pin and mount me like a butterfly @girlatsushi - Tumblr Blog

dazatsu 21 + 60...!

@blackwaves

dystopian au + poorly timed confessions oooooh boy. okay. i spent an embarrassing amount of time turning over an apocalyptic day after tomorrow-inspired climate disaster premise before i realized! ah! that is not a dystopia! so so sorry to lois lowry who introduced me to the genre

back on track i then immediately derailed to start figuring out the dystopic premise so what follows is an excess of speculative worldbuilding before i get into the actual fill. likely thing to happen.

i really struggle to put bsd characters in situations where abilities aren't a thing. like genuinely who would any of these people be without their ability shaping their very perception of themselves and the world at large? which is my cop out as to why all of my attempts to write au's end up still more or less rooted in the canon universe. sorry. my own insane authorial hang-up's on full display

which is to say, my immediate thought for a dystopia is a world left reeling after a devastating singularity. there's a lot of room within canon to push this into something post-apocalyptic, but i think for a real dystopic society to form it needs to be set a generation or so back from the start of the great war

we know that the factor that ultimately started the war was european nations sending ability-user's out to fight for their countries interests against one another. we also know that during the war there was active research on the creation of an individual singularity (hello chuuya)

let us operate on the assumption that within this frame 1) research was not only localized to the facility in yokohama, 2) research was not only undertaken by the german-french-japanese alliance AND 3) most crucially, that this was research that was increasingly facilitated by the war but originated well before its outbreak (as an aside, i feel like all of this can probably be considered fairly canonical, if not canon outright--but i haven't gone back to check)

SO! for this dystopia, let's say that some group somewhere else succeeded in creating or weaponizing a singularity and things go very, very wrong. this is happening pre-great war, so the world at large is unprepared for the devastating effects of this singularity and the group that created it is unprepared to manage it at all, and, in the process of attempting to curb its destruction, japan faces extremely heavy losses, the government collapses, the military is fractionalized with a more authoritarian, military-led regime attempting to rally power in a system that's been both devastated and decentralized

with ability-use in war now revealed to such horrific effect, the military is set on creating their own weapon to protect themselves, with focus on recruiting ability-user's skyrocketing. in this system, the registration of an individual's ability is codified into law and ability-user's are treated as tools rather than people, upheld as the greatest asset of the government and utterly without freedom

on reflection i think i just stole this from how the state alchemy system works in fmab but whatever. a totalitarian military junta is a totalitarian military junta, and when you're actively focused on absorbing those with exceptional power to use a state-sponsored war weapons... well!

within this system, the great war is just...not happening. or it is but to a much more devastating, unavoidable extent. and the military's focus is also on recuperating centralized control over all of japan, rather than on the outside world (though i imagine foreign conflict is still happening, it probably looks very different)

i think yokohama is under government control. i assume, given the presence of foreign settlements within the city, that in this scenario recuperating the city would be a priority and also, authorial word of god, for the au to work we need to be in yokohama

from there (and this isn't perfectly muddled out yet) i think mori would remain within the military and fukuzawa would also be absorbed into it. there is still a thriving underworld within the city (perhaps even more volatile than in canon due to all of the societal stress fractures), and mori still ends up in a position where he kills the former boss of the pm

unlike canon, mori is not in a position to become the boss himself but (at this point in time) i think he's reached the conclusion that operating under the command of the military as it's currently structured is more harmful to the city and its people overall, so while he publicly/officially dismantles the organization, it is really left running as something of a resistance group against totalitarian control (which is kind of like canon just nudged to the left tbh)

during this dazai and mori meet, mori brings dazai under his command within the military, echoes of canon happen with dazai latter being "poached" from mori by fukuzawa

(at which point i think fukuzawa has truly garnered a reputation of stealing personnel from mori, after he very publicly took yosano into his unit years before this)

on fukuzawa's end of things, he's also been forcibly conscripted, but at some point he meets ranpo, the orphaned child of two resistance figures (different resistance group than this au's skinned down version of the pm) and together the pair of them are radicalized enough that when ranpo decides to found his own resistance group fukuzawa throws his weight behind him (this universe's version of the ada! yay!)

