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8/12/22

ZB AU:

anise is another older mamodo, ~16-17 like spaghetti. they’re from a noble mamodo house that trains chosen children in “families” of 12 at a time to fulfill specific roles in service to the king. (they’re not technically guaranteed those roles, but mamodo who “graduate” from this house are usually considered gold standard candidates for whatever they were trained to do/become.)

each kid is given at least one hereditary power (like bao but nowhere near as powerful or unique) in line with their assigned role, as a failsafe to make them useful. they’re also taught to never consider themselves serious contenders for the throne, and to abandon all emotions, desires, ambitions, etc that might get in the way of them providing impeccable service. they’re raised as living tools for the current and future ruler, essentially.

in the context of the battle on earth, that means they’re expected to attach themselves to other mamodo and help THEM succeed, so that if any of those mamodo become king, they’ll almost certainly be chosen to serve them. this is well-known by other mamodo so if one of the kids from that house gets chosen to participate, there’s an unspoken additional race on earth among all the other mamodo of a certain character to find them, bc they’re guaranteed to be a very valuable ally as long as they have their human partner and their hereditary spells unlocked.

anise’s innate magic allows them to transform in ways that increase their agility, defense, and strength, but each transformation weakens when stacked with another one. so for example, their strongest agility transformation on its own makes them blindingly fast, while their strongest defensive transformation is basically gr33d’s ultimate shield (lol). but if they use both, their speed and armor integrity both decrease by at least an order. use all three and they’re only about as fast/hardy/strong as a moderately trained mamodo without enhancements, since none of their training centered around combat.

furthermore, their offensive transformations require a lot of energy and are really only meant to be a worst case scenario solution if they can’t escape a bad situation. they’re built for survival, not fighting. that means they’re not especially powerful as a fighter, and under ordinary circumstances wouldn’t be a very useful ally bc their spells do nothing for anyone else.

HOWEVER. they were assigned the role of healer, so on top of being taught medicine and healing, they received 1 or 2 spells that can restore anyone’s heart energy and health very quickly. plenty of other mamodo can heal, but anise’s healing spells and their learned inclination to act as a tool for other more powerful mamodo makes them like catnip for Unsavory Types looking to get ahead in the fight.

(they do have two other abilities. one is that they can sense mamodo’s general locations, their power, and their humans’ heart energy levels. that last bit is the only unusual part. the other is a spell where they spit venom. very mild damage with a fast-fading paralytic effect.)

i’m honestly reluctant to think too hard abt what gr33d’s backstory would be in this au bc my ocs are so personal it feels weird to be doing it for a character that’s not my own (or willingly bequeathed just for the purposes of the au, like egg). but he’s got the same overall personality and motivations as og gr33d, he’s just younger (17-18) and a bit more foolhardy and excitable. i also can’t imagine he’s not still a way better fighter than anise so i guess he’s got combat experience/training for whatever reason. again if i think too much abt it i’ll cringe way too hard to continue. ANYWAY.

the battle begins and anise shows up on earth, and being a pragmatist (with no tact) i think they honestly just spend a good bit of time walking right up to humans with high heart energy potential and asking them if they can read their book. nobody treats them especially well, and since they’re not useful yet without their spells, whenever they sense other mamodo nearby they steer clear of them, bc they don’t want to be attacked or taken in while they’re still more of a burden than an asset.

one day they pick up on a human with VERY high heart energy, so they start heading toward it. they follow after the person for a while before abruptly losing track of them, and then someone speaks up from behind them and asks “so. you wanna tell me why you’ve been following me around like a lost dog?” so they have a similar first encounter to the fmab campaign :^)

anise, having no reason to lie, says, “i’m a mamodo searching for my human partner. can you please tell me if you can read this book?”

honestly i think a lot of ppl’s first reaction would be like oh this ‘mamodo’ shit must be a cult, they’re just like a really determined jehovah’s witness guy LOL. so i imagine gr33d is absolutely skeptical and asks “yeah, why don’t we back up a little. why were you chasing after me specifically?”

“you have a rare abundance of heart energy, which would make you a very powerful partner. it might make up for my own shortcomings, if you are mine.”

