#saichania

emerges from the ground, tears in my eyes, offers them up on a silver platter before falling to the floor and dying

I’ve only met like two people. Ever. That played Fossil Fighters but I recently got an emulator and replayed it and it will never not hold a very important place in my heart. I understand certain concepts like support so much better now (hence Compso and Saichan and Tro)

The Main six Dinosaurs from Dinosaur king but Paleo accurate!

Two Bees in a Pod is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction set in a world where, among other things, Chloe and Zoe are conjoined twins. It can be read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55779361/chapters/141608677?view_adult=true

Here's one of our tritagonists: Kagami!

Basic facts:

Age: turns 15 in early September (not depicted in the fic). She's not much older than Adrien/Danielle and a little younger than Felix.

Originally from Tokyo, Kagami transferred to Ms. Bustier's class after winter break following her family's move to Paris in December 2015. Tomoe wanted to be closer to the headquarters of Agreste Fashions during the onset of their partnership: fixing the website in exchange for promotional merchandise.

Kagami is the heiress of Tsurugi Industries by virtue of being the only daughter of its current owner/CEO, her mother Tomoe Tsurugi.

Kagami is autistic. She has sensitivities to loud noises, particular flavors & textures, tends to get caught up in routines, and doesn't like the feeling of stiff, starched clothing, which is why she doesn't wear a necktie in this universe. Hand-flapping is her primary stim, though years of Japanese societal ableism have made her ashamed of it in the earlier chapters.

Her hair is initially short not for aesthetics, but for practicality. When Kagami was young and even when she was older she was often bullied via hair-pulling, and Tomoe's father & Kagami's grandfather Junzo was unsympathetic; in his eyes girls didn't cry. Kagami resorted to keeping her hair short so the boys wouldn't have anything to pull, which Tomoe approved of as it made dressing Kagami for kendo less of a hassle. Deep down, though, Kagami's always loved the look of long hair, and now that she's in Paris she's been growing it out.

Kagami is depicted wearing her old school uniform as when she came to Paris there was an adjustment period for her when it came to fashion and schedules. By S3 she wears casual clothes that she likes much more, and she's interested in trying makeup & nail polish under Chloe & Zoe's supervision.

Currently looking for her happy place in Paris with Juleka, whom she became very close friends with during the events of Animan.

Kagami's primary special interests are manga, anime, drawing, and sports. She's very good at kendo.

Tends to be a very blunt, straightforward, and practical girl who favors the simple solution over the elaborate one.

Despite usually being quite serious, Kagami absolutely loves stupid puns, especially Adrien's.

Kagami is a polyamorous pansexual with a sapphic lean. She tends to flirt unintentionally.

Kagami was quite close to her father Asakura, who shared many of her mannerisms and was likely autistic himself. Asakura was interested in Earth magic and dabbled in it, leading to the creation of Kagami's supernaturally durable, able-to-cut-steel bokken, which is her most cherished possession.

Kagami is a sentimonster. Tomoe has fertility issues that contemporary fertility treatments couldn't resolve and Junzo was getting angry about not having an heir at the turn of the millennium. Asakura looked for solutions and learned of the Peafowl Miraculous, and he and Tomoe made a plan to secretly find it and use it to have a daughter. Asakura went to London to look for it and ran into Gabriel, who just so happened to have given that Miraculous to Emilie. When he learned of the Tsurugis' situation he realized how similar it was to his own, so he immediately agreed to let them borrow it.

Tomoe had Asakura specify that Kagami would be fast and precise, as Junzo would not have accepted any other granddaughter. As such, Kagami is much stronger, faster, and dexterous than a natural human, and her balance is particularly noteworthy.

Asakura was the one who made the zygote sentimonster that became Kagami, and she was made real via feeding her her own amok within days of her birth. Asakura would've started displaying symptoms of the Peafowl's curse in Kagami's late teens and would've fallen into a coma in her twenties; however, he didn't live that long. When Kagami was ten Tomoe was driving a car with Asakura in it and they suffered an accident that killed Asakura and fractured Tomoe's skull so badly she went blind.

Kagami doesn't show it, but she misses her father a lot, especially as Tomoe became colder and more distant in an attempt to bottle her own emotions so her own father wouldn't mistreat her.

Junzo died when Kagami was thirteen. She doesn't miss him at all.

Kagami was akumatized into Riposte when she joined Adrien's fencing class and their classmates tried to haze her by making her think she wouldn't join the class unless she could beat all of the current students. After losing to Adrien, Kagami believed she'd brought shame to her family and had a meltdown, which is how she got turned. The support she received from the Heroes of Paris, Chloe & Zoe, and Adrien afterwards made her feel a lot better about herself.

Kagami had another meltdown after an argument with Tomoe over Kagami's increasing hair length caused Kagami to snap at Tomoe and Tomoe to be akumatized into Ikari Gozen. The twins and Longg found her inside and comforted her. Longg learned that Kagami was cracking under the perceived pressure to be perfect, and chose Kagami to be her next champion so Kagami would understand that she's perfect already.

Akaryu's name means "red dragon" as red, especially scarlet, is Kagami's favorite color. Before you ask, she is not in fact a dragon, but a Saichania.

As Akaryu, Kagami has significantly enhanced strength and olfaction. She can turn on a dime and strike with both her sword and her tail club. She has fewer auditory sensitivity issues as well, which makes sense as ankylosaurids had a poor sense of hearing.

In terms of design inspiration, I took cues from samurai outfits, stereotypical Japanese delinquent costumes, and anime girls with headbands. Her eyes were first going to be purple, then cyan, before I settled on green as it felt the most realistic & complimented the red & pink in her design the best.

The autistic superhero is masking. You may laugh now.

Underneath her mask Akaryu is wearing green lipstick that matches her eyes, and her teeth are leaf-shaped like an ankylosaurid's.

The lightning bolts reference Akaryu's power, Perfect Storm. She is able to electrify herself. Electric ankylosaurids are a thing now. You're welcome.