this version of the ada is operating in a very compressed scale with members made up of those in fukuzawa's company that he and ranpo trust and vet. i'm operating on the assumption that ranpo is conscripted as a civilian to complete his mandatory service and he was either placed in fukuzawa's company or fukuzawa later requested him

the rest of the ada is trickier to place in this context. i think yosano would have still initially ended up with mori, with even less grace given towards her breakdown, and her eventual transfer into fukuzawa's service instead (which, given the circumstances, ofc doesn't actual stop her from being used, it just tempers it). i think kunikida is conscripted for mandatory service but hides the fact that he's an ability-user until he crosses paths with ranpo at some point. otherwise, the rest of the members are in the wind

none of which really matters but i guess i'm incapable of not yammering on

anyways, fukuzawa brings dazai into the fold at some point. life churns on normally even under the oppressive control of a totalitarian military junta

placing atsushi in this au was a little trickier for me. he's still in the orphanage and for the sake of convenience let's say that the orphanage is within the bounds of the military's recuperated territory. given the state of the country, the orphanage itself is over-burdened with far too many kids to adequately take care of. the orphanage headmaster is the same as in canon except his whole deal about abilities has shifted a bit with him growing up in the aftermath of a society-collapsing singularity and his focus is on not letting abilities be used as war weapons since he's seen firsthand the devastation they bring (heartbreaking the worst person you know etc. etc.)

so he's been hiding atsushi's ability, but, as in canon, atsushi is never told about his ability and has no control over it. this leads to rumors. this leads to the military sending a contingent to investigate

this is also where i imagine dazai and atsushi first intersect. i think one of dazai's primary responsibilities within this context, as a member of the military, is to find and neutralize militant ability-user's, either killing them or bringing them into the fold of command. upon his later transfer into fukuzawa's company i think he'll focus on righting those wrongs (but, as always, i struggle a bit with dazai because while he definitely is capable of guilt, i also think he's generally too pragmatic and realistic to blame himself exclusively for what he's done under orders that he has no feasible power to deny/work around--if not him, then someone else, etc.--but in the case of dazatsu i think this scenario creates a fun puzzle box to trap them in)

dazai is sent to the orphanage to sniff out the rumors of an unreported ability-user. he finds 15 year old atsushi. the headmaster is summarily executed for treason, atsushi is forcibly conscripted (he does not end up a part of mori or fukuzawa's company), and dazai goes on business as usual

meet cute :D

this is primarily facilitated by the fact that i really can't see a scenario here where atsushi doesn't get used as war weapon once he's found, especially considering what his ability is, so. he has a very, very bad time for a while, until he's sent out on a mission that requires collaboration with another team, which happens to be kunikida & dazai (post-dazai's transfer). kunikida imprints, dazai schemes, and, upon the conclusion of the mission, fukuzawa once again poaches a new operative

(logistically, i haven't worked out how he's getting away with this. i assume it's in part because he has some preferential treatment, as in canon, but i also think that his ability is a huge factor in this. the allowance of fukuzawa's continual poaching of powerful assets is because his ability allows him to use them more effectively, which means, in turn, that the government can use them more effectively)

also final note on the dystopian au itself. i have a huge soft spot for dystopias that play on the normalcy of it all. like huh! we're all being treated as individual weapons of mass destruction by the government and we have no choice in the matter. that sucks. it's tuesday. this is all there's every been. it's awful. kunikida spilled split-pea soup on yosano's slacks and then she gave him a faux-hawk. it's wednesday. you know?

i think there's a time and place for the nightmare of it all (and it is, very clearly, nightmarish!) but totalitarianism is built out of the mundane

so! that's the au background. because i'm apparently incapable of not being insane. now onto the actual dazatsu.

i don't think dazai and atsushi get paired up a lot either in their official capacity as soldiers or within agency resistance efforts, so on the rare occasions that they are dazai is extra insufferable about it

i also think both dazai and atsushi do a lot of Not Talking about their shared past to the point that kunikida only finds out when atsushi makes a barbed comment along the lines of "or what? you'll kill my father again?" while playing cards or something equally incongruous with what he's saying, which gives kunikida a heart attack and makes him fold with what is otherwise a winning hand poor guy :(

which is not to say they aren't thinking about it constantly. because they are. dazai is pragmatic about it, but he also (unfortunately) likes atsushi, and that's not even getting into the ghost of oda looming over him/all his actions