“…right. let’s pretend i understood any of that. why should i believe you?”

and anise is like (thoughtfully) “oh. i don’t know. perhaps because i don’t have any reason to lie, but i suppose that wouldn’t matter or be knowable to anyone besides myself.”

and gr33d laughs and says “alright. you’re funny. i’ll take a look.” so he opens the book, and sure enough, he can somehow understand one line of this weirdass ancient text and when he reads it aloud and looks up, anise has transformed slightly, the most immediately noticeable difference being their eyes changing color. and they look down at their similarly faintly discolored hands and go “ah, so it really is you. that’s very fortunate.”

then they look up and say “my name is anise. i am a nominal participant in the current battle to decide the king of the mamodo world. you are my partner. may i ask you your name?” and that’s how granise meet and gain their first spell, a low-level agility transformation.

the initial crux of their relationship is that gr33d, being gr33d, is very pleased with the fact that he’s the only one who can read anise’s book, which means their powers can really only be used by him. anise explains everything they know about the mamodo world and the battle, as well as their particular circumstances and expected role.

to which gr33d is like “fuck that, i’m not helping anyone else. i’m going to be the king of this world AND the other world.” and anise is like “i wasn’t aware the human world also had a king.” and gr33d just grins and says “maybe not that anyone knows of yet. but this whole world is mine, and since you’re mine, your world is too.” and anise is like (blinks) “oh. alright.”

so in a strange turn of events, they decide to help their human partner somehow become king of the mamodo world.

kinda important to note that in this au, they aren’t unable to feel things/care about anything like they were in the fm*b campaign. they were just taught their whole life to abandon or at least strictly control their emotions in the name of efficiency and efficacy. so they CAN feel things, they’re just conditioned not to let themself do so. (if they couldn’t feel things at all im pretty sure it would be impossible for them to unlock more spells in the human world.)

they and the other students of their house were also denied the opportunity to form actual personal relationships with anyone. so anise spent all their free time studying anything and everything. if they could fill every inch of space inside of themself with knowledge, they wouldn’t have room for emotions so they wouldn’t ever become obsolete thru inefficiency, and maybe they’d also stop feeling so empty all the time.

once other mamodo start finding them, a lot of them, especially shitty small fry who were hoping to use anise to get much farther than they’d be able to on their own, obviously take issue with the fact that anise won’t be their tool when they were under the impression that they were only in the battle to serve other mamodo.

and the first time one of them is like “so that human is the one putting stupid ideas in your head. i’ll just get rid of him. there must be plenty of others who can get you to work just fine,” anise gets their second spell, which gr33d reads just as the enemy mamodo attacks him—but in true zb fashion, anise takes the hit themself instead with their new defensive transformation >:^)

anyway after the fight anise tries to check gr33d for injuries and he’s like “don’t be stupid, you were the one who took the hit. are you okay?”

and anise says “i’m fine. my armor protected me, and even if i get hurt, i will heal much faster than a human. my job is to protect you whenever i am able.”

and gr33d is like “no, i’m not hearing it. you’re MINE, so i expect you to take care of yourself, do you understand?”

and anise is like (experiencing a flicker of an emotion) “……..yes.”

this is also when they get their third spell, for minor healing, and anise asks gr33d to read it so they can touch his face and heal a little cut on his cheek. after which they go “there. now we’re both satisfied”

and gr33d laughs and helps them up and says “c’mon. let’s head back.”

from there their relationship turns more relaxed and understanding, and also anise is less tense bc now that they have one of their healing spells they can officially call themself somewhat useful. also now that they’re on better terms, gr33d picks up on anise’s curiosity about the human world and starts making sure they get to experience as much of it as possible, cuz it’s his world, who better to show them around?

so with his help anise finds out a lot about humans, earth, and themself, like their favorite foods and activities, all stuff they didn’t let themself think about before bc it wasn’t important to their purpose. and they learn what it’s like to have an actual friend (and more), like when gr33d tells them to lie down next to him on a grassy hill and relax for once and they unexpectedly doze off, and when they wake up gr33d has draped his jacket over them like a blanket.

or when they’re looking curiously at some flowers at a street stand, so greed yoinks one and hands it to them, and while they’re studying it up close he puts another one in their hair and says “there. that one’s for you to look at, and this one’s for me.” and each time anise is increasingly like (failing to suppress an emotion) “…….thank you.”

also as their relationship evolves, gr33d’s attitude abt the mamodo battle shifts from “i’m gonna be the king of your world” to the much less ridiculous “you’re gonna be the king of your world, bc who would be a better king than My mamodo?”

basically, consciously or not, anise begins to respect themself and their own feelings because gr33d is important to them, and they’re important to gr33d.

they’re at this point in their relationship when they meet dickegg for the first time, and they immediately start fighting bc that’s just what both pairs expect. but gr33d starts doing his usual peacocking abt how anise is His and His alone to try and distract the enemy with the idea of how useful anise is, and dickegg are like “how can you talk about them that way! they’re a person, not a tool!” and gr33d is like “oh hold up i didn’t know you were chill like that lol. anise, do you want to fight these guys?” and anise shakes their head and says, “no, i don’t think so.” and dickegg are like Huh.

