This is something that recently came to mind, very much headcanon speculation, but wanted to get it out there: What if Lucifer was intentionally made differently from the other angels because his true purpose was to bring joy? If the story in episode one is at least mostly true, and Sera’s personality has had little to no change since then, all the other angels were absolute stiffs that could basically be quantified as a composite of workaholics and “for the greater good”. Maybe Lucifer was meant to be a breath of fresh air for them, show them life could have more happiness than just the satisfaction of goal fulfillment. Heck, he has elements of porcelain dolls in his design, what better way to bring bliss than a living toy that wants to play and be creative. Sadly, this went over as well as when you try this kind of connection with someone who thinks being an adult means abandoning anything that could be viewed as “childish”. I firmly believe that Lulu is the type who feels like a kid in an adult body. He definitely still has some adult insights and wants, but really, I think second only to how deeply values his wife and daughter, more than anything he just wants someone he can play with, just forget about the tensions of his position for a while. On a related note subject, did he and the other original angels just get formed into existence as adults?? If so, it means he just a big, possibly neurodivergent kid that never had a childhood to begin with. That just makes him even more sad. Charlie isn’t just his daughter, she’s likely the first playmate he ever had, depending on how playful Lilith was anyway, probably hasn’t had one since.
Lately, there have been surprisingly few conflicts and things were looking peaceful for once. So, to take advantage of that, Julius decided to hold a "meeting" in Raquey. Naturally, Marx was opposed, and suggested that Julius was shirking off his duties - and let's be honest, he was - but Yami shut him up by calling him a spoil sport.
Attire
Obviously, this must be followed by an obligatory change in the captains' clothing. How else could we subject them to fanservice- I mean, how else could they comfortably enough to partake in their meeting?
Fuegoleon dressed in regular shorts and a shorter-sleeved hawaiian-esque shirt (only the leaves were in yellows, oranges and reds and the rest of the shirt was white) and sandals, figuring that it would be more practical than his usual wear. His fans were rather pleased by his decision, because well... man's got a nice physique, what can I say. (Those who recognised him weren't too subtle in their admiration of him either.)
Mereoleona had taken a beach dress initially which relieved Fuegoleon because he'd honestly expected something less... um... appropriate. But then she proved him right when she was about to go skinny dipping in the ocean, much to the protests of Fuegoleon, Nozel, Marx, and William, and the cheers of Yami, Rill and Jack.
Nozel is still more or less wearing what he usually does sans the fluffy squad robe and cape because those would be impractical. (No capes!) This is partly down to him wanting to hide just how skinny his arms are compared to Fuegoleon or Yami. He and Fuegoleon are also wearing sunglasses. (Those expensive cool looking ones...)
Julius is wearing a shirt and shorts as well a bucket hat, just to look more the part of a kid and not raise suspicions since he planned on masking this meeting as just a casual day out. And of course no one can know that he's the Wizard King. Being in the body of a child and not being recognised as the Wizard King, it was quite frequently assumed that he was related to at least one of them, since why else would he be hanging around the magic knights. (If anyone asked, he was William's cousin, ingenious, really. Or that was until they realised no one had told William this rather important "information".)
Yami was tempted to go for the same thing Mereoleona had with the skinny dipping but then settled for his typical beach wear, which was still enough to get Charlotte all flustered and extra awkward around him.
Marx, when he's finally onboard with the idea also wears something a little less stuffy, though he's still clothed from head to toe, just in lighter clothing. He's there mostly making sure that a meeting does actually happen and the day isn't just spent messing around, because I mean, someone has to. Yami teases him for his choices and Julius tries to convince him to relax in vain.
Rill's extra colourful with his rainbow coloured beach wear and ditches the shirt within the first five minutes of arriving. (He ends up regretting that decision though because in the evening his shoulder's start hurting like a bitch, which, I mean, no shit, he didn't even bother using sun-screen on them.)
Marx had to practically beg Jack not to go skinny dipping in a public area, because he looked fairly determined to do so. In the end, he wound up wearing what Yami wore, which wasn't much better, but still.
Kaiser dressed in shorts and a shirt that matched the colours of his uniform, which had been chosen by his wife because she thought he looked rather handsome in it. Naturally, Kaiser was on his best behaviour throughout, his eyes never straying because that man only has eyes for his woman.
Charlotte was persuaded by her fellow squad members to wear something a little more bolder, and so reluctantly wore a blue bikini under her beach dress.
Dorothy wore a cutesy one-piece swimsuit that looked a little like a dress.
