to (and the one you come to) at the end of this post, I want to say that I absolutely understand the need/desire to have your own perspective/take on the characters from the game, as well as their dynamics. If a ship makes you uncomfortable because you see the characters as being family members, it's totally okay. Block the ship tag, or filter it out when you look through fandom stuff, don't follow people who post for it, etc, etc.

If you think of characters as being family-family (like, not just "we got married and are now a family" but, like, "we're siblings/parent and child") and still ship them? uh. sorry, bruv, maybe think of hitting that unfollow button. No, seriously, hit that unfollow button. This blog is anti-incest, thank you very much.

The last thing I'll say before putting it under a read-more (for both length and major RE8 spoilers) is that I recognize that I might have missed something, either in game or developers talking about things on social media, and so if you read through this and go "god, J, you're such a dumbass for forgetting *critical piece of media*" or even just "okay but have you seen *small but meaningful piece of media*?" please. Just. Please. Tell me. Link me to that shit. I WANT to know if I'm wrong. I've literally avoided talking about this for as long as I could in order to TRY and make sure I have all the context I need.

With that said, let's examine what context we are given for Alcina Dimitrescu, Bela Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, and their relations to each other. I will be leaving my personal thoughts on Bela///Donna at the very end of this, as somewhat of a conclusion, somewhat of just a "hey, this is what you technically asked me about".

Firstly, let me begin by explaining what I consider to be the 3 tiers of "canon"

In-Game/Direct: The highest, truest tier, the definitive canon. This is everything that takes place in game, excluding certain hallucination scenes (ex: Mia was not really in House Beneviento, but we can infer some things from what Donna made Ethan hallucinate about). Things either happen, or are directly stated by characters. There's some wiggle room for dialogue, as characters can lie, but overall we, as the audience, assume we are being told the truth. At the very least, games usually eventually make it clear when a character has been dishonest. Examples of Direct Canon include the following: Ethan is infected with the mold, Lady Dimitrescu drinks blood, Heisenberg wears sunglasses, Mother Miranda can shapeshift.

Concept Art/Developer's Notes/Indirect: Mid-tier and debatable, the "we think, but we're not sure" of canon. Resident Evil: Village contains lots of concept art that the players can browse through, all of which include notes from the developers about the game, characters, environments, and story. Sometimes the notes make something "direct", but oftentimes they do not specify whether the listed idea is still canon or if it was removed during development. This tier also includes information that is implied/can be inferred from tier 1 information, but is not directly stated. Examples of Indirect Canon include the following: Donna's mother died by suicide, Moreau was going to have his lover fused to his back, Duke was originally a fifth lord, Heisenberg was going to have a twin. As you can see, not all of the concept art ideas made it into the final version of the game, so it can be hard when some information seems like it might still be true (such as the matter of Donna's parents).

Fanon/"False": Sometimes collective ideas in a fandom become so widespread that people start interpreting them as actual canon. Sometimes it gets hard to remember what's just obscure lore and what's fanon. When we get a piece of fiction as overall vague as a lot of Resident Evil: Village is, there's bound to be some confusion over time. That's one of the main reasons I waited to talk about Bela////Donna until after I had recently replayed relevant sections of the game, as I wanted to remind myself of what we're actually told. Examples of False Canon are difficult to pinpoint, but might include things like: Hufflepuffs are good at finding things? The Avengers got along for awhile and all had their own rooms in the tower? There's a number scale for the danger level of ghosts in Danny Phantom?

For this post, I will be limiting the majority of my notes to the first two levels of canon, and will do my best to mark them as such. Now... let us... begin.

Alcina Dimitrescu:

Born no later than 1914, Alcina Dimitrescu was 44 years old when she was granted the Cadou by Mother Miranda. (1st Tier: Canon. Source: A note in the castle basement from a servant is dated 1958, and mentions both Alcina and her children. Secondly, Miranda's experiment notes state that Alcina was the 181st subject, and was given the Cadou at age 44. By doing math, we can then determine the earliest Alcina could have been born.)

Alcina refers to the other Lords as her family once without any disdain (when Ethan first arrives at the castle and is caught, Alcina says "you've escaped my little brother"). In a private journal (located near where she threw the infamous vanity) she insults the other Lords, and expresses anger that she is "treated like a sister to them". She argues with Heisenberg without any hesitation, and seems honest in her hatred of him (per Maggie Robertson's wunderbar performance). (1st Tier/2nd Tier: Canon with a sprinkle of interpretation for the last line)

Alcina openly refers to Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela as her daughters, and wrote in her experiment journal that she felt instantly connected to them (as mother and daughters). (1st Tier: Canon).

Bela Dimitrescu:

Likely born in the 1930's or 1940's, in order to be an adult by 1958 (the first dated appearance of the Dimitrescu daughters). (2nd Tier: Based on inference)

Dialogue shows that all three of the daughters do love their mother, and reinforces the bond Alcina's journal mentions. (1st Tier: Canon)

We are not given any information about how Bela feels about the other Lords, or even what she knows about them. Once can assume that she shares the ideas of her mother, either because Alcina tells her things directly, or because Bela (who is eager to please her mother) picks up on them over time. (2nd Tier: Based on inference)

Donna Beneviento:

No idea when she was born. If you've read one of my recent posts, then you know that it's almost entirely a matter of 2nd and 3rd tier canon.

Of the four lords, Donna seems to have the most story within the 2nd tier, and has very, very little in the 1st tier. Duke says she's somewhat isolated, and that her "playmates" never leave the house. Miranda's notes state that Donna is mentally ill, and the gardener's diary states/implies (bit of both) that Donna has severe social anxiety. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly canon)

Supposedly, her parents committed suicide while she was still a child. This is indicated in concept art/the attached developer's notes. However, the only part that's also directly stated in game is that her parents (specifically her father) died while she was young. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly canon)

While Donna only has one voice line in the game (and it's sad), Angie talks a fair bit. Angie seems to disapprove of the other Lords, or at the very least enjoys mocking them, as well as enjoys watching them fight with each other. As Angie is connected to Donna, and Donna has some level of control over her, one can assume that the two have similar (if not the same) opinions. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly Canon)

Donna was adopted by Mother Miranda as an adult. It's unclear exactly how old Donna was, or what exactly Miranda did as her "mother", just that Donna was excited about it. (1st Tier: Canon)

Other Relevant Information:

Heisenberg refers to the other Lords as his siblings a minimum of 1 time. Similarly to Alcina, however, he openly insults them and seems to hate them. He just, you know, hates Mother Miranda the most. (1st Tier: Canon)

Mother Miranda does not actually give a shit about the four Lords, intended for them to die before the ceremony, and has been manipulating them for her own gain this entire time. Her notes and dialogue make it clear that she only cares about getting Eva back. Somehow mother of the year and worst mother ever. At the same time. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly Canon)

It's unclear who treats Alcina "like a sister" to the other Lords. Were there cut lines of dialogue that cemented the idea of them being a "family"? Did Miranda call them a "family" as part of pretending she cared about them? I've done my best to dig around, but there's very little in game that treats them as a family of any sort.

As each Lord ruled their own section of the region, they don't have any mentions of interacting with each other outside of meetings with Mother Miranda. None of the notes for any Lord (and their relevant experiments) mention what the others are doing. In game, their environments are very separate, very well divided, though this is likely as much for gameplay as it is for story.

Conclusion:

I do not not believe there is enough in game evidence to suggest that Alcina and Donna consider themselves to be siblings. There's the possibility for a large age gap, Alcina was a fair bit older than Donna when she met Miranda, Donna is a social recluse whose closest bonds were with dead blood relatives and dolls, Alcina openly dislikes (if not hates) the other Lords, they seemingly lived very separate and distanced lives, and Mother Miranda does not enforce the idea of "family". Furthermore, the sheer contrast between how Alcina interacts with/speaks of the other Lords compared to how she interacts with/speaks of her daughters says a lot about her feelings. Even if Heisenberg takes the brunt of her anger, Alcina never once says anything remotely positive about anyone other than Miranda and her daughters.

As Alcina/Bela and Donna are not blood-relatives, the definition of what would count as "incest" does vary depending on who you ask. Personally, I do count non-blood relations as potentially incestuous. For example: Alcina "dating" one of her daughters would be incest, regardless of the fact that she's a mutated human and her daughters are weird swarms of flies.

Now, I do understand how popular the idea of the four Lords being a real, chaotic but still close family is. And as I mentioned above, it's totally valid to not like the Bela///Donna ship, whether it's because you think they're family or some other reason. I don't personally see them that way, even in my definitely-not-canon stories.

Do I personally ship Bela///Donna? Nope. Have I liked art for the ship? Admittedly yes, even if I thought some of it was, like, maiden x Bela because Donna didn't have her veil and I'm a DUMBASS who doesn't always remember to read tags. Would I ever write for it? Yeah, probably, assuming I didn't miss anything in game/that I don't eventually change my mind.

#*incredibly deep sigh*#*incoherent screaming*#it's 6 in the morning #i spent too long doing research #again feel free to send me links if you think I missed something #what do I even tag this as?#asks #anonymous #meta shit #i'm procrastinating on posting this because of anxiety #I'm worried 2 specific followers are going to unfollow me #and possibly one mutual #somebody just kill me already

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staranon95 · 3 years

Text

DinCobb Week Day 6: Water (SFW)

for @dincobbweek

so for this one i go a bit... world build-y lol. no other way to describe it than that. just go with it.

AO3 Link

that within you (i do so trust)

Din saw the crumpled form upon the dunes. He only noticed it because he saw a small grouping of massiffs sniffing around it like vultures, which meant Tuskens weren’t too far off. It wasn’t like Din had issues with Tuskens, but he felt a pang of sympathy for a settler who had caught the short end of the stick.

So he curved his speeder off towards the fallen figure to see if he could offer any aid, and as he approached, the massiffs wandered off, yapping at each other as they ran off across the dunes back to where they came from.

The figure was the body of a man, an older man with silver and white in his hair and beard. He wore no protective gear. It appeared he had no weapon. His clothes were simplistic in design if a bit thinly worn, and the only thing that Din took notice of his dress was the thick red scarf around his neck.

He stepped off his speeder and approached the man, bending to one knee to roll the man onto his back. From the state of his cracked and reddened lips, Din assumed it was dehydration that struck this man down.

He sighed and thought of what next to do. The man was still alive. Just unconscious. But he wasn’t about to leave this man here, though. That would be a cruel thing to do. So he unclasped his cloak from his pauldrons and set it around the man’s prone form so he could carry him to his speeder in comfort and look for a place with shade.

He came to a sharp rise of rock that offered some cover. He lifted the man, still unconscious and gently set him to the ground before reaching for his canteen and pouring some of the precious water into the man’s mouth. He swallowed reflexively and for a moment his eyelids fluttered. He must’ve been aware for a moment before his eyes rolled and he was nothing more than a deadweight in Din’s arms once more.

He laid the man out before setting out to gather bits of debris and wood and brush he could use to build a fire. He had a feeling he would be here a long time.

Sun sickness and heat sickness were serious conditions on Tatooine, and any unexperienced individual would find themselves in a world of trouble if they didn’t come prepared. Din quietly wondered what had befallen this poor soul to land him in this situation.

Regardless, Din had the water to spare, and he tended the man with small mouthfuls of what he had over several hours as the suns passed through the sky and slowly fell out of sight.

Din was resting against his pack, arms folded along his stomach as he looked up at the stars, then he heard the man stir from his spot across the fire.

“Mm.”

Din angled his head in the man’s direction and nearly jolted at the sight of a pair of bright eyes across the low fire.

“I s’pose I should thank you then,” the man said, his drawl denoting his Tatooine heritage.

Din slowly moved to sit up and saw that the man’s eyes were not in fact glowing. Possibly just a reflection of the light. He reached for his canteen and stretched out his hand to offer it to the man.

The man smiled and nodded his thanks before lifting it to his lips and taking a healthy swallow.

“Is there anywhere I can bring you?” Din asked.

The man lowered the canteen and hummed. “No need to worry about that, partner. I was just out for a walk. It’s good for the spirit, you know?”

“Not if it means you put yourself in harm’s way,” Din said gently.

The man grinned slightly, showing white teeth—not necessarily unsettling, but his teeth almost looked sharper than they should’ve been.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light once more.

“You from around here, partner?”

“No.”

“Mm.” The man took another drink from Din’s canteen. “Been a while since I’ve seen a Mandalorian.”

