(au where, after his introductory arc, zakuro is given parole and a normal-ish life, while being groomed to help kaazu. and jyugo experiences normal canon then visits him once he removes his shackles to join shiki [yes this is based off of a scene i want in the haikyuu crossover but i don't think jyugo's pov of the conversation would be given and the dialogue would prolly differ heavily in the final version])
"Jyugo, are you okay?" Zakuro asked, grey eyes wide and blazing with a defensive fire as he swept his eyes around the area. "Do you need me to help you?"
As he cranes his neck around, his spiked collar was plain to see. Jyugo's own neck felt raw and exposed – too light, without his own shackles.
"I don't need anything from you."
Zakuro wasn't affected by the snap. Still looked at him with only concern. "Listen, I'm so happy you got your shackles off, but you seem really out of it. It's- I don't know what happened between you and the other three. But you can talk to me. I'll understand."
He wouldn't. He couldn't. There was just so much he couldn't fathom, even as he played the strong shield for Jyugo. Because all this while he was still under this delusion–
"You're not my older brother!"
Finally, words made Zakuro flinch.
Jyugo wanted to say so much more. Tell him that Zakuro was a clone of Jyugo. A lab-grown killing machine worse than anything nature could cook up. That he was helping round up innocent people. Was being sent in to kill them, too, but just couldn't remember it. He wanted to take Zakuro's clear conscience and shatter it.
Elf was in the periphery, cheering Jyugo on. The possible confessions were piling high in his head now.
Nanba Prison was a trap. Jyugo was nearly a century old. Uno, Rock, and Nico were murderers and liars. Hajime claimed he didn't know about any of this, even though half the other supervisors did.
Jyugo was going to end the world. Would Zakuro try and stop him?
But his jaw clicked shut and he turned away. The crystal of Zakuro's conscience would remain clear, for just a second longer.
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The Apothecary Diaries × Dr Stone Crossover AU (title in progress)
Maomao: How come you know all this stuff, anyway?
Senku: Would you believe it if I said I was a statue come to life?
Lihaku, whispering: Well, that would explain the scars on him that look like cracks.
Maomao, whispering back: Maybe someone threw a ceramic at his face. He's annoying enough for it.
Building 13: "What's Your Opinion On Your Building's Supervisor?"
[everyone's answers]
Uno: “Boo! A cheating brutish gorilla.”
Nico: “1 out of 10 stars, do not recommend.”
Rock: “He’s so annoying!”
Jyugo: “Is anyone else gonna bring up the fact he nearly beat me to death. You know. On this exact day. Last year.”
So this was it. The end of the line.
Everything would culminate here, at their last stand. And Jyugo refused to die.
"Move, move, we can keep going!" Uno shoved Jyugo forward. Needles dug into Jyugo's arms from the rough movement.
He winced, trying to unhook a claw caught in the cloth, "Don't do that, you'll make Kuu panic."
"Jyugo, don't you dare drop her."
"I can carry Kuu if you want!" Rock volunteered, craning his neck around to look at Kuu.
"She likes Jyugo best, so he has to do it," Uno insisted. "We can't let any slip-ups happen."
Their escape had been going far more slowly as everyone's attention was fixated on the cat.
Yes, because cats were cute. And also because Kuu was now bright yellow.
She'd gotten caught in a paint trap Uno had sprung in their latest breakout. And now Cell 13 were truly running for their lives, Hajime right on their tails.
"You little shits, get back into your fucking cell!" Hajime shouted after them. They took a turn. Then another turn. Trying to block Hajime's line of sight as much as possible. So far, he seemed to have not noticed Kuu's strange new coat. Now if they could just make it to the laundry room to clean the paint off-
"Gotcha!" a vice closed down on Jyugo's shoulder. He was being spun around before he even processed anything. "What the hell happened?!"
"It was Nico!" Uno lied. "He's gotten that color-change thing again."
Nico pouted angrily at him. "I don't even have Hair-Color-Change Disease during this time of year."