(i do keep waffling about oda being dead or not in this au. but i think he has to die. sorry. my tentative thought is he was somehow smuggling young ability-user's out of the military and into one of the resistance networks--the skeleton pm maybe?--and he ends up getting caught and executed, leaving dazai to take up his goal as his own, which in this case also intersects nicely as the opposite of everything he's been ordered to do himself re: enforced recruitment)

my standard characterization of atsushi tends to be pretty pragmatic, as well, but i think under these circumstances he'd develop an almost militant idealism in response to the atrocities both going on around him and that he's been tasked with committing. i think it would be easy to cast him in a similar light to his development in beast (and while i do think his compartmentalization in battle/as a weapon is probably similar: somewhat cold, emotionless, and unhesitating) the circumstances surrounding the violence he's engaging with are so different (legally sanctioned, for one, but i also the structural organization of the military leads to a greater distance/personal absolution, whether accepted or not) and the system he's absorbed into is, in some ways, less harmful (dehumanizing, yes, but of a different sort than in beast! and i do also think the military would makes sure their war weapons are functional, which means he's treated as an asset rather than a beast, and whatever the method of controlling his ability is, i don't think it would be the collar, and i also can't imagine he's allowed to isolate himself in any way)

all's this to say: atsushi is atsushi. he's able to rationalize the violence he's partaking in with both structural excuses and out of personal interest but he's also loyal to and protective of people he considers valuable/worthy, he believes in second-chances and the power of an out-stretched hand, and at the point that he's brought into fukuzawa's company he believes in the future that the ada wants to create where ability-user's are free to live as people and not weapons

what this means for atsushi's perception of dazai in this au is that he trusts dazai and he has convinced himself he's forgiven him, but there is always going to be a tiny seed of resentment edged into all of their interactions. atsushi feels bad about this. dazai pretends not to be aware of it, but he can't ignore it and it makes him even more neurotic than usual

okay! back to the main point which is dazai and atsushi are paired up on a mission together

this particular mission is deceptively simple. atsushi is being sent to kill a contingent of enemy combatants outside of yokohama and dazai is being sent as a deterrent against the rumors of a particularly volatile ability-user. they aren't alone either, as they have a crew of foot-soldiers following along with them, as well

if i was writing this fic i would focus on the slow collapse of their unit as they leave protected territory. food supplies go missing, weapons are mishandled, disagreements start to ramp up between the foot-soldiers, and a general sense of distrust continues to build up among everyone

after a few days of this they set up base camp close to where the enemy is reported to have set their own base. they send out scouts but they don't reappear. they assume they've lost the element of surprise and decide to attack the enemy outright before they can strike first

on their march out, one of the missing scouts suddenly reappears and claims that he and the others have captured an ability-user who was using mimicry and dazai separates from the group to investigate while atsushi proceeds forward

when they make it to where the scout claims to have the ability-user captured there's nothing but two dead soldiers. the scout says the ability-user must have escaped, but looking at the bodies reveals they've been dead at least a day and based on wound patterns it appears they've killed one another

dazai, having already touched the scout upon his miraculous return, rules out any prolonged effects. asking him to repeat his story only proves that he believes what he saw happen really happened

despite not knowing what ability is at play, dazai does realize they've clearly been set up for something and that atsushi and the rest of their men are very likely walking into a trap so he hustles out of there

upon reaching the enemy base, dazai finds bodies that are well into decomposition, most of which appear to be killed by their own allies, but worst of all he hears the sound of active combat further within

what dazai sees: the room thick with fog, his men killing their allies, a figure on the outskirts cloaked in fog, atsushi ripping through the throat of one of their soldiers

dazai shoots at the figure in the fog. he hits something as the fog abruptly drops. dazai has a moment to shout that the ability-user is creating illusions when the fog redoubles and now there's the added fun of someone shooting at him specifically

now, i will not play coy. the ability-user is tanizaki. i think he's a bad match-up for dazai because as long as he's not touched his illusions can continue to propagate and while dazai may not see what everyone else does, i imagine he can see the shape of the ability (the fog). physically wadding through an illusion is probably enough for dazai to break it, but dazai can't be everywhere at once and light snow has always appeared to me to be somewhat fluid which also complicates things here

anyways. there's a very stressful and fraught battle that ends when 1) atsushi pushes dazai out of the way of a bullet and gets shot himself and 2) dazai shoots tanizaki again (non-fatally) and tanizaki decides to cut his loses and get out of there

which leaves dazai (furious) and atsushi (shot)

i really, really enjoy when dazai keeps touching atsushi after an injury, prolonging the healing process so. that's happening!

