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#i haven't done extreme colourings
rosettyller · 7 months
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some analysis of this scene from 2x02, because i am going absolutely insane over it:
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first up: it's 2 500 BCE. They've known each other for around 1500 years at this point, but they haven't been meeting up very often; it's implied at this point, that they've only met at the Garden, and the Flood, and now here (as well as in Heaven, but there's varying interpretations about how much they each remember of Heaven).
(worth noting that these meetings are all bible-related meetings)
So, they don't know each other very well at all. This is why Aziraphale approaches Crowley so cautiously (apart from the fact that he thinks Crowley's going around murdering goats and soon kids). He doesn't know what happened to Crowley when he Fell, how he changed when he fell in with Lucifer, how God's rejection has warped Crowley's perspective or changed his morals (their meeting at the Flood seemed quite short, not enough time to get a definite picture.)
Aziraphale is still seeing Crowley as demonic, although there's already that thread of doubt - can you really see him trying to talk Hastur or Ligur out of this the way he does Crowley?
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Aziraphale clings to the memory of Angel Crowley - Crowley gets quite defensive.
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Here, Crowley reinforces that he's changed - personally I don't believe that he did fight in the War, but his views of God's Plan definitely got more extreme than "thats terrible god should get a suggestion box".
But, I also believe that here, Crowley is reinforcing that he is no longer an angel, and therefore no longer has to play by angel rules. He can do what he wants. He's a demon, it's in his job description.
And of course, that he is a demon, and he is Evil, and of course he would kill goats.
(more under the cut, because I just can't stop talking)
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This shot is very yellow. Crowley's hair being the season 1 orange rather than red, the yellow walls, all accentuate the colour of Crowley's eyes, highlighting the physical reminder of Crowley's demonic nature.
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I couldn't be bothered to gif it, but here, Crowley leans forward into Aziraphale's face. There are two reasons for this:
Get his yellow Demon Eyes right in Aziraphale face, just to hammer home his point.
It's an aggressive action, moving into someone's personal space like that. Saying, I could hurt you, I'm violent and aggressive and dangerous, I killed those goats, the kids are next.
The way the light hits Crowley's eyes in the above shot and the below shot also make them a very bright yellow. (Edit: I think someone pointed out that Crowley is making his eyes glow, but the overall yellowness of the scene serves to highlight this)
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Clever wording on Crowley's part, because as we will find out, he faked the destruction of the goats to keep them safe, while making himself sound very evil.
You'll notice the repetition of "blameless"; this makes him seem even more evil, hurting the innocent, but also gives deeper insight into one of Crowley's biggest issues: hurting the innocent. What have they done to deserve this? Nothing.
This ties in quite nicely with what we have seen before of Crowley and free will; he gives people the option to sin. It's their actions that decide whether they end up in Heaven or Hell; they get what they deserve for their actions. He just makes it easier to choose Hell. (see: phone lines being down making people crankier and encouraging them to be horrible to each other, but it still being their choice, setting the holy water bucket above the door, so it's Ligur's choice to come in after Crowley that gets him killed.)
Note also the use of "long":
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Aziraphale says to "tell me you want to do this". "Long" has rather stronger connotations than "want", but also rawer, more fundamental. Crowley is reminding Aziraphale that he is a demon, and that he has the traits of a demon, this is what he is now. He longs for violence, for destruction.
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Aziraphale looks quite sad here. If you watch the video I linked, his previous conviction that Crowley doesn't want to do it is very strong. He fully believes in Crowley, that all he needs to do is reframe not killing the kids as within the rules of Hell, the way Crowley so often comes to do for Aziraphale ("Then you can't be certain that thwarting me isn't part of the divine plan too. I mean, you're supposed to thwart the wiles of the Evil One at every turn, aren't you?" "If you put it that way, Heaven couldn't actually mind me thwarting you.").
Aziraphale believed Crowley was still good, that the angel he remembered was still in there. But Crowley rejects it - and it hurts. Crowley has become what a demon should be.
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Crowley looks quite sorrowful here, too: he already cares for Aziraphale (he fell in love at the Garden), and it hurts to decieve him, to disappoint him, to hurt him.
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I would argue that here, Crowley is scared.
He's in shadow, which dims the yellows; his undemonic nature is about to be revealed.
And that is not safe, because Hell does not send rude notes. And here, Crowley is not doing just any temptation, but trying to help Satan win a bet (supposedly). And out of every demon in Hell, Satan is the one you want to piss off the least.
But here, Crowley is scared because Aziraphale could reveal him - because Aziraphale is on God's side, and because it is revealed that Crowley is not nearly as demonic as he makes himself out to be. He's vulnerable. Aziraphale could scorn him, hurt him. But instead:
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Aziraphale is incredibly smug. "I knew I was right", he says. "I knew you were still good".
And here is another issue: Aziraphale conflates God/Heaven/angels with good, and demons/Hell with bad.
And Crowley does not see Heaven as good. He doesn't want Aziraphale to see his angelic core past the demonic exterior. He's on his own side.
This, for Aziraphale, confirms that "the angel you knew is not me", is not correct.
And I think, out of the three minisodes, it's this one that does the most for fleshing out Aziraphale and Crowley's frames of mind this series, and why they choose what they choose in ep6.
Aziraphale has been proven right about Crowley's angelic nature, and that he wants to do good, but can't, for fear of Hell's retribution.
And Crowley does not see Heaven as good. He recognises that being an angel again will not allow him the freedom to do good. (as Aziraphale had to try and talk a demon into helping him save the kids from God.)
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mystic-writings · 4 months
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request: Your shirt/jumper was in the laundry pile and I couldn’t help but steal it for female!reader x hasan xxx
i've been thinking about this a lot recently ngl i don't know how i haven't written it yet so thank you for the request anon ily | also it does get like. a tad bit steamy toward the end but it's just making out tbh
his clothes | hasanabi x fem!reader | ~850 words
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There were many perks to having a giant for a boyfriend. Being easily lifted from the ground for no reason was one of your favourites, and so was the fact that when you cuddled, Hasan either squished you completely or his arms secured you to his chest with a firm comfort you’d never experienced. But the best one was his clothes. 
Hasan was a fashionable guy, but he did own a fair share of t-shirts and hoodies. A lot of them were his merch designs, or things he’s owned forever, but somehow, all of them were extremely comfortable when you wore them. 
Since Hasan streamed so frequently, and you normally didn’t have much to do, you’d resort to getting things done around the house to keep yourself from going crazy. So far, you cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher with last night’s dinner mess, and cleaned the living room and the bedrooms. Quickly, you took Kaya outside to pee and fed her lunch, scratching the top of her head before going to the laundry room to tackle the load you put in the dryer this morning. 
It was all a mix of yours and Hasan’s clothes, since you sorted all of it by colours, whites, and darks. Staring into the basket of clothes you pulled out and were now folding was like looking into an abyss. Most of it was yours, leggings and hoodies and socks. But a few items were your boyfriends. Including his himbo gym shirt. Even just holding it up to fold it, you could tell it was huge. 
Then, an idea sprouted in your mind, one that you couldn’t resist. Peeling off the shirt you were wearing, you threw on the one in your hands. Instantly, you were swimming in it, the hem of it nearly reaching your mid-thigh. If you chose to wear shorts instead of black leggings this morning, they wouldn’t have been visible under the shirt. 
After that, you continued with laundry, folding it and bringing it all upstairs to put it away. Once it was done, you took some time to decompress with Kaya, watching tv with her head on your lap, sleeping peacefully. Faintly, you could hear Hasan shouting upstairs; whether he was grilling chat or yelling about whatever he was covering, you didn’t know. It quieted just as you headed to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. 
Checking your watch as you unscrewed the cap, you realised that Hasan was probably taking the ad break. And as if your thoughts summoned him, you could hear his footsteps clamouring down the stairs, headed right to you. 
“Babe, do we have any more of those chocolate protein bars left? I’m starving-” he stopped himself short at the sight of you, practically drowning in his shirt. 
You smiled at him, screwing the cap back on your water bottle. “We should, I saw some in the cupboard last night.” When you noticed Hasan still staring at you, your smile widened. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just-” Hasan seemed to shake out of his stupor. “God, you look amazing in my shirt.”
You giggled as he approached you, hands instinctively resting on your hips as he pulled you closer, towering over you. “I was doing the laundry and it just looked so much more comfortable than the one I was wearing,”
Hasan sighed and leaned into you, forehead resting on the top of yours as his eyes shut. “God, I love you. You know that?”
“I think I do. Might need some reminding, though.” You spoke quietly, keeping the words between the two of you, as if anyone else could hear. 
Hasan was quick with his actions, instantly capturing your lips with his. There was no denying the passion and love he poured into the kiss, which quickly turned into peppering kisses all over your cheeks and jaw. With his hands still on your hips, Hasan guided you to the counter, pinning you there gently as his lips travelled to your neck and your hands into his hair. 
You often treasured moments like these, when Hasan wasn’t afraid to show his love for you in any capacity. Even if the moments happened often. 
But it didn’t take long for you to remember what he was supposed to be doing instead of this. Tugging his hair, you brought Hasan’s lips back to yours, muttering between kisses. “As much as I love this, and I really do, aren’t you supposed to be streaming?”
He groaned between kisses, unwilling to go back to his office to actually work. “I know, I know.” 
Slowly, he pulled away from you, and you stifled your giggles at his appearance. Still, he reached into the cupboard behind you for a protein bar and watched him jog his way back to his streaming room. 
The chat surely bullied him for his flushed cheeks, his swollen lips, and dishevelled hair. There was no doubt, though, that Hasan would have better comebacks than they did. And to him, it was entirely worth the few extra minutes he kept his chat waiting.
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greenscreen-dress · 1 year
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Hhheeeeheheh I love these skins so much I CANNOT wait to see them in-video... But until then here's my ranking of them, long rambly full thoughts below.
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Also here's the tierlist!
Ultimate Slayage: no discussion these 2 are the best. Every single one of Sausage's skins are a smash hit & this one is no exception, it's just so well done. The eye make-up the little tied shirt thing the HUGE extravagant sunflower, contrasted by those big clomping boots... The GENDER of it all aough I love him.
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& Pix of course. Pix my guy just STUNNING. Idk about the other skins but this one is very likely made by Pix himself (bc of a thing he tweeted) & that makes it all the more impressive bc it's just?? So good??? The floor-length the off-the-shoulder sleeves leading into long gloves(?), the corset-y bits with golden buttons or lacing up the front, the BRIGHT BLUE bodice bits which (based off the colour) are definitely Ancient Capitollian Dodo feathers or inspired by them at least... It's just a masterpiece. The only comment I might have is maybe make sure you match your foundation right, Pix... But I've also decided he's in a full white lace/mesh bodysuit under the dress so. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯
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Surprised &/or Delighted: honestly this category fits all of them purely bc I don't think anyone expected these ^^. Oli & Jimmy are in here specifically because, while they're not my ultimate brain-frothing faves, these dresses are extremely good adaptations/elevations of their regular skins— Oli's especially looks so natural on him bc it's in exactly the same glitzy faux-medieval style as his bard outfit. The purple is a staple colour with him, fits the royalty theme, & somehow looks both elegant and like a Halloween costume with its bright shade & tinsel-like gold trims. It's silly and fantastic and VERY Oli Orionsound. Cannot wait for him to play the fainting damsel-in-distress at every occasion <3
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Jimmy's is plainer but just as faithful to his sheriff skin: off-the-shoulder sleeves appear to be a theme with these skins and they look amazing on everyone, Katherine is so epic if this was her Royal doing. Jimmy looks AMAZING in a long jean(?) skirt & the slit just elevates it even more... I am beginning to notice I have a Thing for long skirts and big boots ^^;. This is going to look stunning with the hat, and just plain adorable at Jimmy's current height.
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Fits the brief: ok so these skins are fantastic and I LOVE the colour on both of them, but there's not as much tying them to their Empires... fWhip's goblin skin is so intricate with that embroidered waistcoat & bright primary colours so it's a shame to lose that, though the plain red looks very elegant on him & the shape of the dress stands out from the other skins in a very fun way. It's definitely between the 2 categories and I will likely be swayed by the first bit of fanart I come across for it, but for now: yeah.
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Joey's is the opposite case, where it fits the brief and the simplicity of it not only looks good but makes some sense (semi-broke pirate usually wearing tattered sailor's garb). I just wish it had gone a bit further to match Joey's big personality. The slit and shape is lovely (as is the neckliiii— wait where does that neckline end? /pos), but what about some more gold, or prismarine accents? Fishnet gloves, or stockings striped like his shirt? It just feels like it could go much further, & maybe fanart will push it there for me. Also I'm removing points for no dress + epic pirate boots /j
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Expected more: oh this skin... Yeah I'm not blown away by it. The colours that are present are very nice but there just aren't enough of them, and the shape... The cutaways at the hip are very nice, but Girl. That is a tank top. & for some reason the skirt refuses to register as one in my brain despite the pretty gradient. With the vibes of Chromia I'm picturing Scott in something shorter and frillier, high-heeled boots, feathered hat and cape— real Barbie and the 3 Musketeers kind of vibe basically. I need to draw that. Definitely more colours though, that's the first step. Bi-coloured bodice, tie-dye skirt with petticoats, a flower crown, something!! Maybe there's custom items involved to accessorise, maybe this is a temporary self-made dress while waiting on a commission, idk but I'm going to need to see some out-of-this world fanart to salvage this skin as it is. :/ Sorry Scott, sashay away.
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And finally...
Joel: Joel. Joel Smallish "Massive" Beans that is a recycled MCC skin I am SURE of it. Joel this is so lazy and stupid and perfectly on-brand I love it I hate it this is peak Wish/Aliexpress cosplay. Keep it up you bastard (I still want to see / draw him in proper femme greek garb. But alas).
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ANYWAY.
Big long ramble, thankye for reading this whole thing & feel free to make your own lists / yell at me for interpreting these pixels wrong. No matter my minor gripes the fact we have these looks at all and go insane over them is so so SO fun ^^
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lily-orchard · 6 months
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Watched some guys' response video to your big steven universe to see if he would have some counter arguments whole time he kept making bad faith arguments, false equivalence and kept saying that you are running on alt-right grifting hate campaign and kept arguing semantics. How many people do you think your new steven universe video is going to piss off.
Yeah I've heard of that one. Haven't seen it myself, but the comments it provoked on the SU video told me it was a lot of braindead mudslinging. The kind of garbage I've been hearing for years, but now in video form so SU stans can just paste a link and go "video now!"
Dude's made three other identical videos in quick succession.
Honestly I have no idea what effect that new one will have. The main angry response to the last one was "DID YOU CALL BECKY A NAZI?!" but this one doesn't have anything that misquotable. It's all a lot of more complicated structural and foundational critique, which tends to fly over the heads of SU stans.
This is just what Steven Universe discourse has been for the last five years. Its fanbase likes to claim I destroyed people's media literacy because I made them hate one bad show in particular, but the fandom has done a very good job elevating me to a position much higher than I deserve because this video has been living rent-free in their heads for a long time. They've wanted a big "debunking" video no matter how dishonest or disingenuous it was for a while, something that would do their thinking for them. It didn't have to be good, it just had to be something they could link on Twitter to "ratio" someone.