Being that William's pale ass burns fairly easily he likes to keep in the shade, and was more or less dressed from head to toe - a bit like how Licht was dressed in the reincarnation arc (but hey, at least we get to see his neck finally) -, trying to pretend he wasn't William Vangeance of the Golden Dawn because he'd been talked into not wearing his mask which meant that his scar was publicly on show and he didn't want that associate with his captain persona because he's insecure as hell. Also, he's wearing a massive sunhat, that Yami won't stop messing with him for.
"Is that big-ass hat of yours supposed to be compensating for something, Vangeance?"
"Is that katana of yours compensating for something, Sukehiro?" Mereoleona ends up remarking when William won't say anything.
Food & Drink
Naturally there would be plenty of food and drink around... after all, this is a vaca- I mean, Raquey work meeting. Ahem.
Marx at least tries to get them to remain sober and has to constantly take Julius' drinks from him whenever Yami hands him some, still seeing him as "old man Julius" even though he's now a thirteen year old who definitely can't handle their drinks as well as he did in his prime.
Mereoleona, being the very antithesis of Marx tries to talk everyone into drinking alcohol, which then gets her into an argument with William.
Dorothy grabs a non-alcoholic cocktail from her dream world and sips on that while watching the two argue, thinking it's a lovers spat even though they're not even officially dating. I mean, who needs a telenovela or a soap opera when you've got the magic knight captains with their unlimited potential for drama and chaos?
William's either going to be sipping on fruit juice or water. And there's no way Yami won't tease the heck out of him for it.
Jack and Yami just go for the cheapest available beer... and may or may not end up adding some alcohol to other people's beverages just to see what happens. What do you expect from two men whose middle names might as well have been Reckless and Even More Reckless?
Rill goes for an alcoholic cocktail because he desperately wants to fit in with the adultier adults but can't quite stand the taste of adultier adult drinks. Also, he likes how much more colourful they are than plain old beer.
Mereoleona, who might as well be something of an obligate carnivore herself insists on eating the meats and leaving the salads - William is naturally of the opposite view.
Rill's diet for the day mostly consists of cocktails, hotdogs, ice-cream and watermelon.
There is no way that Yami and Jack won't be having squid.
Marx is only really concerned whether they had the budget and time for this kind of thing... eventually he's talked into grabbing some lemonade and a veggie burger.
Dorothy also has ice cream and successfully uses her cutesy charm - along with her high-energy persistence - to talk Nozel into treating himself to some too. They end up having the same flavour as each other - bubblegum blue. When he acts apathetic about it, Dorothy contemplates whether she should have suggested a safer choice of chocolate, pistachio, chocolate chip or vanilla, as even she is unable to see past this response - secretly Nozel had always liked ice-cream as a child (Acier's doing). He just doesn't want anyone to know that some of that child still survives.
On his wife's suggestion, Kaiser sticks to drinking water (smart man, he even keeps it by his side so that Yami can't spike it). She also made him some sandwiches. Yami uses this to tease Charlotte by asking her if she made him any sandwiches. "You should have made your own sandwiches, you lazy man."
Sea-side Shenanigans...
Jack immediately challenges Yami and soon everyone is forced to somehow break them apart before they destroy all of Raquey, which is no easy feat, because those two stubborn determined idiots seem to be extra eager to destroy things today. William, who now is free from his argument, on account of Mereoleona going to grab Jack with her fire paws, tries to reason with Yami, who simply has to bring up his treachery during the conversation. It fails to discourage William though and eventually Yami gives in.
"Fine, you damn nag..."
Mereoleona wastes no time talking and just flat out threatens Jack into letting go of the fight. Being that he's no fool - "unlike William" - he makes no attempt to argue or fight her. William disagrees with her assessment of him being a fool just because he won't give in during their arguments. (Secretly, she's actually relieved if surprised that he's not just going to let everyone walk over him. Just most people, annoyingly enough. And secretly William likes that he somehow doesn't feel the urge to fawn his way through arguments with her out of fear of one thing or another. In a way, it makes them oddly more comfortable around each other.) That too is one of the causes of their arguments throughout the day though.
Rill spends much of his day painting the beach scene, taking the opportunity to paint some cute women, but also Yami and Jack while they are messing around and Mereoleona and William while they are arguing. Naturally, neither pair is keen on the painting featuring them and both try to persuade RIll into getting rid of the paintings, not that it works. He also eats way too much ice-cream and then is surprised when he gets an upset stomach, somehow.
Kaiser and Fuegoleon talk in a civilised and calm manner about things, being probably the least chaotic people in Raquey at the moment.