Din wondered if he should drop his hand for his blaster, but the man did nothing more than make that remark. Plus, he also had no weapons to Din’s knowledge.

“Have you encountered others then?” Din asked because he was curious. If there were more of his kind out there, he wanted to know.

“Just the one.” The man looked to the stars then, the moonlight reflecting in his hair. “Mean son of a gun, too. Not like you I bet.” The man then winked at Din with a very cheeky and knowing smile.

Din swallowed and felt himself flush underneath his helmet. He felt odd in a way. Like this was some sort of dream.

This man didn’t seem real, and he couldn’t pin down the reason as to why.

“But he met some unfortunate fate. Not sure if he considers himself Mandalorian these days, but that journey is up to him, not me. Not anymore.” He took another swallow. “Mm. You know what they say about water on Tatooine?”

“No.”

Din knew what the Tuskens said, but he wasn’t about to say all that.

“That this planet used to be covered in it. Hard to believe right? That this place was once teeming with life. Oceans vast and deep. That’s where the first dragons came from you know. Big sea serpents. They’re the ones that gifted the water to the people here. They kept it churning. They would bring the tides and the waves. They would spew the water into the air for rain. But the people, well, they got greedy. They started taking more than they needed. They started hoarding it for themselves, building monuments with it, and this angered the dragons, you see. Not because the dragons wanted the praise, but because their gift was being wasted. Not for the purposes of life but of wealth and greed. So the dragons. They left. They called down their brothers from the stars and burned Tatooine in their righteous anger, taking with them their precious gift of life and leaving only small pockets of it behind. Enough for the people to live but never to thrive, not in the way they used to. And the great sea dragons, well, they left. They burrowed themselves into the ground, into the core of the planet where they remain, deep in slumber for an act of penance willing to wake them. And some say that’s how the krayts emerged—twisted representations of those first great gods, the sand wyrms. But the dragons didn’t leave their people to suffer. Within each krayt, they left a pearl to bring wealth and security to their people, and some say one of those pearls might be the key to bringing back the dragons and bringing Tatooine back to its former glory.”

Din blinked and took a deep breath. He couldn’t remember if he had breathed the entire time the man was telling his story. It matched up to many of the myths Tuskens had told him over the years, but those were Tusken stories, things they seldom told outsiders unless trust had been established between them.

The man lifted Din’s canteen and admired it. “Water is the life source of this planet as it is many others I suspect. But for Tatooine, it’s just as much a curse as it is a blessing. Depends on if you see it as a gift or a prize.”

The man then stood, forsaking Din’s cloak and offering his canteen to him before extending his hand. Din reached up and shook it the man’s. The man griped his hand tightly, and Din felt something sting on his inner wrist.

“Now don’t be a stranger, you hear?” the man said. “I’ll be seeing you, Mandalorian.” Then he turned and began to walk off into the dark.

When he was finally out of sight, Din blinked and it felt like he had control of himself, like he was no longer entranced. Then he stood and toggled for the heat tracking settings on his helmet and followed the man’s footsteps for a moment until they disappeared completely. Like he’d never existed at all.

He tugged off his glove to reveal a faint mark of some sorts into the skin of his inner wrist. He rubbed his thumb over it and caught the shape of a krayt dragon.

In all his years tracking bounties on this planet and spending time with its people—settlers, slaves, and Tuskens—Din had never heard of such a story before. Of any spirits in the desert other than hallucinations brought on by mirages and dehydration.

He would sleep that night and wake to a canteen full of water and his wrist bare, and for a moment he thought the entire exchange a dream.

Years would go by. He would return to Tatooine on a handful of occasions to hunt bounties, and he thought little of that strange night he had spent with a stranger. That was until he came to Tatooine with the Child he’d been entrusted to care for and the quest of locating other Mandalorians.

He came to a small town by the name of Mos Pelgo. It was a mining town, but the weary looks sent his way by the townspeople showed they didn’t seem to trust outsiders all that much.

He entered the cantina there in the town and spoke to the Weequay barkeep. “I have heard of a Mandalorian in these parts,” he said.

“You’ll want to talk to the Marshal.”

“The Marshal.”

The barkeep nodded towards the door, and Din turned and looked and saw the Marshal there, dressed in Mandalorian battle armour, but it looked ill fitting, far too worn and it looked uncared for.

Then the Marshal removed his helmet and there he was—the man Din had saved years ago, the man he shared his water with.

“Well, if it ain’t my Mandalorian.” The Marshal grinned. “Weequay,” he said, motioning to the barkeep. “Two snorts of spotchka. Have a drink with me, Mandalorian. Seems we got a lot to talk about.”

He followed the Marshal to the table and looked between the helmet and the man across from him. The Marshal slid him a glass full of spotchka before serving himself.

“Been wondering when you’d find yourself my way,” the Marshal said.

Din felt his inner wrist begin to tingle. He saw movement on the ground and saw the Child toddle up to the Marshal and looked up at him with an intensity he didn’t often see in the Child.

“Who are you?” Din asked.

“Just a man who’s trying to do what’s right.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t matter if you do. It’s the truth.” The Marshal sipped his spotchka. “Regardless, seems the Force has brought us back together, and for the better. I want to know if I made the right choice in choosing you.”

“Choosing me?”

“As my champion of course.” The Marshal grinned. “There’s a krayt dragon in the area. It might be the one, and I can’t do much in this body of mine. Figured we could trade.”

“Trade what?”

“The krayt for the armour. For questions. I’m sure you’re full of them.”

Din sighed. He looked at the armour the Marshal was wearing and wondered how it had gotten here. He wondered why the Marshal had chosen him and what that would mean after the destruction of a krayt dragon.

And when the Marshal bent to pick up the Child and look at him with gleaming eyes, he wondered if the Marshal knew more about the Force for the sake of the Child.

He wondered a lot of things and if this was the right path to walk.

“Din.”

“Hm?”

“My name.”

The Marshal smiled. “Good to know you, Din. People call me Cobb, and I’ve got a good feeling about you.”

#dincob #din djarin #cobb vanth #dincobbweek #dincobbweek2021 #dincobb week #mandalorian #star writes #star speaks

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toraodwaterlaw · 3 years

Text

Taken Apart

Law has made his way from Minion to Swallow, where he has a fateful meeting with Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi. Now he has these three to deal with on top of trying to remove the deadly lead that riddles his body.

This is Pt 2 of a two part AU story where Cora survives Minion. Pt 1 can be found here. 6.4k, more of Law dissecting himself, so a warning for that. Otherwise, a happy ending after all that angst.

Law awoke much the way he had in the past few weeks— in pain and with a desire to keep his eyes closed and let it end at last. Just as he had all those times before, he dragged his eyes open regardless.

His brain felt fuzzy and his eyesight was fuzzier still. His cheek was pressed to cold earth, which played a sharp contrast to his burning skin. The familiar flicker of a fire painted his surroundings in shades of orange while the even more familiar scent of smoke filled the air. Was he still on the road with Cora? Was everything else just a horrible nightmare? But no, now that he was more awake, he could hear quiet voices. Voices that he didn’t recognize until suddenly he did.

A bear. Blood. Snow. Two gangly, cocky teenagers with bats in hand.

Law tried to scramble to his feet but he couldn’t find the strength. Instead he managed to slump against a rocky cave wall and mustered up his best glare for the pair of boys at the mouth of the cave.

“You’re awake!” the redhead said.

“We, uh, we were a little worried you might be dead,” penguin hat added.

They both took a step toward him. A growl from over Law’s shoulder stopped them dead in their tracks. The bear… Mink… Bepo was huddled at the back of the cave, teeth bared. He managed to look equal parts like he wanted to fight and flee. Despite his apparent fear, he’d edged enough forward that he was looming over Law.

It made something rare shift in Law’s chest. He didn’t understand. Bepo was bloodied and beaten, they barely knew each other, and yet the Mink was trying to protect him.

Law shook his head. He didn’t need protecting. He reached for his knife but it wasn’t there.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” redhead asked, knife held up hilt forward. Law made to grab it only to be outmaneuvered. “Not so fast. I’d rather be sure you aren’t going to stab us with this first.”

“I don’t need that to put you both down,” Law snarled.

“We know.” Penguin hat stepped forward and put his hand on redhead’s shoulder. “That’s why we want you to train us.”

Law blinked and shook his head, certain that he was hallucinating. “You— what? I don’t even… why would I…?”

He rubbed at his temples. He could feel a headache forming. None of this made any sense and he wasn’t in a mood to figure it out. The two loud boys weren’t deterred by his reaction.

“Look, I get it. You don’t even know us and we don’t know you. Well, I’m Shachi and this is Penguin.”

“Your name is…” Law dragged his hands over his face. “You have your name on your hat?”

He didn’t know why that stood out to him as the most absurd point of all of this. Apparently they didn’t think that was absurd either.

“What else would I have written on my hat?” Penguin asked.

Law opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. It wasn’t worth it. He turned back to Bepo instead. “They didn’t hurt you more, did they?”

Bepo looked to the others before he shook his head. “No. I’m okay.”

Law very much doubted that. The bear looked fine the way Law was ‘fine’ whenever Cora asked how he was doing. “I can help but…” He wondered how far his medical expertise would help him in this particular case. “You’re a Mink, right?”

Bepo small, black eyes widened. “How did you know? Everyone else thinks I’m just a monster.”

Law scowled. He thought of a city turned into a graveyard and of hospitals on fire. “I’ve seen monsters. I know monsters. You’re not a monster.” He grabbed his pack, glad that at least hadn’t been taken from him. There were some basic medical supplies in it but nothing for the wounds Bepo had sustained. “My— someone told me stories about Minks but I don’t know much about their physiology. I can only treat your superficial wounds.”

Bepo squirmed in place. “You don’t have to.”

Law ignored him and turned to the others. It was almost comical how much they perked up under his gaze. “You.”

Shachi pointed at himself. “Me?”

“Both of you,” Law replied. “You look like you know how to take care of yourselves. If you really want me to train you or whatever, you need to get some stuff for me first.”

“Whatever you want,” Penguin agreed quickly.

“Good to hear,” Law said. He held up his fingers and ticked off the list of things he needed. “I need a pot and water. Or snow. Whatever is easiest. Also bandages or a clean sheet. Clothing. Really any fabric you can get your hands on that I can make into bandages.”

“Anything else?” Shachi asked.

Law tapped his chin. He considered natural pain relievers. Many were dangerous in the wrong quantities and he didn’t have anything to measure. He also wasn’t sure he trusted these two meatheads to grab the right stuff. It wasn’t worth the risk.

“Food,” he said after consideration. “Whatever you can get. But no bread.”

Shachi and Penguin grabbed their bats. After a moment’s thought, Shachi grabbed Law’s knife as well. “Mind if I take this? For hunting. We’ll give it back.”

Law would have rather kept it but the possibility of meat was pretty compelling. He felt unusually hungry. He couldn’t think of when he’d last been actively hungry instead of simply willing to eat to placate Cora.

“Go ahead,” he said. “I can fight just fine without it, remember.”

Shachi smiled broadly. He was too easily impressed. Idiot.

“Alright,” the redhead said, “we’ll be back before you know it.”

“Yeah, we’ll only be gone a second,” Penguin said. “So no running off.”

Law glowered and waved them off. As soon as they were gone, he sank back onto the ground. He wanted to operate and try to get at least some of the lead out, but he couldn’t imagine finding the energy to form another Room. With any luck, food would help with that. He wished he’d ever bothered to ask Cora how using his fruit affected him.

“Why are you doing so much to help me?” Bepo asked.

Law rolled his head to look at him. “I dunno. It was just a whim, I guess. Maybe I just wanted to put those idiots in their place. Don’t think too much about it.”

Bepo stared down at his paws. He looked at Law, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Can I do anything to repay you?”

Law groaned. He didn’t want repayment. He didn’t want idiots following him around, begging to be trained. He didn’t want any of this. He just wanted Cora back and he wanted sleep. Which…

“On top of my pack, there’s a bedroll. I’d get it myself but…” He gestured broadly. “So if you could spread that out for me, you can consider us repaid.”

“Right!” Bepo near shouted, suddenly energetic.

He undid the clasps that held the bedding in place and very carefully unrolled it by Law. Law got up on shaking legs. He barely needed to take half a step but it felt quite suddenly like a mile. When Bepo offered a helping paw, he was too tired to protest. He took it and lowered himself down with as much dignity as he was able, given the way he was trembling.

“Are you okay?” Bepo asked.

