Oujou Yuuna is almost to the elevators when she’s ambushed.
“Yuuna-chan, got a minute?”
Normally, she wouldn’t mind chatting with her fellow reporter, but not today! Not when she’s sooo nervous about running late already!
“Yuu-Yuu,” If her colleague notices her greeting is less exuberant than usual, they don’t say anything. “I’m suuuper super sorry, but I gotta run—”
“Three minutes.” Yuu-Yuu’s friendly grin twists into something more determined. “I just need three minutes to ask you something, and then I’ll be out of your hair. And you can walk away with these.”
They pull a plastic container out of their bag like a magic trick and opens it with a flourish.
Yuuna’s mouth starts watering. “I-is that..?”
“Yuuta-kun’s homemade pumpkin brownies? Yep.” Yuu-Yuu closes the lid and drums their fingers on it. “But, if you’re too busy to accept it, then maybe I should see if Yukari-chan or Yuuka-san…”
“No!” Yuuna loves each and every one of her coworkers, but she doesn’t want to fistfight them again over Ta-kun’s delicious but tragically limited supply of delicious brownies. “It’s just, I have a date tonight, Yuu-Yuu, so if you could make this quick…?”
“Gotcha.” Yuu-Yuu nods, expression turning serious. “After your date, would you be able to dig up everything you have on the Gracey family and send it to me? Gracey Megami and her childhood in particular.”
Yuuna hugs her precious brownies to her chest. She wants to say yes, but… “I dunno, Yuu-Yuu. The Graceys are pretty cagey, like steel-trap cagey, y’know? I wanna help Ya-ya and Ken-pai too, but ‘m not sure I’ll be able to get you anything useful.”
“Yuuna-chan, no one knows the latest trends or the habits of the rich and powerful in Twstopolis like you do.” Yuu-Yuu insists. “You’re the best in this business, and it’s not like I need details of what they discuss over dinner every night. Just, anything about Gracey Megami before she was brought into the family, any rumors about her movements or habits before she disappeared. Anything that could help exonerate Yuuken and Yuuya.”
Yuuna nibbles on her lower lip, probably getting gloss on it, ugh. “Still…”
“Please, Yuuna-chan?” Nooooo, Yuu-Yuu’s eyes are all wibbly and sad. “This is the only lead I’ve got.”
She throws her arms around them in a hug. “I’ll do my best, I promise Yuu-Yuu!”
Their arms wrap tight around her waist and they spin her around in a lift that’s almost as dizzying as their beam. “YES! Ah—sorry Yuuna-chan, but you’re the best, you know that? Absolutely brilliant, a marvel, number one—!”
“Staaaahp!” She smacks their shoulder gently. “Enough flirting, Yuu-Yuu! I’ve gotta date tonight, you’re not allowed t’be turnin’ my head like this!!”
Yuu-Yuu releases her with a joyful giggle. “Sorry, sorry, Yuuna-chan. I’ll let you get to it—have fun, okay? And if your date isn’t as nice as they ought to be, let me know okay?”
“You’re not allowed to set your supervillains on my date, Yuu-Yuu!” Yuuna calls after them as she steps into the elevator.
“That means I am allowed to set Grim on ‘em!”Yuu singsongs back as the doors close.
They do a fist pump now that they’re alone in the corridor.
Then, because it is the imperative of every member of the reporting/journalistic career paths to be nosy as hell, they wander over to the windows that allow a view of the front of the building to sneak a peek at Yuuna-chan’s mystery date.
“Ah, Yuu-kun.” Yuuta-kun smiles as they sidle in behind his desk. “What’s happening out there today?”
“Just checking that the person taking Yuuna-chan out tonight will be good to her.” They reply, scooching aside to make room so Yuuta-kun can peer down as well. There’s Yuuna-chan, and there’s a dark red car pulling up as she waves…
The driver gets out, face shielded by an enormous bouquet that is presented to Yuuna-chan.
“White roses and jasmine.” Yuuta-kun nods approvingly. “Very classy for a first date.”
Yuu snorts as Yuuna-chan takes the bouquet and flings herself and it at her beau in a hug. “No way that you can see that…from…here…?”