so they call off the fight and just talk, and dick learns what a fucked up, bigheaded weirdo this teenager who’s literally named after a cardinal sin is, but also that he’s a good person who cares intensely about his friends. and when they talk to anise and learn about their whole deal it just further drives home to dickegg how fucked up so many parts of the mamodo world are.

so while egg is trying to make friends with a somewhat uncomfortable looking anise, gr33d explains to dick that he wants to make anise king so they can stick it to every shitstain who had a hand in raising them and those other kids, and every scumbag who turned the other way and let it keep happening for generations.

and dick is like “does anise want to be king?” and gr33d says “they said they don’t know. if they decide they really don’t want to become king, i’m not gonna force them. they’ve had enough of ppl doing that. but i don’t want them to lose the opportunity to make a choice before they figure out what they want, you know?” and dick is like……what is with these weirdly emotionally mature teenagers i keep running into.

anyway like i said when i first started thinking about this au, during anise’s final battle on earth, gr33d gets severely injured instinctively trying to protect anise, to the point where he’s incapacitated and can’t read spells. and the enemy mamodo, a real shit-eating type anise actually encountered much earlier before either of them had found their humans, mocks anise, saying how they should have just tagged along quietly like they were meant to the first time they met and how “it’s not too late, you know. you and that human can still agree to be my servant, and when i become king, maybe i’ll keep you.”

meanwhile anise is hunched over gr33d’s bloody, unconscious form, their mind flooding with memories of all the times he scolded them while bandaging up their injuries, even though they said it wasn’t necessary, and all the times he grinned and grabbed their hand before pulling them toward what ended up being a very fun, happy experience, and the first time he called them precious, which was also the first time anyone had ever called them something like that

and they reply to the mamodo, “perhaps, in another life, i would have taken your offer and agreed to be your tool. i’m sure my house would love it if someone like you became king. but here and now…you’ve just hurt the most precious person in the world to me.” and they look up, absolutely snarling with rage, and say “forget burning your book. i’m going to rip you limb from limb.”

and in their attack transformation (when they’re strongest, but also physically the most vulnerable, which was why gr33d tried to protect them in the first place), they start just recklessly running at the enemy and ripping chunks out of them with their claws, ignoring every hit they take until they’re covered in as much of their own blood as the enemy’s.

and when gr33d comes to and sees that they’re still fighting despite being so grievously injured that their book is starting to burn, he panics and shouts at anise to stop, which makes them turn to look at him. so the enemy tries to land a killing blow—which egg blocks, of course, in a zb-style dramatically late entrance

and the enemy mamodo laughs all crazy and is like “ohhh, i see. you ARE serving another mamodo after all! you could have just said so, instead of pretending to be something you’re not!” and egg is like “anise is my FRIEND you…..motherfucker!!!!!” and the enemy mamodo is like Huh and dick is like (head in hands) i slipped up and said it One Time. anyway the important thing is that with their help, anise defeats the enemy.

immediately after which they go limping back to gr33d where he’s freaking out and trying to stop the book from burning and anise says “if you read a healing spell, perhaps it’ll undo the damage to the book.”

and gr33d’s like “bullshit. you’re terrible at lying.”

and anise smiles and says “yes, i apologize. i just want to heal you, because you’re still very close to dying.”

and gr33d is like you little shit. you’re in even worse shape than me. but he reads their strongest healing spell, so the both of them are back up to full.

and gr33d is still a bit frantic, lamenting the fact that there’s still so much of the world he wants to show anise and how he wanted to make sure they learned to be really happy before they left, and they just squint fondly at him and say “that’s silly. you made me happy every day, every time you smiled at me. you’re the kindest person i’ve ever met.”

so he grabs their hand and says “when you get back there, no more letting other mamodo tell you what to do. you do whatever you want, whenever you want, and if anyone gives you shit for it, you tell them to fuck off. you better take good care of yourself, you understand?”

and anise holds his hand up to their face and says “of course i’ll take care of myself. i’m precious to someone i love very, very much.”

and gr33d just manages to give them a kiss and touch their foreheads together before anise disappears.

cut to the extreme wide or environmental detail panel (featuring the sky) that’s always used in ZB when a friendly character undergoes a sad but ultimately hopeful moment of growth.

this thread became so long bc of my particularly potent anise brainworms atm but that’s most of it so i’m putting these two aside for now as well!

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