“I’m fine,” Law snapped. When the bear winced, he sighed. “It’s… don’t worry about it. I’m sick but it’s not contagious and I’m working on treating it.”

“Okay.”

Bepo didn’t sound so sure but Law would take mild disbelief over the shrieking he usually received. Come to think of it, Penguin and Shachi hadn’t seemed to notice the white spots either. Maybe he was just more lead than healthy skin at this point. It had been a while since he’d looked in a mirror. Fine by him if they assumed he was just that pale. Saved him some trouble when he had more important things to worry about.

For one, why was it so cold? There was a good fire going but he couldn’t stop shivering. He tugged the blanket around him and edged a bit closer to the flames. He knew from experience with Cora just how close to a fire was too close. He would still be safe at this distance, even if he decided to close his eyes for a moment.

He woke up without any memory of having fallen asleep in the first place. He must have, though, because Penguin and Shachi were back and the smell of cooking fish had filled the cave. The world was blurry again when he opened his eyes and he felt even worse than he had before. No matter what, he needed to start removing lead. If only he could so much as lift his head.

“You’re awake!” Penguin said.

“We saved you some,” Shachi added, holding out a skewered grilled fish for Law to see. “And there’s some other stuff, too. No bread.”

Logically, Law knew he needed the energy. Protein would be good for him if he was going to get anything done but the world was spinning again and he couldn’t get it to stop long enough to sit upright. To make matters worse, when he put the back of a hand to his forehead he found that he was running a temperature. That might explain the headache. Either way, those two idiots were being too loud.

A gentle hand at his back helped him sit up. Bepo. Law might have even thanked him if it didn’t hurt to so much as breathe at the moment. Instead he gave him a nod and took the fish from Shachi without a word. When Penguin offered him a canteen, he took that as well. His stomach threatened to revolt over both, so he squeezed his eyes shut until he was certain he would keep it all down.

“We got bandages,” Shachi said with obvious pride.

Penguin’s smile shone from beneath the shadow of his ridiculous hat. “And a pot of water, like you asked. Well, snow, but we melted it by the fire while you slept.”

They had indeed gotten bandages. Good ones, along with some other medical supplies Law hadn’t asked for, like a bottle of pain relievers. He didn’t know how they’d managed in the middle of the night but he wasn’t about to push the matter. He swallowed a few pills dry before portioning some out for Bepo.

“Take these and I’ll work on patching you up,” he instructed.

Bepo did as told. He sat entirely still despite the fact that his injuries must have stung as they were cleaned. Really, he was a much better patient than Cora was. The bumbling blond spent far too much time protesting that he was fine any time he was clearly not and he tended to fidget. It would have been ideal conditions, if not for the fact that every pair of eyes in the cave was watching him work.

“What are you looking at?” Law growled.

“Sorry,” Bepo murmured.

“We’re learning,” Penguin said.

“We said we wanted you to train us,” Shachi added.

Law paused to consider them. “I thought you wanted me to teach you how to fight?”

“We’ll learn anything you’re willing to teach,” Penguin replied.

Shachi nodded. “We’ve gotta make it on our own, so anything that helps with that, we’re down.”

Law opened his mouth to argue and then thought better of it. If they really wanted to learn first aid skills, good for them. He didn’t really care what they decided to spend their time on. He wasn’t about to waste his own time actually training them. Once Cora came for him, they’d be nothing more than a confusing memory.

He sat back and considered his work. He’d done what he could for Bepo. As it turned out, things had looked worse than they were. Blood was an alarming sight against the white of fur. Once it was cleared away, most of the injuries came down to cuts and bruises that would heal well enough on their own. That was a weight off Law’s already burdened shoulders. He might not care what became of Shachi and Penguin, but he’d have felt bad if he’d done a poor job tending to a patient.

He eyed the three of them and came to a decision. “If you want to really learn something, give me my knife back.”

Shachi took the knife from his belt but hesitated to hand it over. “Shouldn’t we have weapons, too?”

Law snatched the knife away before the redhead could react. “It’s not for fighting. I need to operate.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Penguin said, throwing up his hands. “Are you sure you should use that? It seems like a good knife but not for something like an operation.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Law replied as he pondered where to start. “I don’t even really need the knife, I think, but it helps me focus. I could probably just use my bare hands if I wanted.”

The two older boys looked aghast. It was enough to shut them up for the time being, which was all Law wanted. He decided his earlier instincts had been correct and that he would be best off starting with his feet. He most needed to remove the lead from his lungs and heart but he wasn’t about to start practicing somewhere so potentially lethal. Once he had a better grasp on his abilities, he would move onto the more vital regions of his body.

He started by removing his socks and boots, placing them aside, and then rolling his pant legs up to the knees. It was likely all unnecessary but it made him feel more like he was doing things the right way when he actually did something to prepare for surgery. Expanding the bubble of his Room also made him feel like he could really do this. Of course he needed its powers in order to operate but he also felt a sort of ease inside its confines. Everything around him was under his complete control. He could sense it all, from the small droplets of nervous sweat on the back of his neck to the unseen deposits of lead in his flesh.

With fresh confidence, he made the first slice and cut off his left foot at the ankle. His concentration was immediately shattered by a wave of shouting and flailing. Law sighed.

“Oh relax.”

Penguin and Shachi were both standing just at the edge of the Room’s border, as though afraid to let it touch them. He couldn’t see Bepo but he could hear a high pitched whine from behind him.

Shachi pointed accusingly at the disembodied leg. “Relax? You cut off your foot!”

Penguin emphatically nodded his head. “You’re gonna bleed to death and I don’t know what to do with a dead body. Wait… why aren’t you bleeding? There should be blood, right?”

Law rolled his eyes. He picked up his leg with his free hand and reattached it to the clean cut stump. “See? Fine.” He wiggled his toes once to prove his point before cutting it off once more. “I have a Devil Fruit.”

“Oooooh,” Shachi said. “I get it now. How’d you get it? That makes sense, though. That’s how you were able to kick our asses so easily.”

Law rolled his eyes. “No, that’s because you two are pushovers. Now shut up. I need to concentrate.”

Immediate silence followed and Law quickly forgot they were there at all. Now that he’d had a bit of food and rest, he didn’t feel as dizzy. It would be easier to enjoy what his new powers offered him. He felt so aware of everything that he likely didn’t even need to cut himself up… but where was the fun in that? He further dissected his leg so that he could better see the muscles and veins within. There was the soleus and the gastrocnemius, the posterior tibial vein and perforating veins. He could have examined it all for the rest of the day if not for the rapid depletion of his stamina.

Later. Someday after he was healed, he would experiment with it all to his heart’s content. Funny to think that finally felt like a possibility while he was sitting in a damp cave with his limbs chopped to bits before him.

First things first, he needed to cure the Amber Lead before it made the future an impossibility. It would be easier said than done. While he could sense it, the lead particles were too small for him to clearly see. He put the rest of his leg together so that he could focus just on his foot. His ability to manipulate things at will did little for him if he didn’t have the fine control to remove what he wanted from his body. He wished once more that he had time to obtain a specimen to practice on instead. Maybe the remaining fish? Or they might be able to catch something. The problem was, he was already so close to the edge. As had been the case for his entire life, time was his enemy. He needed to use what energy he had to start curing this thing.

He sucked in a breath to brace himself and closed his eyes. Despite all the trouble he’d gone through to see what he was doing, he could only focus well enough if he shut out everything else. He envisioned every bit of lead in the foot, ignoring the rest that lay in deadly wait in the rest of his body. Then, as he’d made the stick dance about earlier and as he’d tossed Penguin and Shachi aside, he moved it. Just one easy flick of his fingers and the lead in that foot was now on the ground.

It might have been easy to do, but it wasn’t so easy to endure. A sudden chill washed over him. He felt winded, as though he’d taken a sharp blow to the gut. He opened his eyes again and reassembled and reattached the foot before he lost his ability to keep up the Room. The sphere of blue stuttered, shrank, and then vanished. Law fell back onto the heels of his hands. He let his gaze slip to the side. Where he thought he’d put the lead, there was a small puddle of blood. That was probably bad. He’d need to work on his control.

“That was intense,” Shachi gasped.

“Are you okay?” Bepo asked as he extended a reassuring paw.

Was he? That had taken far more out of him than he’d expected. He was lightheaded and his arms shook as they held him up. “I’m fine.”

He couldn’t recall dropping his knife but he must have. He picked it up again. He raised it over his other leg and summoned the Room again. Before he could cut down, a gloved hand found his wrist and stopped him. He mustered his best glare— the one that would always send Baby 5 running— but Penguin didn’t shrink back.

“Look, I know we don’t really know each other or anything, but I’d really rather not watch you kill yourself, kid. Maybe you don’t need to be in such a hurry to make your blood exit your body?”

Penguin’s hand was trembling. Despite the front he was putting up, he’d seen what Law could do and he was scared. Good. Law jerked his arm free.

“You see all the white splotches on my skin?” he demanded. “You know what that is?”

Penguin only shrugged. When Law turned his glower on Shachi, the redhead shook his head as well. For a moment, Law was too taken aback to say more. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met someone who didn’t know, let alone didn’t shrink back in terror when they saw.

He looked back at Bepo. The Mink simply stared back blankly.

“Really? None of you?” Law could hardly believe it but there wasn’t so much as a flicker of recognition in any of the faces pointed at him. “It’s…” He almost didn’t want to tell them. He never thought he’d enjoy the freedom of being surrounded by people who didn’t know. “A poison. Lead. I was born with it in my blood and it meant I was never going to live to adulthood. I still might not if I can’t remove it. Soon.”

Penguin and Shachi looked at each other.

“Soon…” Penguin said.

“But not immediately,” Shachi finished.

Law sighed. The crackling dome of blue that surrounded them was banished. He had to admit it was a relief to stop. He was nearly spent. He was certain he could push on but less sure he would be able to work effectively with these three set against him.

He crossed his arms, unwilling to cede ground just yet. “Well, what do you suggest then?”

“You should sleep,” Bepo said. “If, uh, you need to.”

Shachi nodded emphatically. “And I can keep guard.”

“And if you’re in such a hurry, I’ll make sure you don’t sleep too long,” Penguin offered.

They sounded so earnest. Law didn’t get it. They’d only just met him. He could handle himself. And if he couldn’t, people died all the time. Maybe that wasn’t the way things should be but that’s the way they were. Flevance had gone before him. It would be so easy to follow. But… Cora wanted him to survive. He was so sure Law could live and be free and be something more than what fate had handed him.

“Fine,” Law grumbled. “If you’re all so set on it, I’ll rest for a bit. But only for a bit. There’s someone important to me who went through a lot of trouble to get me this chance and I’m not going to let him down.”

The three other boys bobbed their heads happily. So damned earnest. Law only just resisted rolling his eyes. He might not have resisted at all but as soon as he’d agreed to their terms, Bepo’s eyes had really lit up. No matter what they might think of him by now, Law wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t going to crush the young bear’s hopes.

“Actually, speaking of that someone,” Law added, “keep an eye out for a giant blond idiot lumbering around out there in the snow. He’ll be impossible to miss. He has a stupid black coat and can’t take two steps without falling on his ass.”

That raised a few eyebrows but they agreed. With that settled, Law kicked some dirt over the blood he’d spilt. It wouldn’t do for Cora to come back to him and see that. He also moved his bedroll to the other side of the fire. From then on, he’d be sure to try to cure himself in one place and sleep in another. An irrational part of him worried that the lead would leech right back into him if he got too close to it.

It didn’t seem like the others needed warning twice to do the same. With all that settled, he laid down and closed his eyes. Despite his exhaustion, he hadn’t expected to sleep. He must have gone deep under, though, because the next thing he was aware of was being shook roughly.

“Hey! You’re not dead, are you?”

Law groaned and rolled over. “You keep saying that.”

“It keeps being true,” Penguin countered.

Law stretched out his limbs. When he sat up, he took a look at the foot he’d operated on. The skin was still extremely pale, with only small patches of tanned skin. It wasn’t white, though. Maybe that was hope. Maybe he really had gotten it all out and could someday start fresh. Maybe. But Law wasn’t one to hang his hat on possibilities. He was going to do what he could right now to remove every speck of lead, if he had to carve it all out.

He was feeling a bit stiff so he walked a short circuit around the cave to keep his muscles from getting too tight. That started a routine. He would move around, maybe take a step out to breathe the crisp, cold air, and then sit to operate. Each time he tried, he was able to get slightly better control. It meant he lost less blood in the process but it sapped away more stamina. Between that and the ravages of the Amber Lead, he barely had the energy to protest when the others would insist he stop to take another break.