Nozel tries to get through this day in a civilised manner but then Yami happens, his clothes get soaked through, his pride is ruined, and he ends up threatening to execute the foreigner. William unfortunately meets that same end, despite never having planned to go swimming in the first place and having no change of clothes.
Dorothy does happen to have something to dry Nozel's clothes and hair with in her dream world and Mereoleona surprisingly offers William to dry him off with her fire magic. Nozel's hair ends up sticking up in all sorts of angles in comical fashion and William feels awkward throughout his experience as it involves standing close to a really attractive woman who could potentially be plotting to kill him as revenge for the attack on the capital. (She isn't, but he doesn't know that.) Fuegoleon could've done much the same thing - and it might have been less awkward -, but he was too busy talking to Kaiser to even notice... hence, no FuegoWill bromance scene, sadly.
When Julius wanders off to look for new magic, everyone ends up going looking for him, before hearing "did someone lose their child?" echoing across Raquey because a mage - thankfully not an evil one - who happened to have a communication spell on him had found Julius. Now they have to find some excuse to get Julius back though without getting questioned about it on account of them being well known public figures and what they settle on is that Julius is William's cousin without waiting for William to agree on it. (Especially since no one recognises William without his mask and out of his uniform.)
Obligatory Raquey Romance Headcanons (feel free to skip)
Yami's attempts at spiking (some) drinks does lead to more confessions than intended. Just... not from the woman he most hoped for a confession for. Underneath all that tough guy attitude lies a fragile soul that fears rejection hence he masks all his feelings behind his attempts at teasing Charlotte - or maybe he's just a "typical man", we'll never really know. He ends up getting chastised by Fuegoleon who then basically tells him that honesty is the best policy.
So um... Nozel drunkenly semi-confesses to Dorothy... kind of... I mean, he is a tsundere, so any regular person would be confused by the confession, but Dorothy knows Nozel well enough that she'd figured it all out beforehand. Also he passive aggressively congratulates Yami on his improvement over the last couple years.
He might have also secretly approved of Dorothy's cute costume choices. He may or may not have gotten a nosebleed at one point he tried to hide.
The issue with Mereoleona's clothes - or lack there of, soon enough - was one of the things that started an argument between her and William. (William might as well have been that: "Will someone please think of the children!" meme. But also, what he's more reluctant to admit is that - being that Tabata stated that all men are pervs (even the asexuals? Really?) - he doesn't actually mind the idea of seeing Mereoleona naked (although he does get flustered by the thought) it's the issue of people knowing he doesn't mind it. Also because he - along with Nozel, Marx and Fuegoleon - is otherwise against the concept of nudist public beaches. Yami's all for it, as is Mereoleona though.)
Mereoleona wants a hook up. I mean, there are no volcanoes, no hotsprings around, there isn't even technically sake and the meat's not raw or roasted enough, so besides swimming and getting a tan (and she's feeling too energetic for lying back and letting the sun do its work), it just seems like the most obvious thing to do at a beach. But since conveniently her options have been limited there's only really Jack and William... and she's not that much of a masochist.
William's brain cannot compute Mereoleona's very straightforward, and aggressive flirting methods, so whenever he's interacting with her, he's just left very confused throughout the whole beach session.
In the end, he takes the whole thing as her trying to get back at him for Fuego's arm and so apologises for the betrayal and admits that even if they've had their disagreements in their past, if it ever came down to him stepping down from being a captain, he wouldn't mind entrusting the squad to her while the current vice captain gains more experience. That in turn just really confuses the heck out of Mereoleona.
"You know I specifically avoided becoming a captain because I hate politics, Vangeance?"
"I know, but from what Yuno has told me, you probably would make quite a good captain, politics or not."
'I'm not after your job, I want to hook up with you, you moron.'
Safe to say very little actually comes from a single trip to the beach - anyone surprised?
Yami keeps saying Mereoleona has a neck fetish; a claim which she is violently opposed to. Whereas he jokes it explains why she's suddenly interacting with Vangeance so much, she finds no humour in it and ends up threatening him with a death match. And so the jokes stop.
Charlotte tries to work up the courage to finally confess to Yami, but it fails at every turn. He does end up telling her that he's impressed with how far she's come as a captain, though, so it's not a complete loss and she does manage to sincerely return the sentiment without be callous at any point... so that's progress, for her.