Steven Universe's fandom set itself up for failure by just demonizing anyone who thought critically about the show. I'm not new in this regard. People were critical of the show for years. Bismuth was hammered by fans of colour, especially black women, for an extremely racist premise and they were abused and harassed off multiple platforms. People complained that Sugar's claims of being really invested in gay rep wasn't actually showing results, and those people were harassed off multiple platforms. More often than not, with shouts of "IT'S A KIDS' SHOW!"
The fanbase always had that hypocritical view of the show. It was this deep and profound show that had a very mature theme and outlook on life UNTIL you criticized it and then you may as well have been complaining about modern Spongebob. It's Avatar at all times, until someone criticizes it. Actually did see someone going "imagine if people got this worked up over Peppa Pig."
There's no two ways about it. Steven Universe has a fanbase that is simultaneously abusive as all hell, and have not a single brain cell to share between them. And you kinda have to be. Anyone who liked the show and thought critically about it was immediately harassed off any platform.
This video got super popular and meant I live rent free in the heads of every single person who still likes this show, and I STILL didn't get anything close to as bad as what they were giving black women who didn't like Bismuth. The end result was that the only people left were white gays whose only claim to not being bigoted pieces of shit was "being gay and liking Steven Universe."
And that's why there is never going to be "Steven Universe is Genius and Here's Why." To make that video you have to like Steven Universe, and you also need enough media literacy to really analyze it and those two aspects are in direct opposition to one another. There are episodes of Steven Universe I love and think are genuinely brilliant storytelling, but any praise of those episodes will inevitably lead to wondering why the rest of the show wasn't like that.
Trying to argue that this show is genius is like trying to convince people that The Room is Citizen Kane.
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trancylovecraft · 6 months
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(KNY) YANDERE PLATONIC! KOKUSHIBO x SISTER READER: You, Shibou. I, Kokoro (CHAPTER TEN)
Previous Chapter ☆♡☆ Masterlist ☆♡☆ Next Chapter
AO3 link
CHAPTER TEN: "I witness that a lot of people are dying because they consider that life is not worth living."
NOTE: Next chapter WILL be late due to me going on vacay! Juuuust wanted to get a chap out before I go lol!
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Thanatophobia is the fear of death, Originating from the Greek "Thanatos" meaning death. People who suffer from this are extremely afraid of death and may have excessive thoughts about it.
This coupled with something like Suicidal Desire can create a reckless sort of behaviour. Making a person actively seek their death due to the fact they cannot do it themselves out of fear.
The smell of burnt gunpowder lingered in the cold night's air, Bursts of vivid colour exploding in the sky and fizzling out into sparks mid-flight. The entire sky was alight with hue's of reds, blues and purples lighting up the atmosphere.
The bitter liquor ran down her throat yet it barely burned as it went down, Her tongue trained to the taste and the fire tamed in due time.
[F/N] gazed out over the city of Osaka from the balcony of her inn. The festival in full swing below her, The sounds of laughing and festivities were low and echoed from the tall height their room sat at.
She gazed upon the fireworks, Enraptured within the colourful dance as she took another swig of her sake. A bottle she snaked from the bar below, Her hands trained to steal took it with relative ease and replaced it with the coins it cost.
It wasn't something meant for someone of her age. Her younger frame and the baby fat only just burned off from her face showed her mid-teenage years, Only around fifteen to be precise.
The night was chilling, Making her tug the dragon-patterned haori over her shoulders just a little more. The wind ran through her, The height she was at made it blow just a bit more intense as the mouth of the bottle pressed against her lips.
As the next round of sake pooled on her tongue, [F/N] could hear the soft patter of footsteps approach from behind her.
"Heyy~! What'cha doin up so early?" Mitsuri teased, Her bodyweight pressing up against the balcony railing to match [F/N]'s own pose. Her cheeks full of colour and a wide smile shining brighter than her eyes played on her face.
[F/N] smirked a little as she lowered the bottle.
"Can't sleep.. Not with this noise anyways." [F/N] responded as she gestured to the lively crowds below them in the streets, The stalls packed and laughing echoed from the tall buildings.
"Still, We're gonna head out soon and you haven't gotten any rest.. This isn't the first time you've done this y'know!" Mitsuri teased as she slowly swayed back and forth with a hum.
[F/N] shrugged as her eyes met Mitsuri's form. Her unbrushed hair let loose out of her usual braids and the baggy uniform she wore was lazily put on, Obviously haven just woken up from her nap during the day.
Even so she seemed as lively as she always did. Something that made [F/N]'s smile soften, Seeming much more genuine than it did before.
"Okay, Mom." [F/N] teased lightly as she turned back to take another swig "If I get a chance I'll rest for a little bit, Okay?"
Mitsuri's eyes landed on the glass bottle, Watching the bitter liquid slosh around inside the container as another rush of it entered her mouth. Mitsuri couldn't help the slight frown appear on her face.
"You know you shouldn't be drinking that stuff, Mama says it's really bad for kids like us. Even then I can't believe you like the taste, The stuff's yucky!" Mitsuri stuck her tongue out in a display of playful disgust.
[F/N] giggled a little bit as she swallowed, Covering her mouth to make sure it didn't bring up any residue.
"Tsuri', We watched your mother pick a fight barehanded with a wild racoon for rummaging in your trash." [F/N] chuckled as she shook her head. "I think I know what's good for me, Mkay?"
"If you say so!" Mitsuri huffed yet the smile tugging at her lips couldn't be extinguished.
[F/N] turned her eyes back to the display of fireworks exploding further ahead into the city, Bursts of burning sparks igniting into the most beautiful colours to reflect in their eyes. The glassy look of her sclera mimicking it greatly.
[F/N] smirked.
"..Besides, It's not the taste I like." She admitted as her eyes trailed down to the bottle held like a gun in her hands. Tightly gripped with care as she examined the clear yet pungent smelling booze mixing with the fading gunpowder.
"Then what do you like about it?" Mitsuri asked as she pursed her lips and looked at [F/N] in confusion.
"It's the affect it gives me, It makes me feel warm inside. That's what I like about it." [F/N] smiled half-heartedly as she rested her free palm on her chest. The spoken effect already starting to take affect as she felt the light blur in her mind.
"Seriously? You always wake up grumpy afterwards though, Can't make you feel that good." Mitsuri rebutted, Her lip quirked to the side in confusion.
"Not if I drink more." [F/N] shrugged as she took another drink, Eyes still trapped upon the fireworks and the city set alight in celebration. She didn't even seem to take in Mitsuri's words but instead took in more of the bitter liquor into her system.
Mitsuri looked like she wanted to say more, To open her mouth and object but she resisted in turn.
Instead she just turned her head back to the show above them, Wind brushing through her hair and leaving only the faintest of chills in it's wake.
"Anything else you been thinking about? You seem out of it, Kinda.. Distant?" Mitsuri asked. Recalling the past few days they had been travelling, Noticing the way [F/N] always seemed to be in thought when they spoke.
"Well.. A few things honestly, Nothing much really just kinda complicated thoughts" She sighed half-heartedly though her eyes narrowed in on nothing in particular, Nothing in sight but a picture vivid in her head.
"You can tell me if you want to, There's nothing I won't understand. You know that right?" Mitsuri reassured softly. A comforting tone both tended to use with one and other, All since the day they first met.
[F/N] shrugged once more yet this time she bit her lip.
"Really?" She prompted as she stared into the honest green of her best friend's eyes. The way the fireworks bursting hues reflected off them as they exploded in the air only shown truth.
"Really." Mitsuri hummed with a gentle smile with [F/N] returning it in kind. [F/N] inhaled, Taking in a deep breath before she spoke.
"…I'm just not that motivated lately. I've been thinking about my purpose to be honest with you.. Life stuff. It just kinda feels like I'm having a mid-life crisis when I'm only fifteen and that just feels really stupid to me.." [F/N] admitted as she played with the bottle.
Between the two girls it was [F/N] who had always been the mature one. Ever since they met it had been like that. She often abstained from activities other kids liked to enjoy such as playing with Temari Balls or wrestling in the mud.
Instead she often stood back and watched. Most times with either a book or a pen and paper, Mostly favouring her time being spent on wondering how much money she needed to earn for dinner that night or how long she could go without eating at all.
[F/N] never really was much of a kid. More of an adult in a kid's body, Carried herself as such too. Even back then she never cracked a smile or laughed at all, Instead speaking with a polite yet monotonous tone.
Mitsuri hummed, Tasting [F/N]'s words on her tongue.
"Well you came along with me to become a slayer for a reason, Right? We're doing this because we wanna help people and protect the ones we care about!" Mitsuri proclaimed as she lightly swayed back and forth.
"..Well.. And maaaybe help me find a husband too but.." Mitsuri added on quickly, Her blush burning bright as she fanned her cheeks.
[F/N] didn't speak, Instead choosing to look down at the bottle. She examined the light reflecting off the polished and sharply cut glass as her eyes narrowed at it.
"..You've been doing that a lot as well. You keep looking at your drinks and food like you personally despise them, It's weird. I'm maybe starting to think this is a deeper issue?" Mitsuri prodded.
As soon as she mentioned the way [F/N] was looking at her liquor her gaze instantly softened and glanced away from it, Away in the other direction as she pouted slightly.
"It's nothing. I'm fine, Really. I don't know why I told you, I shouldn't of said anything.." [F/N] trailed off, Shaking her head in dismissal.
The burn in her chest seemed like it just wasn't from the liquor anymore. It was desire, One she couldn't act on. How dearly she wanted to tell her the truth, Let it all out to her but there were no words to say.
There were, But there wasn't at the same time. How can you just say all of that to someone? How could you say it without writing it down on paper to log everything, Saying it is so difficult. There was no way she could say anything aloud.
Besides, [F/N] didn't want to worry Mitsuri. She was her best friend and bringing her own sorrow onto her was the last thing [F/N] wanted to do. Mitsuri was a happy person and [F/N] wanted to keep it that way.
She agreed with this once she turned back to meet Mitsuri's concerned face, As such she decided to act quickly.
Reaching into the small satchel hanging loose from her shoulders she fished out something covered in cloth. The navy felt wrapped around it dropped from the her grasp as she pulled it out.
"Besides.. I've got other things to worry about right now." [F/N] said as she held the Kitsune mask in both of her hands. The dark sapphire eyes staring right into the irises of it's owner with a soulless glare.
Mitsuri's eyes widened in interest as she nudged closer on the balcony towards [F/N]. Eyes locked onto the festival mask held so tightly in [F/N]'s palms.
"Woah, No way! Isn't that the spooky-cursed-thingy you got a while back?" Mitsuri gasped as she leaned over to examine the structure of it herself. Chartreuse eyes gleaming with a spark of interest as she recognised it.
"Mhm.. Took the sword with me so I felt it was only right I'd take the mask too.." [F/N] replied as she stared into the porcelain.
"Ah, Okay! You ever gonna try it out or use it? It might be a good time to use it cause of the festival and all- Oh my gosh that reminds me! Did you see all the snack vendors and festival games? I'm dying to try them all!" Mitsuri squealed as she rapidly fanned her overheating cheeks.
Her short attention span distracted her from the previous topic, Good, It was something [F/N] predicted and something that was for the best. [F/N] smiled and shook her head as she put the mask back into the satchel.
As for it, [F/N] was conflicted on whether to use it or not. The way it made her feel or the way it made her look just didn't seem like her at all, It made her different, Someone she wasn't yet even then [F/N] kind of preferred it that way.
For the short time she used it before she felt more carefree. Less people asked questions about her and less worried, It was good. [F/N] liked that.
"We can't waste time with the activities there, Mitsuri. We're here to slay a demon, Not relax or play games." [F/N] argued softly as she placed a hand on Mitsuri's shoulder, Who was currently.
"Oh come onnnnn, [F/N]. Live life a little! They have goldfish scooping and are doing one of those shinto-play thingy's that you like so much! Can't we have just a tiny little detour?" Mitsuri pouted as she quickly pulled out a brochure from her taffy-coloured haori and shoved into [F/N]'s free hand.
[F/N] chuckled but still stood adamantly as she looked down at the brochure.
"I told you! We can't waste time with meaningless activities!" [F/N] laughed as she rubbed Mitsuri's shoulder to try and calm her down, Which was useless because Mitsuri was practically shaking in excitement.
"Come onnn! Not even just a single goldfish?" Mitsuri pouted, Tilting her head towards [F/N].
"Nope." [F/N] replied.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pleaaaaseee?"
"Noooooo…"
"Please with extra cherries?"
"I hate cherries."
"Liar! You love cherries."
"I love the smell, Not the taste."
"I don't think I can be friends with you after learning that information but pleaaasee?"
"Nada."
"Plea-"
"If you two keep arguing like this I fear that we may never slay that demon in time!" The voice of Shinobu cut through the two's bickering.
[F/N]'s shoulders raised as she snapped her body round to meet the other girl, Who was to the other side of her and leaning against the balcony.
"Ah! Sorry Shinobu-chan! But you agree that you would also like to see the festival too right?" Mitsuri butted in, Leaning over the side of the balcony to meet Shinobu's constant grin and teasing façade.
Shinobu hummed, Bringing a hand up to her chin.
"Well I do think that we should slay the demon. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt if we did spend a little time enjoying ourselves. These things only come around once a year so if we slay the demon quickly we might have time to see the parade." Shinobu concluded with a smile as she turned around to meet Mitsuri.
"Oh not you too, Shinobu-san.." [F/N] dramatically groaned. Shoulders deflating as she realised she was outnumbered by her comrades.
"Yay! Come on then! Let's go slay the demon so I can catch goldfish. Let's go, Let's go, Let's go!" Mitsuri cheered as her hands lunged for both [F/N] and Shinobu's palms. Taken off guard they were both lugged along by Mitsuri's inhuman strength.
"Agh!" [F/N] exclaimed, Taken by surprise as she was swiftly dragged along out of the inn's room.
"Oh good! Let's get moving, Girls!" Shinobu however kept smiling as she complied with Mitsuri's hyperactivity, Giggling along with Mitsuri as they ran out. The cold night's air barely bothering the two.
[F/N] wiped the sweat off her brow and sighed. Keeping up with the two's more upbeat behaviour has always been a job of it's own.
Though as the saying goes that if you choose a job that you like, You'll never have to work a day in your life which [F/N] could attest to.
She only smiled a little as they ran towards their next mission. Hand being tugged along by Mitsuri as she thought on her own. Even though the two had enough energy for a hundred people, [F/N] could still feel the phantom taste of the bitter sake on her tongue wear her down.
Though she could admit she was having fun she also had to say that it was dampened by her own feelings. The feelings she had been fighting against for a while now and ones that seemed to get even more pungent everyday.
But it didn't matter. She had a job to do, Work is to be done so she shut out her feelings once more and smiled instead.
It seemed like it was better that way, Anyways.
☆♡☆
"Well.. I certainly see what you meant by hopeless"
[F/N]'s voice echoed far, Her own realising tone reflecting back at her in a yell. Her eyes were wide as she stared over the cavern, Hands on her hips as her jaw was lain slack at the sight.
It was huge, So much so that she couldn't see the bottom. Stairs and doors getting smaller and smaller as it went down, All until it was only a speck in this accursed dimensions horizon. The fact that it had a horizon like the normal world was terrifying.
There was a strong wind rushing through the cavern, It was fresh too, Not like the indoor air but organic and powerful.
[F/N] stood at the edge of a dock. The end of it was destroyed or rather fell off down into the cavern below.
It was like tectonic plates moving away from each other. One of them was the sea of nothingness with docks spread everywhere, The other was a a labyrinth of doors, walls, staircases and millions of other structures. The two only separated by a wide split, One which was further than valleys or fields she'd ever seen before.
