scarletwritesshit

[scarletwritesshit]

✒️ Anaxa x Aglaea ✒️ The Scholar Who Had Forsaken The Narrator

He attempted to indirectly stare at her sitting right next to him. Stunning. Beautiful. Gorgeous. But also, a real prick in his side.

Anaxa secretly admired Aglaea's ability to snap back at his snide comments, rather than submitting to the pressure. It was most entertaining. But sometimes, he had to suppress a strong urge to silence her. Whether it be with a kiss or flipping her face first into the baths, he couldn’t care less how, frankly.

While he was staring at her with a twisted sense of longing and hatred, the other of the Chrysos Heirs that have gathered on this day were seated at the table and leisurely indulging in their meals. Castorice and Mydei were talking with each other, almost forgetting that their food was there. Tribbie just seemed happy to be present, while Phainon stared at his plate with much disappointment.

[Anaxagoras's Note:  Before you continue with this…tale, there is no love for that woman in my soul. If there really is a way to silence her permanently, do enlighten me.]

"...Mydei?" Phainon said, poking at the charred bread. "Mine’s a little uh...well done?"

Mydei completely ignored Phainon’s complaint as he was too busy chatting away with Castorice. The situation would’ve been entirely different if was likely that he couldn’t hear. But they were sitting right next to each other. In other words, Mydei was deliberately ignoring him.

"Mydei?" Phainon said once more, only to be ignored yet again.

If only Anaxa had the willpower to ignore Aglaea like that. She spoke not a single word, yet her cold gaze spoke louder than them all. He couldn’t help but turn to shoot her a glare with his one good eye when the eyes of the others were focused elsewhere. Anaxa couldn’t fight it. Her beautiful gaze ensnared him like a spider’s web: admiration for her glistening strings drawing him in, and capturing him all the same.

"My compliments to the chef," Castorice said.

Mydei smiled, which was admittedly, a rather peculiar sight given his resting scowl. She knew precisely what she was saying, and Mydei knew exactly what she was doing. It was enough even for Anaxa to raise his eyebrow at the status of their…”friendship.”

Now, why won’t Aglaea look at him like that?

[Anaxagoras's note: Simple. Our hatred is mutual.]

"Hellooooo? Mydei!?" Phainon once more prodded.

No response.

Are they really that engrossed in each other?

"Mydei," Aglaea said, "once more, you have outdone yourself with this fine meal you have prepared for us tonight."

"Ah, many thanks Lady Aglaea," Mydei said, looking at her with a gentle smile.

So it wasn’t an ignorance thing.

It was just a Phainon thing.

Phainon looked back and forth, jaw agape and completely baffled. Unable to find the words to speak, he looked down at his ashen meal, defeated. It seemed as if Phainon still had many more trials to overcome, including the attitude of Mydei and deliberately burnt food. Hesitantly, he ate it with a forced smile to try and win back some of Mydei’s favor, but it didn’t seem to be working in the slightest. Not when Mydei was blissfully chatting away with Castorice.

It was amusing to watch, in a way. Not for Phainon, obviously, but Anaxa got a bit of a kick out of it. At the same time, though, he couldn’t help but cringe from the secondhand embarrassment, and thus looked at him with a scowl.

"A little jealous, darling?" Aglaea said, turning towards Anaxa.

"What would you know?"

"I can hear every snarl and sigh under your breath. You aren’t slick."

Right. He forgot about her… heightened senses.

"And what is there to possibly be jealous of, woman? Mydei’s blissful ignorance of Phainon?"

Agalea smiled and shook her head. "Dear, I was thinking more like the strong affection Mydei and Castorice have for one another."

That woman may be blind, but even she can see that something is up with them, Anaxa thought. Never mind that. I have no plans on agreeing with anything that witch says right now.

"Please enlighten me on why would I be jealous of such frivolous nonsense."

"Because you want me," Aglaea said with a smirk.

"Quit projecting," Anaxa quickly snapped back.

