[🆁🅴🅼]

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it’s funny how the sky changes colors.

when clouds mourn, we call it gray. when the sun’s sleeping we call it black. and somewhere in between day and night we witness the prettiest purples and awesomest oranges. but no matter how severe or frequent the change: there’s only one sky blue. there isn’t a sky black or sky gray. not a sky orange or sky purple either. just. sky blue.

but it hasn’t been blue in awhile. when i took yamaguchi’s eyes i couldn’t see at all. things eventually sorted themselves like they always do — i got my vision back. no more running into walls for me baybeee. for whatever reason though… the sky was red.

“What the f#@k are you doing here?”

“man, i dunno. life is one big question mark…” that’s not really a good answer though. he’s probably gonna get mad at me . “just staring at clouds for now i guess. what about you?”

“Me? I’m about to kill some dipsh%t who stepped onto the wrong turf!”

“they said it was mine though?”

i can only see a silhouette of the guy. he’s so, so blurry. unless i was like really close to someone, they always looked like this now. i don’t know how old man yams did it. but i did see what looked like to be a gun lower.

phew. guns were annoying.

and hurt.

“So, you’re the kid with Yamaguchi’s eyes?”

“oh, yeah. that’s me. we cool?”

he lifts up the gun again.

“aw man…”

“Like I said.” hrm. that’s the sound of someone squeezing a trigger. me no likey. “It’s my turf.”

---

Arsenal

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[Arsenal]

Staring at clouds wasn't so bad. She still didn't understand how they worked, or how the ceiling of the outside could be so tall, like wouldn't they need really, really tall ladders to build it so tall? Still, it was a scenery she never grew tired of. It was also a scenery best enjoyed without a squabble going on nearby. She didn't know what was going on, about Yamaguchi's eyes or who owned what turf. All she knew was that the guy that was being threatened also liked looking at the clouds.

''Please don't do that.'' She asked the gunman casually, pointing a finger at him before turning her hand into a gun. It was a good thing she carried ammunition today. ''If you point a gun at someone, that means you are ready to kill. It's not some toy you should be making empty threats with.'' Without hesitating she pulled the trigger, hoping to hit him and save her cloud-appreciating comrade. ''What do you see in the clouds?'' She looked over at Rem, before pointing up at the sky with her other hand. ''I think that cloud kind of looks like a tiger.'' She smiled, her cool exterior melting away as she turned into a bundle of joy.

''Did you see how I came in to save the day? Wasn't that cool? I'm really dependable! Hey, you said this is your place, right? Can I stay here for a bit as thanks for taking care of that guy?''

🆁🅴🅼

[🆁🅴🅼]

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“Stupid bi—” the gunshot stopped him dead in his tracks. literally dead. or so i thought anyway. his body twitched for a moment and he reached into his pocket while the girl was talking. it was hard to focus on both things at once but it got a lot easier once his hand fell to his side and so did whatever he grabbed from his pocket.

well, that was taken care of!

i looked up and it’s all a blur. not like… when someone’s trying to remember something but they can’t. like, yeah. i don’t know that many animals or anything but i know what a tiger looks like. but it’s sooo, far away. i just a red canvas with smudges of white floating along. it looks so chill, man. it’s like lookin up at a lazy river or somethin.

“oh yeah that is a tiger.“ i don’t see it but i trust her. who would lie about somethin cool like a cloud tiger stalkin the sky forests for some rain deer. really just awful day for santa. tigers eatin his rain deer and then rudolphs nose isnt even useful cos everything’s red now.

“yeah thanks. people don’t usually save me so that was nice of you. how’d you do that anyway with your hand doing the pew pew? can it turn into other stuff like… mittens? i guess that’s not as useful because that’s something you can slide onto your hands anyway but i guess i’m just thinking about the cold since the tiger’s eating santa’s rain deer.”

oh yeah. she wants to stay here. i don’t really mind but why is that?

“yeah stay as long as you want but why do you wanna stay here of all places?”

in the middle of my yapperino cappuccino another guy showed up. he looked angry at us, too? but i’m not sure why.

“You thought he was alone?” who was alone? “That he wouldn’t call for back up?” oh, right. dead guy. forgot he was there. “Don’t know how you did it, but that’s not happening again.” guess he wasn’t lying because he turned his skin into metal. wonder if bullets were strong enough for that. i never shot one before. i dont think my bats gonna be all that great… but i’ll try it anyway.