They were like files kept in a drawer. Different files archived on top of each other, Different worlds sat side by side. Herself standing on only one of what seemed to be millions.
It was so surreal, [F/N] was basically a speck of dust compared to the Infinity castle. She had to steady herself on the dock to make sure she didn't fall off into the infinite expansion of a pit below.
"You understand that you won't be able to escape from here? If you tried to jump down it would take hours for you to fall only to be killed. And there's no way you could climb upwards because there isn't any point for you to scale on." Akaza said, His voice echoing and repeating back to her tenfold.
[F/N]'s eyes however weren't resting on the demon stood beside her, Instead they were sat on the abyss of architecture below as she contemplated her next move. Her eyes wandered along the wide wooden border keeping the ocean in at her world, Her brows furrowed.
"How was I not able to come across this earlier? You know, When I ran for the first time. It just looped back around." [F/N] commented absentmindedly as she locked down on the rimmed gate keeping the entire pocket of abyss she was in.
Akaza shrugged.
"This is the only route that hasn't been changed by the biwa demon throughout my time coming here. Figured that this must have some kind of anchoring effect or something.." Akaza replied but he sounded just as confused as she did.
[F/N] sighed as she ignored the implications of his significant memory, Already accepting it through all the other craziness.
"Alright.. So I also need to memorize the escape route. There's another thing to add to my list." She groaned in slight irritation as she took a mental note of the chore.
"You have a list?" Akaza questioned, Looking over at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Erm.. Yeah. Got an issue with that?" [F/N] hissed lowly as she looked back at him with an equally-as-venomous glare.
"No. You do whatever, I don't give a shit" Akaza spat back and shook his head as he turned around to look down the cavern again.
[F/N] did the same as she stared down into the new void. She could almost hear the cogs in her head clash and clank against each other as they got to work. Hopeless, Akaza said. The cogs seemed to ignite the lightbulb that hung over her head.
"Hmm.." [F/N] hummed as she surveyed the unnaturally polished wood. The wind repeatedly hit at her face, The skirt of her kimono whipping back and forth as she nudged closer to the edge.
"Hey! What are you doing, You have a death wish or something?" Akaza scolded, His hand grappling onto her shoulder with his nails digging in. Yet the pain never bothered her as she turned back to look at him.
"So.. You said earlier that there was an exit door somewhere down in that hellhole, Right?" [F/N] questioned as she started to tug at her kimono, The front of it easily coming undone as she shook Akaza's hand off.
"Yeah, There is but you won't be able to get to it." Akaza rebutted as he watched her take off the emerald sunset of fabric, The garment too big and loose for what she was about to do and leaving her in only a snow white Susuyoke and Hadajuban. "What the hell are you undressing for?! Try have some decency!"
"Lost that years ago. Now you mentioned that the biwa demon character moves the castle around to her will, Correct? If that's true then how often does she change it around here?" [F/N] asked once more, Near shouting over the power of the wind as she did.
"She only started changing the shrine section assumedly once you showed up but the docks don't change. We're near the outskirts of the castle and away from the centre, Doesn't change anything near here but why? What are you planning to do?!" Akaza argued as he watched her stretch out a hand and present it to him.
"I'm gonna see what's below, For that I need you to hold onto me while I hang from the side of the ledge." [F/N] explained, Nudging her hand further towards him as she stared him dead in the eyes.
Akaza's jaw dropped open, It was the last thing he had expected to hear from the rather weak looking girl as he gawked at the mere idea she proposed. He double-taked before taking a heavy step towards her, Making the dock below it creak rather aggressively.
"No. Are you fucking crazy?! What the hell makes you think that'll get you anywhere?!" Akaza near yelled at her as he got up in her face again. His sharpish teeth were bared and near breathing saliva at just the thought.
[F/N]'s nose scrunched up and her lip turned into a near snarl.
"I don't see why you're so angry, Akaza. I just want to see what's under here and I want you to help me do it." [F/N] argued lowly as she levelled down to meet his kanji-adorned eyes, Her own shining with the exact same fire to match his perfectly.
"Why I'm angry? Forget that, Why the hell do you trust me so much to keep you steady from the ledge? What if I drop you?!" Akaza argued back, A clawed finger pointing into [F/N]'s chest to emphasise his point.
"I don't trust you, I trust that you want to kill Kokushibo.. Well, That and your demon strength that can hold my weight, That is." [F/N] replied as she carelessly tossed her shamrock coloured kimono behind her down the dock.
Akaza moved back a few steps, Looking at her like she was insane but at this point that wasn't much of a stretch. He looked her up and down and once he realised she had no doubts about putting herself into a potentially fatal situation, He snapped his jaw shut and stared at her with wide eyes.
[F/N] on the other hand pushed it further towards Akaza, Urging him to take it.
"Come on, As I told you Akaza, I'm a Hashira. And as much as that title doesn't fit me I can say with certainty that I'll be able to scale this stupid ledge, So take my hand and lets do this." [F/N] pressed on.
Akaza looked back up at her expression, Of which was as cold as steel and as firm as such too. She looked at him with such chilling determination that it near ran a shiver down his spine, A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Fine, But we need to be quick. Upper six might figure out we've left and could alert Upper one." Akaza spat as he wrapped his taloned fingers around [F/N]'s palm and nodded. [F/N] in turn smirked slightly.
"I'll be as quick as I can be." [F/N] agreed as she lowered down onto her knees, Akaza's hand still squeezing her palm as she got down onto her backside.
[F/N]'s legs dangled off the edge of the rickety dock. She stared down towards the endless abyss of Japanese architecture below and took a deep breath in to steel her nerves, Her empty hand gripping onto the end of the dock while the other gripped tightly onto Akaza's.
"Ready?" Akaza prompted. [F/N] responded with a sharp inhale and a hum of confirmation. Closing her eyes she took in one large breath.
And then she dropped.
[F/N] fell from the ledge, Gravity pulling her body towards the ground as her weight started to accelerate. The wind rushed through her hair and her undergarments, Her eyes clasped shut in anticipation.
THUMP!
[F/N]'s body slammed against the side of the ledge, Making her yelp out in surprise. Her acceleration was cancelled out by the firm grip of Akaza who was draped over the side, Making it so she could be further down.
"Good gods-..!" [F/N] exclaimed in pain as her body hit against the ledge. Her skin firing up in pain as her body swung side to side slowly, Only kept elevated by the claws digging into her hand.
"I thought you said you were ready?" Akaza called out from above her, Though [F/N] could hear the mockery dripping from his tone like the water leaking over the ledge. It made her huff in annoyance.
"Shut it!" [F/N] yelled back as she gripped a hand onto the carved side of the edge, Trying to steady her swaying movements and her rapidly pounding heart. Her breath turned to vapour in the rushing chill of the winds.
[F/N] dared to look down from her position and saw the infinite abyss much closer than it was before, [F/N] watched her legs hang above it. It was almost like the entire castle was trying to reach out to her, Aching, Desperately trying to pull her down and make her fall.
Fall. If she did then that was it for her, If Akaza's grip slipped from her hold then she would be nothing but smashed organs and flesh. Destroyed bits of membrane smeared across some demon's flooring.
[F/N] could tell that the saying was true, Stare into the abyss and it will stare back. It felt almost alive as she glared.
"Hey? Aren't you going to get to work? I told you to hurry up!" Akaza scolded as he saw her phased out expression as she gazed into the castle interior below, But he raised a brow at her sudden disassociation.
[F/N] quirked a lip, Her free hand sweeping the hair hitting her face away from her vision. She could barely hear Akaza over the turbulence, Both of the aggressive atmosphere and the thoughts coming back to her head.
Drop. It would be so easy, So why was she hesitating? Why was her body still holding onto Akaza for dear life? It seemed like that's how it's been lately, Her body and her mind had different ideas for their future. Conflicting each other, Going to war.
Her body ached for survival, Some kind of primal instinct embedded into every single living thing on the planet and one her mind wanted to erase entirely. Her mind ached for release, Wanting an end to the tunnel.
The grip on Akaza's hand started to.. Slip. At first it was just a twitch of her palm, But then it was the lift of a single finger. Then another, Then another.. Then just one more until she'd start to fall-
"Gods! You are weak! I can't believe your a damned Hashira!" Akaza yelled out and his free hand shot out and grappled onto her wrist, Stopping her descent entirely. His teeth were bared and his forehead had a vein popping out.
[F/N] blinked once, A sudden dim light reappearing back in her eyes. She looked around once, Realising where she was and what she was doing before the tight grip on Akaza's hand returned once more.
"Shit.. My bad, I don't know what came over me there!" [F/N] called out as she bit her lip in confusion. [F/N] looked up towards Akaza and nodded once towards him. He wouldn't let her fall, Not when she was considered valuable to him.
"Lower me!" She yelled.
Akaza looked back at her, Examining the expression that seemed more reeled into the situation before nodding back. He moved a little further over the side, Legs kept firmly locked into a nook in the dock as [F/N] lowered down a little more.
She snapped her head round dead centre. The ledge she was hanging over was gigantic, Extremely, It was both taller and wider than her herself. But as Akaza lowered her further and further, Her sandals near slipping off her feet she could now see the underside of it.
Her eyes widened as she saw the vast beneath of the slice of hell she lived on. Her eyes scattered around and the dim light started to burn with idea's, The cogs in her head kicking up once more.
The way the underside was designed was like a table, It seemed larger than it was on the outside but when she looked underneath it dipped.
Below it had quite intricately designed structure beams going across the entire way, Thee way the architecture was ingrained into the beams made them tightly pact with hooks and curves carved in.
[F/N]'s eyes squinted, Trying to see further ahead. It was around the staggering length of a football field, At the end of it there was several pillars and clusters of misplaced walls and structures. They were all clumped together, Making it almost a staircase for her to use.
It was beautifully made, But also an opportunity. [F/N]'s eyes ran across the carvings and infrastructure as a sly smirk started to shape her face. The cogs finally clicked, The lightbulb brightened.
"What are you seeing?" Akaza called out from above as she surveyed the scene, Near seeing the mechanics work in her head as he watched her face light up.
"Opportunity, And I've seen enough. Pull me back up!" [F/N] yelled back, Glancing at him once with that working gaze before he nodded.
Locking his legs further onto the dock he started to haul her up with relative ease. Her body weight was nothing but a feather for his demonic strength as she ascended, Higher and higher until her upper chest was draped over the ledge.
Akaza grabbed her by the shoulders, Hoisting her full body over and up onto the dock once more. She groaned in effort as she rolled over onto her back, Staring up to the dark sky above them as she rendered the shrine section.
"Thanks.." [F/N] breathed heavily, Out of breath from both the high stress situation and the effort she had to put in to pull herself up. She lain there on the old and freezing dock, Listening to the sound of the waves as she tried to calm down.
Akaza on the other hand leaned over her, Looking at her like a rather irritating rodent who washed up on the shore. He clicked his tongue once as his annoyed visage bore into hers.
"The hell was up with that earlier? You almost died and all of this trouble I've gone through could've been for nothing!" Akaza hissed as he watched her haul herself up into a sitting position.
"I told you. Dunno what came over me, Alright?" [F/N] said absentmindedly "Anyways, Contrary to what you said earlier it is certainly not hopeless." She added on.
Akaza raised a brow. From what he had learned throughout his years of coming here there wasn't any visible way down from here. The outskirts haven't changed in decades, Could he have missed something?
[F/N] got up from the ground. Pushing herself up with a single hand and a groan as she raised to meet him eye to eye.
"Anyways I know what I need to do now, Well both me and you really. I actually need you to get some stuff for me." [F/N] said as she dusted off the dock's soot from her snowy underclothing.
Akaza groaned.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"A few things.. Maybe.. Uh.. Oh right. As much rope as you can get me, The strong kind. A surplus of nails and erm.. Could use a few tools too, A hammer might be nice.. Just anything you can get me" [F/N] explained as she counted the items on her fingers.
Akaza's jaw dropped, Realising the implications as his head shook in slight disbelief.
"You want to scale the fucking infinity castle, Don't you?"
"Yep."
Akaza raised a hand and pinched his temples, Almost sensing the oncoming headache this one human being was giving him. The sheer audacity to think that she could somehow maneuver her way down into the outskirts of the castle.
If she died then the stress he went through with this deal would be to waste. If she did die, Kaigaku might link him to her death when explaining it to Kokushibo. If that happened it meant he would go down with her.
But as his dandelion hued irises met back up with hers he could see the confidence burning in her retinas. It was a look he somehow recognised, That old connection clicking in the back of his mind, One from his human life.
He shook it off however. He had no time for that kind of useless reminiscence.
"What makes you think you'll be able to do something like that?" Akaza asked rather harshly as he signalled his hand towards the void below, Reminding her of her position.
[F/N] shrugged.
"Cause I'm a Hashira?" She said as if it was obvious, Using her title once more as a trump card of sorts to get her way.
Akaza looked back at her, Remembering her so called title. The fact that she was a Hashira still didn't register to him, Her weak frame and out-of-practice muscles telling him otherwise. He huffed.
"Last time I checked, Hashira couldn't about a hundred metres with only rope and nails to do so. I'm not letting you die until we finish this deal" Akaza repeated back to her like it was obvious.
[F/N] in turn clenched her fists. She knew Akaza wouldn't let her do this, Her only escape route. He wouldn't let her do this, Not without a good enough reason. It made the spark inside her light up again, The one from when Kokushibo gave her the hairpin.
It was that angry spark, The one she had been feeling more and more lately and the one she tried to dwindle into annoyance.
"Look.. I grew up in a place where scaling things was part of the description. Things like climbing or moving around dangerous area's is basically nothing. This is nothing." She exasperated, Gesturing to the void below and trying to keep her voice to a minimum to convince him.
Akaza gawked at her, Not understanding a thing.
"Like where. Where the hell would you need to grow up to scale an infinite void?" He argued back, The idea completely insane to him as he did.
"Nowhere good, Okay? Somewhere if you don't learn how to move quickly and efficiently you don't survive, And I did, So I think I'm more than qualified to climb my way out of here. Not unless you have any better ideas?" [F/N] said, Her voice mocking and sarcastic from both the irritation and reminder of her childhood.
Akaza lowered his brow, Thinking over her words. Though he didn't need to think for long because the spark inside her showed in her eyes, It made his agape mouth shut tight. The human part of his resonating once more, That part of him seemingly recognising the look.
How that was possible he didn't know. He didn't want to know what that implied but knew very well what it meant, Something inside him told him so. Something that trusted her skills well.
"..Fine, You better know what you're doing.." He spat lowly, A warning. [F/N] could tell as Akaza stepped away from her going a few feet down the dock.
"But the items you wanted will be difficult to smuggle in. The biwa demon knows everything that comes in and comes out. If I try bring in a bunch of nails and rope she'll certainly suspect something, So I'm going to need to do it in parts at a time." Akaza continued.
"Seriously? I suppose it's fair, It'll take time for me to construct it so while you gather the item's, I'll just work on it then I guess." [F/N] groaned.
"Good. Then afterwards I'll be out of this damned deal." Akaza commented, Obviously as annoyed as her.
[F/N] nodded.
"Same. I won't need to be here to deal with this place or the demons that inhabit it.. I'm just glad the only somewhat decent one can get me outta here." She sighed as she grabbed the side of her head, Feeling a sudden, Strange migraine coming on.