"You want me so bad it makes you look stupid."

"You’re the stupid one, thinking that you can shovel such words into my mouth.”

Anaxa and Aglaea were lucky that the others were too engrossed in their delicious meals (and Phainon dreary with disappointment) to pay any mind to their back-and-forth. Castorice and Mydei seemed to be focused on keeping their voices low in an effort to not further humiliate themselves in front of each other and the rest of the Heirs. Tribbie, Hyacine, and Cipher were leisurely chowing down, not bothering to interject with their commentary and opting to leave everyone to their own business. Phainon...was just prodding his food with a fork, deprived of all life and soul.

"My dearest, I’m not putting the words in your mouth if they are true," Aglaea said.

"I will have you know that only thing I want is to never look at you again."

It was an unfortunate half-truth, as Aglaea was terrifyingly beautiful, but Anaxa couldn’t stand her attitude without firing back his share of insults. Yet the prospect of never seeing her again, despite his ever-burning hatred, stung his heart in an inexplainable way. Perhaps, his hatred served the purpose of masking some other form of longing.

[Anaxagoras's note: Nonsense. The only emotion I feel towards that woman is pure hatred.]

"Well, aren’t I lucky then?" Aglaea said, narrowing her eyes.

"Lucky enough to not see the utter disgust in my eyes."

Lucky enough to not see the way he looked at her whenever they crossed paths. Lucky enough to not see the admiration in his gaze for her beauty. Lucky enough to not see his secret desire for her.

"C-can you two quiet it down a little?" Phainon asked. "I get that your relationship isn’t exactly...stellar, but this is supposed to be a nice meal between us Chrysos Heirs..."

Anaxa glared at Phainon as if silently telling him to shut up and enjoy his charred meal in silence. There was no use in trying to stand in between their bickering, so he obeyed without further prodding. Maybe that was enough of a nudge to grant Anaxa some peace, freeing him of that woman's voice attempting to serenade him.

Under the table, out of sight from Phainon and the others, Aglaea lightly rested her hand on Anaxa's leg. He felt every nerve in his body jolt at her teasingly gentle touch, and he turned to see her smiling with devious intent.

"He didn’t say anything about what he cannot see, did he not?" she whispered quietly.

"Bastard woman," Anaxa growled in between his teeth.

Her touch was light enough to not be forceful, yet just enough that Anaxa could feel her fingers needily caressing his leg. She was treading upon dangerous territory. And she must’ve known that, feeling the muscles tense up in his leg as her fingertips moved along. If she crept inwards any closer, Anaxa would not be able to trust himself with what may happen next.

He clenched his jaw to suppress his frustration, but his lack of an audible response only enticed Aglaea to pry at him further. She had no vision, and so she couldn’t see the suppressed agitation on his face, yet it felt like she was staring into his soul and knew what he was thinking. He dared not act upon indecency, but if it weren’t for those around him, he would pull her in and make her give him what he wanted already.

[Anaxagoras's note: You truly believe that I want that wretch of a woman anywhere near what's left of my body? Preposterous.]

He firmly grabbed onto her wrist. Anaxa froze, debating what direction he should take. Move her hand closer and give her a taste of her own teasing? Or let her off easy this time?

"Hmm?" Aglaea quietly inquired.

"Making sure you don’t try to pull something funny, woman," Anaxa huffed, cutting her off before she could ask.

He promptly moved her hand off of his leg and rested it in between them. He didn’t let go. She didn’t fight his grasp. Neither of them said a word about such.

The food in front of them was growing cold.

Hopefully, nobody was observant enough to question Anaxa eating with his left hand instead.

[scarletwritesshit]

gacha games and japanese games

what else were you expecting from me honestly

✮ twitch - scarlet_nevermore

✮ bird app - @/crowdrxgon

✮ bluesky - crowdrxgon.bsky.social

✮strawpage - scarletnevermore.straw.page

[scarletwritesshit]

🔔 Class is about to start!