“don’t worry. you saved me now i’ll save you!” we charged each other and i slammed my bat in his face! slam dunk woo! crack aw man… snap my bat snapped. “not skullcrusher…”

oh sh%t that’s a punch to fa— “ow.”

---

Arsenal

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[Arsenal]

She was practically beaming giddiness when he confirmed that he also saw the tiger. ''Right?! Stripes and all! I don't know how they do it, but they do! Back where I'm from we never had ceiling entertainment, but out here it's something else!'' Tall ceilings, fluffy white clouds and the glowing lights of the city, everything was different on the outside and every moment was a new wonderful experience. Whether it was tasting candy floss for the first time, or assassinating a status quo politician. ''That?'' She looked down at her gun hand and turned it back to normal, shrugging shyly. ''It's nothing really! It's just a little trick I learned! It's nothing special, but I'm really amazing that I could pull it off aren't I? I can turn into more things too, not mittens but!-'' And she was about to give him a full demonstration too when they were so rudely interrupted.

When the so called back up arrived she simply turned her hand into a gun and fired a shot at his head without saying a word. Unfortunately his power seemed to repel her bullet somehow. A metal quirk? How annoying. When the stranger she had just saved offered to save her in return she couldn't help but be a little moved. ''Savior Man!'' She blurted out, followed by utter despair as she witnessed skullcrusher split in half. ''Not skullcrusher!!'' She cried and fell to her knees, eventually running up to Rem to catch up to the fight. ''Catch me! I'll become your skullcrusher!'' She leapt through the air and midway she turned into an aluminium bat with a skull painted into the metal. ''Swing me Savior Man! Aim for his nuts!'' The bat commanded in her voice, ready to avenge his dearly beloved weapon.

🆁🅴🅼

[🆁🅴🅼]

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she flew in the air like a bat. not the kind she transformed into, but the rodent with wings that some people used as inspiration for their hero costumes. usually, they fought criminals under the moonlight with fancy little devices all named after the same motif.

anyway, i caught her! she felt nice and sturdy… but so did this guy’s fist against my now bloodied nose. a strong one, too… annoying. guess i’ll just have to beat his face in and take more hits than he can! it’s how i always did things. never thought much about it. just brute force it until something worked.

but arsenal was a genius…

the nuts. fighting dirty. how was i supposed to have come up with such a tactic on my own? i am just a silly little guy with silly little eyes.

“right. the nuts!”

something’s off. he’s not even trying to stop it… CLANG!!

“When I’m metal, striking my groin is like striking my face… there are no weak points to take advantage of.”

well that’s no good. “when you’re metal…?”

“Y—” he screamed. “YEEEOWWWW!!” he buckled to the floor, hands cradling his family jewels — it almost looked like he was bowing for forgiveness.

“whoa,” i look at the bat, jaw dropped, making sure i don’t blink even a little bit. “you’re amazing! you didn’t break against him when he was metal and then you took him down right away! but uh…. what should we do now?”

---

Arsenal

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[Arsenal]

Much like she had hoped, the strike was a resounding success. This guy whoever he was, really had some arm on him to be able to pull off a swing like that! ''Metal or not, as long as you feel pain we can kill you.'' The bat, or rather she said. ''..You think so? You really think so?'' Her voice changed on a dime as soon as she saw how impressed Rem was. ''I am pretty amazing aren't I? That's Arsenal for you! That's me by the way I'm Arsenal!!'' She laughed like they were just playing a fun game together.

''Isn't that obvious, Savior Man?'' She turned back into herself, falling out of his hands in the process. ''The fight isn't over until he's dead.'' She said coldly, looking down at the tin man. Then, when she looked up at Rem she was all smiles and even tried to lean on his shoulder. ''How do you want to kill him? There are many ways you can kill a person, and there are many ways I can use my quirk. Consider it getting revenge for skullcrusher.'' She couldn't stand seeing a good weapon being mistreated or going to waste like that. As far as she was concerned, whoever was after Rem was lower than scum and deserved a horrible death. ''Have you ever taken a life before? I can do it too, your first one should mean something.''