i would love to say they're being sappy, but given the circumstances and world these two live in i think they're probably arguing. dazai's snapping at him for falling for illusions and atsushi's snapping at him for letting the ability-user get away and then there's a moment where things get unbearably tender and they're both Not Addressing the shift in mood and it's like that for a beat until atsushi is like "dazai-san, if you wanted to kill me you could have picked something less painful than getting shot in the spleen," and dazai finally takes his hands off of him

key to all of this is the fact that dazai is unfortunately aware that he has feelings for atsushi, while atsushi does not have feelings for dazai

so now we're down to dazai, atsushi, and whatever handful of their soldiers are still alive after that fiasco

there's a great sense of "wtf!" going on because while missions sometimes go belly-up this is a shitshow of catastrophic levels and investigating the enemy base only makes this more apparent

the investigation reveals: who tanizaki is, how he was being used by this group, how his sister was being held hostage by a different group to keep him in line, and the fact that days before they arrived that other group was demolished by a different unit of the military which was the catalyst for tanizaki killing everyone in his gang and trying to kill all of their men as well

dazai wants to hunt him down and kill him, assuming he's both too much of a loose canon to be of any use and because he's angry he shot atsushi

upon figuring out taniaki's whole deal atsushi wants to help him, both because he's a bleeding heart for people used for their abilities and because: "if you hadn't expedited things with a firing squad, chances are i would have been snapped up by a gang sooner rather than later. abilities like ours... people only see one use. hear it long enough, and you start to think the same."

dazai is unimpressed by this. "he killed men he's known his entire life because he blamed them for his sisters death. he killed our men because he blames us for her death. he doesn't want our help, atsushi-kun."

"i forgave you for killing the headmaster of my orphanage."

"did you?" dazai asks, doubtfully.

"did i?" atsushi tilts his head. he then argues that they can't know that tanizaki's sisters dead and atsushi knows who took point on that mission and he doesn't kill civilians unless expressly ordered

(this is, of course, akutagawa. which doesn't matter except for the fact that sskk is weird and enmeshed together regardless of the universe and dazai's own involvement)

this escalates into a full blown argument that comes to a head when atsushi's like "why does it matter that he shot me? he was aiming for you. it wasn't personal"

and dazai's like "it matters because it's you!" and he actually raises his voice which makes atsushi falter and go quiet before he asks, "what?" but dazai's only picking up steam, he's so frustrated, he's been frustrated about atsushi for months, probably since they started working together, but he doesn't have the right words to express it, so all he says is, "you're beautiful."

this is not received well by either of them

atsushi steps back and repeats, "what."

dazai, horrified by himself, says, "what, was atsushi-kun unaware of his own wiles? i always assumed it was trained into you. you'll have to take responsibility," which he recognizes isn't helping things a split-second before atsushi decks him

"you're unbelievable," atsushi tells him, seething even as he presses a cloth to his face to staunch the blood flow.

"you're the one who seduced me," dazai complains.

atsushi's glare has a physical weight. "dazai-san isn't funny," he says, and dazai has enough self-respect left that he holds his tongue and they return to their argument about tanizaki

if this were a fic what would follow would be: dazai suffering through the hunt for tanizkai (obviously atsushi wins the argument), pining and being an asshole about it, all the while atsushi's being reluctantly and inadvertently seduced by dazai's strange and embarrassing antics until he snaps and does something about it after which dazai becomes the most insufferable man in the entire military state and tanizaki is successfully coaxed into the ada (naomi is, in fact, alive)

okay. i'm forcing myself to leave this sandbox i've created. why is this 5k

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

pin and mount me like a butterfly