TLCR

[killerwaves]

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[handsheld]

hi

[divector]

How did this even happen??? Sorry this is rambling, I’ve written this over a way too long period of time. And I needed to be a yowling cat for this!

It's so nuts to me how Shigaraki and Ibuki/Moravia somehow managed to have a screwed up, yet still weirdly wholesome, connection? What a roller coaster ride.

Moravia originally contacted Shigaraki to test out the voice function and get a sense of what’s his deal. No more, no less. But then he said he had a world to destroy, starting off this wild domino chain. That entire first private conversation was incredibly fascinating to her.

“Why wait on anyone else?” At the time, she wasn’t too sure herself. Coupled with the rest of their discussion on their world’s society and treatment of those undesirable? It started to get her thinking about what she really wanted.

And so a week passes with nothing to really do but think a lot. In both forms, they were checking out the island, sometimes talking to the other vacationers, and generally cooperating if asked. Not to mention posting a bunch of ridiculous texts on their network.

But the entire time, they’re trying to figure out why they have a such a fixation on Yuuki’s answer. Like, while they did have an answer for Shigaraki when he asked why, they couldn’t help but wonder if that was really all. So why not think about it while they’re in some sort of weird vacation away from everyone and everything they’ve ever known?

Letting them think about this and start coming to a conclusion is probably the worst thing that could’ve happened to their area of the world. Or just their world in general.

So by the time Shigaraki found Ibuki’s text about wanting pictures of Fou getting the jump on Alice, Ibuki’s sorted out his thoughts more about society and Yuuki. Their texts here were sort of a sounding board based off all they’ve been pondering, as well as another setup for the tone the rest of their CR will take.

Then the first trial happened.

At that point in time, Vergilius was one of their favorite people on the island, though he got overshadowed by the goose death. So they had enough investment in the outcome to pay attention to what’s going on. Which of course means they were fully paying attention when the whole Lobelia thing happened in front of their salad.

That was completely incomprehensible to Moravia (who transformed instinctively to avoid having to launder a white coat). Love is one of those things that she doesn’t get, so the whole series of events was interesting enough to watch while it was happening, but after? Mostly thoughts of “what did I just watch”. Being able to talk about the whole outcome with Shigaraki helped her get her vague thoughts on it in order.

Except that’s also the same conversation they had about love and justice. About self-serving moral codes and what being human is. It informed a lot about how she feels about herself and about Shigaraki, making it even more obvious (not that it already wasn’t) why they vibe so much. Finally reaching an answer for what she wanted, and Shigaraki’s insistence on them doing what they want, really lifted a weight off of her. And she wouldn’t have reached that point without their talks.

This made her really happy? Like she thought, it's nice to go against the grain and be happy about themselves anyway. Because for all their vibing, they’re not 1:1 on everything. So she really enjoys talking to and getting to know him more. By the time they were both talking about superheroes and villains, it was pretty sealed for her that she liked Shigaraki a lot. Let him cook.

And since this is Ibuki/Moravia we’re talking about? Of course this means they started developing an attachment to him despite not being a Takanashi. They were that happy about being able to talk to someone they can relax around.

Yes, there’s the Toucans and Magolor, and they’re pretty comfortable around them, but sadly, they didn’t have similar conversations about their world views. Sure, there’s a huge power imbalance there, but Ibuki/Moravia don’t have the same feeling of constantly gauging the others’ threat level when talking to Shigaraki. Because it’s pretty much always the same? Constant? Like, yeah, he’s always a threat to their life, no matter the week. Just the nature of the game. Not reason enough for them to avoid talking to him though. Or anyone. It’s not like murder is a dealbreaker for them.

Which is why Moravia offered to lend Shigaraki a hand after the Lobelia trial. Ostensibly, it was to “help” him with his report to Overhaul. (They never once actually helped.) But the double meaning there was that she’d help him keep his game going. Because now she’s dialing ``let him cook`` up to 11, like she does with anyone she cares about. Anyone in that category gets carte blanche from her to do whatever—her bias in action. And she’s invested in his plans for his world.

She wasn’t expecting Shigaraki’s reaction to that at all. Because yeah, she’s no mind reader and has no idea about his association with hands. Something about the look on his face reminded her of Yukinami, the boy she escaped the research facility with. Her offer was always sincere, but his response threw her off. It did, however, reinforced her decision to help him, maybe even in a way she couldn’t help Yukinami.