Our zine TEYVAT HIGH, featuring the teenage characters of Genshin Impact in a high school setting, is now available for free! 💖

Over 30 people have gathered to make this a reality, and we are so proud of them!

Grab some snacks and take the time to browse!

Cover by @guresunya

[scarletwritesshit]

We are in the final stretch of the creation period for Mobs of Teyvat, which means it's contributor spotlight time! First up: Scarlet Nevermore, who can be found on x, tumblr, and ao3

[scarletwritesshit]

⛵Brant x F!Rover⛵Sincerity Amongst Theatrics

He seemed quite different than usual, Rover noticed. That ever-present smile of his that was so sincere and genuine on the norm now appeared almost forced. And the refection of the sea’s waves rippled with sadness in his violet-flame eyes.

A word was hardly uttered from Brant's mouth the entire time. Not a moment of casual chatter and no theatrics of any kind; it was as if someone had sealed his mouth shut with glue. Hearing only the sound of the smooth waves and occasional croak from the gondola was rather eerie and unsettling. Her beloved annoyance seemed barely present in the moment, so she draped her arms across his shoulder from behind and nudged her head slightly against him.

"You’ve been awfully quiet," Rover said.

"Hm? I am merely enjoying a rare moment of a peaceful sea breeze. Nothing that should be a cause for your concern, my dear," Brant said, his gaze still seemingly lost amongst the waves.

"Peaceful and Brant do not belong together," Rover said. "You hungover or something?"

Brant shook his head. "It has been a... few days since I've last indulged myself in such. I assure you, that is not the case."

"Odd," she said, scratching her chin. "You sure you’re feeling okay?"

"Stellar as always, dear."

"I don’t believe it, you’re a liar."

"Since when would I ever lie to you?"

"Since now, apparently," Rover said, sliding down and sitting back-to-back with him. "You can tell me. You should know that I won’t be upset with you."

Silence was once more laid down thick between the two of them. Brant debated his next words carefully, attempting to figure out how to formulate his thoughts without inflicting too much worry or misunderstanding upon Rover. At the very least, he knew that carelessness was not to be called for in such a situation, as one can break themselves free of jail time and again but cannot escape a broken heart shattered into dust.

Too many directions that he could go. Brant decided to simply be frank with her.

"Do you...believe in anything I say, actually?" he asked.

"Of course," Rover said, briefly looking over her shoulder at him. "What bought this on, all of a sudden?"

"Don’t you find my mannerisms a bit...redundant? Irritating, even?"

"Why do you think that?"

"There’s only so much of a show one needs to put on for another. Overdo it, and an act will become nothing more than, well, just that."

"Act? I thought that you were just like that."

Brant hesitated for a moment.

"Throw around your words too recklessly, and all meaning they once held will be lost. To say one thing to a mere crewmate only to turn around and declare the same to the love of my life, wouldn’t that carry the implication that my words bear no weight?"

"I have no reason to believe that you have been anything but sincere to me. For a performer of your standing, you genuinely suck at faking your emotions."

"Nonsense!" Brant said, turning to look at her with a halfhearted smile. "Had I not said a world, you wouldn’t know any better upon seeing me just now!"

Rover once more turned her head to look back at him. Brant's smile was as big as ever, but there was no denying that lingering glint of sadness in his eyes.

"I know you too well. Those beautiful eyes of yours could never lie."

Defeated right out of the gate, Brant’s smile quickly faded as he turned back around and slumped against Rover’s back.

"Ah...so nothing really does get past you," he said with a hefty sigh. "That must mean that, if you do see everything, then surely you must know."

"Know what?"

"That every little thing I say to you, I mean from the bottom of my heart. My words to you do not carry the purpose of serenading you into a trap, but rather, they serve as a declaration of my honest feelings."

"What’s got you worked up about this all of a sudden?" Rover asked, a little confused. "Was Roccia picking on you again?"