"Then why's your hair suddenly so stiff and wiry?"
"Because-"
"Anyone with eyes can see it's paint," Hajime sighed, reached for Kuu. "You're lucky I install the non-toxic kind. Let's get you washed up-"
Kuu yowled, digging her claws onto Jyugo's uniform and refusing to let go.
"You put paint cans in trap doors for us to be hit with, and you make sure the paint is non-toxic?" Rock said, possibly feeling left out by not having said anything.
Jyugo, trying to dislodge Kuu, stumbled back a step and bumped into Nico. Their heads knocked against each other.
"Uwah!" Nico squeaked. A cloud of smoke went up. As it cleared, Jyugo's head felt weirdly heavy. Kuu looked up at him, fur on end.
"What?" Jyugo asked, his tongue clumsy and brushing against now-sharp teeth. Kuu hissed and scrambled away. Traitor, a part of him mourned.
The rest of him was focused on whatever Nico had inflicted on him. Everyone was also staring at him, so it must be bad.
This felt similar, actually.
He brought a hand up to his face. Prodded his cheek. And found a furry snout.
Cat Head Syndrome.
"Hajime! You need to take me to the medical office right now!"
Hajime looked at him blankly. "No. We're taking you all back to your cell first."
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. I NEED TO BE FIXED RIGHT NOW."
Jyugo squirmed uselessly as Hajime grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, adding insult to injury.
"Nothing's fixing whatever's wrong with the inside," Uno snickered. Then yelped as Hajime knocked a fist into his head.
----
"So, what do you think about your Supervisor?" Mitsuru prodded, sitting opposite them for the New Year's Tournament interview. This hadn't been there last year either. They really were pulling out all the stops here.
The others' responses were quick:
“Boo! A cheating brutish gorilla.”
“1 out of 10 stars, do not recommend.”
“He’s so annoying!”
Jyugo inhaled, and thought.
Hajime was many things. A pain in the ass, easy to mess with, irritating beyond belief. But between it all, he was ... reliable.
Reliable in the way that he was fixated on one task. A Sisyphean task that Jyugo intended to oppose at every turn, even as he trusted Hajime to always be there to fall back on. Because no matter what terrible thing Jyugo found himself trapped in, Hajime would pull the tone away from being oppressively bleak, and take Jyugo back to Building 13's Cell 13.
Not that he would say anything lame like that in this interview.
He put on his best scornful look and huffed: “Is anyone else gonna bring up the fact he nearly beat me to death? You know. On this exact day. Last year.”
Building 4: "What's Your Opinion On Your Building's Supervisor?"
[everyone's answers]
Musashi: “Inu-chan’s so hideously genuine with everything he does, it’s almost sad! But it’s not always a bad thing, you know?”
After being arrested at the hands of his peers' rumors, experimented on by a guard who promised to fix him, lied to by Ikkaku, and tricked by Jyugo, Musashi had withdrawn from people around him. It was safer for all of them.
Somehow, his powers had gone unreported. Even his SHC Syndrome diagnosis had been scrubbed from his medical files. Musashi wanted to keep it that way, so his shame could remain curled up inside him.
Already beyond the definition of a 'human', Musashi had been pushed to the fringes of society, all the way to Nanba Prison.
When arriving at the infamous prison, Musashi was given a solo cell. His reputation had been built up as an arsonist able to work with extremely limited resources, and they were cutting off materials for him to use.
Musashi had no problem with that – it was just reassuring proof that they thought Musashi was a human.
His only path forward was to kill the guard who took that humanity from him. Musashi had nothing else. Not that he had even been expecting to make any progress on that in this fortress.
Until he found Jyugo.
All rationality abandoned him in that arena. Returned only when he woke up restrained in an underground cell hours later, his body aching and a metal chip installed in his skull.
And across from him, right next to the bars of the cell, was Yozakura.
His voice was smooth and measured. Confident in his intentions, even as he spewed fantastical promises.
"I became a correctional officer to investigate what no one wants to uncover. I intend to do this thoroughly."