🆁🅴🅼

[🆁🅴🅼]

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“oh my god,” i didn’t realize it until she turned back into herself but i was groping all over her in bat form… was that weird? she did think i was a disgusting pervert? i wasn’t even trying to take advantage or anything i was just trying to hit that guy in the d%ck—

“You’ve got Yamaguchi’s eyes.” the guy’s back up, somehow. choking me out. “I know how they work. We all do.” a hit like that would’ve knocked me out for a week. not my precious gems… but this guy? super tough. insane. “Blink and you’re dead.”

“ars…en…al…” i can barely squeeze it out. not even cos of the choking, really. okay, yeah. that’s actually the biggest part making me unable to speak but, like, the internal turmoil is actually a lot worse than the lack of oxygen. i don’t really use my brain a lot so it can go a pretty long time without the air. “you’re… right…”

have to kill him.

my hands slam the side of his face. and i start squeezing him back. the difference is, even if he squeezed a few tears out of me, i’m not a grape.

squish.

he was.

“it did mean something.” his body falls to the floor. blood everywhere. on me, especially, too. “the first time i killed was for old man yams — yamaguchi. he took care of me for a couple of years. protected me from people. died doing it. so i killed the people who killed him. just like that.” i look down at the headless corpse on the ground. “big ol’ squish.” let out a sigh. heft one at that. “then i ripped out yamaguchi’s eyes like he told me, put them into my head, and sky’s been red ever since.”

“anyway!” hard not to smile when you make a friend! i think we’re friends anyway… “was great meeting you. feel free to stay in shinjuku as long as you want. it’s my official decree!” pout pout pout… my bat… i gots to fix it. “but imma skidaddle and get this bad boy fixed. i’ll, uh, see you ‘round? hopefully?”

---

Arsenal

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[Arsenal]

She was a little surprised to see that the guy got back up, and once he started choking out Rem and he said her name, she turned her arm into a fire axe and raised it, only stopping once she realized he wanted to do it himself after all.

Take a life.

''Oooh.'' She mused to herself as Rem reversed their situation and made short work of the metal guy. Was he capable of doing that the entire time? He looked so weak earlier when he swung that bat, like he needed an independent and reliable weapon to come and save him. ''Did you do it for revenge?'' She asked calmly, squatting down next to the body of the metal guy and giving it a couple of trying poke. Yup, dead. What a mess.

''For a second there I thought you killed someone that was close to you.'' Now who would do something like that? Not her! Definitely not her! ''Hold on, did you say red?'' She looked up at the sky, squinting. ''It's clearly blue, the sky is red to you?'' Maybe that was what happened when you took someone's eyes and put them in your own face? She had never tried it before, so she couldn't exactly dispute him. ''Really? Then I'll sleep here tonight!'' She cheered, jumping back up to her feet. ''See you around, Savior Man!''

🆁🅴🅼

[🆁🅴🅼]

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there’s a lot of questions and i guess i have a lot of answers but the vibes are totally off right now. it’s not arsenal’s fault at all. i’m just kind of sad that i had to kill someone right after making a new friend. i wanted to create a memory that lasted us a lifetime but i guess it literally did in the eyes of the man who no longer had eyes or a skull or a face anymore. i guess there is an upside to this after all. we had a witness to what i think might be my first friend after yamaguchi’s death. and, sure, the guy died but we all do eventually and it doesn’t mean the things we saw didn’t matter i don’t think.

“i never really thought about it. i just did it. i don’t really think much. i just do things and sometimes i say things and then if i end up thinking it’s kind of an accident but it’s kind of magical that way. anyway, yeah. the sky’s red. i’m glad it’s still blue for you though. it probably is old man yam’s eyes, they do a lot of things so maybe they’re tired. or maybe we all see the sky as a different color and call it blue? wow, that’s so deep…” i never thought of that before. is the sky different for all of us? do some of us see colors none of us have names for? whoa. “have a good night! stay safe. try not to let the raccoons steal too much of the good trash food. they’re kind of greedy like that but i get it because they’re cute so they can get away with it.”

i’d try to get away with it too if i were as cute as a raccoon.

---

Arsenal

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[coffee]

I'M COMMANDER SHEPARD, AND I APPROVE THIS MISSION

This is the start of a wonderful friendship!

Rem: 0XP + 7500XP = 7500XP

Arsenal: 1250XP + 7500XP = 8750XP

tag: 🆁🅴🅼,Arsenal,