"Oh, I worry not about her. She hardly has a say in such thoughts of mine. It’s more of like...the more that I spend time with you, the more that it solidifies my desire to make you a permanent part of my crew."

"But I’m already part of your crew, aren’t it?"

Brant took off his hat and started fanning himself with it.

"Ah...well...it’s like, different than what you think I mean. Probably. When I say those kind of things to you, the feeling I get is much different than that from the friendly banter with my crewmates. And, I am not going to lie, my dear lady, it has me wondering about the weight that my words truly bear.”

To hear Brant be so thoughtful, yet so distressed compared to his normally flamboyant ways was rather disheartening to Rover. She couldn’t help but wonder if an offhand comment from Roccia triggered this downwards spiral after all, despite his claims.

“You’re speaking theatrical nonsense. Tell me, what’s really on your mind? It’s not like you to beat around the bush like this.”

Hat still in hand, Brant turned himself around and threw his arms around Rover’s shoulders. He nudged his face against hers, like a pathetic puppy begging for attention. There was nothing fake about the look of sadness in his eyes. There was no way one could fake such a blush, either.

“Rover, dear, y-you do know that I really love you, right? Like, I mean it! Every single word! I just wish I could express it better!”

“…Express it better?”

“I wouldn’t even believe myself with such choice of words. But please believe me!”

Noticing that he was on the verge of tears, Rover rested her palm against the side of his face and stroked it gently with her thumb to try and bring some sort of comfort to him. He relaxed against the side of her head, but was still looking at her with desperation.

“Dear Brant, I never for a moment thought that you were faking it. For a dedicated performer, you’re truly a sincere man. I don’t think that anyone who was faking it would turn into such a flustered mess like you are right now.”

“Ah…” he said, the realization of how stupid he had made himself look in front of her just finally starting to hit.

“Cheer up,” she said, “No need to change yourself for me. And it’s not right seeing you look like that. You’re going to make me sad as well.”

With a smile and a tight squeeze on her body, Brant nodded his head. “You do indeed make a most valid point. I deeply apologize if I have caused you any worry, but more importantly I thank you for…for everything, actually.”

“No need for thanks,” Rover said, leaning her head in closer into his. “Don’t you think that the sea is a little too quiet? Isn’t there a show that must go on?”

A glint of light shone in Brant’s eyes. “You’re right…you’re right actually! Ha! How could I be so stupid? All of this grand stretch of water is my stage, and I’m wasting it weeping around? Should’ve thrown this almighty ocean hero overboard to teach him a lesson or two!”

Almost accidentally throwing Rover out of his hold, Brant stood up and turned around, taking a huge step towards the front of the gondola. He flung his arms up and open with such force, causing the Echo to sway. Rover grabbed onto the edges of it for dear life as the Echo screeched in distress, afraid that she was going to be flipped into the seawater. She turned around to see him, unsurprisingly, balancing as perfectly as ever.

“…Don’t flip me overboard!” she said.

“Haha, do you really think I would allow for such to happen? Should this creature find itself belly-up, not a single drop of seawater will dare taint your skin!”

“Now that’s one thing that I don’t believe you on, but also am not willing to test you on.”

“Is that a challenge, my dear?” Brant said, turning around with a smug smile.

Rover shook her head no, but that wasn’t enough to stop him. Brant shook the gondola and signaled for it to flip over at his command. Rover didn’t have enough time to brace herself for what was to come, but before she could realize what was happening, she was whisked out of her seat in a split second and found herself in his arms. Brant looked at her smugly.

“What did I say? Not a single drop.”

On the curved surface of the Echo’s stomach, somehow Brant had managed to balance perfectly without sliding off or once more flipping over the gondola. He held her in one arm, with his other hand outstretched in a most grandiose display.

“Flip your poor Echo over,” Rover said.

“As you wish, my lady,” Brant said, as smug as ever.