Musashi laughed. There was no other reaction he could muster. "Inu-chan, are you really that eager for the credit-?"
"No, I simply cannot forgive those who violate the law. Furthermore, I despise those that corrupt the law they claim to serve. The credit doesn't matter as long as justice is served!"
Yozakura was no longer calm and steady. His voice was raised, but the anger wasn't directed towards Musashi. It was unbridled passion bursting out.
Fabric shuffled about from Yozakura's direction. Something audibly knocked against the bars as it reached in. When he spoke, his voice was around level to Musashi's head. "I'm holding out my hand. Please take it if you believe me."
This guy...
No laughter rose to Musashi's lips. He tried to reason; "I could be lying."
"And I'm willing to put everything on the line of you speaking even an ounce of truth."
This was a man who had whispered poetry about his beloved Warden throughout the whole Tournament. Who spent his lunch breaks giving intensive belly rubs to his guard dogs. Who had the nerve to say all these things without a quiver of falsehood.
Young Avengers/Champions Hunger Games: Tommy's Reaping (Aftermath)
"Why're you so hell-bent on this?" Billy asked, in the Justice Building after the Reaping. After Tommy had been confirmed as Tribute. "And don't give me that media line about not letting me be the only Victor in the family."
Tommy sighed, his voice taking on a staticky quality as he began speaking loudly. Unnecessary, because Billy had coated an illusion over the surveillance devices here. The Capitol underestimated his abilities, and how effective the mutant blockers were on them.
"Viv. Dad's – Vision's – daughter. I know you can't stomach watching the other Reapings, but I watched District 5's earlier when it was broadcasting. She... she got chosen."
Who????
Actually, yeah, he vaguely remembered that. It just fell a bit to the wayside, with how much Billy had to keep his head down, because of this Victor stuff. And keeping in contact with people from other Districts was the exact opposite of that.
Unbelievable.
"So you rigged the Reaping to get your name there," Billy accused.
"And you cheated to swap me out," Tommy shot back. "Now all eyes are on me because no one volunteers!"
Because Billy cared. He cared about his family here in front of him, not in some far-off corner of the country.
"And what about that other kid's name you replaced mine with?" Tommy demanded. "You were seriously going to kill him just so that I could live?"
So he admitted it; he wasn't planning on winning.
Through the burning red building up in his eyes, Billy nodded.
"You're a piece of shit," Tommy scoffed.
"Yeah," Billy agreed, shameless. "That's how I won the Hunger Games."
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“So, it’s my darling son’s first week at Nanba!” Orochi raised an eyebrow, sneaking a glance again at the gold pins undoubtedly on the boy’s shirt collar. “And, since Mao was so unceremoniously removed, we were short a deputy at Building 2, and I decided, hey, why not?”
Many reasons. Ethical concerns. Workplace logistics concerns. People-knowing-how-to-do-their-jobs concerns.
Then again, who was Orochi to cite any of those things? He simply kept his mouth shut and wondered where he came into this.
— snippet from a WIP fic of Kotetsu's beginning at Nanba, and Taiga getting Building 8 to let Kotetsu shadow them to gain some extra experience.
"What's Your Opinion on Your Building's Supervisors?" — New Year's Butoukai Inmate Q&A
(this is intended to act as an index for a series of oneshots, expanding on what led to each inmate's answer)
Zakuro: "He's a really lively person and spends a lot of time assigning me tasks. I'm happy to be useful where I can!"
Hina: "He's great! He lets me spend all my time with Zakuro-chan!"
Tora: "The worst."
Hachi: "Always patronizing us and treating us like children."
Mike: "But always so suspicious at the same time. That's so annoying!"
*B3 Participants don't get to answer bc i don't really wanna write a character study for them*
Musashi: "Inu-chan's so hideously genuine with everything he does, it's almost sad! But it's not always a bad thing, you know?"
Upa: "I really respect him."
Liang: "He's the best."