Call them crazy, but isn’t that one of Snake Charmer’s minions? The one whose name they can never remember, and so have shamefully been calling “Minion B” in their head?
Huh. Good for him. Good for Yuuna-chan too, that guy is pretty strong when they’ve faced him as The Prefect. They hope the two of them will have fun together.
Now they just need to make sure Snake Charmer doesn’t do anything drastic if this date doesn’t go well…
I’d like to preface this with: in canon the Prefect should not and (hopefully, writers please don’t) will not overblot. It breaks all conventions of the world and all the rules built up about the magic system. In the game this should NOT happen and I don’t want it to happen. (I’d also like to note now I’m only part way through book 6 and while having some spoilers for book 7, don’t entirely know what’s going on: my bad if any info is wrong)
What I am saying: imagine how horrifying a Prefect overblot!AU is?
The Prefect has gone through overblot, after overblot, after overblot. Nothing can kill them, nothing shakes them, nothing breaks them. They always come out the same person. Maybe a bit more sassy or seemingly a bit naive to block out trauma, but really the same. And as far as anyone seems to be concerned, they’re coming on with little mental & maybe medium physical damage. Everyone seems to be coming out with little damage, but we’ll ignore that for the sake of argument + game logic, can’t have traumatized characters for long and for the sake of “blank slate protagonist”
Then after however Malleus overblot is resolved and all becomes “right” in this twisted world, the Prefect seems to be breaking.
I think it could be interesting if it’s Crowley revealing there is likely or simply no way for them to go home. I’m sure there are many other scenarios too, though. Anything to do with their friends could easily shove them over the edge.
No one’s comfortable with this, obviously. It’s never good to see your friends hurting nor is it a good feeling to watch.
But most students think it would be of little issue; the closest students (/the named cast) would try to lighten their spirits but they all know best to let something like this run this course naturally.
Repressing their emotions only made the situations worse and caused overblots, after all. It’s only natural that they’d want to give the Prefect comfort and company, if that will help. They don’t want to bother them if not asked though, as that could easily make the situation so much worse.
It’s not enough. It was never going to be.
The Prefect doesn’t know how to ask for help, after all this time of knowing when to help others with little to no prompting.
Maybe they’ve lost the ability to after all this time. Maybe they never had it, even before TWST and the trauma.
It doesn’t matter. It never mattered. They don’t even matter, do they? In the grand scheme they’re just another student wandering the halls — a useless one at that. One that will be forgotten about and thrown into a world they don’t know, whether it’s into Twisted Wonderland’s or their home world they no longer know.
There’s a reason they were assigned “prefect,” to be forgotten about. Kicked to the side, if gently, when they were no longer useful. No longer helpful.
That’s what’s happening now, isn’t it? They’re a broken puppet. No more overblots to fix. No more people to save. There is no one to be helped. They didn’t even deserve to go home, did they? They couldn’t save one person from overbloting.
It’s enough to make anyone go mad. And that’s all that should’ve happened.
But blot is a mysterious thing, isn’t it? And being from another world — no, universe — it was bound to react differently.
They’ve been through so many overblots, over and over, the blot stayed. It never left. It just kept building. Small amounts with Riddle & Leona, and even Vil wasn’t that bad, but it kept piling on and on and on.
Similar to the Shroud curse (or how I understand it), it feeds off the Prefect. But when the negative emotions fall out and inevitably lead to numbness, there is no magic to leech off of. There’s just the body their brain inhabits and the brain itself.
The blot overrides them. There is nothing else. The host isn’t strong, but it’s enough, it just needs some of the previous hosts to make more blot.
The Prefect doesn’t want to hurt them, but the Blot does. It needs them. Like how the Prefect thinks they need to be helpful to them.
I don’t think this overblot would be particularly hard to beat. The reason may be because the Prefect drops dead before any blot can actually get out and cause any issues, but regardless, it’s not hard. The Prefects overblot doesn’t even cause as much damage as Riddles does.
Isn’t that even more of a sign of how useless they are?