He was able to get through three rounds of this— rest, stretch, operate, and repeat— before he passed out cold. He’d expected to awaken the way he had whenever he’d dozed off, with a shake from one of the others, but it was the bright light of day that woke him instead. He groggily rubbed the sleep from his eyes. When he looked around the cave blearily, he saw that the fire was down to flickering coals. Despite that, he was surprisingly warm and he realized it was because Bepo had snuggled close sometime in the night. Penguin and Shachi were also snoring next to each other near the mouth of the cave.

Law wiggled his toes and flexed his legs. He might not have gotten as far as he’d meant to, but he’d managed to remove the lead from both of his feet and calves. They felt a bit odd. Without closer examination, he could only speculate. Likely the feeling was a mix of his powers, which seemed to bestow a bit of numbing, and of whatever damage he’d done in his rough job excising the poison from his veins.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Penguin said. Law couldn’t tell if the other boy had already been awake himself, since the bill of his hat hid his eyes. “Sorry. Would have gotten you up but you seemed pretty out of it. I was a little worried one of these times you really would be dead.”

Law clicked his tongue. “It’ll take a lot more than any of this to kill me.”

Penguin let out a soft laugh. “I’m really starting to believe that.”

Their conversation awoke Bepo, who snuffled lightly in his sleep and then yawned wide enough to show off every one of his sharp teeth. His ears twitched and his nose wiggled as full wakefulness returned to him. His ears flattened back when he saw Law looking at him.

“Sorry. You looked cold.”

“No, it’s…” Law frowned. He had no doubt he’d slept so long because Bepo was there. He’d felt as safe and warm as he did bundled in Cora’s coat. That was a hard feeling for him to capture. “Thanks. You did warm me up.”

Bepo blinked as though he was as surprised by Law’s open gratitude as Law himself was. After a moment’s puzzlement, he smiled brightly.

Shachi was the last to wake up. He stretched broadly enough to knock Penguin in the side of the head. “You were supposed to get more wood for the fire.”

Penguin bumped him back with his shoulder. “You could have done it.”

“I was keeping guard.”

“Yeah, great job with that.”

Their bickering and the small scuffle that followed almost made Law miss Buffalo and Baby 5. They hadn’t been friends, exactly, but the closest Law could claim in the last few years. Then there was Cora, who wasn’t a friend but something else. Something good. Something he could maybe put a name to, like family, if he was given the time. If Cora came back.

Law had been so focused on figuring out his new abilities and curing the Amber Lead that he’d forgotten his fear for a time. It all came back at once and hit him hard. His chest tightened. His heart squeezed. He couldn’t just wait any longer.

“I’m going out,” he announced.

“Wait.” Shachi had his eyes glued outside while he fumbled at his side for his bat. “There’s someone out there. On the ridge. Someone is coming.”

Penguin looked out as well and then yelped. “Holy shit.”

He scrambled to grab his own bat. They stood, bats raised, in the mouth of the cave. It was hardly an imposing sight but the fact that they were shaking really undercut any strong face they might have put up. A hundred possibilities flew through Law’s mind, none of them good. If it was any member of the Family, they were dead.

“What do you see?” he asked.

Maybe they were dead but if he could get a good idea of what they were up against, he could at least put up a fight.

“It’s Doflamingo,” Shachi hissed.

Law’s stomach plummeted. Even if he wasn’t at death’s door, he wasn’t ready to fight Doflamingo. And what did that mean for Cora? Had he escaped so Doflamingo was forced to hunt for him? Or was he…?

Law couldn’t even think it. He shoved himself up onto his feet, collapsed, and got back up. Screwed or not, if Doflamingo had done anything to Cora, Law was at least going to get one good hit in. If there was an afterlife and they were lucky enough to meet up there, Law would have to apologize to Cora for dying so quickly when he’d promised he would survive.

His legs were still slightly numb from the surgery he’d performed last night. He did his best to ignore it as he stomped out of the cave, knife in hand. Shachi and Penguin scrambled after. They looked like they sort of wanted to puke but they were ready to fight. Maybe Law had underestimated them.

Up on top of the ridge ahead a massive, feathered figure was silhouetted against the morning sun. Fear and anger warred inside of Law. He was smart enough to know he was no match but he would fight until his last breath to avenge Cora. He used both emotions as fuel to summon up a Room. Then his eyes adjusted to the light so that he was finally able to see the figure clearly.

“Law!”

It was Cora-san. Law couldn’t even bring himself to respond. All the fight went out of him and with it, his energy. The Room vanished as he collapsed to his knees. Cora ran, then slid, then tumbled down the snow covered hill. Law let out a breathless puff of laughter despite the hot tears that welled up in his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. He’d hoped but hope had felt like an impossible, foolish thing for so long. To have it really happen, he could barely believe it.

Shachi and Penguin, bats held aloft, formed a barricade that stopped Cora from reaching him.

“Don’t move another step,” Shachi warned.

Penguin tightened his grip and nodded. “You might kick our asses but not before we take out your knees.”

Cora seemed to have only just noticed the other two boys. He looked at them, looked at the blood that still stained their bats, and then looked back down at Law. “I saw the blood in the snow back there. Did you hurt him?”

Cora’s voice was a low and threatening rumble. Law knew from experience that he at least wasn’t above throwing children. He probably wouldn’t hurt them but Law knew that he should probably interfere. He had to admit, though, that he was kind of interested in being on the other side of that for once.

“We didn’t do anything to him,” Shachi said quickly.

“I mean, we tried to,” Penguin added. “But he kinda kicked our asses.”

“Tch, you don’t have to tell him that.”

“What? I don’t wanna die for something we didn’t do.”

They’d completely taken their eyes off of Cora now and were busy bickering with each other. Law was almost embarrassed for them. Cora, for his part, just looked confused. Law decided it was finally time to intervene. He quickly dashed away the tears still pooled in his eyes and got to his feet once more.

“Look at his clothes, you idiots. That’s not Doflamingo.”

His feathered coat was not the vivid pink that Doflamingo notoriously wore but charcoal black. If that wasn’t evidence enough, sometime in the night Cora had traded in his bloodied outfit from the day before for a marine uniform. He’d also wiped his face completely clean, which admittedly did make him look more like Doflamingo rather than less, but that was the most shocking detail for Law. Even on the road, Cora had kept it up, perhaps with some vague intention of staying undercover.

“What kind of Marine wears a coat like that?” Penguin asked.

Shachi’s head perked. “Oh wait… blond. Tall. Black coat. This is the guy you said you were waiting for. He even fell on his ass like you said he would.”

Cora ignored the part where Law had apparently been insulting him and lit up at the rest. “You were talking about me?”

Law groaned. “Of course I was, you idiot. I was worried about you. Last time I saw you, you were full of bullets and off to fight Doflamingo.”

Cora blew past Shachi and Penguin, who at this point were too shocked to do anything about him anyway, and swept Law up into his arms. He hugged Law hard enough that it actually hurt, but Law didn’t care one bit.

Big, stupid tears were already streaming out of Cora’s eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Law sputtered out a wet laugh. He was crying again despite himself. That idiot. That monumental idiot. He was actually back. “Me? You’re the one who went to fight the Family alongside a bunch of stupid marines when you were already half dead.”

“Well, as it turned out, after they had their fill of the Barrells pirates and that cage came down, they ended up getting chased off by Tsuru. I think she’s still hounding Doffy as we speak. So I think I spent more time convincing them I was a marine than fighting. And I got patched up by some field medics. That’s part of what held me up in coming after you.”

Law frowned. He knew who Tsuru was but only because she’d so often chased the Family off one island or another. It was still weird to think Cora was working alongside someone like that. Weirder still to think he was probably the reason old Tsuru had always been on their tails. It was one thing to realize Donquixote Rosinante was a marine and quite another to have all the implications of that laid out for him. He would ponder all that later. There was only one part that concerned him at the moment.

“Marine medics? That’s who looked you over?”

“What? What’s wrong with that? I’m a marine, you know.”

“Let me look you over. I could do a better job.”

“I have no doubt you could but you were barely keeping conscious last time I saw you. I don’t want you pushing yourself, kid.”

“Yeah, well, I spent most of the night working on removing lead, so I’m fine.”

Cora held Law out at arms length, leaving Law dangling nine feet in the air while he faced down a radiant smile. “You did it? You figured out how to cure yourself? I knew you could!”

“I only started. I might have gotten it all out if it weren’t for these guys.”

Law jerked a thumb at Shachi and Penguin who shrank under the returned weight of Cora’s attention.

“He was going to bleed to death,” Penguin argued.

“We were trying to help,” Shachi insisted.

Cora pulled Law back, snug against his chest. He raised an eyebrow that disappeared underneath his shaggy bangs. “Is that true?”

Law scowled. “They’re oversimplifying.”

“It seems pretty simple to me,” Cora countered. “Was the blood inside or outside of your body? You don’t need to be a medical prodigy to know that.”

“Some blood. I had some very minor blood loss when I started to remove the lead. I’m getting better at it each time, though.” He doubted the second part would matter much to Cora but he refused to let it seem like he was some incompetent hack. Cora only hugged him more tightly. It was enough to make his ribs ache but it felt good after thinking he’d never get to see Cora again. Not that he would say that out loud. “If I’m in danger of anything it’s that you’ll crush me to death.”

Cora ruffled the top of his head so that his hat was left askew. “Good to see you’re doing better, brat. Have you eaten anything?”

He posed the question not just at Law but at Penguin and Shachi below. This question more than anything else that had happened left them looking baffled. They looked over their shoulders as if expecting to see someone else there. When they saw no one, not even Bepo, they turned two blank faces up at Cora.

Shachi gestured between them. “Us? Have we eaten?”

“I don’t see anyone else,” Cora said with a soft chuckle.

“There’s also a polar bear Mink. Bepo,” Law supplied.

“Ah, well, he can come along too, if he wants. But yes, you two. I figured if you all spent the night in a cave, you might want something warm to eat. Then,” he said, turning his attention back on Law, “we can discuss just how much blood loss did or did not happen.”

Law resisted the very strong urge to flip him off and settled instead for sticking out his tongue. “Fine, as long as we don’t leave Bepo. He’s still my patient.”

“I’ll go get him,” Penguin offered.

“And I’ll get your stuff,” Shachi said, already on his way back to the cave.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Law squirmed in Cora’s grip so that he could really turn the full power of his scowl on the clumsy marine. “Don’t leave me like that again. We’re supposed to be doing this together.”

Law almost missed the stupid clown makeup. Cora’s big, dopey smiles almost seemed too bright without that dark edge around them. “I’m sure you’d manage without me. You’re a remarkable kid, you know.”

“I don’t care.” He couldn’t imagine what that would have been like, doing this all on his own. He knew he’d survived worse but he didn’t want to go through more. He wanted Cora with him, alive and safe and smiling. “Together.”

“Alright, alright. I won’t argue with you there.” Cora rested his chin on top of Law’s head. “Together.”

#one piece #one piece au #trafalgar law #trafalgar d. water law #one piece corazon #donquixote rosinante #donquixote rocinante #corazon #penguin #shachi #bepo #fic

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darlingofdots · 3 years

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Hey Jo! I just read your fic about sex repulsed Harrow, which I liked a lot, it was sweet and so nice. And if you're ok with it, would mind expanding that thought? Like, I thought about this many times reading the books but something about Harrow's explicit desire for the Body told me she wasn't actually that sex-repulsed. Anyway, it's such an interesting take and I'd love to hear more! Thank you, and have a nice day!

Okay first of all, thank you for reading my fic! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I wasn’t really sure how to answer this, but importantly this response isn’t really aimed at you, specifically, @ohlynchs, but part of a longer series of thoughts I’ve been having re: asexuality and fandom.

So I wouldn’t say Harrow’s relationship with and concept of the Body is sexual at all; she turns to the Body in moments when she is above all desperate for any kind of comfort, because it is the only “person” around who can provide that in a way Harrow considers safe. When she says “please”, we don’t know what she’s asking for! Sure, it could be sexual, but it could also just be a hug, or a pat on the head. When I think about ace!Harrow, I don’t think of the Body as a manifestation of her sexual desires. It’s also really common, especially when you’re unsure or conflicted about your asexuality, to come up with some kind of hypothetical in which you wouldn’t be but that feels safe, because it’s so far removed from reality that it doesn’t feel like a threat. No matter who or what the Body really is, to Harrow it is first and foremost a hallucination. You could also argue that she could be using sex as a form of self-harm (and the Body is already a manifestation of the time she was fully prepared to kill herself), the way you might get blackout drunk.

