Maybe I'm a Lion
is an ongoing The Garden of Sinners/[PROTOTYPE] crossover fanfic written by Dullahan, being published on the Beast's Lair TYPE-MOON forums.
It poses the question - what if, by complete coincidence, the Blacklight virus at the centre of [PROTOTYPE]'s plot was to fall into the hands of what might appear to be the single worst possible candidate for obtaining viral super-powers: Lio Shirazumi, the homicidal, drug-dealing stalker who served as the main antagonist of the seventh chapter of The Garden of Sinners?
The answer? Things get worse.
Maybe I'm a Lion follows the story of a mentally-unstable twenty-year old and the (numerous) people and organisations trying to kill him, for a variety of more-or-less justifiable reasons.
Maybe I'm A Lion contains examples of:
- Anti-Hero: Lio. In a manner of speaking.
- Badass Normal: Captain Cross. He beat Shiki Ryougi in a knife fight!
- Badass Army: Blackwatch as a whole.
- Boom, Headshot!: Poor Azaka
- Brick Joke: Lio notes that Shiki should try wearing a suit and ponytail during a confrontation with her brother. She winds up wearing the look while leaving Ogawa Mansion to disguise herself from the authorities.
- Shiki even says she looks like her brother.
- The Cameo: Several.
- Izaya Orihara appears, albeit unnamed, in one chapter.
- Bazette Fraga McRemitz is executed by one of the Three Kings in his introductory scene.
- Fabro Rowan (a.k.a. Nero Chaos) is referred to as a fourteenth-century scholar whose Codex Haereticus provided the theoretical backbone for the creation of Blacklight.
- The Clan: The Ryougi family come from a long line of demon hunters who transitioned into being a blend of landed gentry and Yakuza in the modern day.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Lio can be like this at times.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Lio's internal monologue is quite foul-mouthed at times.
- Combat Pragmatist: Blackwatch. Their immediate reaction to Lio coming Back from the Dead as a giant lioness? Call in an air strike.
- Contemplate Our Navels: In fine Nasuverse tradition.
- Conversational Troping: The two unnamed CIA agents who investigate Souren Araya's apartment building in Kayamihama engage in this on the drive over there.
- Cool Old Guy: Hidenori Taizou, of the CIIO.
- Deconstructive Parody:
To quote the author:In keeping with one of the themes of this story being a twisted parody of shounen manga, you may have noticed that Lio possesses several very characteristic protagonist traits. Firstly, he doesn't die when he's killed, and in fact has a tendency to power up and beat the people who just failed to kill him. Secondly, he can learn and acquire skills much faster than people who've worked for them their entire lives. Finally, after defeating opponents, he's able to come to an understanding with them, see their point of view, and work together from then on. Not to mention that he has a dark and troubled past, is an epic-tier bishounen, and fights for the sake of his friends. The catch is, of course, that the reason for all of these is that he's a flesh-eating, soul-eating eldritch horror wearing a human face, which itself has mental problems that would be more at home in Evangelion. But hey, everything comes with downsides. :P - Determinator: A requirement for Blackwatch, as all of their members choose to die while attempting to hurt their target rather than surrender or die quietly.
- Door Stopper: It's nearly 450,000 words long at the time of writing, and nowhere near finished according to the author.
- The Fair Folk: Áki Weisstein was kidnapped by them at a young age, but was rescued by his father not long afterwards.
- Famous Ancestor: The Alba family are descended from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.
- Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: The Three Kings' conversations with PARIAH are presented like this.
- Also, PARIAH's conversations with his therapist.
- Gambit Pileup: And how. Pretty much everyone is trying to manipulate the situation in some way, and it's rapidly escalating into a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
- Gender-Blender Name: Lio, though he refuses to admit it.
- Kaname Ryougi, which Lio mocks him about in one scene.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: As noted by the author, Blackwatch and Lio are respectively either the hero(es) or the villain(s), depending on how you look at it.