Akaza turned back to look at her, Raising a brow.
"Decent? What do you mean by that?" Akaza questioned.
[F/N] hummed slightly, Her lips pouting slightly in thought as she mulled her words over. Once she finished though she shrugged lazily.
"Well, As much as a bastard you are. You're also the only one who has some form of morals since you don't kill women, That and you did change my bandages that one time" She explained.
Akaza groaned, Obviously not happy that it was brought up again.
"I thought I said I didn't want you to talk about that." Akaza huffed, The vein in his head pulsating once more at the remembrance.
"Well I didn't want to be injured in the first place but here we are." [F/N] retorted, The hand gripping the side of her head throbbing once more. Her grip tightened and her teeth grinded slightly in futile attempt to relieve it.
"Oh, like that's my fault for injuring some pathetic human being. How about next time you d-" Akaza's rebuttal was quickly silenced by a hand over the mouth. A movement quicker than a lightning bolt made by [F/N], Her eyes wide and stretched open to their limits as she pressed a single finger against her lips.
Akaza's eyes opened in tandem with her own, Sensing the situation and a faint.. power. As he looked back towards [F/N] he could recognise the contorted expression on her face.
It was fear.
They stood in silence. The sudden sound of the running winds and the waves sloshing against each other below seemed so much louder now, Their breaths stilled and their eyes were locked together.
[F/N]'s ear twitched as the wind brushed against each of their skins. Though her eyes stared into his she wasn't focused on him, Instead she looked like she was trying to listen in on something.
Her still lungs took in a sharp intake of air. Her entire frame shot up like a terrified cat and the hand on his mouth quickly retracted, Falling to her side and stiffening like a wooden board.
"Kokushibo.. He's here"
Akaza stumbled back. [F/N]'s words echoed into the vastness and hit him like a ton of bricks, The broken glass of his eyes looked back and forth as his shoulders raised in defence.
"Upper six must of informed him I'm gone, He might've told of you- I don't know- But you need to leave. Now!" [F/N] exclaimed. She wasted no time in running over the crumpled kimono lying on the deck.
"Shit- Does he know I'm here?" Akaza exclaimed as he desperately searched around for any sign of the other demon. [F/N] started throwing the fabric over her shoulder, Too engrossed in dressing to look at him.
"I- I don't know." She responded quickly as she put her arms into the sleeves. The sudden headache, She had sensed his prescense returning to the shrine. His soul aura, A rotten and vile tasting soul, One that [F/N] could sense from miles away.
And she could sense that it was angry.
"I've got to leave, Immediately. But for what it's worth, Akaza." [F/N] said, Finishing tying her obi and looking back at him once. Their eyes connecting once more within the cold seas that surrounded them.
[F/N] smiled slowly. It wasn't genuine, But the meaning behind it spoke more than she said.
"I really do appreciate what you did for me, As much as a bastard you are you're not a bad person. It's not much but thanks for helping this pathetic human being anyways" She nodded once before turning away, Running down the rickety dock back the way they came from without another word. Left with only the shocked visage of the demon behind her.
Akaza watched her run away, His body unmoving. He saw [F/N] get smaller and smaller as she navigated the maze of docks, Jumping and leaping away until she was a speck on the shadowed horizon, Leaving him completely alone.
Akaza blinked once, Only as she entirely disappeared did he snap out of his stupor. He muttered angrily under his breath for her delusion and wasting time before bending his knee, Pushing himself forward off the dock.
He leaped into the yearning abyss, [F/N]'s words being nothing but an aftertaste as he fell.
☆♡☆
[F/N]'s feet hit against the dock like storming raindrops on a tiled roof. She watched them carefully to make sure her sandals didn't get caught in the wide gaps or splintered off pieces of timber.
Her lungs laboured. The further she ran and the more she jumped between routes the more she could sense his aura, The putrid decay of his soul writhing around in her skin.
[F/N] had always been able to sense it somewhat. Though before it was fainter than others, Now the stench was overwhelming her. The rot of it reeking of death, And most importantly anger.
Sweat dripped down her brow. [F/N] begged to Inari that he had no idea of what happened with her and Akaza. If he found out and killed him then she was basically done for. She swallowed, Begging just a little more to her patron.
The way they had gotten out of the shrine in the first place was with care. Akaza snuck her out through the front and made sure that Kaigaku wasn't there to see them and follow on, Afterwards he had quickly shown the pathway out.
She knew that this might happen, Akaza had informed her of their link on the way to the edge. [F/N] knew that once Kaigaku knew they had left he would inform Kokushibo of the situation.
Though she wished she had more time. More time to figure out what she was going to do with her business partner.
Akaza himself. [F/N] didn't like him, She didn't like the way he reminded her of the boys from her youth or the fact that he slaughtered Rengoku. But as anyone else she saw the silver lining within the rusted metal, He had principles and stood strong.
She appreciated that. There was some semblance of good in him, There was with everyone and he was no exception. The morals he did have must of carried on from his human life but how he became a demon in the first place baffled her.
But it didn't matter, They weren't suppose to get personal.
It was business only.
[F/N] saw the shrine get larger in the distance. Her pace quickened along with her breath, She saw the growing tuft of leaves sticking out the middle and the dim lanterns lining the inner docks as she ran.
Though as it grew closer and closer, The more she saw the lights of the dock the more she could see the one thing she dreaded, And it was standing tall on the porch and looking down at her.
"[F/N].." Kokushibo drawled out as she stumbled onto the main deck. His face appeared emotionless but [F/N] could tell he was angry, The stench he put off evidence of that as his eyes narrowed in on her.
[F/N] bit her tongue as she came to a standstill. She looked up into his eyes yet noticed the bulging vein appearing on the side of his forehead. [F/N] gulped.
"Took you long enough to appear.. Was wondering where you were.. I was starting to think I'd need to drag you here myself.." Kokushibo commented lowly, Tilting his head as he seemed to gauge her appearance.
"..I'm sorry, Kokushibo-sama. I was busy.." [F/N] replied quickly, Trying to make sure the shakiness in her voice wasn't as noticeable as her expression.
Kokushibo's expression didn't shift in the slightest as he stared down at her, Eyes wide yet his lips pressed together in a deep frown. They stood there like that for a moment, [F/N]'s heart feeling like it was about to implode.
It was broken however by the knowing voice of her tormentor, Speaking out a single sentence.
"You tried to run again, Didn't you..?" He interrogated. He lifted a single foot and placed it down, He took a few steps down the short porch steps towards her. Slowly, He made his way down until they were only a metre or so apart.
[F/N] looked down at her feet and away from the blinding glow of his eyes. She steadied her breath no matter how shaky it was. She tried to think of an appropriate answer but the power coming off his aura made her head want to explode.
"Yeah.. I did." [F/N] answered slowly. "I want to get out of here. I don't want to be here."
Kokushibo hummed slowly, A deep reverberation coming out as a near growl within his throat. The way he looked at her sharpened, His gaze could cut through rock and pierced her deeply.
"How many times have I told you.. Being here is for your own good.. You are safe within these walls, You cannot get out.." He emphasised it in that same infantilizing tone, The way he spoke to her made the spark reappear. The one [F/N] desperately tried to hide from him in fear of retribution.
"..I'm sorry. It won't happen again." [F/N] said bluntly, Hoping to get this entire interaction over with as quick as possible and avoid the now burning eyeline of her captor.
He in turn took one more step towards her, Making their already suffocating distance too close for her taste.
"But.. From what I've been made aware of is that you've been out for a while.. Much longer than it should take for you to run the entire way.." Kokushibo pondered as he raised a finger to emphasise his point.
"What can I say? Blocky sandals, See?" [F/N] said, Pointing down to her feet. "Takes me longer to run in these, I thought you knew.." She said as she lied through her teeth.
Kokushibo nodded.
"I suppose you are correct there.. I cannot fault that.. But let me ask you this.." He agreed slowly as his eyes narrowed. [F/N]'s breath stilled as she dared to take a peak at him, Body going rigid on sight as his hand reached out to cup her cheek.
His hand tilted her face up to meet his, [F/N] struggled slightly but it was impossible within his strong hold.
"However if you were running.. Then why didn't you come from behind the shrine? You came from the front.. If you were truly trying to escape then you would've looped around to the back.." Kokushibo whispered, Irises digging into her like the fury of a thousand spears.
Her eyes widened.
[F/N] opened her mouth as she tried to speak, To respond to him with some rational explanation but her tongue felt like it was weighed down by rocks. She felt her stomach turn and twist into knots.
He knew something was up. He knew. Think of something, Say something, [F/N]. You need to explain this somehow, He can't know about you and Akaza or how you're planning to escape. Come on, Think.. THINK!
"I.." She stammered. The voice in her mind screamed and hollered at her to say something, Anything at all to try and explain this. [F/N]'s hands felt more and more clammier each and every second that passed, Her mind came up with blanks.
Kokushibo leaned down further towards her, Eyes like headlights in the fog as he scrutinized every tiny speck of her. Down to the very last atom she was bonded to was made aware of.
"You've found the escape route.. Haven't you?" He mumbled.
"I don't know how you've been able to find it.. Maybe on chance or perhaps you were informed.." The claws that were tracing her cheeks before started to dig in a little more, It took everything [F/N] had not to make a whine or whimper of pain.
Kokushibo's eyes shone brighter.
"But of course.. I made sure to ensure you were completely alone in this place.. So that wouldn't be the case, Correct?" He asked lowly and calmly but the radiation of his soul was akin to a maggot infested corpse, [F/N] knew what he was truly feeling.
Her mouth felt like a desert, The sand of it weighing down her tongue until she couldn't speak anymore. Even if she could she didn't know what to say. How would she get out of this? Would she need to throw Akaza under the bus?
She didn't want to and hell would it impede her escape if not end it but.. If she couldn't think of anything soon then that might be the case. The way Kokushibo was looking at her made her want to shrivel away into a corner more than she already did and she was absolutely horrified.
[F/N] swallowed back her fear as she spoke, Mind blank as her voice guided her along.
"I.. I.. I was informed." [F/N] said slowly as she looked into his eyes. He blinked, Almost surprised.
"..Hm? Really now..?" Kokushibo drawled, Prompting her to go on and see how she would explain her fault.
[F/N] gulped.
"Yes. I was told.." She confirmed, Not just to him but herself as well as she spoke. [F/N] had no idea what she was going to say even now as she started to ramble off.
His eyes narrowed in on her.
"Tell me now and perhaps I might forgive you for your little attempt, Just this once.." Kokushibo promised though it sounded more like a threat as his claws dug in just a little more, Urging her on.
[F/N] tried not to wince at the painful sensation. She looked deep into the eyes of which seemed to be vast golden oceans, Cold steel looking back at her as she took in a deep breath. A bead of sweat forming on her forehead. Was she really willing to sacrifice another for her own survival?
[F/N] found out as she spoke.
"..It was upper six."
Kokushibo's narrowed eyelids went agape along with the tightening of his lips. The bead of sweat dropped from her brow and onto the deck below as the oxygen in her lungs slowly departed.
He seemed to be thinking over her words. His own Tsuguko, The one he had so generously appointed to watch over his beloved little sister tried to help her escape from his grasp? [F/N] could only wonder what was going on inside his head.
"Upper six directed me where to go. He approached me a while back and told me you sent him to watch me, He said he didn't want me here because he didn't like observing me all the time." [F/N] said slowly, Making sure it sounded right.
[F/N]'s skittish expression formed back into a normal cold faced expression, Well, It was as stable as a toothpick tower but it was something. She still wasn't out of the woods yet, Whether he would believe her or not was up to a coin toss of fate.
Whether he believed her or not meant life or death.
"Upper six.. You are saying that he has been assisting you this entire time?" Kokushibo repeated, His eyes scanning over her body with a hawk-eye that could rival the bird itself.
"Yes.. He did. I'm sorry for listening to him.. Kokushibo-sama." [F/N] said as she felt the pounding of her heart against her ribcage, Drumming and beating almost as if it would expose her words for what they really were.
Kokushibo hummed slightly as the grip on her cheek got excruciatingly painful.
"…And.. You're telling the truth, You understand what will happen if I find out you are lying.. Right? It would end rather.. Horrendously" He asked again.
The threat was a burning inferno kept behind the closed door of his stoic tone, One where she could feel the heat licking at her skin and ready to engulf her at any given moment. It was burning, Absolutely scorching.
"Yes.. I understand and that's why I would never lie to you. I don't want to deal with the consequences." [F/N] said, Bowing her head down to meet her feet, Eyes fixed on her sandals not wanting to see his reaction and hide hers.
She didn't breathe. She waited on baited breath for what felt like hours, Days even. The cold air felt like the antarctic wind against her skin and ran a bone-chilling shiver down her spine. But [F/N] kept a poker face, Despite all odds her face made no move or twitch.
Kokushibo sighed before speaking.
"I'm glad you we're able to be honest with me, Little one.. I will deal with this soon.." Kokushibo said finally, Letting go of her cheek and taking a step back from her to let her breathe. [F/N] in turn quietly let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding.
She bowed once.
"Thank you.. Kokushibo-sama." [F/N] said, Her shoulders relaxing as she did. She felt as if she dodged the bullet of the century, Out of the woods and home free. Metaphorically of course, He wasn't that gracious.
"You won't try running back to the ledge.. Will you? You understand how fruitless an endeavour would be to try and escape from there.." He asked once more, His gaze still soft yet sharpened by an inch as he asked.
It didn't go unnoticed. [F/N] knew it well and took no time in nodding right back in response.
"..Yes. I.. I saw it and I understand.. I.. Won't be getting out anytime soon, I know that now.." [F/N] said, Trying to seem as defeated as possible in her tone and body language. Lowering her shoulders and her head drooping downwards.
Kokushibo stood there in silence for a second, Taking in her words. "Good.." He finally spoke, Nodding once in approval though he didn't smile or make any positive gesture. His face was still contorted in a disappointed scowl though it wasn't as harsh as it was.
"You have interrupted me during my feeding and I wish to return to it.. Now run off back inside.. And for your own good I hope you stay in there." Kokushibo said as he turned back. His arm lightly brushing her's as he passed her by.
A light shiver came by at the cold, Slow feeling of his forearm dragging past her. [F/N] didn't dare to turn around as he stalked past her, Her face as motionless as a statue as she waited for her.
"Be good.. Don't try anything else, I will know if you do.."
It was the last thing he said. The last thing [F/N] heard before a turn in the wind and the sudden lightening in weight of the dock. She didn't need to look around to know he had left, Leaving only the lingering vile stench of his soul to lilt in the air.
[F/N]'s body instantly relaxed, Her shoulders slumped and her head drooping to the side in relief. Her heart was still pounding in her chest yet it started to stutter and slow until it was a simple rhythmic beat in her ribcage.
"Thank Inari.." [F/N] sighed lightly under her breath. She had survived that somehow, Whether he believed it or not was a completely different matter but for now he had bought it.
Despite the fact she lied pooling in the depths of her stomach, Even if it was necessary it still left her with a nasty aftertaste. But that didn't matter, Her relief outweighed her disgust right now.
Hopefully, With any form of luck that would take the Upper six out of the picture. Maybe Kokushibo would deem him as a failure and behead the guy. Though, Even if she hadn't met him [F/N] still felt a little bad.
Whatever. She thought to herself.
[F/N] knew that it didn't matter anymore, She had done the right thing. He was a demon and it didn't matter whether he was beheaded or not, It was probably for the best too.