Maybe they go home after this. Maybe they don’t. Maybe Crowley covers it up. Maybe he doesn’t bother. Does it even matter? They’re always secondary. It’s the students stories, not theirs. They’re just there to be helpful when necessary and pushed away when not.
They don’t notice, but many of their friends kick into action. Try to prevent overblots in any way possible. Everyone becomes closer. The teachers try to be their for students even more.
But as long as they’re this blank slate, they can never truly matter, can they?
thinking to lerning chess, just saw a post about ron and he’s inspires me… to find new hobbies other then scrolling trough endless rubbish on the internet and actually doing something with the soft tissue inside of my skull….
The chaos trio and their immeasurably tired supervisor + Jack. Friends helping each other in the ways they know how. As always, please check me for any bad writing or ooc characterizations.
Warnings: Slight angst
WC: 1222
Sometimes, Yuu wished the world wasn’t so loud. Sometimes, Yuu wished that Grim would remember to complete his homework. Sometimes, Yuu would hope that Crowley wasn’t neck deep in a problem that he believed himself too generous to keep his own. Sometimes, Yuu wonders what it would have been like to never wake up in unfamiliar clothing, trapped in a coffin and loaded with the information of what it would be like to be buried alive. Right now, however, in this exact moment in time—6:30pm (or 18:30 Yuu supposed—If they didn’t want to have to tack on the am/pm modifier), with the sun setting a rosy gold in the windows of Ramshackle—a lovely color, truly—Yuu wished that sometimes their friends were as callous as they liked to appear.
Yuu fought a sniffle, bit back and swallowed so hard as to cause pain, teeth firmly clamped together. This was stupid. Yuu hated crying. What good did crying do? In this economy? With overblots cropping up left and right, the constant threat of never returning home, and having to battle both physical and mental trials on the daily? Utterly ridiculous. Yuu didn’t have time to cry. Crying was an ugly mess anyway with snot and swelling, itchy eyes. Not to mention the raging headache afterwords? No thanks. Yuu balled their hands into tight fists, pressing them against their eyes, maybe looking at the colorful squigglys would stop this stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—
“Hey man, you didn’t have any mint teas, but Deuce had some spare chamomile.” Ace’s voice chimed from the direction of the doorway. One, two, three steps and Yuu could hear the gentle placement of a teacup and saucer on the coffee table. Gentle. Soft. Kind. Yuu’s hands pressed harder into their eyes.
“My mom sent that mixture over before we discovered the Housewarden’s strict tea rules, I’m glad that we can make some use of it.” One step, two—thwick. Deuce’s voice caught in a slight yelp, probably having tripped on the throw rug. A heavier step, then—
“Ah, thanks Jack, you did me a solid there, that could’ve gotten messy.” Through the neon, burning squigglies Yuu could almost see the bright smile across Deuce’s face and Jack’s no doubt, slight bashful head scratch.
“Careful Deuce, you keep tripping up on that rug and I’ll have to start calling you—”
“Mrh? But didn’t you trip on the rug yesterday, Ace?” Grim piped up. There was an undignified choking sound followed by a few snickers.
“Well yeah, but Deuce has done it more” Ace pouted.
“Actually” Yuu interjected, immediately wincing at the rough sound of their voice, “I trip on it the most.” Yuu peeled their fists away from their eyes, grimacing at the sticky remains on their hands. They did not look at their friends at first, instead fixating their eyes on said rug, tracing the outline of a funny pumpkin shaped stain with their eyes. The banter immediately tapered off. Yuu cursed themselves, everything was going fine. Their friends were relaxing in their horrid company and then they went and opened their big, fat, stupid—
“Tea” Ace finished.
Yuu looked up “what?” Ace crossed his arms, looking for all the world as if Yuu wasn’t five seconds from a slip and snot slide.
“You haven’t tried the tea” Jack explains, gesturing to the mismatched tea set on the coffee table. Yuu noted four teacups and one expresso mug sitting neatly on saucers and a plate of, “scones?” Yuu blinked slowly.
Jack cleared his throat into his fist while averting his eyes. “You mentioned that you’ve always wanted to try them.” His eyes returned to Yuu’s as he offered something in his hand. Yuu bashfully accepted the handkerchief and began dabbing their eyes.