Secondly, I’m afraid there’s a running theme in fandom that if you say “this character is ace to me”, you will probably be asked to defend your reading. People are much happier to accept and/or claim a character is gay/bi/etc, often in spite of canon material! There’s absolutely no indication of, for instance, Camilla’s sexuality in the books, but if I’d said “I read Cam as a lesbian”, nobody would question that (in fact, one might argue that it’s a widely accepted reading in the fandom). It’s an unfortunate fact that the reasons people cite as to why they don’t think a character is asexual usually directly echo the way ace people are interrogated about their sexuality all the time: are you sure you’re not just traumatised/repressed/gay/religious? Prove it. You’ve read porn, I saw you kiss someone once, are you sure?

I don’t think that’s what you intended, or that everyone who questions an asexual interpretation is acephobic, not at all! But the effect is just so similar, and it’s so exhausting, especially in light of the rampant acephobia in recent years even within the queer community. Asexuality is complicated, has a lot of different nuances, and differs from person to person. If I say a character feels ace to me and you don’t understand why, or you disagree, that’s fine. I’m not asking you to agree with me. But please consider the effect your words might have. Please ask yourself if you would question a different interpretation the same way. There’s little enough representation for us as it is, and we constantly have to explain ourselves in real life already; don’t make us defend why we see ourselves in a character too.

#jo replies #the locked tomb #harrowhark nonagesimus #my writing #asexuality #to be clear i don't care how you interpret a character #whatever resinates with you is amazing #but i'm asking the community in general to extend that same courtesy to asexuals #ohlynchs

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darling-i-read-it · 4 years

Text

Releves

1x12

Hannibal Lecter x reader x Will Graham

Hannibal Re-Write Series Masterlist

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: spoilers for hannibal, murder, mental health problems

Author’s Note: Me being angry at hannibal despite it conflicting with my plans for this series are something else

I took lines directly from the script so some may seem familiar. Those sentences are not mine.

Official Episode Summary : The BAU team finds evidence linking Abigail to the Minnesota Shrike victims; Will checks Abigail out of the hospital; Hannibal convinces Jack that Will is capable of murder.

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director

Tag List: @llperfectsymmetryll

(not my gif)

You woke up and Will was gone. You must have fallen asleep on the chair beside his bed. You started to panic which had become a much too familiar feeling. You got up and started to walk around. You thought about asking a doctor or something but didn’t want to worry anyone but yourself just in case it was nothing. You walked through the halls, peeking in rooms for your boyfriend who slept walked more often than not these days. You got to the room of the girl who had been under your bed and Will was inside.

“Will?” you whispered. He turned around.

“Hi. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Dont’ worry about it.” You glanced at her. She looked so much better than you had seen her last considering.

“I don’t think we’ve met properly,” she said. “Georgia.”

“Y/N.”

“I’m sorry, I heard I kinda crashed under your bed.” You shook your head and laughed.

“No worries there.” You turned to Will. “You should come back to your room.” He turned to Georgia sarcastically.

“Helicopter girlfriend,” he teased.

“Yeah I wouldn’t have to be if you slept through the night,” you confessed. Georgia laughed and you grabbed Will’s pole that he was holding. He nodded and waved goodbye to her before following you out the door.

You walked out of the room and he turned to you.

“She said they would never figure out what’s wrong with me,” he whispered.

“She’s not a doctor.” He glanced at you and then the ground as he shuffled along.

“You’re optimistic.”

“I gotta me. You’re pessimistic,” you whispered teasingly as you made it back to his room. He nodded.

“So you think they’ll figure it out?” You shook your head softly.

“I hope they do. But honestly, I think you’re too complicated for them.”

Will woke up later to a light conversation. You were sitting on the bed and Hannibal stood at the edge of it.

“Well it is complicated,” Hannibal was saying quietly.

“What’s complicated?” Will asked. You looked over at him and smiled comfortingly.

“Nothing.”

“You keeping secrets now?” Will teased, sitting up.

“We were talking about how to make this soup. Y/N said she couldn’t quite cook and I was sharing the recipe,” Hannibal explained.

“He’s brought food,” you said happily.

“Smells delicious.”

“Silkie chicken in a broth. A black boned bird prized in China for its medicinal value since the 7th century. With wolfberries, ginseng, ginger, red dates and star anise,” Hannibal explained.

“You made me chicken soup,” Will said and Hannibal offered a supportive smile.

“Y/N says you’ve been wandering.”

“I was awake. And wandering with purpose and good intentions,” he promised. You nodded.

“Just visiting around,” you promised.

“Visiting that unfortunate young woman suffering from delusions?”

“She’s my support group,” he joked. You hit him gently. “You are also my support group. Relax.” Will got out of bed and sat down at the table while the three of you ate the broth together. “Could all of the things have been the fever Hannibal? Like the hallucinations or the sleepwalking, the loss of time,” Will asked as he sat down.

“It’s possible.”

“What else is possible?” you asked.

“Fevers can be symptoms of dementia. Dementia can be a symptom of many things happening in your body or mind that can no longer be ignored,” Hannibal said.

“Does Jack know?”

“That this could be a fever? No I haven’t told him,” Hannibal said.

“He wouldn’t do anything about it either,” you muttered bitterly.

“But shouldn’t you?” Will asked.

“I believe Y/N may be right. Additionally we don’t know for certain.”

Will walked with you into the room of Georgia who you felt as though you had just spoken to. Her charred body laid across the burn tank.

“Hospital speculates a short circuit could have ignited the fire,” Jack muttered.

“Unit looks well maintained. No exposed wiring,” Price said.

“Don’t know if she suffocated or burned to death. We’ll look for soot in the lining of her airways,” Zeller commented. Will lets out a shaky sigh and puts his hand almost protectively on your arm.

“Horrible way to die,” he whispered.

Will woke up with a start and it woke you up. It was odd not to be laying beside him but you were sitting in the uncomfortable chair beside the bed. He breathed heavily.

“Do you need something?” you whispered. Will grabbed your arm and pulled you to the bed. He wasn’t sweating and didnt’ feel hot. You wrapped your arms around him and he put his head on your chest.

“Sleep here,” he whispered. You nodded

The next day you walked into Abigail's room. It was the first time you had been away from Will since he had been admitted to the hospital. Hannibal had urged you to leave but not come back to work just yet although you would be back the next day.

She looked up and let out a sigh of relief.

“I thought you were Freddie,” she muttered.

“Or Alana who is also watching you like a hawk?” you asked. She nodded. She knew you knew and that was a good thing when it came down to it. She didn't feel like she had to hide with you.

“Just anybody else,” she murmured. You walked inside and sat at the window sill with her.

“How have you been?”

“Do you know that Hannibal is in love with you and Will?” she asked. You choked on the air at the change of subject. She was a teenager. But still.

“Excuse me?”

“I thought it was weird when I noticed. I wanted to know if you had noticed,” she said. You shook your head.

“Will, Hannibal and I are close friends,” you said lightly.

“But you and Will are dating,” she suggested.

“Yeah so?”

“Hannibal loves the two of you as a unit I think,” she said. “I told him I thought of all of you as a weird parental group and he got oddly happy.”

“Abigail-”

“It’s just an observation,” she whispered. “I’m fine.” You laughed at the change of tone.

“Good to hear.”

When you got back to the hospital Will was gone. You were notebally pissed. You walked right into the building where he worked and up to Jack Crawford's office. You could hear Will’s voice from down the hall.

You opened the door aggressively and they both turned around.

“Did you do this?” you asked at Jack.

“He checked himself out. I told him to go back,” he said honestly. You walked up to Will and put your hand on his forehead. Still warm but not boiling like he had been.

“Why did you-”

“Jack thinks she killed herself. I think it’s the copy cat of Garret Jacob Hobbs.” You blinked twice. Even for Will, that was a stretch. But you trusted his instinct more than your own.

“And you can wait to catch them. It’s been this long,” you said, removing your hand. He shook his head.

“I have to do it now. I’m thinking clearer, I’m finally thinking clearly.” His eyes pleaded but they still looked undescribingly broken. You glanced at Jack who clearly didn’t believe Will at all. “Jack also thinks Abigail had something to do with the murders.”

“What?”

“I’m not explaining this to you. You don't’ work for me,” Jack said.

“Neither does Will! He’s not on a payroll is he?” you asked. Jack let out a sigh.

“Will go talk to Hannibal,” Jack said simply.

“Finally something I can agree on,” you murmured.

Will ran up to you. It had been a few days since he released himself from the hospital and you were still annoyed about it. You turned to him, raising an eyebrow as he came out of the office of Hannibal's place.

“The copycat,” he said. You nodded, curious to hear what he had to say. He rarely talked to you about any kind of stuff with his work. “Was planning to frame me for the murder of the doctor.”

“He wouldn’t have been able to do it. I was there,” you said.

“But you’re unreliable,” he said.

“Excuse me?” He shook his head.

“You’re my girlfriend. You would have been accused of lying,” he said. You shook your head.

“I am very reliable. Why are you telling me this?” He shrugged.

“You need to know.”

First day back at work. This was a mistake.

You ran your hand over your head and Jack Crawford walked in. He thought about asking you what he was about to ask Hannibal but decided against it.

“You don’t have an appointment,” you said bitterly.

He opened the door anyway. You were still working when Hannibal and Jack opened the door quickly. Hannibal looked at you and you thought about what Abigail had said. That he was in love with you and Will. You pushed it aside when you saw the pity in his eyes.

“Where’s Will?” he asked.

“At home. Hopefully. Why?”

“Will Graham is at Garett Jacob Hobbs house with Abigail,” Jack said. You scoffed.

“You on something?”

“Where was Will on the night of Marrisa Schuur’s murder? ‘

“Again, at home presumably.” Hannibal stared at you. Hard. “What?”

“Will dissociates into other personalities. Whose personality is it?” Jack asked. “Will got close enough to Hobbs to think he was him.”

You scoffed again.

“Sorry, what the hell is your point?”

“Will is going to kill Abigail. And he killed the girls before,” Hannibal said. You stared in Hannibal’s eyes.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m serious.”

“Hannibal you know him! He trusts you to know him,” you seethed, standing up from anger and audacity. You pointed a hard finger at him. “Will Graham didn’t kill anyone he didn't’ have to.”

“The evidence suggests-” Jack started

“Hey Jack, I don’t really care what you’re about to say and so if you say it I’ll have to hit you or Hannibal or something.”

“I’m going to get Abigail,” Hannibal said. Jack walked out of the room but your gaze stayed steady on Hannibal’s.

“You don’t think he did this,” you said.

“A statement and not a question?” You shook your head.

“He didn’t do this.”

1x13

#hannibal lecter x reader x will graham #hannibal lecter imagines #will graham x reader #will graham imagines #will graham x reader x hannibal lecter

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sta-bright · 3 years

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My First Tumble

Hi Tumblr,

I was inspired to get a Tumblr account, believe it or not, from Netflix's 2021 four-part docu-series "Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel." Although I highly doubt anyone cares enough to read any of my posts or has the attention span to read anything longer than a few sentences written by a 23 year old with her boobs out, *just in case,* SPOILER ALERT.

The (main) topic of the show focuses around Elisa Lam, who vanished in early 2013 when she was staying at the Cecil Hotel and was then found dead in one of the four water tanks on the roof 19 days after being reported missing (I think I have that correct but don't hold me to it, imaginary readers. It was something like that.).

Anyway, "...to make a long story short"... "too late" #cluereference, Elisa had a Tumblr blog. It seemed to be a good setup for how she was writing very personally, which is what I want to do, so here we go. I have a blog page for the business I own, but to be honest, it's geared more toward, well, business, so I don't feel like I can write freely, or only like the "good" or "normal" part of myself, the good stuff geared at an audience without scaring people away or whatever. So for this one, I don't really care as much about proper grammar or spelling, just somewhere to write my real thoughts if and when I can focus enough to sort them out enough to put them down. I have a bunch of journals, but they are all over the place and I can't write fast enough, so I'm going to try this out. I have a lot to say, and I think even just putting it out there even though I know no one cares might help me feel a little bit of relief, even if anyone does read it and might think I'm an idiot or whatever.