Besides, This would help her escape immensely. She would be able to get around without the threat of being spied on or not, She wouldn't need to worry about who was watching her without permission.
From her list step one was completed. At least half of it anyways, She had a route out and a plan to make the exit. [F/N] huffed a little, She was lucky at least, The things she use to do in her childhood seemed to come in handy after all.
Next up, She needed to find the sword and mask. She wasn't sure whether they were being kept within the shrine or somewhere else, That was her main concern. Right now though her next course of action would be to rest.
Pushing open the heavy doors of the shrine they came ajar with a creak, Stepping inside she was greeted with the emptiness of the hallway once more. [F/N] almost expected the chatter of Kakushi and the sound of muffled laughter among the hallways.
But as usual it was silent. Nothing but the scuttling of spiders and the settling of the old structure to keep her company, [F/N] didn't know why she expected anything different as it had been like that for the past while.
It brought her back to what happened before she got here. The people she use to talk to and the people she adored and cared about. Mitsuri, Her face was the first to appear along with others in similar fashion.
[F/N] wondered if they missed her at all, How things could of changed since she left. Wondered if Mitsuri had gotten over her death yet. [F/N] hoped so, Mitsuri deserves happiness and it brought her back to the time they were so young, New slayers going on missions.
Memories came back to her. [F/N] remembered how Mitsuri blew her first pay check on cherry blossom mochi and pork cutlets, They had laughed about it all night. She remembered how they stayed up all night to look at the stars, To speak of made up stories ingrained in them all until they fell asleep.
[F/N] didn't know what would happen when she got out of here, How Mitsuri would react to her being alive. Would she cry? Would she be angry with [F/N]?
She did get Seijun to wrestle her out of the shrine.. The way her face looked so scared back then, It was the last expression [F/N] knew of Mitsuri before she was taken.
[F/N] shook it off however, In whatever way Mitsuri would think of her once she was back with the corps [F/N] just hoped it would be positive. That maybe she would get to say those words, The ones she had been wanting to say more than anything.
As she took a few quiet steps down the hall, Her movements were shaky and swaying with every little settlement of her foot. [F/N] felt the weight of the day or night fall down onto her shoulders once more, Making them slump.
It wasn't an oddity. She had been much tired than usual lately, Even being exhausted when she just woke up or just doing menial tasks. Her body feeling like a worn out paper doll, Just yearning for the embrace of her bedsheets.
If she wanted to search for the mask and the sword then she would need her energy to do it. That and she needed to wait for Akaza to return with the materials she would need to construct her exit.
So as she dragged her feet down the hallway and her mind half-asleep, [F/N] knew that it was for the best if she went to bed. If she wanted to go searching for her stuff then she needed to do it on a full nights rest.
Hauling open the shoji door to her room she stumbled inside like a new-born fawn. She barely bothered to take off the green lotus pattern of her kimono, Only tossing it to the side once she pulled it off herself.
[F/N] collapsed onto the bed, Her body melting into that of a puddle as soon as the mattress caressed her skin. Her laboured breathing starting to slow into a drift as her mind did the same, Floating off into the dark unconscious of her mind.
The last thing she wondered was what dream she would appear in again. Would it be the cold wasteland of the blizzard or the warm embrace of the midsummer sun? Would she be faced with that of her other life or that of her past.
She'd find out soon enough. Her eyes fluttered shut and the darkness spread over her vision into a shadowed sea.
It was peaceful, And she begged to Inari that it would stay that way.
Next Chapter
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jugglingjujube · 3 months
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the idea of dying yarn based on the locked tomb has been bouncing around my head for about a year. I haven't because the houses are kinda colour coded so I thought it would be pretty boring but now I'm rotating it in my head again and maybe...
First House: The first house doesn't have assigned colours but I'm a bright ocean blue that is glazed with an orche brown-yellow (kinda like dipping paper in tea to fake age it). This will also make it a little green which is nice.
Second House: Half the skein red, half white. The second house is very regimented so bold colourblocking feel like it fits. I might do narrow striped of something else between the red and white (maybe Pyrrha related) so it's less candy cane.
Third House: Heavily speckled gold and lilac purple on a white base. I can use yarn that has gold stellina so it's shiny. Basically just going for as gilded and shiny as possible.
Fourth House: A deep navy blue and white dyed using some fun techniques for a variegated colourway. Throw some speckles on there maybe for Isaac's hair (the orange would be a good contrast). They're kids so I want it to be fun and explosive and honestly kind of a lot.
Fifth House: Brown and gold is actually a really nice combination and I want to make this somehow intricate like veins of gold on a brown base. Maybe reverse speckling would work?
Sixth House: A very boring put pretty tonal grey. I have actually done this and then proceeded to knit a shirt out of it specifically because it looked like something Camilla Hect would wear.
Seventh House: Pale green with a an very light grey base. I want something very artistic and lovely. Maybe some speckles in a darker green because this colourway will be very pale I considered red speckles for coughing up blood but I don't think I'll go there.
Eighth House: So tempted to just use white undyed yarn. The absolutely slightest hint of a beige tonal. One of those extremely neutral colours that the Scandinavian knitters love to use on plain sockinettte sweaters.
Ninth House: I'm trying so hard not to make it just black. Maybe have some sections of red (Gideon's hair) so we get some variations of undertones to the black. Probably won't work but maybe I'll try it.
So now I ... might actually dye these. Stay tuned (it might be a few months)
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justatalkingface · 10 months
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You ever notice how quirklessness shouldn't exist in My Hero Academia. It doesnt add anything to the story. if you gave izuku a quirk that allowed him to change the colour of his hair or alter the number of freckles he has on his face, nothing in the story would chang.
Him being ostracised wasn't because of him being quirkless but because he was seen as a creepy otaku who kept personal notes on other people's biology.
People telling him he can't be a hero despite his dreams could just as easily stem from him having an extremely mundane quirk.
Other than Izuku no other characters seemingly faced any problems from being quirkless. Mirio was still extremely capable when he lost his quirk and was still able to continue on at UA without losing his status as one of the big 3. Melissa Shield didn't face any issues because of her quirklessness.
the worst thing to happen was to Pixie-Bob and that was the Wild Wild Pussy Cats decline in the rankings because they, objectively speaking, couldn't perform to the same standard as before.
The MLF aren't anti qurikless so much as they are anti weakness, wanting to be able to freely use their quirks with some kind of Might makes Right mentality.
Quirklessness only serves the purpose of making Izuku an underdog and that could be easily replicated with a mundane quirk. There is the whole only quirkless people can weird OFA thing now but that has been retroactively added to explain why the quirk isn't being given to someone else.
In a world that values quirks above all else being Quirkless should be a massive deal. Quirklessness should have a huge focus in my hero academia just from implication alone that 20% of the population is "biologically inferior" to 80% even if that inferiority in most cases is extremely negligible, but preceived biological superiority over meaningless differences has caused devastating wars in real life.
Melissa Sheild, despite who her father is, despite the quality of her work, she should face issues for being quirkless in a field that doesn't require a quirk at all, her work seen as somehow inferior with her needing to put in twice the effort for half the exposure.
Mirio and pixie-bob should have been blindsided by their newfound treatment for being quirkless.
But quirklessness doesn't really matter in canon MHA it's only there to showcase a Zero to Hero story with the main character.
20% of the entire world's population is quirkless, if its the same number as our own (low-balling cause its 200 years in the future not the present) at 8 billion then there is roughly 1.6 billion naturally quirkless people in the world. An absolutely massive demographic of people.
Yet there is only 4 quirkless people in the show, with 2 being made quirkless via special bullet or had their quirk stoled by AFO.
I genuinely believe that the concept of people being quirkless is so meaningless that it actually hurts the story and that the show, as it is presented in canon would be better if 100% of the population has quirks.
TLDR: Nothing is done with quirklessness. It's redundant, underutilised and meaningless. Anything quirklessness truly does for the story can be replicated by mundane quirks. I have no idea why the concept of quirklessness isn't explored and wonder why the author wrote about it at all.
Hmm. Beyond wanting to defend early Izuku, there's two ways to look at this: Quirklessness form a lore perspective, and as a story element.
The thing is that, lore-wise? Quirkless makes sense as a thing. Quirks are, what, only a couple hundred years old? Not only that, but the way that they escalated both in power, and commonality? If I had to guess, Quirks probably became 'common' maybe... a hundred years ago, and then things escalated to now, where Quirks are the standard. There's a place within the foundation of the setting itself for there to be a small population of people who are 'normal' in a world of abnormals.
Beyond that, I saw this in a fanfic somewhere and I haven't forgotten this concept: 20% is for the population as a whole. But, if you were to break it down by ages? Quirkless, in all likelihood, is an 'affliction' of the old, because Quirks are always more plentiful and powerful in each newer generation. The reason why we see all of three Quirkless people in story (beyond Hori laziness) is that, in all honesty? Izuku, Aoyama and Melissa are probably the last of a dying breed; within a generation or two, max, I'd expect will be no more Quirkless people born (you know, if the Quirk SIngularity, as in one or two stupidly powerful beings, don't accidently the human race, or people broadly become so powerful to the point where they become ungovernable and society collapses (or if, as some people theorize, Hori just doesn't axe Quirks somehow at the end of the story)).
Tying this back into Izuku? Well, first off, 'Izuku the creepy otaku' fanon really isn't a thing. The, at times infamous, notebook? It's called 'For My Future, Hero Analysis'. Bakugou is offended by it, and burns it, because their a sign of Izuku's ambition to be a hero, which he hates because he loathes Izuku. There's nothing there about... like, his classmates, as far as we can tell, there's just the idea of Izuku even vaguely possibly going near heroics, which would besmirching Bakugou's 'origin story', and thus it must be put down. That's what offended him, and no one else even cared about it.
(And, while I'm on the topic of this kind of fanon, even if you didn't actually bring it up: Izuku the stalker, or Izuku following around Bakugou is also bullshit. When they were little, little kids they were kind of sort of friends, and Izuku followed him then, as part of a group, but after the Quirks came in Bakugou turned on Izuku. Every time we've seen them since he was, what, five? Izuku is avoiding Bakugou, to the best of his abilities, which is complicated by them being in the same class. When they were in the same area he was always cringing, ducking, curling up, all defensive behaviors, because Izuku doesn't want to follow Bakugou, he's afraid of him, and for good reason.
Until well into their time in UA, Bakugou is the only one to initiate any sort of interact with Izuku, and Izuku only responses to him.)
Like, I'm looking at Chapter One right now: the reason all the kids are bullying him? Beyond Bakugou, the most popular kid in school with the same energy as the game winning quarterback the faculty panders to, actively bullying him and everyone following the leader? Izuku is weak, helpless to resist Bakugou's words (which are backed by technically illegal force, as they all know), and is basiclly getting above himself by daring to dream of being a hero when he has no Quirk. Explicitly, the bullying is focused around his Quirklessness.
I mean, hell, there's at least one mediocre Quirk in the room with that kid with the long fingers; while it's more useful than your freckles example, he's really not going to be a hero off a Quirk like that. Yet, the teacher says that everyone wants to be a hero, and everyone cheers... except Izuku, who is trying not to get noticed. I doubt anyone thinks Long Fingers Kid can ever be a hero, but he can dream that apparently universal dream, the same way most kids dream of being rich and famous, even if the know that they'll probably never be any such thing. Izuku, though? He's not allowed that dream.
Meanwhile, there's Aoyama, who we don't get much information on because Post War, but apparently his life was so miserable that his parents basiclly sold their souls to AFO just to get him a Quirk and thus societal acceptance.
Melissa Shield is an outlier on that dynamic of 'Quirklessness is something that society mocks and beats down on', because she's happy and apparently well adjusted, but there's some things about her which throws that metric off; most fundamentally, she's not from Japan. We don't know what it's like in the U.S., but we know that MHA Japan seems unchanged (bizarrely so, you'd really expect all these upheavals and advanced technology to cause more major changes), beyond Quirks and Heros, from our Japan, and from my understanding (though I'll admit I'm hardly an expert) Japan is generally less accepting of those who fall outside of societal norms, and more tolerant of things like bullying. Whatever it's like to be Quirkless in the U.S. could just be... nicer, than what it's like in Japan, which is canonly shit by all accounts.
And, while we don't see much of her life, the fact that her father's first instinct is to comfort her is telling that it is seen negatively there, at least to some extent. So, with all that in mind, I don't see Melissa as disproving the 'Quirklessness is bad' concept, she's just specifically lucky in not being around a Bakugou, along with being in what is likely to be a more welcoming environment in America and I-Island, along with the fact that we literally don't know her life. For all we know she was bullied for it to some extent, and it just wasn't as bad as Izuku had it.
The fact her work is more accepted than it should be... again, we don't actually know what American/I-Island society is like; maybe she did have to jump through more hoops, and we don't see it. Maybe she 'earned' her place a while ago, and was accept despite her Quirklessness because she's that good. Maybe her scientist father lends her legitimacy/protection from such things. There's a lot of ways to explain that off, but if I'm being honest I don't think that's something Hori actually put thought into, so I'm not surprised her backstory and what shaped her is unknown/more or less non-existent.
On the other hand, Mirio is in a completely different situation than someone born Quirkless, because he had a Quirk. He was a hero, he has a history of success, and had that taken away from him. Of course he's going to be treated differently!
He was normal, is the thing, and so from that lense the natural thing people would think of him isn't contempt for a lesser, but pity. If you look at Quirklessness as a disability, than while Izuku has, what, a birth defect(? Not really sure there's a good example to use, here), Mirio is a veteran with a missing leg.... though, again, after he loses his Quirk he's put on a bus until he gets it back, and even then he's barely there, so... we don't actually know how he was treated.
And all of that brings us to the other way to look at Quirklessness: as a story element. This is the end where so many complaints come from, and it's clear it's an element Hori dropped, and wanted to be forgotten, a long time ago. I've said it before, but MHA is a story with the bones of a completely different story in it; so much of early MHA is built around a lower key, lower power leveled dynamic, in the same vein as the one shot with the older Izuku who never gets a Quirk, one that was rapidly phased out for the newer flashier story... but it was never removed properly, and it suffers from that incomplete separation.
It's the same reason that Izuku gets through the Sports Festival largely with his wits, but not too long after he goes on the field trip and the only way he can deal with Muscular is with raw power, even though (as pointed out by @kingvamps a while ago in a comment) he has, like, a designated weak spot in his eye, literally a, 'hit here to beat him' area, which could have been used as the way a much weaker (Quirkless) Izuku could have beaten his much stronger opponent (if, admittedly, a version that is maybe less overwhelmingly powerful than what we see in canon), perhaps with some help from Kota: because the Sports Festival still has those bones from the original story, planned around that dynamic, where Izuku was presumably Quirkless, and so has to solve his problems with his mind, where by the time we meet Muscular we've completely moved past that into the new story, where, if it was possible, Izuku was never really Quirkless at all, and even if he was it never really mattered to him. Now let's watch him punch good!
(For the record, I'll point out that around that time period is where we transition from Bakugou having some (not enough) consequences to his actions/attitude, to his attitude suddenly being great and awesome, and isn't it funny how that works out?
You can see the bones, again, where Bakugou being a bad person was actually relevant in some earlier draft of MHA, until we reached the point where he was either written out of the story all together, and thus Hori was writing him without that guideline, or his role just became much more important and had to be altered accordingly, and so he, and how people reacted to him, changed out of nowhere to the new standard that has continued from then onwards.