“We all got together and asked Trey to help us make a batch!” The smile Yuu had imagined before returned to Deuce’s face on full blast. Yuu’s brow knitted in confusion.
“Er—” Grim rubbed behind his ear, calling Yuu’s attention from where he sat on the arm of the sofa. “Well, you see…I had to do something for my henchmen after Ace gave them such a tough time this week!” Ace sputtered.
“Me?! What about you, you little hairball?!” Grim jumped into the air with fire (not in the literal sense, thankfully).
“What?! Me?! Why you—”
Yuu sniffed loudly (perhaps intentionally), stopping both in their tracks. Ace and Grim glared vengeful promises at one another while Deuce and Jack began setting up the impromptu tea party, Jack observing the proper etiquette from Deuce, who had been studying diligently for the next unbirthday party. Ace flopped down at Yuu’s left side as Deuce and Jack pulled the couch around to make a half-circle.
“What genre are we picking today, Prefect?” Ace whisked his teacup up (the pink one with red floral designs and gold filigree, he insisted tea tasted better from this cup and claimed it as his own whenever he came over). He quirked a red brow and peered at Yuu from over the teacup.
“We all know what you’re hoping for” Grim quipped dryly, his fluffy paws cradling his cat themed expresso mug (no one was allowed to mention that, or the fact that he had caterwauled about how nasty “hot leaf water” was but refused to be the only one left out). Jack hummed over his teacup (simple, white with gold trim, he claimed he hadn’t even noticed the cactus painted on one side or the bowl of the saucer before picking it as his own).
“Last time we watched James Thread and before that it was Vanity and Vainglory.” Jack flicked a pointed ear, “Maybe a documentary this time?” Ace and Grim let out a noise between “ugh” and “yuck,” an “ahhyugh,” if you will.
Yuu curled their legs up onto the cushion, cradling their own teacup. “What about a cartoon?” The other four looked over.
“A cartoon?” Deuce inquired, taking a sip from his teacup as his pondered (it was a dark blue on the outside with gold accents, the inside had an intricate floral design that Yuu thought suited him well). “Did you have one in mind?”
Ace lurched forward “Oh!” Yuu clutched their teacup for dear life as Ace grinned wide. “What about Codename: Mages Next Door!”
“Never heard of it” Grim mutters.
“No way!” Ace laughed, “C’mon, it’s totally a classic!”
“Dude, Numbah One was my favorite!” Deuce chimes in with an equally large grin.
“I personally liked Numbah Five” Jack smiled.
“Okay” Yuu tentatively smiled back, “Let’s watch that then.” Ace hurried to set up the projector against the far wall, whisking the curtains shut and humming merrily.
“You’re gonna love this one Prefect, trust us!” Deuce leaned forward, offering a scone to Yuu. Yuu accepted it as the lights turned off and the theme began (the same tune Ace had been humming). Yuu bit into their scone which was as delightful as they had hoped it to be. They sipped their tea and let the hushed, excited whispering of their friends soothe them. Sometimes, the world was too loud for Yuu. Sometimes, the thought of being alone frightened them. Sometimes, Yuu wanted to cry in frustration and dismay. Today however, right now at no particular time, Yuu was glad to have friends.
Not 100% happy with how she came out here, I'll have to redesign how I picture her uniform later, but here's my Yuu or er, rather, Roscida!
An amnesiac young woman who woke up in a coffin, she's been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this real? Or not?
Toyhou.se Mirror
Template and Background is thanks to @unfinished-projects-galore
I did use Epel's face as a base of sorts to try and emulate Yana Toboso's style, which is also probably why I'm not really happy with how she looks here. That'll teach me, I guess.
While I've written the Prefect to be gender neutral for the readers, I've always personally headcanoned them as a male. And after getting to this point in the game, that seems to be the actual canon for the game as well:
Also, yet another example of Deuce being an endearing dumbass. Seriously, he's not a complete bonehead like Ace, but just generally dumber without even realizing it half the times. Like the moment with the eggs I just discovered. 'XD