Then the absolutely cursed combination of being chosen to fight Maxeta, Shigaraki giving Moravia loot for top DPS, and Ibuki/Moravia’s birthday being one day after happened.

What the hell? Seriously, what the emote hell. Now they set up this weird routine of Shigaraki bringing presents and Ibuki/Moravia bringing sushi and snacks while playing video games. They’re just off having a blast committing sleep crimes and causing chaos in their wake. Team Fun energy all the way!

And yet another turning point: Thursday. The night they killed Skywarp, a.k.a somehow the culmination of everything they decided on in one messy robot-shaped package.

It’s actually nuts to me how much better in Ibuki/Moravia’s mental state got after this? Because in a way everything happened in a way that validated their thoughts throughout this whole vacation, and somehow made them closer to their own cabana at the same time. I wasn’t prepared for this swerve? I still wonder how different things could’ve been if they did die here, considering how much this entire case impacted how they interact with everyone around them.

But this is actually supposed to be a writeup for Shigaraki despite my rambling, so! Yeah, there was no turning back from this. Kao laughing in the background as they hung out more and more. It’s not like they dislike the others (in fact, they do like a handful quite a bit at the end), but they’re always at their more relaxed around Shigaraki. Which is really funny because it’s not like they’re unaware Shigaraki’s a mastermind. But they genuinely enjoy being around him. It didn’t actually bother them that much (his biases can do whatever the hell they want) until there were more and more signs that the island was near collapse.

So then it was time for them to outright tell themselves that “right, this can’t last for much longer”. And it bothered them in a way they didn’t want to say out loud. Because even though they logically knows what their situation is, they’ve emotionally tied themselves to Shigaraki. The only saving grace was that they’re always resigned to have their own feelings be one-sided. No matter what he feels about someone or something, he always expects the other side to not think the same way. Even the people closest to him from home, Yukinami and Hyuga, aren’t exempt from this.

When Shigaraki asked Moravia what she wanted after the final trial, it threw her for a loop. What could she say? So she answered him with hypothetical futures, an attempt to get her thoughts across. She promised to lend him a hand, and that includes avoiding acting in a way that would impede his game. Of course she has self-preservation, but that came secondary to her feelings. If she wasn’t like that, then she wouldn’t be constantly leading monster of the week attacks on Theta.

But he took it all seriously, saying that he’ll figure things out. She wasn’t expecting that. She’s used to being more disconnected from people. And yet here he was, saying something completely contrary to her expectations.

Still, she wanted to respond in kind. So she tried to be as clear as possible that she wouldn’t change her mind about walking with him. Why would she let go of something like this? You’d have better luck telling her not to drink from an oasis when she’s dying of dehydration. And so they made another deal, clasping hands at their impromptu hideout.

(Ibuki/Moravia’s feelings certainly weren’t only platonic by then. Insert sighing cat here.)

Yeaaaah, there was zero way they’d side with the group against Shigaraki, especially after that. And that colored a lot of the way they approached endgame, OOC situations aside. It’s not like they disliked the group, but they simply care too much about him to even entertain the thought. That’s why anyone implying any sort of violence towards Shigaraki got a drop in their affection gauge. Merlin got his own bottom tier because bruh, they heard all that talk about killing them in a way that actually does annoy them.

So it was a relief for them when they decided right before the Overhaul boss fight that they no longer needed to go above and beyond with cooperating with the group. Of course, they’d help the handful of people they like a lot, but at that point, they prioritize Shigaraki’s safety. There’d be no hesitation to fight for him if it came down to that. (I’m so glad it didn’t because that would’ve been hard to write that day. Also they’d have to throw away Skywarp’s and Alice’s gifts out of wariness towards Merlin’s magic. :( ) The biased simp in action, folks.

Anyway, this was a lot to say that I hope they have fun bad ending their worlds and then meeting up to swap pictures and stories! I love their weirdly wholesome dynamic despite the whole destruction thing they have going on. And so many of their tags sent me floating into outer space. I think I’m like 13 galaxies away now.

(I feel like I could say more but this was getting long. And I think I’m kinda drunk still. Maybe I’ll think of something I missed. That’s kinda terrifying. Truly these two are a roller coaster from hell.)

tl;dr: I wasn’t expecting them to disaster gremlin their way into Team Fun. And this totally isn’t the gaming buddies to marriage pipeline, y’all?!