The fact that Izuku's Quirklessness and how it affected him, and his traumatic backstory as a whole, would reflect negatively on Bakugou if it was focused on at all, who at that point seemed to be promoted in the manga's storyline is probably connected on some level to the fact that those factors also stopped being relevant. Though, admittedly, I doubt that that's the only reason why Quirklessness was phased out of the plot, I don't think it's an insignificant reason for it either. While this is technically correct and relevant, it's also something I think is a bit too off topic, so I'll leave it at this for now.)
You're right that, in this final product we've been given, outside of one or two chapters that could have been edited, there's no actual relevance with Izuku originally being Quirkless. It is, for all intents and purposes, a useless story element... but it shouldn't be. There is so much potential to exploring it, so much that could have been done to develop Izuku, Bakugou, and just the setting as a whole, that could have made everything deeper, and more interesting, and one of the biggest problems with the story is this, that a fundamental part of the main character was deemed inconvenient and abandoned.
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ozuk-authentic · 5 days
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Before I review more pride flags, just wanted to say that you can recommend me to check out flags that I haven't done. I won't do flags I've done (for obvious reasons) or variations of flags I've done before (minus more extreme cases with the polyamerous flag).
Today, I'll be doing the Abrosexual flag, Polysexual flag, Queer platonic flag and Monosexual flag.
Starting with the Abrosexual flag.
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First things first, the flag looks tasty. It looks like those watermelon shaped gummies. Colours are absolutely beautiful like just pure gorge 🤩. Just really good but I am starting to ḑ̴̞͛̒ẹ̿͋̒̕s̠҉͍͊ͅp̞̈͑̚͞ỉ͔͖̜͌s̠҉͍͊ͅẹ̿͋̒̕ t̵̏͛̃̍́̈̚͜͝ȟ̸̨̯̲̝̳͓͎̭͖͊̄̔̽̓̂̋̇̋̀̕̚͜ẹ̷͓̺̰̽̍͛̉̐̔͋̓̚͜ l̷̢̨̨̫̼͙̞͉̗͉̖̲̖̞̿̉i̵̢̢̡͚̩̞̥͕̜̻̫̩̐̈͘͜️ṉ̵͓̬͈̞̥̭̥̇̓̔͋ẹ̷͓̺̰̽̍͛̉̐̔͋̓̚͜️ş̵̛̳̍̃̏͆̏̂̎͌͘͝͝͝͝.
9/10
Polysexual flag up next.
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It's just basically a discount Pansexual flag that both has worse colours and looks less appetizing.
5/10
Now it's the Queerplatonic flag.
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I don't know what to say. It is a good flag with not much to write about.
7/10
Finally, the Autosexual flag.
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You can't convince me this isn't just a depressed Ukrainian flag. I'm not sorry. Pride flags are already lines on top of each other and you can't even do more than two. The only good thing about this is that, since it ain't actually trying anything, it also ends up not being too bad.
5/10
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djuvlipen · 8 months
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Once I got into an argument with a white, Spanish leftist, and he told me that Europe was very different from America, that poverty wasn't as racialized in Europe as it is in America, where Black Americans make up the largest portion of the working class.
And what I failed to explain to him and what I wish leftists would understand is that poverty is indeed racialized in Europe. Romani people make up the bulk of Europe's poorest working class.
80% of Romani people live at risk of poverty, compared with an EU average of 17%. (x)
Romani people are one of the demographics the most impacted by human and sex trafficking, and I am saying 'one of the most' because not enough studies have been released on the matter but it's very likely they are the most impacted by trafficking.
The paid work rate for Romani people, aged 20 to 64, is 43 %, much lower than the EU average (70 %) (x), and in Greece, Romani women have been shown to being paid lower wages than non-Romani women. (x) The reason I am only mentioning Greece is because it's the only country where such a study has been carried, but there is no reason to believe Greece is an isolated outlier here.
Romani people's life expectancy is estimated to be 10 years lower than non-Romani people's, in every European country. (x)
Romani people have been enslaved in almost every European countries. (x)
I am white-passing and my family isn't really big on cultural traditionalism: while growing up I never experienced actual racism for my skin colour. The one thing where my being Romani was blatant was in the extremely dire living conditions my family was living in. The white working class can't relate, to be honest I haven't met anyone who can relate to this but other Romani people. Things like this are ever present: your life prospects, and that of your relatives and closed ones, are non existant, and you're being made aware of it; your relatives are all factory workers or unemployed; they have alcohol and drug addiction and deep yet untreated mental illnesses. They die before turning 65. The houses are bad: it's decaying, there are short or long periods of time when you have no electricity nor hot water, it's insalubrious. It's just part of your daily life so you don't really notice it. Administrative papers are never done on time because you don't have that administrative literacy skill and your relatives usually didn't get into higher education if they ever graduated high school at all.
And when I tell this to white working class people they always scold me because while they were poor, they were not that poor. Only other Romani people could relate. The way I relate to my being Romani is through an economic class perspective, because I look white and to me being oppressed for being Romani has always been more about being relegated to the most impoverished social class in Europe, the Romani working class. Once I saw a Romani man saying 'Gypsies live like it's still the 1300s and they act so casual about it', and he was right because sometimes you can't even recognize how fucked up your living conditions are because you're just so used to it.
When I say this, people usually think I'm making stuff up or that I am racist against Romani people but no, but that's just how I grow up. I've talked to many other Romani people before and many of them could relate to what I was saying. I've worked with Romani families and I've witnessed poverty times and times again.
Romani people are Europe's proletarian race and we are the ones being made to work menial jobs, we are the ones being trafficked and exploited like slaves to this day, the women are the ones pimps are using to fuel the European sex trade. And no other demographic can relate to that because none of them are as poor as we are, I learned that from how condescending all the other non-Romani people, no matter their social class or race, were to me when I was talking about that issue.
Some people may think I'm lying and making it all up because it sounds unbelievable, maybe, but I don't care because I know how I grew up and the other Romani people I know could also tell you the same thing I just said and at the end of the day even the white Europeans can't deny that all of us, Romani people, are poor as fuck because they love bringing this up to justify killing us. In my country, "Gypsy" is even used as an adjective to talk about something that's very poor or cheap.
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atinyladybug-art · 10 months
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Abirt Kravitz (Dr Bright Rewrite)
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Up-close fullbody:
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My Dr Bright rewrite! I'm so happy to finally get it done! His name is Abirt Kravitz and he's currently the second oldest out of all 5 Kravitz Siblings. He's also O5-7.
Not much have changed since my former Bright designs other than a change from the amulet and I made him look older and fixed his colours a bit more.
There's still other stuff that I haven't decided on- like their anomalies and backstory. And the 963 Design is not permanent. It's what I'm going with right now until I get some better ideas.
Anyways, some fun facts about Abirt:
Xe uses any pronouns!
Has multiple doctorates and masters because he's old and has a lot of free time but he's most well-known for his specialty in history making him a historian!
He has 3 kids but they went missing years ago (a lore of its own).
Dating Simon Glass! They are your local elderly queer couple!
If the name Abirt is familiar then you're right! It's actually the name for Bright in the Bellerverse canon after they all became gods to the new world!
And the O5-7 part came from the newer series where Jack has been written as part of the council. I really like that idea. Being O5-7 specifically came from SCP-5493 and The Foundation is Broke.
Also! The character description is written in the O5 Command Dossier method
Image Text under the cut:
Abirt Kravitz
O5-7 | The Eternal
Genderfluid. Jewish origin. Unknown age though rumoured to have been above 2 centuries. Varying appearance with a favour of accessories and jewelry. Said to have gained immortality from a cursed bloodline.
O5-7 plays the role of personnel director. He is in-charge of overseeing all personnel designation within the Foundation. Is also said to personally run at least 3 different Foundation sites in-person.
Known for their lack of formalities and charisma. Within Foundation staff, however, he is known for his irritability and extreme high expectations.
One of the most active O5s with connections everywhere.
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ehlnofay · 5 months
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a series of outfit concepts for Pax... I find clothing to be such an interesting part of character design and wanted to explore that more for her. especially since he's one of my more fashion-conscious characters. miscellaneous notes and extra doodles under the cut
the first four of these designs are worn in cyrodiil; the last two are from the shivering isles. I haven't done much brainstorming for cyrod fashion so that was something fun to explore - especially with the challenge of keeping to a similar-ish silhouette and with pax's tastes in mind. most inspiration was taken from byzantine fashion, with some influences from roman and celtic garb as well. there was also a fair bit of simply making shit up. (I also had quite a bit of fun fucking with the saturation and colour values a bit in editing: here's the initial image, minus the increased saturation and also with the finger tattoos on the wrong hand because I got left and right mixed up at first. oops.)
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of all my characters, pax is one of the pickiest about how they dress; they don't like fashion at the expense of comfort but they don't like comfort at the expense of fashion, either. he likes bright colours and good quality fabric (ends up stealing and altering a lot of his clothes.) she tends not to wear things with very overt nibenese influences due to her own associations with that style of clothing + nibenese garb tends to have a lot of flowy extra fabric, which she doesn't like. I had a lot of fun trying to explore different ideas, colour palettes, and statement pieces while keeping to roughly similar-ish shapes; for each one I also included slightly different versions of Pax's endless repertoire of jewellery and ways to do their hair.
notes on specific designs: the third one incorporates more of how I picture nibenese fashion, the first one is a reimagining of an outfit i drew them in ages ago, and the second references a piece I wrote and haven't yet published, in which the blades get martin a lot of nice warm clothes, including a long blue tunic (seeing as cloud ruler temple is cold as shit and all he has is a ruined liturgical vestment and some cheap clothes pax stole him during their journey) and pax unceremoniously commandeers most of it. the last two outfits are mostly just self-indulgent - in the state he's in by the time they get to the shivering isles, pax isn't too fussed about appearances, but I wanted to explore what they would wear if they did give a shit. I tried to roughly keep similar elements to the rest of the outfits, with enough tweaks to make it clear that they are very much Of Another Place. I used red as a major tone and colour in both because pax fucking hates it :) (it's the colour of the deadlands, and the mythic dawn robes, and the amulet of kings.)
there were a few more specific things I would have liked to design - in particular a travelling outfit and some concepts for the really fancy garb they take on once they murder their way into a duchy - but those, as well as a breakdown of their armour, are things I would want to give more attention to detail to. so I will do all that separately sometime. however I did do an extra doodle, not included above, of their sleepwear; because it's extremely simple, and because I've never drawn her with her hair down and I really, really wanted to. (even if it's unrealistic; pax mostly sleeps with their hair still up in some finicky arrangement sewn tight enough in place to last for a week.)
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convexicalcrow · 26 days
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after an awful bout of writer's block regarding part three of the lost prince au, tonight i finally started writing something. took long enough to work out where the second half needed to go and what needed addressing, esp since i hit them with the grief stick in the interludes lol. so obvs dealing with that is clearly the main focus.
i've rejected a lot of potential plot points but i think i now finally have a plot that's going to work for where they are and what they need to deal with to get that good character growth. plus i get to do moar pixandrian lore worldbuilding wooo.
extremely sketchy 'i wrote this in 18 mins and haven't even edited it' exerpt below the cut if you're interested. still needs a ton of work, but having it started is really helping me visualise where to go next.
It had been too long since they'd arrived in Djesdjes, or so Cub thought. He was almost getting to like the place. He had settled into the rhythm of the temple now that he'd recovered, and was enjoying simply being able to serve and do nothing else. Just give his life over to the gods and perform the rites as he'd been taught. In between, he'd done whatever work needed doing, and when he was free, spent time with Scar down by the lakeside, or wandering through the markets, just enjoying being somewhat normal and in the company of people who spoke his language.
He was down by the lake again. He knew very well that he had to keep going, but his heart wasn't really in it. Not right now, anyway. That Wag festival had really messed him up. It had let out all that grief, and he hadn't really known what to do with it, save for spending too many late nights talking it out with Scar and Ma'akhi. Had it really helped? Not really. He'd still lost everything. Nothing would change that.
Sure, he had a new horse, and new tack, and he'd been able to replace his palette and get more papyrus, but it wasn't the same. Not yet, it wasn't. This new palette was a different shape. It didn't have Djehuty's name on it. It had four colours, not two. The reed pens were made from slightly thicker reed than he was used to. All small and insignificant things, to be fair, but they weren't his. And he wasn't quite in the right headspace to accept it yet. So, maybe, when night fell, he took his horse, left a note for Scar, and rode back to the place he'd left behind. He needed to see the Vigil and see the Copper King once more.
-
Was it more dangerous riding at night? Oh, sure. Though at least the moon was almost full, so there was just about enough light to see as he followed the road back to the Copper King's mountain. Was this a stupid thing to do? Cub wasn't sure. Didn't really care, either. Just knew he needed to go back there. He needed to see the Vigil. He arrived just after dawn, riding up to the gates just as the shifts were switching over.
"I seek entrance to the Copper King's mines!" Cub called.
"Who asks to be admitted?" one of the guards replied.
"The wanderer known as Cub. I have met the Copper King before. He invited me to return if I needed it. I have come from Djesdjes," Cub said.
"Oh, yes, I remember you! Please, do come in," another guard said. "I'm glad better weather brought you to us this time."
"Indeed, indeed. All praise to Ra for the good weather," Cub said, backing up his horse a little as the gates were opened. His horse startled a little at the drumming that followed, but he managed to calm her down and rode through the gates with the previous shift following along behind him.
One fo the guards caught up to him. "Do you need an escort to show you around? I'm assuming you'll head for the stables?"
"Yes, yes, I'll leave my horse there if that's okay. And do let him know I've arrived. I don't know how long I'll stay, though," Cub said.
"Oh, he'll know from the drumming, don't worry. We use them to communicate because we can hear them all over the city here. Come, I'll show you the stables," the guard said.
-
"Cub? Come on, we're late for morning rite!"
Scar said as he poked his head into Cub's sleeping quarters. He saw nothing save for a rolled up piece of papyrus on his bed.
"Oh, that rapscallion! I hope he hasn't run off somewhere! I'll never find him now!" Scar said, picking up the papyrus. He unrolled it and read the note Cub had left. "'Gone to see the Copper King. Sorry. Needed to get out of Djesdjes. Back in a few days.' Well, this is unacceptable! How dare he go on an adventure without me! Jellie, come on, we're going to see this Copper King as well!"
-
Scar found Ma'akhi about to start the procession to the temple. He would miss being in the temple, but he had a feeling Cub would need him.
"Ma'akhi, where does this Copper King live? Cub's gone to see him, but I don't know where he lives!" Scar said.
"Oh! Go out the west gate and follow the trade route. That should get you there in a day or so. It's a large mountain with gates on each side surrounded by wheat fields. It's very hard to miss. I take it you'll be staying with him until you return?" Ma'akhi said.
"Yes, of course! I think he just needed to get out of town for a bit, you know? I can tell he's going through a lot right now. Hopefully we'll be back sooner rather than later," Scar said.
"Good luck, and be kind to each other, yeah? May Netjer travel with you," Ma'akhi said.
"Thank you! Send my regards to Djehuty!" Scar said.
-
Cub left his horse in the stables under the care of the horse master, and took up the guard's offer to take him to the Vigil. Cub still wasn't sure why he felt so drawn to it, but he wasn't about to complain. He'd forgotten how...