I wasn't sure what to name my blog, and I'm not sure if there's a way to change it in the future, but for now I have decided on "Sta-Bright." Most of my family and some of my close friends call me "Sta" and my partner David calls me Sta Bright, which I think is really cute and makes me happy, so here we are. I use the word partner because I think the word boyfriend is a little too young for us and our relationship warrants a higher level than that. ANYWAY, there is the background information for you, my new friend, Tumblr. I already feel better.

So, this show really pissed me off for a few (many) reasons. I've legitimately been pacing around all morning. First, even the title of the show is misleading. The death of Elisa Lam was not a "crime." It was a devastating incident of accidental death highly likely (as confidently confirmed by all professionals involved) related to a psychotic episode of her mental illness, Bipolar I, which I also happen to have. Netflix using the title "Crime Scene" to lure watchers in is disgusting within itself. Good for you, Netflix. Holla for the dollas! Make that money, baby.

Then, beyond the fact Netflix milked four episodes out of a glamorized case that was ruled an accidental death for this reason not even long after finding Elisa, it is the whole ordeal of the reality and dramatizing of this saga that is so sad.

Upon the release of the famous elevator footage the day she went missing, it went viral almost instantaneously.

*Hold please* I actually just read an article by BBC.com where director of the series, Joe Berlinger, says, "For the average viewer it's another compelling story you watch and then move on to the next. But for who this happened to, it's the worst moment in their life. It's a real tragedy for that person and that family." LOLOLOLOL OKAY JOE!!!! Is this why you spent FOUR EPISODES talking about bullshit theories to keep people hooked and open more discussion? You know that this is not out of respect. Shame on YOU!

"If you look at the other tellings of the story, you'd see she's the victim of some horrible, evil presence that took control of her.

"Those kinds of narratives, I think, are incredibly disrespectful and probably why the family just didn't want to deal with another show that was going to exaggerate the circumstances of the tragedy."

So is this why you made a show exaggerating the circumstances of the tragedy? Lol. "We need to talk about the ghost stories" Or do you need to talk about them to open a can of worms to more losers who fixate on the case? OR IS THAT JUST ME? I don't know. Lemme tell ya what. If anything ever happens to me, please make sure this Joe Schmuck doesn't make a pathetic docuseries about it.

Then, aside from the pathetic profit of Netflix, the actual details of what happened and how society and the "web sleuths" investigated, obsessed, and chimed in on this case is a whole other ballpark about society's minimization and lack of knowledge or respect for mental illness on its own.

THEN, there is a quote by Amy Price, the manager of the hotel during the incident, who is now profiting on a book she is writing about HER experience:

"I want to share my story," she says.

"But this isn't a horror story or anything like that. This is a story about struggle."

Okay, Amy. Whose fucking struggle are you writing about here? I legitimately don't know if she is referring to hers or Elisa's, but either way, it's gross.

It makes me so sad that this whole situation warranted MILLIONS of theories, millions of internet trolls writing articles about the "BIZARRE" death of this girl. This case is not fucking bizarre. It is unfortunate but it is not bizarre. This case was plastered all over internet lists with the titles "bizarre, unexplained cases of missing people." It's not unexplained, and it only was not for long.

These "web sleuths" were busy having a blast, going to the crime scene, smiling as they recorded, posting videos about their stupid theories. Trolls posting their dumb, far-fetched theories without knowing all of the facts, thinking they know better than the professionals, who DO have the findings, did do the labs, did do the investigations. And people still insist that THERE HAS TO BE MORE.

Of course, I don't know all the facts either. BUT, according to the actual professionals involved rather than the entire population of people who love a good "mystery," Elisa's toxicology results showed that her levels of the medications she was supposed to be on signified she had not been taking them as she should have been. They also found bottles of her medicine that had more pills than prescribed, also showing that she had not been taking them.

THEN, she was removed from the room she had been sharing with a few others due to "odd behavior" leaving weird post-its telling them to go away, or whatever. THEN, apparently going into the hotel lobby and screaming "I'm crazy!" or whatever it was.

Although all experiences with mental illnesses are unique, all of these details plus the footage, both detailing erratic behavior, leave no doubt in my mind that the professionals, SHOCKINGLY, CRAZILY, may be right! Who thunk it! I have legitimately acted in the ways described and shown in the video. I don't and couldn't understand HERS, but I understand MY paranoia, hallucinations, experiences I have had, and the actions that are presented, and I guarantee some would look very similar to that footage. Ask the few people who know me best what it's like when I'm not on my meds or fuck them up. I legitimately saw myself in her actions.

Yet, the internet losers had to fixate on a death metal artist who had stayed in the hotel for a few days A YEAR before any of this happened and legitimately ruined his life. His alibi was completely valid and he was dismissed by investigators. He was out of the country, he had tons of substantial paperwork and proof that he was, but that didn't matter.

Because no one takes bipolar disorder seriously, dismissing it as just mood swings, people being dramatic, seeking attention, being lazy, and everyone needs something more sensational, THIS wasn't even an option. They needed to fixate on crazy, fun conspiracy theories, watching the footage over and over and over again, sitting in their caves with their thumbs up their asses writing about their ballpark theories, internet bullying innocent people instead of doing any research on bipolar disorder, instead of defending or considering that it was a psychotic episode, which literally all of the official facts and footage present.

Clearly I'm not a professional either, but like... watch the show and you tell me. You tell me what you think is likely. You tell me what the professionals agree on. But before you make that call, try reading a little bit about bipolar disorder. Try reading about the psychotic episodes that can come with it. It probably won't change your mind, but oh well. It probably is just the hotel being haunted, ya know. Right? This is just my little rant that doesn't matter.

If you want to think it was a ghost, a demon, if it was a murder even though she literally had zero signs of any physical violence and there was zero evidence of it and all evidence the other way, you do that, boo. Have a blast. Hey, I 100% could be wrong, right? Absolutely. Who am I? Just a little dramatic, stupid, crazy nobody.

That's just my take, no better than any other internet trolls, I suppose. When all is said and done, in my little fantasy world, I guess people would just take bipolar disorder seriously and understand the severity of it. People would take it to consideration for the actions and words of those who have it. That's not fun, though. Everyone loves money, everyone loves a good story. Everyone loves making fun of people. Everyone loves a disability you can see. Everything I do is just me being an oddball. Everyone loves to be an internet bully.

I'm sorry for Elisa and her family who have had to deal with years of this. Years of people dismissing the severity of mental illness and obsessing over ghost stories, obsessing over the number of likes or views they get, money they make off of it.

Wow, that was a blast. I'm fairly confident no one will read this, but I feel a lot better that I put that out there. Again, I'm a little nobody, so nothing I say matters, but that's just my take on all of it. I've given up trying to convince anyone that I'm anything but weird, because I know no one will care or accept that. I'll just keep making people feel uncomfortable and keep looking like an idiot. Woe is me, am I right?

You have a blessed day now.

#mental health #mentalhealthmatters #bipolar disorder #bipolar 1 #fuck you netflix

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intheseautumnhands · 3 years

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More Sorting Hat Chats

All right, I have had Daughter stuck in my head all day, and I want to talk about Abigail Hobbs.

(I basically always want to talk about Abigail Hobbs, she is my favorite television character and would make a good running for my singular favorite character ever if I could ever pick one. If you are considering if this is an invitation, please take it as one. But, I digress.)

As I can tell, there’s been discussion of Will and Hannibal’s sortings, and nobody else in the show. I’d love to dig in and do the whole rest of the show, but I don’t feel like I’ve rewatched recently enough to do everybody. I can always talk about Abigail, though!

As I continue to be exceedingly wordy as I do these things (whoops. I tried...), under a cut it goes again.

Let’s start on the Primary. We know pretty clearly that a lot of what Abigail has done has been focused on survival above all. We know for a fact that her darkest actions were: we see her kill Boyle in self-defense, and when she’s discussing helping her father, she says outright, “I knew it was them or me.” That... doesn’t actually help narrow it down, of course, because none of the houses have a claim on survival, and you could come at that feeling from any start point. But what it points to for me is that whatever her Primary is, it’s Burnt, and probably pretty badly. She hasn’t had the ability to come at decisions from a standpoint of what’s right, or what’s good for anyone else, or hell, even what’s good for her -- it’s all about what will get me through this alive.

When she does talk about what she’s done, it all feels very instinctive: “I’m a monster.” “Some places are stained now. Some people too. I know I am.” Even this: “I thought there was something wrong with me because I didn’t feel ugly when I killed Nick Boyle. I felt good. That’s why it was so easy to lie about it.” There doesn’t seem to be any weighing or rationalizing behind it, and every time she does try to come off as doing things from a rational place, it feels extremely put on -- that first scene after she wakes up, when she talks to Alana, for example, and Alana immediately sees through her.

So, not a Bird. She could be a Lion, instinctively knowing that what she’s done for her own safety is wrong and trying to fight that feelings -- it would fit with her judgements of herself, and with how she talks to Will about killing, trying to find someone else to rationalize it for her. But: I’m going to argue that’s she’s an extremely Burned Badger Primary.

First: why Badger, not Snake, when she’s shut herself down until she’s the only person she’s looking out for and that’s basically the original definition of a Petrified Snake? Because Abigail isn’t shutting herself off from connections in general. As soon as Hannibal reaches out, Abigail doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t try to back away from that connection; she leans into it, tells him about her nightmares and trusts him when he asks her. She pushes Will away -- until she’s reassured that he’ll accept enough of what she’s done that she doesn’t have to, and then she’s so quick to accept him and talk to him about it that she almost reveals her other secret in the very next conversation we see them have. She even opens up a little to Freddie, despite the fact that she has to know that’s a bad idea.

That conversation is also one of the reasons I’m going to call Badger, not Lion -- specifically, her view on Nick Boyle sounds so hard like either depersonalizing him to make herself feel better, or trying and failing to depersonalize him to make herself feel better. “I blame Nick Boyle for Nick Boyle’s death. He killed Marissa, he got what was coming to him.” We the audience already know this isn’t true to some extent -- we’ve seen Boyle crop up in Abigail’s dream, among the girls she clearly still feels guilty about, but it doesn’t feel like something she’s saying entirely for Freddie’s benefit either. It’s so emphatic, and it’s not a lie that will necessarily make her look better -- it makes so much more sense if it’s what she wants to believe.

And then Freddie blows it up, reframes it all and makes the guilt flood back in. And it could be either Lion or Badger -- he’s no longer such a bad guy, so having killed him is no longer something she can even try to frame as okay. But, even if Boyle wasn’t a killer, it was still self-defense. Reframing who he was doesn’t necessarily reframe what happened, and the fact that it still changes her feelings on it so thoroughly is part of what makes me go to Badger instead.

She doesn’t react to Hannibal the way I imagine a Lion with all that guilt would, either. Even after she knows for certain that he’s a killer, in the 3x09 flashbacks -- even when she’s outright saying that she’s not sure it’s smart to trust or accept him, she’s not really that guarded with him. If she’s a Lion, her talk with Freddie about Boyle and her guilt for the part she played under duress in her father’s killings speaks to some pretty intense gut feelings about killing and people who have done it. I see absolutely none of that in how she talks to Hannibal immediately after he confesses to killing more people than her father.

(There is some debate about how accurate the 3x09 flashbacks are, I believe, whether they’re closer to Will’s hallucinations of Abigail than actual memories; I do think some of the details may be embellished or changed by Hannibal’s memories, but I’m going to assume they’re more accurate than not to make this easier on myself.)

There’s also what she says in the therapy flashback, and yes, it’s clearly led and influence by Hannibal, but it still appears to be her words and her emotions:

He was as good to me as he knew how to be. Hunting with him was the best time I ever had.

And there’s the simple fact that this is the tact Hannibal takes with her, over and over, which I think can be read into. Hannibal is perceptive, very good at reading and manipulating people, and over and over again, when he wants a way to connect to or manipulate Abigail, he puts himself in a position where she can mentally link him with her father and her family. The tea and the dinner in 1x04, the dinner with Freddie and comforting Abigail in the kitchen in 1x09, “You accepted your father. Would it be so difficult to accept me?” -- it’s the tact he takes with Will too, to encourage his desire to bond with Abigail, pushing him to think of the three of them as family. It makes sense if it’s because he can feel both of them looking for that connection, and knows it’ll serve his desires and plans best if they find it with him and each other.

(I don’t want to go into this too long because I’ve already talked a lot, but there’s also something so fascinating about the idea of Abigail, whose trauma is about fathers and family and girls like her, whose downfall is in who she gives her trust to, being a Badger. And that’s not, y’know, a reason to sort her that way -- but it does add a really interesting layer to her if she is one.)