The plan was to eventually take off the dress and show off her bikini-clad form off in front of Yami and hopefully catch his eye, but either something constantly kept dragging attention away from her, or she would lose the confidence to do so whenever Yami's attention was on her, so yeah, that failed. Another idea was that she would ask Yami to rub the sun cream across her back where she couldn't reach, but again she chickened out and instead made the mistake of going to Mereoleona who spontaneously smacked a large amount of freezing cold sun cream on her back, which resulting in Charlotte letting out an extra high pitched yelp and shooting up from her seat... crying "cold!"
Yami did make a joke about getting to see some women-on-women action when he heard Mereoleona offer Charlotte assistance, and when the assistance failed, he pretended to be disappointed. Dorothy thought it a confirmation of Yami and Charlotte's relationship, while also teasing Yami and claiming he was jealous. "Tch. I'm not jealous, Sleeping Midget..." 'Or am I...?'
Charlotte regrets not realising that even with her piss poor culinary skills she could have tried winning Yami over with an affectionately made sandwich.
Dorothy brings a rigged pack of "never have I ever" cards, the first one of which says "never have I ever had a crush on a colleague". Only Kaiser (who married outside of the magic knights) and Julius are safe from this question, but no one's surprised by anyone more than they are by Fuegoleon (including Fuegoleon himself), who apparently also had a crush on a colleague at some point during his time as a magic knight - and possibly still has.
Kaiser is looking at all of this, thinking 'ah, to be young and in love', while wishing his wife was here.
Obligatory Beach-Side Friendship/Family Headcanons (feel free to skip)
Dorothy and Mereoleona try to help Charlotte go after her man, but, er... well, they end up doing more harm than good.
Yami and William try to talk about serious William-betrayed-Clover-where-do-they-go-from-there type stuff but it keeps getting disrupted by Rill. And also, very awkward.
Fuegoleon is surprisingly chill around William despite the betrayal, although he still doesn't plan on letting William anywhere near the side of his fire arm.
Nozel reluctantly thanks Fuegoleon (and even more reluctantly Mereoleona and Yami) for helping Noelle in the most tsundere way possible. This is while he's drunk, mind you.
Julius insists on all the captains (and him, Marx and Mereoleona) playing a game of beach volleyball together, but Marx is having none of it and Mereoleona manages to obliterate the ball within the first five seconds of the game anyway... And, let's face it, if it wasn't her it would have been Jack.
Technically, Jack confesses to caring about Yami while talking about how stupidly reckless he always is, but it's a bit hard to tell under all that competitive snark.
Whether William wanted it or not, he did get a hug from Julius out of the whole pretending-to-be-cousins thing. It was nice. If awkward. For a moment, it almost felt like he was part of a normal, happy, loving family.
Don't worry, Yami gets a hug too, though he puts up quite a fight. They all get a hug. Mereoleona's reaction to it was priceless - as if you'd suddenly picked up a cat, and now it's conflicted between wanting to scratch your face of and wanting to be scratched behind the ear. That's what William compared it to, sufficed to say she was fairly close to digging her claws into him instead. (She grudgingly put up with the hugs though.)
Yami has this very sober - not - advice to give to William: "women are like the [ Black Clover equivalent of the Mariana Trench ]. The deeper you go the weirder it gets." Safe to say William has no idea what exactly he means by it.
"You're not a problem, a burden, or a failure, or weak, or broken, or any of that just because you have struggles. It just makes you human. And part of a family who loves you."
Her tone, and the look in her eyes, they were so steady. Stern. This was the first time she had seen her friend without one of those bright toothy smiles or a cat-like curl to her lips.
And the fact this was directed at her? Unnerving, to say the least; but not frightening. The breath caught in her chest, and she stared attentively as Azumi spoke.
"You are worth so much more than what you can give to others."
jzx sneaks up supplies and wwx can feel the wards being disturbed and just zips down there ready for a fight and tells everybody to get in the cave and stay safe. he does not believe jzx and it takes approximately 30 minutes before they even start trudging back up the hill with food that everyone desperately needs instead of an army. wwx interrogates him the entire way despite the prior 30 minute interrogation. jzx just closes his eyes eventually.
JZX is struggling. He is trying very hard to be a good (future) brother-in-law and WWX is making it so difficult.
Of course this must end with JZX realising that WWX is being difficult because he’s scared out of his mind for the people under his care and not just for the sake of it, and it will be very soft and cute and there will be Bonding. Give me JZX swearing that WWX has his support and WWX doubting it at first but JZX proving himself over time! Dumbass (future) brothers-in-law slowly realising that they’re Not So Different After All and letting go of their distrust and dislike! It is very good!