- Hidden Depths: Played straight with regard to Blackwatch troops. Judging from Lio's reaction to acquiring their memories, many of them are quite intelligent and well-read, to the point of making references to H. P. Lovecraft and Heart of Darkness.
- Humanoid Abomination: Lio.
- PARIAH is implied to be one, though his appearance has yet to be described.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Several - in Japanese, no less. For example: 'Shirazumi' - Lio's surname - can also mean 'white charcoal'. After getting incinerated alive by GAMEKEEPER, Lio is reduced to - what else? - a small pile of white charcoal.
- Lemony Narrator: Lio somehow manages to narrate like this in first person.
- Magical Eye: These seem to be a trait in the Ryougi familly. Shiki has her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Her brother's Pure Eyes can detect non-humans by seeing their auras. Her father's eyes have the Discernment of Truth and Falsehood.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Lio's attempt to eat pancakes.All that stands in the way of me being able to enjoy my breakfast is the aggregate total of carnivorous felid evolution since the early Miocene epoch.
Challenge fucking accepted.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Lio has been incinerated alive by thermite to the point where he was reduced to literally nothing but a small pile of white ash at the bottom of a smoking crater, but came back from even that.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Three Kings.
- That said, unlike most examples of this, the individual Kings are shown on several occasions to actually be doing things.
- Original Character: To name a few:
- A team of CIA agents from Hong Kong led by Jeremy Winthrop, working in partnership with Blackwatch due to the Blacklight leak occurring outside the United States.
- A pair of agents from the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence and Investigation Office, covertly investigating the terrorist incidents Blackwatch has been using to cover up their attempts to kill Lio.
- The Three Kings, a shadowy group of conspirators named after the Three Wise Men of Biblical tradition.
- Several members of the Alba family, who provide the main vehicle for the introduction of...
- Áki Weisstein, a Swedish Magus who worked at Stutthof Concentration Camp during World War 2, fled to the United States before Germany's defeat, and was the original creator of the REDLIGHT virus.
- Painting the Medium:
- PARIAH speaks entirely in bold. That is, the PARIAH who commands the Three Kings does this. The one who's in a bunker underneath Vandenberg Air Force Base only does it on occasion.
- Occasionally, certain words or phrases in Lio's dialogue or narration will be in bold. According to Word of God, this represents the violent impulses of his origin intruding on his thought processes.
- Pretty Boy:
- Lio, to the point where he's mistaken for a woman at first glance by several characters.
- Kaname Ryougi, Shiki's older brother, is described as resembling his younger sister a great deal.
- Outside-Context Problem: All over the place. Blackwatch is ruthlessly efficient at dealing with scientific monsters, but aren't prepared to deal with supernatural elements. Likewise, most of the characters from The Garden of Sinners lack the resources to really oppose an organized military. Lio is this for everyone as nobody, except perhaps PARIAH and the Three Kings, saw his transformation coming.
- Personal Horror
- Reference Overdosed: Lio's narration becomes this more and more over time, as he acquires more memories (mainly from Blackwatch soldiers).
- Touko tends to do this as well, though to a lesser extent.
- Schedule Slip: The time between chapters has gotten noticeably longer.
- Shout-Out: Loads of them. The title of the story itself is one, to Final Fantasy VIII.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Much of Lio's internal monologue.
- Spanner in the Works: Lio's transformation is this to Araya Souren's plan from canon.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Lio, as a result of having his Origin awakened in the backstory. They're retro-reflective, like cat's eyes, and several characters remark on how creepy this is.
- Talking to Themself: Lio does this in his narration all the time. It's usually presented as lines alternating between normal text and italics.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Implied to be the reason why Lio ran away on impulse the moment he saw Shiki in Ahnenerbe.
- Webcomic Time: The story began in late March of 2012. As of late April 2014, 22 hours and 30 minutes have elapsed.
- Word Salad: Lio lapses into this in his narration when he's either extremely upset, injured, or Blacklight is doing something cool.
- Yakuza: The Ryougi clan, with the decline of the supernatural beings they used to fight, have transitioned into organized not-quite-crime.