Okay. Let’s see if I can do the Secondary in under a thousand words this time.

Abigail is trying so hard to perform Snake, or maybe a really fast Bird. She’s trying to manipulate, to show everything what they need to see to want to protect or help her, to have a plan, to be one step ahead of everybody else.

And she’s really, really bad at it. Because Abigail has a loud, screaming Lion Secondary that hates every second of what she’s doing. All the decisions that give her any sense of control, all the decisions that seem to come from what she wants to do instead of what she thinks is best -- going back home to confront what happened, unburying Boyle, going back with Will again in 1x12, even, to some extent, agreeing to work with Freddie -- are impulsive, and involve facing the issues instead of trying to bury them. And the biggest one of all, the thing she does to feel like she has control, unburying Boyle -- it’s the worst possible thing she could do, to try and keep herself safe, but not having to wait for it to happen, to be able to confront it head-on, is the part that matters to her.

She’s just really bad at lying in general, too. Every time she’s around somebody she likes or who knows the smallest part of her secret, she says something that hints about what else is going on. Again, the first time we see her talk to Will alone after she’s stopped trying to push him away, she almost gives it all away: “I wish I had killed him. For killing my mom. For killing all those girls, for making me...” Then there’s what she says to Jack while standing over Nick Boyle’s body, her speech about how she survived -- she’s trying to dismiss suspicion, but she can’t help some honesty leaking out even though it does nothing to help her sound innocent. Alana pegs her as trying to manipulate people and trying to be too practical in their very first conversation, that one that seems so far removed from what she’s like in private, with people she does trust to any extent.

It’s also notable that even with all her manipulation and masks being so see-through to everyone around her, she still ends up with some of that reaction she’s looking for anyway, and not just in Will’s crusade to protect her -- Alana says she can’t help but care about her as well. (You could easily argue Freddie seems to have some extent of genuine feeling towards her as well, sympathy if nothing else, though that’s more debatable. Hannibal is entirely debatable as to whether he has genuine feelings for her or not, but if you view their relationship that way, there’s that as well.) Lion Secondary’s accidental inspiration maybe, twisted and warped by that manipulative performance and the situation altogether?

In conclusion: Badly Burnt Badger Primary / Lion Secondary (probably at least somewhat burnt, or at least repressed) with inexpert Snake and Bird Performances layered on top.

#sorting hat chats #sortinghatchats #abigail hobbs #one day i will work out how to do these in a reasonable length i'm sorry #it all feels important! to explain the thought process behind it!#but then they end up so very long

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bittybattybunny · 3 years

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Chapter 1: The King’s Favorite

(As I said I had a new multi fic, but until I do a cover it won’t go on ao3, so for now enjoy! Second Chances and Angel Foodcake!)

He sighed as he worked on whipping the egg whites. He had another weird dream with that woman in it. The sad smile she wore made his chest ache. He gave a sigh as his brother stole an orange from the bowl on the counter.

“What’s with you?” Marcus asked as he started to peel the fruit. He shoved a slice in his mouth as Arulius set the bowl down and ruffled his hair.

“I had a weird dream---”

“Shocking.” Marcus’s tone was dry as he ate another orange slice, “Not Ru king of weird dreams. Isn’t that why you’re a writer?”

“Shut upppp.” Arulius sighed as he grabbed the other bowl and began to fold the whipped egg whites with the whipped cream, “Look I just. You try dreaming of the same woman night after night since you’re 16!”

“Nope. I don’t dream.” Marcus reminded him as he continued to eat, “maybe she’s your soul mate.”

“I doubt it. Considering I think shes my guard?” he frowned, “in the dream’s I’m married. I have kids. She’s just… she’s so sad.”

“Maybe circumstances kept your love unable to exist. If you find her when you aren’t hallucinating unconsciously flirt with her.” Marcus snickered as he finished his orange and threw the peel away, “Good luck with your sleeping beauty!” he grabbed his bag as he headed out, “oh and it’s your turn to do the dishes!”

“Fineee!” Arulius sighed as his brother left. He sighed and poured the batter into the pan. Undoing his apron he got to work on cleaning up.

“Kept it unable to exist…” he mused. He chuckled, there was no way.

------

As he held the boxed cake on the subway he felt something was off. His stomach was uneasy. It wasn’t his first time on public transport with a dessert he didn’t want ruined, and yet. He grimaced.

“Are you okay?”

He looked up and his breath caught in his throat. Long curly black hair held back with a blue ribbon, large eyes in two different colors (Black on the right side, bright blue on the other), mouth drawn in concern as a small fang stuck out, she furrowed her brow as she looked at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked again.

He gasped, “Um yeah! Sorry my stomach’s got butterflies!” he admitted nervously.

“Interview?” she asked with a small laugh, “you’re really pale so I was worried, maybe you should get off soon and rest before continuing.”

“No I’m just, going to my book club.” he laughed, “I promised to bring cake.”

“Oh? Which one?” she covered her mouth in shock, “you aren’t heading to Horizon Group are you?”

He blinked a few times, mouth twitching, “I am…”

She laughed, “My brother attends that! I was going to get his car keys!” She sat beside him and he felt his heart racing, “I’m Eclipse! Sena’s my elder brother!” she explained.

He gasped, “Ah! I can see it!” he realized as he looked at her, “you do look like him.”

“I know right? If people don’t know they tend to not notice but when they know its clear we’re related!” she laughed and looked at the cake, “Sweets, so you must be Arulius right?”

He felt his cheeks growing warm and nodded, “how did you?”

“My brother says you often bring snacks for meet ups! And you always get new cookbooks!” she giggled and he felt his face growing warmer. She touched her lips with a grin, “Actually he brought some of the cookies you made last week, the raisin oatmeal were really good~! I was sad I couldn’t try your chocolate chip ones though.” she gave a saddened sigh.

“Ah? I can make some…” he offered and she shook her head.

“I’m allergic to chocolate but the hospital trip was very tempting they smelt so good~!” she laughed.

“Ah.” he put a hand to his mouth, “White chocolate?” he asked. He knew it wasn’t a “true” chocolate.

She shook her head, “No, my allergy is a bit severe.” she gave a dejected sigh, “most white chocolate is processed in the same plants so…”

“What if I made it from scratch?” he asked with his head tilted, “Candy melts?” he wondered.

She turned red, “y-you don’t have to do that! I was just complimenting your baking!! It’s really good!”

He gave a soft smile, “well when we get to the meeting, want some of this?” he held the cake, “it’s a whipped cream cake! Kinda like angel food cake but it has whipped cream IN the cake.” he explained.

She gasped and covered her mouth, “That sounds good! Is that alright though? Isn’t it for the others?”

“Well I brought it to share, and I’m sure it’s fine, I always leave with leftovers.” he explained. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Something about the young woman was familiar to him (other than her being Sena’s sister. Something was there.) and something told him to be on good terms.

“If you want, I bake a lot, i can always send some stuff with your brother, or you can join teh club!” he grinned.

She turned bright red, “N-no I couldn’t! It’s fine! I-I don’t have time for it I need t-to finish my thesis!”

“Thesis?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah! I’m doing a report on the fallen Solgarian kingdom!” she clapped.

Solgario? He blinked as that rang in his head. His dreams. He remembered that name.

“History major?” he asked as she nodded happily.

“I’m working on my Master’s! I want to curate a museum!” she admitted with mirth, “I love studying old things and I love the sotries of the last king!”

“Yeah? I can’t say I know much. Tell me?” He checked the stops, they had time.

“Oh where to begin!” she beamed, happily like a cocker spaniel, “King Luka Thatcher Law was the last king of the empire, he was married to Queen Vanessa Everfrost and they had a daughter together! Sadly tragedy struck. First the death of the king’s personal aide to poison, the death of the princess, and then the king himself withered away.” she sighed, “The queen was the last monarch but a war struck and she was unable to fend it so the kingdom fell.”

“That’s… that’s horrible…” Arulius tensed up. The butterflies were worse.

“There’s some theories the queen herself poisoned the guard, you see King Luka and the guard knew each other as children, and she was the daughter from the only ducal household---”

“A female guard?” Arulius’s chest hurt, “What was her name?”

“Amaris---”

He felt his chest pinch and his vision fogged.

“Ah!” Eclipse shouted as he slumped forward.

------

His head hurt. He jolted and sat up in bed. He looked around confused at the lavish space. He frowned. This wasn’t the hospital or subway. He covered his mouth in thought, long black hair falling over his shoulder. He blinked and looked at the curl, then his hands. He stared at the callouses that weren’t in their normal spots.

“What…?” he covered his mouth in shock at his voice. What happened?! He got up and whacked his head on the bedframe, before crumpling to the ground.

“Mmmmy looooord are you okay?” came a singsong tone.

His mouth moved on its own, “I’m fine Amaris.” he covered his mouth in shock.

“I’m coming in.”

Before he could stop her the door swung open and the black-armored knight stepped in, her silver hair cropped short and fluffing around her face, large eyes of black and blue, scars on her cheeks. She gasped and ran over to help him up.

“My lord!” she fretted as she helped him stand and dusted him off, “Dear me why on earth are you on the floor?!” She looked up and paled. Her gloves were removed and she reached up to stroke his face.

He sniffled as the tears pooled and dripped. She was here. Alive.

“Lu?” she asked softly, “Luka what’s wrong?”

“S-sorry just. Had a bad dream.” he muttered. She snorted and raised her hands, a soft light emitting off her hands.

“Pain pain go away leave Luka’s heart calm and pure~!” she sang happily. He felt a bit lighter and sighed as he rested his cheek in her hand.

“Such a competent Nightingale.” He chuckled. He took her hand in his as she laughed, giving him a sad smile that made his chest sting. The smile he always saw her wear in his dreams.

“Of course, I’m your head guard for a reason~!” she hummed, “Come on now, the queen has been crying all morning for you.” she sighed heavily, “Pregnant women are difficult to deal with. Or is it just Vanessa?”

He shuddered. Vanessa. Luka. Amaris. His golden eyes grew wide.

----

He gasped as he sat up and winced. Eclipse held her hands cautiously near him, afraid to touch him.

“A-Aruli--” she squeaked when he wrapped his arms around her, tangling his fingers in his hair as he tried to stop crying. She whined but slowly wrapped her arms around him.

“Pain pain go away…” She mumbled and he felt a small breeze and a lightness in his chest. He pulled away and she wiped his eyes. “You okay?” she asked with worry.

“Just… Sorry, I’ve had weird dreams lately… was that..magic?”

She turned red and shook her head, “I-it’s just an old wives tale you know---” her eyes were spinning and she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He chuckled.

“Sure, okay. Say I believed that.”

She stared at him confused as he simply smiled.

He hated to admit it, but maybe his brother was right on something.

“Magic’s neat.” He watched her turn red and look away ashamed.

“Um… are you two done?” the train conductor asked as he scratched his head. Tired violet eyes looking at the two.

“I’m fine! I just didn’t sleep well it seems!” Arulius lied. He moved to stand and wobbled. Eclipse supported his side and he tried to get his stomach to behave. He gasped, “nooo my cake.” he saw the box on the floor and reached for it. He sighed seeing it ruined.

“What stop is this?” He asked.

“You should go to a hospital I think.” Eclipse fretted as he headed towards the door while holding her hand.

“No i’m fine really! I just have had issues sleeping!” he explained, “so I have weird dreams, it just so happened the name you mentioned reminded me of them so I passed out.”

She frowned and reached to put a hand on his forehead. He hadn’t noticed before but her body spray had a slight pine smell to it, pine and honey. Lavender too?

“You’re a little warm. Let’s go to the bookstore, I’ll get Sena’s keys and drive you to the hospital.” she insisted. “I don’t want you passing out like the train. To think you’re feeble bodied.” she sighed.

“Should a witch joke about that?” he teased as she turned red.

“I-it wasn’t magic! Honest to goodness! I’m not! I’m not!” she fretted as he snickered.

“What’s your familiar?” he asked as she tried to hide her face, “why are you so embarrassed?”

“W-Why you ask! You keep instigating I’m a w-witch do you know how they are seen?! Wannabes who think they can be hot shit just cuz they can fly o-or heal things!” she pouted as her hair fluffed up, “No one likes witches!!”

“I do.” he opened the door of the bookstore.

“Sena your friend is insane!” she insisted as the eyepatch wearing shop owner turned confused. He tilted his head and saw Arulius behind her.