It's not that the Vigil was a dark place, necessarily. It was in a large, brightly lit cave that opened to the sky, surrounded by houses carved into the rock. It had space. The running water from the fountain in the middle was soothing and cool, taking away from the heat that was starting to come in from the outside. But there were candles everywhere, in so many different colours, sizes, and shapes.
"I wondered if I might find you here," the Copper King said, coming to stand beside him.
"I dunno, something just- I felt like I needed to be here," Cub said.
The Copper King laughed. "The ancestors will do that sometimes, yes."
"I've been dreaming. Bad dreams. Akhu dreams. Like-..." Cub sighed.
"I take it that Wag festival really stirred up a few things, hey? I've heard it can do that," the Copper King said.
Cub nodded. "Do you know how hard it is to grieve when you can't say their names? I don't even know what I'll do if I get back to the Two Lands. What's really left for me there?"
"I guess that's a question you can only really answer once you go there. I have heard stories of rebuilding, though, from other traders. Khemenu became a sanctuary. You may want to go there first. It might do you good to stay there a while and get your bearings before you think about going elsewhere. The Governor there is a kind man. I know, because we've only recently reopened our trade routes back to the Two Lands. We're planning to go again in a month. If you're still around by then, maybe you can join us when we pass through Djesdjes. We'd love to have your company," the Copper King said.
"Yeah, maybe. I dunno. I know Scar wants to leave soon. I kinda do, but also, I still feel like I need to stay in Djesdjes for a while. Mentally, I still need to recover. But I find it impossible to explain that to him. He doesn't understand," Cub said.
"Well, he won't if you never try to explain it. But I do know what you mean. From what little you've told me about your life, I can't imagine trying to readapt to any kind of normal life after that. Take your time. I might not know much about healing, but what I do know is that you'll do yourself more harm if you go before you're ready. Do you need some time alone with the Vigil?" the Copper King said.
"Yeah, maybe. It's not that I can't talk to my akhu in Djesdjes, but you know-"
"You like the anonymity of being here more, I get it. Stay as long as you like. I'll be around if you need me," the Copper King said.
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smoozie · 12 days
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...life series ace attorney au?
colour me intrigued.
I've already explained the jist of it here and expanding on some defense/prosecutor duos I enjoy here
I am so excited to talk abt this!! Feel free to ask more questions! I'm using this ask as an excuse to talk abt design ideas regarding the lawyers!
Starting off with Gem, whose design I've already finished!! She has a similar silhouette to Apollo's angsty Dual Destinies design with her (green) jacket over her shoulders because of the shawl(?) In her hc10 skin and witch skin. I gave her a white button up with a yellow tie since a lot of her skins have yellow/gold accents. I also gave her a corset because of the corset for her empires skin (now sure what season, I haven't watched her empires u-u). I've given her a single glove as a reference to her hc10 skin and to Athena's single glove, since I think Athena and her share some fun similarities. Finally she has some grey pants (Capcom give these lawyer women pants!!) And brown dress boots.
Unfortunately, Gem's design was the easiest for me! I'm trying to keep the defense side relatively simple as you'll notice in aa they tend to be (rip Athena). I don't want everyone in a basic suit tho so I am trying to mix things up a bit. Would love some suggestions! As for the others, I have some ideas
Scott's S1 Empires skin is actually perfect! It's that multicolored tunic that could easily be depicted as a suit jacket with a white dress shirt underneath. Could be fun to mess around with what kind of shirt he's in or a neck accessory besides a tie. Other than that I haven't got much for him. Ace attorney lawyers also tend to be strongly color coded, so a multicolored suit may break that aa feel, but uh it's more fun <3. I may end up playing around with the colors anyway.
Mumbo's design is actually the easiest. I had more fun with Gem, hence why she was done first, but Mumbo is already wearing his ace attorney suit design lol. I kinda want to play around with it a bit more, but I may end up settling on his self imposed aa design.
Scar has an extremely unique problem for me where he actually has too many fun lawyer-adjacent skins. Particularly his hc8 and limited life skins. They are both very iconic to me but would be difficult to actually mesh into one deisgn. Additionally I ADORE the color pallette of his secret life skin (og, but red is good too) but I'm not sure if I could include it. Altogether Scar is the hardest!! If I pick one route I feel like I'm losing so many possibilities! And I don't want to just copy one skin of his, like Gem I want their to be numerous references to different skins. May have to study the aa wiki defense attorneys to get some better in-universe outfit ideas.
I've been having some trouble with Grian as I wanted to include his iconic sweater without breaking the prosecutor vibe. The prosecution tends to have more wild or whimsical (see Nahyuta) designs. However, I think Grian may end up on the more simple side of the prosecutor spectrum, Edgeworth is a more simple prosecutor anyway and Grian is Edgeworth-adjacent. Come to think of it tho, his poultry man skin looks stupidly similar to Gregory Edgeworth. Could do smth with that maybe hmmm.
Etho's design is actually pretty straightforward from his skin. And he only has one to work with haha. What I'm picturing looks a lot like Godot's outfit, he even has a mask on lol. I'm probably gonna try to make it pretty unique, but it is hard to resist the urge to just turn those sleeves into a button up and that green into a suit vest.
Joel is one I'm trying to play around with more. I've perused his skins and haven't had any stand out as super lawyer-y. His default is fun enough to work with tho! Gem's comment of his weird vest thing as a corset is making me consider giving him a corset (he and Gem can match!). I'm trying to distinguish him from Shrek as much as possible while still keeping recognizable elements from his default. All in all I think he'll be fun.
CLEO oh BOY am I excited for Cleo. I'm thinking a lot of Franziska's silhouette with Cleo, focussing on extravagant sleeves, particularly relating to that blue dress skin of Cleo's. I'm also thinking of Nahyuta's detailing. Cleo's skins, to me, give the perfect amount of inspo without spelling anything out. I'll probably stick to her usual color pallette, but playing around with her 80s skin colors could be fun! Cleo is very exciting for me!
Finally, Pearl. When it comes to Pearl's design, her top aa influence is Barok van Zieks. I adore his cape and would really like to use it as a reference to scarlet Pearl. I also really like his soldier-esc getup underneath it, and while I wouldn't go as heavy handed with it, I am tempted to take some bits. I also really like Lana Skye for Pearl as a design reference, but mostly for her sprites. Pearl will not be crazy corrupt like her, but I would like to draw some parallels
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nogenderbee · 1 year
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Accidental body-swap with Albedo, Tighnari
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Albedo always warned you how his experiments can be dangerous and today's one was supposed to be extremely dangerous when 2 people are around so he got something to focus your attention on in hopes you won't be bored. Of course he placed you next to a fireplace and gave you a blanket, and overally anything you'd need.
But he was taking a really long time. He said it can take him some time but it's literally getting dark outside and you were getting worried, so you decided to check on your lover. At first you knocked softly but when you didn't received the answer you came in and peeked behind your boyfriend which scared him a little and made him add more ingredient than he wanted to his potion, and shortly after, white light blinded you, and once it stopped, you were in you boyfriend's body.
"YN, why did you come in here? I told you not to do it."
"Sorry, I was just worried about you..."
"I can see that, I haven't came out in a while so I guess it's partially my fault too. I guess I'll start preparing the antidotum now... Although it can take me some time so it'll be easier for both of us if we accept our fate for now."
Of course he's interested in doing some research about you while he's in your body but he quickly realizes he should focus on more important things, and he won't do any experiments without your permission.
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Tighnari always gave you his lectures on hiw you should be more careful while wandering around Sumeru Forests. But today you had commission to find some Zaytun Peach for cookies and you even got some as addition to your normal reward you agreed on earlier. So of course you wanted to share them with your lover in hopes he'll like it.
He didn't noticed anything strange when you first handed him the cookies so he decided to try it. I mean, sure, his senses were tingling but he usually let's his guard down around you, so he ignores his feeling. And not long after both of you tried those cookies, everything started spinning, and after that, you found yourself in not your body. It was naturally that you instantly panicked but someone in your bidy was calm and also a little... annoyed?
"Alright! First of all, don't panic. It appeared we switched bodies. Second of all, did you used some fruits that looked like Zaytun Peach for those cookies?"
"Well... I didn't baked them! I just found the ingredients...!"
"That's even worse, YN... I'll return us to normal after around 3 hours since I'm still pretty busy and I hope it'll be a good lesson for you."
He'll be busy with all his work, so he'll stay inside his house and avoid going out for the next 3 hours, although the only only ones that will know about your body-swap are Collei and maybe Cyno if he happened to pay him a visit this day. After he's done tho, he'll prepare the medicine that will turn you back to normal. But once you're in your bodies again, he'll give you a classic lecture on how you should listen to him and be careful. And if you played with his tail or ears while you were in his body, he'll also mention hiw you should be more respectful but it's really hard to take him seriously while his tails is slightly wagging and there's light pink colour on his face.
❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉
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dark-is-d3ad · 5 months
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Moving AU, part 3, anyone? Haven't got a tv and a ps5 like Ghost, but I do have some lights now (gosh my own headcanon made me want them so bad, why do I do this to myself).
Part 1, part 2, part 2.5 - context.
• A few days later it really starts getting on Ghost's nerves. Even with help from Gaz and Roach, a lot of their stuff isn't sorted yet, and they're both tired of it already. He's used to order, his home was always organised, and this is nowhere near it, and it won't be for foreseeable future. So, he does the only sane thing every adult person should do in this situation: holes up on the sofa and goes on a gaming binge.
• Ghost's sofa is black (of course), huge, and it's just a sofa. No plead, no pillows. A comfy one, yes, but to Soap it looks kinda empty. Well, given that its owner only has one chair to his name, Johnny knows better than to expect something else. Yet, he kind of wants to sneak in a couple of pillows, and is very surprised when Ghost protects his space with ferocity of a wild cat. No funny colours on his sofa of doom, not even a smidge. Johnny's slightly upset, but he's not giving up on the plan.
• He starts by fucking around. Then sits down to play Diablo with Ghost in the evening. Brings a plead and a nice mustard-coloured pillow in a little while, just to make himself comfy for the time being, OK? It's fucking cold. And then he conveniently forgets them there. Several days of shenanigans after, Ghost concedes.
"Pillow allowance," he says, so seriously it cracks Soap up. "No more than two, no patterns." No patterns it is. Johnny still counts it as a win.
• Soap's go-to sorting method is "make em piles". He's got a clean laundry pile, a dirty laundry pile, a kitchen pile, a random stuff pile, and he keeps throwing things around when he goes through the rest of the stuff they have to sort. With all due respect, that annoys Ghost to an extreme degree, because there's piles everywhere, but it doesn't look like they're getting smaller. If anything, they started to consume the little space they had.
• The "dirty dishes" pile is one of them, and Ghost finally takes care of it. They both dislike washing dishes, but someone's gotta do it. And it apparently annoys him more than Johhny, so Ghost gets to get rid of it. He feels so much better when it's all done, dried, and put away.
• They've split the wardrobe, and Soap's side is still partly in the pile state. It's also how Ghost learns that Soap doesn't really iron his clothes unless it's like a shirt he's going to wear on a wedding today, and he has to. At this point he's really starting to question his own sanity. Why does it bother him what Soap does (or doesn't) with his clothes? He really needs to chill out, he decides.
• Johnny's really doing just fine, because none of what Ghost does really bothers him, and he's in his lane, somehow managing to hop around his newly made piles while still on crutches, and he does it so effortlessly. It's Ghost who keeps stumbling on them and cursing all the time.
• Somehow there's not much space for Ghost's gun collection. Ok, he's got a place to work on them, but he doesn't want to store them away. After a while, they decide that one of the bedroom walls can be sacrificed so he can hang them up nicely.
"Are we sleeping in the armoury now?" Soap asks.
"You've got your toys,I've got mine."
Fair.
• Johnny's art room is one of the spaces that actually came together from the get go. All of his things had fit, and it's got a nice space to it, enough to put an easel out, and maybe set up a composition. And the light is good. There's a shelf in there almost bursting from the art supplies he had accumulated over the years. The best way to describe it would be "organised chaos." Somehow, while in other spaces the chaos really gets to Ghost, he enjoys it in the art room. He's been spending more and more time in there.
• Johnny has a little really soft futon with loads of pillows in the corner, just next to his desk (it's not for naps, OK? It's for a performance series where the artist explores their understanding of comfort, and if they happen to start to snore, it's a part of it). So, Ghost is now also an artist of sorts. He's been doing these performance pieces quite alright, working on it tirelessly almost every afternoon, and Johnny really doesn't mind it for two big reasons. First: he gets to draw relaxed Ghost, sometimes even maskless. Second: it's nice to join him there, too. It's a perfect cuddling space.
• What Ghost loves about the futon corner is that it is freaking ultimate safety. Even his sofa wasn't ever as good as this. He can actually sleep there without nightmares. The fact that Johnny's around doing his thing, the quiet rustling of pencil on paper, music low on the background - it knocks him out better than any sleeping aids he had ever tried. He usually comes there with a book, but never goes through more than 10 pages at most.
• After their kitchen finally got sorted, they found a quick understanding. If one cooks, the other does the dishes. Soap basically takes over dinners, Ghost does breakfasts, and they usually have a snack in the midday rather than a proper lunch. Also, Johnny shows him a couple of tricks to level up his cooking game, so now breakfasts are getting fancier. Ghost's secretly very proud of himself. And Soap doesn't miss a chance to praise him when it turns out good which honestly helps way more than he's ready to admit.
• Ghost basically stole a couple of finished paintings and hung them up in the living room. Soap tries to argue that they aren't his best ones, and they aren't good enough, and he could probably find a multitude of reasons why they should take them down.
"But I like them," Ghost says simply. And it's hard to argue with that. Besides, after a couple of days, Johnny gets used to it, and deems them "not too bad". It's a tie now, and a bloody good comeback for the pillow intrusion.
• He lets Johnny help him take care of the guns. It's a nice chill evening, they work on them together, Soap's humming a little silly tune under his breath. Ghost says they really have to take them out on a shooting range when his shoulder is better, shoot some plates or something. Johnny's thrilled about it.
• A few days later, Ghost finally declares war on the rest of the piles, and goes through them in one go, not stopping until they're gone for good. There's very little random stuff left after that, and they just put it all in a box and make a very responsible adult decision to put it away and go through it sometime later. Both know that it will probably never happen, but do they care? Not really.
~~~
"You know what's weird, Johnny?"
"What?"
"You know how if you're left with extra parts in a Lego set that means you've messed up a step somewhere?"
"Yeah, and?"
"We've got some screws, and that one is definitely from that chair. It's supposed to go in first."
"Oh, hell no, Si, we're not doing it again."
~~~
• They are even hosting a little housewarming party. Ghost never had one, so he's way too anxious, although it's just the close circle - their team + Laswell and her wife.
P.S. there will probably be one more part with the party, some neighbour action, a little more of outside stuff, but that's where I'm wrapping it up. After all, the move is done, piles are almost gone, and I'm close to being a functional human being again.
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sashi-ya · 2 years
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Sashi! Your latest event looks really intriguing; I hope you have a lot of fun writing for it. I'm really excited to see what you create for us.
If you haven't received too many requests for him, could I request Pharaoh Law x F!reader NSFW and arranged marriage? Whether you accept this request or not, thank you so much for the wonderful content you provide!
Hiii baby!! thank u so much for your support you are amazing!! I hope you like this little twist of the prompt!! It's been challenging and I LOVED IT! I hope you do too! 💖💖
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👑Oh, Royal Lust Event ~ Royals AU event.