Qi: "He hates me and is a slavedriver but the other two will kick my ass if I say anything disrespectful so... Yay?"
Hakushaku: "Total weirdo."
Troll: "Way too jumpy."
Bio: "Good at accommodating for food restrictions, though."
Tsumuji: "He should consider getting another mask."
Nina: "Aw, he's brilliant!"
Mina: "Helps us continue to perform even in prison!"
Shina: "And trusted us enough to enter us in this tournament. We're flattered he thinks so highly of us!"
(*all three are in interview mode and only half genuine)
Murakami: "Ha, for as long as I've known him, he's always been one of the two most reliable, brilliant people in my life! The other one being the Deputy, of course."
Ishal: "He's... alright, I suppose."
Sith: "Desperate and trusting. A killer combination."
D: "He understands what a motorbike means to its owner."
Yupiter: "He chides me a lot, but I know he cares about my work."
Miira: *thumbs up*
Uno: "Boo! A cheating brutish gorilla."
Nico: "1 out of 10 stars, do not recommend."
Rock: "He's so annoying!"
Jyugo: "Is anyone else gonna bring up the fact he nearly beat me to death. You know. On this exact day. Last year."
Depetrified Diaries (Dr Stone x Apothecary Diaries) — Ruri
Maomao inspected the tag on the laundry basket. A mid-level consort, but not of a room she recognized. They must not go through laundry that fast, then.
She realized why when she and few other girls began the trek to the Wisteria Pavilion, one of the palaces where several low-level to mid-level consorts were housed.
This room had gone unused for as long as she'd been in the rear palace. Up until a month ago, when they had begun airing it out, and a consort from some allegedly well-established clan was moved in. She wasn't highly ranked, but a mysterious reverence followed her every mention.
"Woah, that's the Monogatari clan heiress' room!" One of the other laundry girls looked awed when Maomao excused herself to go to that room. "You should congratulate her; she had a miraculous recovery from her illness!"
She had? Good for her, Maomao supposed. She was just there to deliver laundry.
When she knocked on the door, it took a minute for it to be opened by a woman with a gentle face and a swathe of long, blond hair that was swaying in the wind.
"Oh, hello!" she smiled, "I'm Ruri!"
"Good morning. I have brought your laundry for you," Maomao said respectfully, holding up the basket as a signal for the woman to let her in.
Ruri took the basket from Maomao without a moment of hesitation. "Oh, you didn't need to bring it here, Ms...?"
Most didn't bother to ask the help's names, but if she insisted: "Maomao."
"Well, thank you, Maomao, but I would've come to get it myself. I'm so tired of being cooped up all day!"
She certainly looked like someone who had been convalescing for a long time, with her sun-starved pallor and skin lying loose over too-thin limbs. But she looked to be doing far better now.
"You can simply take a walk, if you wish," Maomao suggested. "No need to trouble yourself with chores."
Wasn't she from an old clan? What kind of upbringing did she have to be so ready to do tasks well below her station?
"Ah, but walks simply don't feel productive!" she replied, not looking displeased. "You're very candid; I like that. Everyone treats me like glass after my bout with pneumonia and that makes good conversation hard to come by."
Maomao's eyebrows raised. Pneumonia? It really was a miraculous recovery.
"That must be hard," she settled on saying.
"I'll say! Oh, but it's probably much harder on you, with how hot it is outside!" Ruri commented, peering at Maomao, who was admittedly slightly sunburnt and sweaty. "A little break won't hurt, would it? Come sit in front of the fan."
Maomao let herself be led onto the visitor's chair in the room, and looked up to acknowledge the lady-in-waiting holding the fan. And found... No one.
It was three wickerwork fans tied to a circular piece of wood in the center, spinning on its own, with no sign of stopping.
She stared, trying to figure out the trick. Ruri giggled, clearly used to this reaction. "Isn't it nice? My family is backing a young inventor who gifted me this. Senku called it an Electrical Fan."
Electrical?
She didn't know what that meant, but the guy was likely going to make it far.