“Ah, Pia you know Ru?” he asked confused as she slammed her hands on the desk with a huff.

“We met on the train.” Arulius set the ruined cake down, “I had a bit of an incident and passed out.”

“Well you’re pretty weak.” Sena snorted, “Pia what’s the issue though? He’s insane?”

“I told her I like witches.”

Sena snorted and had to kneel behind the desk to hide his laughter.

“SEE HE’S INSANE!” she was completely red in the face.

“W-Why would…” Sena snorted and laughed, “what brought this on?”

“Pain pain go away.” Arulius sang, causing the bookseller to start laughing harder.

“YOU USED A HEALING SPELL ON HIM!” he wheezed as her hair fluffed up.

“I-I didn’t! I didn’t! I’m not a witch! Witches are--”

“The one in front is really cute.” a litted voice laughed as the black haired individual slid down the railing from the second floor, “hey Ru, why is my husband dying?”

“I said I like witches and Eclipse is throwing a fit.” Arulius chuckled.

“Pia used a healing spell on him Love! And acting like she’s not a w-witch!” Sena cackled.

“Well she has always hated that term, you guys aren’t even witches technically.” Love shut an eye, “you’re what, like half fae?”

“Something like that.” Eclipse grumbled as she tried to fix her hair, “B-But he’s still weird! Give me the car keys he needs a hospital!”

“Naw he’s fine.” Love looked at the young writer, “seems he may have a magic his own.”

“Naw, I’m boring.” Arulius held his hands up, “weird dreams and a writer. That’s it!”

“Weird dreams he says.” Sena tried to stop laughing.

Eclipse groaned, “I’m not a witch! Witches are mean and ugly and haughty! I’m not! I didn’t sue magic! I’m---” She flinched when Arulius covered her eyes with his hand. Instantly she relaxed against him. He blinked in surprise that had actually worked.

Sena stared at the two and blinked a few times as he finally got his composure back, “well then. Are you sure you aren’t magic?”

“I’m really not.” Arulius laughed, “my dad’s a lawyer and my mom teaches pre-k. We’re just an average family.” he laughed, “Honestly, I just. Have weird dreams. I thought this may help.” he slowly removed his hand as she peeked at him with a completely reddened face.

He smirked and she squeaked and looked away. He couldn’t help the dumb grin, “hey Sena.”

“What?” the book seller raised his brow.

“Would you kill me for trying to seduce your sister?”

The entire shop went silent.

The silver haired shop keep’s eye twitched.

“WHAT?!”

#Second chances and Angel Food cake AU #fan fiction #ahit au #ahit prince #ahit moonjumper #ahit fan character #ahit shapeshifter #writing #Eclipse Guardian #Prince Arulius #Sena the threadsmith #Marcus Johnathan Cornelius Law #Craft Tailor #change of pace with ru being the one remebmering past lives #eclipse is just an enthusiastic student with a small tsun tsun heart

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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Yugioh Ep 36 S4: Seto Joins Dragon Wife in Hell

So I dunno about you guys, but 2020 aged me like a lot in just these 8 months, so I figured it was time to embrace the feeling of being on death’s door and I decided to learn Mahjong. So I could truly embrace the ancients and vibe in their natural habitat.

Anyway, once I learned some Mahjong lore, some parts of Yugioh just open up. Namely--Seto’s dragons. Like a whole lot of stuff about early Seto Kaiba that confused me at the time just makes so much more sense now.

But unfortunately, he dies this episode, and he never pulled out his Blue Eyes White Dragons, and it’s just like...

...but my Mahjong deep cuts...

Like every episode I’m just rubbing my palms together in anticipation that someone will die, but like...I never get to talk about how in Mahjong, there’s only 4 white dragon tiles, but if you have 3, you can steal the fourth white dragon from another player’s discards, and that when you that, other stuff happens...I don’t get to talk about that because Seto’s hella dead.

So lets just get to the death. Dartz decides to make all of our soldier frenemies attack Pharaoh--because that’s all he needs to raise the Leviathan. Like Dartz doesn’t even really need to finish this game. He just needs Yami.

Seto picks up that these friend (and Pegasus) soldiers that Yami refuses to kill are probably going to end the world very quickly so he decides to do something about it. If this were a blog where I talked about cards instead of Mahjong, then I’d dive into the intricacies of what that even was.

But, we’re not, so lets just talk about Pegasus.

(read more under the cut)

This guy harnesses some psychic energy he’s got leftover from S1 and communicates directly to Pharaoh’s mind.

So, hey, what was that about Pegasus not having powers anymore? Like? He’s still doing this? He’s still psychic and he very clearly can still make blank cards so like...I guess you can take out the eyeball and make him nicer, but you can’t take out some of the effed up magic side-effects. (like there was a comment I didn’t respond to (which, sorry about that, been a little nuts over here in California), but apparently there was a movie in between seasons where Pegasus saved their lives--so he’s legit good now...there was a DLC where character arcs happened.)

Which kind makes you wonder about Marik, but we’ll probably never see him again so o well, save it for the fanfiction.

PS Yami is totally fixating on that eye we can’t see, right? Like...it never outright tells us, but does this spiritual Orichalcos manifestation of Pegasus still have the golden eye? A human eye? Or no eye at all? Just skin?

Not like it matters because Seto does some sort of card shenanigans that undo the whole friends that are soldiers thing like it never happened.

MMMMM I don’t like these weird legs on Yugi. Don’t like the thighs it gave to Joey. No! I’m seeing like this skin-tight silhouette of half an ass right now and I really don’t like it.

Along with other card things I won’t go into that consumed most of this episode, Seto finally got hit by a...well, I mean you can clearly see it in the next cap.

So, in Mahjong, there are 3 types of dragons: a white dragon, a red dragon, and a green dragon. I used to think it was really lazy that we’re just calling monsters straight up “white dragon” or “red dragon” in this show, but now it makes more sense because this whole time it was probably baby’s first Mahjong reference but I’m too Western to know that.

Anyway, the white dragon is funny looking because it’s a white tile--just a completely blank white tile. I thought it was a wild card at first but nah--it’s a white dragon in a snowfield--which is a very funny Dad joke from 200 years ago we’re still doing today. But, often, instead of a Dad joke, they’ll just make the white dragon tile a drawing of a blank card, like this:

Kind of funny that the guy who’s shtick is white dragons, ended up with his soul in a blank card. Was that a mahjong reference? Probably not, but I noticed it.

And mahjong aside, the show paid it’s respects to Seto dying and so he took his sweet time passing on. It’s still not that much respect. We aren’t gonna get that amazing Joey death sequence from S3 that took like half an episode of scene-shredding for our mains to recover from, but like...Seto was very determined to keep going, despite not having a soul.

He even finished his turn of cards, as if to just spite Joey Wheeler for that one time Joey hella died before killing Marik.

Shippers rejoice, it’s a Yami and Seto Kaiba death sequence. If you squint really hard, it might even be an embrace. I mean they both have very sharp duel disks on, and if Yugi’s closes for whatever reason, it’ll snap Seto’s head clear off, but what other “hugs” do we really get on this show?

And as for Mokuba, he was quite tragic this episode. I mean it’s Yugioh, so it’s not like you’re gonna cry or anything, but Mokuba just doesn’t really have anything else going for him without his brother so it is legit like...man Mokuba gets a lot of crap thrown his way and even when he’s happy, he still has to live with Seto so just...Mokuba...

Again we get this bubble effect of other people trying to enter the Orichalcos which happens just a Hell of a lot this season. Like Dartz probably has never had a single person WANT to go in the green zone in 10,000 years and then these bizarre children happened and they just want to bounce off that thing like a jello pudding.

I think it took over 5 minutes for Seto to die, and he was very, very, VERY angry the entire time. Just fueled by literally nothing but rage. Could probably go a couple more episodes if he had taken a nap in the KaibaCopter, but alas, even Seto Kaiba eventually runs out of fumes.

Anyway, another Mahjong fun fact. The dragon tiles are considered an “honor tile” and how many times have we heard Seto--who is such a scumball--go off about his honor? It can be hard to use honors tiles because their rate of success is lower, so when Seto’s like “I have to live up to my dragon’s honor or I can’t keep these in my deck” could he be like...making a Mahjong pun as well as a literal reference to whatever he defines as honor?

...Again, just a Mahjong reference I noticed, but probably not what they intended at all. Which is Good Enough for this blog.

After he tragically passed on, and Yami delicately put his body on the ground, -- Dartz decided to make this moment very funny for me, instead.

Bless.

Not as good as Yami the both times his body was chucked casually across the screen this season--but a very good toss, nonetheless.

I have made so MANY clips of this season!

Tristan and Tea kinda just stood there this entire episode while this was all going down and like...I know they can’t really do anything else at this point but like...can someone give Mokuba a hug???

I can’t believe Valon was the only guy in this entire show about friendship who knew how to hug people. He was in prison since he was 9, and then was raised by freakin Dartz, why is he the only hugger?

PS, apparently Seto’s yummy soul was enough to make the Leviathan open a single eye-ball in curiosity.

Mokuba out there flinging so many insults that he got everyone else banned from watching devil cards. It’s like sports competitions in Middle school with that one kid who won’t stop cussing. That one kid who is the reason everyone else has to sit through a boring ass assembly about sportsmanship? That’s Mokuba.

Now that everyone is ‘passed out’, we can get to the juicy stuff only the olds talk about--which sounds a lot like I’m about to do another segway into talking about Mahjong again, but I’m actually all out of the Mahjong juice. Again, I’m ass at Mahjong.

(and like...the peanut gallery died in the original version, right? I know to never trust a “they’re just sleeping” line in Yugioh.)

Dartz telling me he dragged that ass length blue hair across Egypt?

Man.

I would say that it must’ve really thrown people, but then again, their Pharaoh looked like...that.

So Dartz ended up wandering the earth for 5000 years, cursed to live immortally, unable to revive the great Leviathan, wallowing in his failure. Sentenced to suffer the entire existence of humanity that he never wanted to see survive anyway, unable to die himself.

That’s an interesting plotline that I wish I saw more of. I really like the idea of a supervillian who is already past his prime, who’s already burnt out, who’s so far removed from what happened that he’s fully accepted his demise and is just wandering around out of habit. But, most importantly--that changes my math. That’s like...5000 years he wasn’t slurping no souls because he was too damn depressed. So I’ll append the Deathcount. One second.

OK so we can just subtract 7.3 million from what we had, leaving us with: 7,805,844,047. Barely even made a dent but...eh...when you got the current population of the Earth in there it’s really hard to make a dent in that thing.

PS I still have that google doc where I keep track of the deaths, we have 55 lines of entries, haha.

Yugioh is interesting because you do have some racial stuff going on here where Yami is SO OLD that he doesn’t remember not only his own name--he doesn’t remember what he looks like. He’s even seen it a few times in hallucinations but like...Yami legit doesn’t know what it is to be an ancient Egyptian anymore. It’s been a hot minute, and he still sees himself as a pale skinned Yugi clone when he spiritually manifests in the show. Because the modern day, set in Japan, through Yugi’s eyes--that’s all he knows about life.

Dartz was so impressed by Pharaoh’s magic powers that he knew--he just KNEW that this Pharaoh with the worst hair would be the yummy soul for the Leviathan tummy. But unfortunately...

This is a show that has had so MANY overlapping apocalypses that I did have to sit back and kind of count off on my fingers which crazy person this would be about.

Honestly? Either Seto or Bakura...guessing Bakura because we haven’t finished his storyline yet and I know that he’s the big bad of S5. But man...Dartz was just like “oh...no thanks to that guy. I’ll just take a nap for 5000 years, BIG no thanks.” and it does make you wonder...

...oh...so that’s why you didn’t bother Bakura in this timeline.

It also helps make Bakura even more of a threat. Again, Bakura is great because he’s just constantly leaving nuggets of what a threat he is and then just...disappears for seasons on end. The Bakura we’ve made in our head is probably way more awful than what he may end up being.

But for now, it’s fun to just fill in the gaps instead.

anyway that was it for this episode, I’m off to pretend it’s Thanksgiving week and will look forward to drowning my anxiety in a 16 lb turkey shared between four people.

Anyway, I brought up the cat that falls asleep on metal rods so I have to do this:

And for those that are new, this is a link to read these in chrono order: https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#yugioh #ygo #yu-gi-oh #yami #dartz #seto kaiba #dies #mokuba #tea gardner #tristan taylor #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #'s weird ass pants with the flap thing going on #mahjong #S4 Ep36

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