𝕟𝕤𝕗𝕨 ~ ℙ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕠𝕙! 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕩 𝔽! ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣 ~ 𝕆𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕝𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕤
tw: nsfw. inspired in Ancient Egypt culture, pure research as I'm not an expert much less a descendant, please forgive me if there are any mistakes. It's in no way intented to disrispect any culture. Law is a virgin (Pharaohs ruled when they were pretty young, tho he is 18+ of course, it's up to you to imagine how old he was) Reader is a slave so expect to read some whipping on your back and hot sand on your feet. Also, can you guess in which OP character I based the Oracle? 👐
wc: 3.2k
specific vocab: Nun ➡ the equivalent to the sky for the egyptians. Heqa ➡ typical Egyptian crosier that Pharaohs wore, let's say Law's Kikkoku.
Nemes ➡ were pieces of striped headcloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt. It covered the whole crown and behind of the head and nape of the neck
Want more? visit the masterlist
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His caramel skin covered in beautiful kohl paintings; his hips move as he climbs the stairs of the sacred oracle and with them the white fine linen of his royal clothes. The gold that covers his body shine with a setting sun that hides behind endless desert dunes and the atmosphere feels hot and heavy.
“Oracle, I’ve come to hear your predictions” he says, hitting his black, red, and white heqa against the floor. The pharaoh lays over the stone bed where he will wait for the deity to reveal the truth of his next steps.
His body rests over the rock, his inked hands over his stomach. He is ready to leave the real world behind. His eyes slowly close and his consciousness floats away to a sacred domain.
In between silky purple clothes the silhouette of an ethereal being appears, it calls him to walk further with the sweetest voice ever. “Come, Law… Come”
And he walks towards it, the being begins to take the form of a naked woman. Untouchable, dancing like a snake to the melody of darbukas playing.
And just like flowers, hands, many hands sprout from the woman. His blue eyes fixing on the Pharaoh aureate ones. The many hands touch his golden covered skin. She is the only who can touch him. His temples, and cheeks, his neck, his chest, his abs, down, down. Sexily grazing every inch of the king of the land crossed by the Nile river.
The woman giggles, and smiles at him. Her dark, dark hair goes up to the small of her back. “The Pharaoh has grown, and it’s consumed by lust…” she whispers in his ear, making him shiver.
“But the Pharaoh doesn’t want any of the royal wives…”
Her hands go down, down to his sex. And they graze, they play with it. Hard, hard the king becomes.
“Indeed, you are consumed by lust… you want to fulfil this need, don’t you?” 
He moans, the many hands around his body are making him weak. He wants what she says, he feels the extreme need to bury himself inside the warm folds of a woman.
“It’s done… The Pharaoh will marry a slave… search for her, her eyes will guide you, and she will satisfy every itch your majesty has… she is consumed by lust, she is consumed by need, she wants your body as much as you want hers…”
His eyes suddenly open, they fix in the ceiling of the sacred Flower temple. Law, the Pharaoh, is panting, sweating, hard. Dilated pupils, high in exhilaration and desire. The reddish colours of a new day tint the sand that seems suspended in the air.
The Oracle has spoken, he will have to marry a slave…
Hot breeze, a sun blazing your skin.
Kohl lining your eyes and the marks of a whip in your back.  
“Move, keep working!” they say, the leathery infernal pain flogging on your skin is barely compared to sun turning it into a dry cracked one. But you still are the most beautiful woman around, your eyes, your hair, everything of you…
To the side of the Nile, you pick the Lotus flower that symbolized purity and light, one by one. You were brought there because your hands were little and delicate, as well as your whole image and so that’s what they needed… but you were still painfully punished if you dared to stop.
As you cut the long stem of a beautiful pinkish tinted petals lotus, you hear bustling around. You stop for a second, just to look back, just to see what was all about.
“Who told you to stop, disgusting slave?” a guard shouts at you, and the sound of the whip cutting the air announces you, you were about to experience another scolding pain on your back. But you don’t. The leather never touches your skin.
You cover the back of your head, maybe waiting for some other type of hit, but as the previous, never comes.
“Slave, turn around” a new voice, husky, and peaceful orders you. Slowly and scared you turn around to appreciate the most beautiful man you have ever seen in your life, covered in gold and jewels, wearing royal clothes.
Is he… is he… the Pharaoh?
Your face, covered in some mud stains and still beautiful make the Pharaoh instantly widen his impressive, lined eyes. He smirks, as he had finally found what he had been looking for, for so long. “What’s your name, Slave?” he asks to a startled you.
You instantly bow before him; your eyes immediately fix on the humid ground above you. Who are you to look at the King in the eyes? Nobody. But he is asking for your name…
“My name is (----), my Pharaoh!” you quickly respond, pressing your forehead in the mud as a sign of utmost respect. You can hear him play with the name in his mouth, whispering it over and over. A growing smirk on his face that you can’t see, but you can feel.
The guard, that had been scourging you nonstop, is taken away pleading for mercy by his royal guards and under the aghast looks of the rest of the slaves around you, you hear words you will never forget coming from the Pharaoh’s mouth;
“Slave, you will be taken to the Oracle. And she will tell me if you are the chosen one to be my Queen”
You can’t help but look up at him, his Queen? What? 
“Your eyes are the ones I’ve been looking for through this vast desert, you will be mine. I’m sure” he says and offers you his inked hand to stand up. You blink repeatedly, you are sure you had passed away and now this is just your imagination or even a dream while you walk into the Underworld where Osiris rules.
But his hand feels extremely real, and when his fingers graze your chin up you can already taste a glimpse of your new life. A miracle just happened to you, and now you are sitting next to the maximum ruler of your life.
“Servers, water!” he demands and soon as he asks for it his servants give a vessel full of beautiful and so needed clean water. But he does not drink it and instead he takes the water to your cracked lips. “Drink” he orders and spills the fluid in your mouth. Water you don’t waste a single drop of it, and it feels so incredibly refreshing, it feels like walking into the doors of Nun.
It takes little time until you arrive to the boat that will take you to the palace. Getting into the sacred boat, something you have only seen from a far it’s enough reason for you to gasp in awe. The Pharaoh looks at you and in his chronic sever frown a glimpse of sweetness draws.
“Sit here” he commands, pointing at a fine wood seat. Surrounded by the most luxurious gold details you accomplish your first mission, obey your king. He sits right by your side and scans the many marks on your back as the boat begins to sail to the north. The papyrus leaves move as the ship makes its way into the Nile, and you smile at them as you think the flowers are saluting you.
The golden bangles chime when he moves his arms, and you flinch as you are used to protecting your head. But Law is not gonna hit you. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I wanna take a look at your wounds” he whispers, low so low so nobody outside could hear him. “I will take care myself of those, not only I’m a king but I’m also a surgeon with the power of the Gods”
You look at him, still scared but amazed. He is not only the most beautiful man you have ever seen in your life, not only the king of this land, but also a God and a Surgeon?! “You are amazing, my Pharaoh” you mumble, taking a further look to his well-trained abs. His skin has become caramel, sun kissed as the inclemency of the desert likes to do with its habitants, but his eyes are golden, and they shine so bright like the sun.
He smirks, he looks intimidating, but he is not bad. He is good and his fingertips graze your back so subtly, almost barely touching not to hurt you. Your hair gets brushed to the side over your shoulder, and as he takes his time to inspect every inch of your flesh you remain silent fighting against the bumpy skin forming when he touches you.
“You… are beautiful” he exclaims, looking at your hurt still cover in mud palms. You widen your eyes, still unbelievably seeing how a sacred person like him is touching scum like you. But he keeps going as if he was looking straight into the image of a Goddess.
Soon, the ship docks at a port you have never seen nor even Imagined. “Welcome to Luxor” he says, when the curtains open and the shine of prosperity and wealthiness hit your eyes. “This place is called Malkata” Law informs you, as you cannot say a word because your mouth is occupied being opened in awe. “Our palace”.
He helps you descend the boat before startled eyes of his royal guards. Your mud-stained ragged clothes don’t belong in here, but still the Pharaoh insists on calling you his next queen.
Coming at you slaves and guards come to surround the Pharaoh from you. “Who is this?” one of his guards, white hair and chubby cheeks asks inspecting you up and down but with a sweet smile. “The woman that should be present to the Oracle, her eyes are what the sacred goddess told me to search for” Law says, whispering but sure of his own words.
Two more guards come at you, dark hair and red-haired men with white coverings and spears salute you. “Please, follow us” they say at unison, and you instantly look at Law for approval. “Let’s go” he says in a rather serious tone but nodding. You begin to walk, even if the heat of the stone under your soles is way hotter than the sand and you are not wearing anything to cover up. But you endure the pain, as you have always done.
You walk inside, beautiful gardens, water so much water. Damsels giggling and saluting the Pharaoh as he passes, ignoring you as if you were invisible. The joyful sound of melodies you haven’t ever listened. The smell of food you haven’t ever tasted.
“Pharaoh! Let us take care of her!” a sudden woman voice stops you all. Beautiful older women surround you, taking a closer look at your poor state. But Law doesn’t seem to allow anybody to touch you and he hits his heqa against the ground. “I will take care of her myself. I will prepare her to see the Oracle this night”.
And as the Pharaoh says, it’s done. They quickly disappear bowing, scared. Law speaks a little more aggressive than he had actually talked to you to the rest of the people.
“Follow me” he commands, talking only to you and just you. His lined eyes fixed on yours, no need to say anything else. His guards dissipate in a matter of seconds, and you are left alone with him at the entrance of the biggest building in front of you, the Pharaoh’s palace.
Inside it’s fresher, the smell of lilies invading the place. Surrounded by huge columns and beautiful architecture so weird and imponent for you a big tub of crystalline water awaits. Law smiles at your amazement and begins to undress. Out his royal pieces of clothing, nemes head off, the piece of leopard skin that was resting over his right shoulder too. And finally, the kilt that surrounded his hips.
The protrusion of his hip bones, the single vein showing on the tight skin of his sculpted V at the end of his stomach, even his sex… everything flashed before you. You, blink several times. His long black locks that are now visible falling over his shoulders, the many drawings over his sacred skin, the perfection of a God in the mere Earth right in front of you.
You quickly turn around; you are sure you are gonna get beheaded if you keep looking. “I’m sorry my King I didn’t mean to…” you try to excuse yourself, but you are cut short. His hands rest over your shoulders so ready to strip you from the rests of clothes that once were new.
“Let me undress you, we have to clean these wounds and take care of them” he says from behind, making you shiver. You nod, allowing him to untuck the little pin that held your rags together. They fall into the ground, as your old life did the moment, he called your name.
Law turns you around, silently, you can only feel the sound of the water rumbling as it falls from a little built-in cascade. He takes a look at your nudity for the first time, his lips apart, golden eyes scanning you. “Come on…” he commands, so sweetly pulling from your hand into the water.
The refreshing feeling turns into stinging sensations when the whip marks on your back touch the water, but soon it eases. Law sits behind you and begins to wet your back more and more with some water his beautiful hands collect. The water around tints maroon, and you can sense Law grimacing to imagine how much pain you must have suffered.
A soapy material then slides on your skin, you have never experienced that feeling but it’s smells amazing. “This is Natron, it’s a mineral mixed with oils to clean your flesh and wounds” he informs you, proudly using it on you. And you smile, you don’t know what it is to be cured or even treated like a human.
When Law finishes his procedure, he can’t stop himself and plants a kiss on your shoulder. “It’s all done” he says, looking at you after the peck. You blink, should you thank him? Of course, you should.
But he doesn’t allow you to do so, and instead he swims to face you. His hair dripping and thrown back and the kohl around his eyes a little smudged as well as yours. Everything feels peaceful and Law seems happy. “I’ve been looking for you for so long” he says, looking straight into your eyes.
“Were you?” you whisper back, lips apart allowing his body to come closer to yours. His thumb grazing your lips attracted by your beauty, by your skin. “They told me I should wait, that we should present ourselves before the Oracle and she will tell us if you are my future wife… but I can’t wait, what if the god doesn’t allow you to marry me?” he says, with a deep pain in his voice.
“Then try me now, my Pharaoh… use me now” you mumble as your skin burns, itches, dies to be touched by his inked hands.
He sighs, the building up desire for your meat is unbearable for him and he doesn’t care to be punished, he doesn’t care to be forbidden from the sacred positions when he passes to world of the death. His hand snatches your neck and pulls you so close your lips are about to touch.
“You have the face of a goddess, the body of one, you can’t be a sin” he whispers with his lips pressed on yours, turning that kiss into a violating tongue dance inside your mouth. Law’s arduous desire for a woman it’s unleashed, and he doesn’t wait a single second to sit you over his lap. The water splashes around you two and he kisses and bites your lips. He bites and pulls and then sucks on your neck, down, down to your nipples.
He lifts you up, like a beast drooling for more. His mouth reaches your belly, your belly button too. “Sit here” he says, using strong arms to put you over the edge of the huge tub. “Spread” he commands, separating your thighs to fit inside. He kisses the inner side of your legs, worshipping you as if you were his queen. Bites that leave marks, this time not from torture but from pure lust. A little peck over your labia, a little lick in between your slit.
“Let me taste you” he moans, attacking your sex with his tongue. Separating your anatomy he devours you, up and down and around. He knows exactly what he does, the little button of pleasure you rarely touched is now being attacked by him. And it’s wet, wet, and dripping. And you throw your head back, pressing your heels against his shoulder blades. But he is not mad, he is desperate, more and more for your reactions.
Law smiles, he even moans muzzled by your sex. I wanted to do this to a woman, you are so delicious I could …. I could do this for ages” he says, trying to stick his index inside you, too.
At this point you feel an electricity coming from your sex taking over your whole body, confused you let your nerves explode. Climax, that’s what it is. “This is an orgasm!” Law chimes like a crazy scientist cheering you up to finally make a woman experience something he learned in the Ebers Papyrus.
“Law…” you whine and scream coming so perfectly into his mouth. You fall back, panting feeling your heart jumping out of your chest, but Law is not satisfied yet, of course he isn’t.
He uses his arms to get out of the bathtub too and lies next to your still spasming body. “You… so perfect” he says, grazing your cheek looking at your eyelids fall sloppily halfway over your eyes. You smile lovingly, receiving even more needy lips on yours.
“I can’t stop myself, you are so perfect” he says, helping you lay on your side to look straight into your eyes. “My Pharaoh… you are absolutely amazing…” you moan, wrapping your leg over his waist as a sign of wanting more, of wanting him to dive deep into you without any waiting.
His hard, throbbing sex graze your still sensitive entrance, his nails carving on your thigh. “Can I-?” he asks, he knows he should ask, but he does it either way… it’s Law’s first time.
“Don’t ask me any longer, my King. Do me as many times as you want” you tell him, this time kissing him with pure love. “My Queen…” he whispers, penetrating you and saying goodbye to both purities. Sin committed, sin so unchaste, so lascivious. In and out, pounding in you. Breathing into each other’s mouths, pressing foreheads, like serpents tangling into each other.
Soon that amazing sensation hits you again, the heat, the electric feeling, pure pleasure. Law opens his eyes, and moans repeatedly, he is getting there too and as he does you feel him bathing your tremoring walls with his release.
Trembling bodies, exhausted, delighted. Both falling into reverie states, cuddling, naked, wet.  
“Did I commit an unforgivable sin, Goddess?”
“You did just as I predicted. Good Job, Pharaoh… You have found her… now both rule this reign”
“We will, Oracle”
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