With a stomp of his foot, the Echo flipped right side up, screeching in distress. Somehow, Brant had landed perfectly on his feet while holding Rover securely in his arm. How he managed such, she couldn’t quite deduce his methods, and looked at him in complete bewilderment. Brant had nothing to say for himself, and he simply winked at her with a smile.

At least he seemed to be back to normal.

[scarletwritesshit]

tired of feeling like a vtweeter as my new model is being worked on so why not play some of my wacky anime games in the meantime

✮ twitch - scarlet_nevermore

✮ bird app - @/crowdrxgon

✮ bluesky - crowdrxgon.bsky.social

✮strawpage - scarletnevermore.straw.page

[scarletwritesshit]

🩸Hyuna x Luka🩸Rule Of Beasts

Her body went limp in his arms.

That tight embrace that she held onto him with until her very last breath faded away. To think that after all of these years, he finally got what he wanted, for what would be both the first and the last time.

Hyuna’s words lingered in his mind. Live...with love? How was Luka supposed to do that, now that his one true love, his absolute everything, had died in his arms as a result of his negligence and carelessness? That perfect prince of the stage having made such a blunder was most utterly shameful. He could’ve done something ever so slightly different to change the course of fate. Nudge her to the side a little, pull her closer into his arms, but the bullet simply grazing her neck was just enough to take her down.

Hyuna's body was growing cold, yet her blood that soaked his face and shoulder was still warm. It was the last bit of her warmth that he would ever get to experience in his lifetime.

Nobody dared to move an inch. The soldiers surrounding them were too fearful to move, and Luka was too choked up on his emotions to react.

Something was building up inside him. Rage? Desperation? Luka couldn’t exactly tell, but his sense of self was slipping away fast. The spectators no longer mattered to him; he could care less about his favorability with the crowd.

He held her body firmly upright, under the delusional assumption that the shock from her injury had just exhausted her. Her head rested on his shoulder, and he gently nudged her to try and entice a response.

Silence.

Maybe that face mask was obstructing her breathing. Luka went to pull it down, but his hands were unsteady. Unusually shaky. The complete control he had over his body, down to each individual nerve, was gone. Wasn’t he trained specifically to combat such?

What an utter failure of a prince.

But that didn’t matter to him right now. All that he cared about was Hyuna...Hyuna…Hyuna who was finally in his arms...Hyuna who had been rendered completely unresponsive. Surely, she was nothing more than a little tired and was just using Luka’s body as support. Right? Right?

Luka pushed her up a little, and attempted to balance her on her legs. Her body, still soft with remnants of life, could not support itself, and thus collapsed forward onto Luka. Hyuna's legs once more gave out and slumped on the ground, and the blood still draining from her wound drenched well more than half of his shoulder.

Did he do this? Luka just wanted to finally embrace Hyuna. But why was it that everyone he tried to save, they ended up bloodied and lifeless by his hands?

Luka wanted to scream at the top of his lungs to wake her up. Or perhaps coax her awake with some gentle words. But he couldn’t manage a sound. Any and all words remained stuck in his throat as he collapsed to his knees. Hyuna's body fell with him and landed draped over his shoulder.

He shakily picked up her hand. No response.

He held no knife. He held no gun. Yet why did she die only once she reached his arms.

Luka turned around to barely make out through his tear-soaked vision, a figure dressed in a mask and hoodie holding out a gun steadily.

Did he do it? He was dressed similarly to Hyuna, so a logical assumption was that they were on the same side. But that wasn’t a satisfactory answer. Did he still do it? The gun was aimed in the direction where Hyuna was shot at.

Nobody else around had a weapon of any kind raised in such a fashion.

It was a good enough of a conclusion for him.

Luka pushed himself to stand up, heart racing and thoughts running rabid. It was only fair if that bastard got to feel the exact same pain as Hyuna had, and in turn, their associates would be stung by the exact same sense of loss as Luka. His frail body suddenly became energized with a surge of strength as he stumbled forward and grabbed onto the shooter’s arm. He wrestled the gun to point away from them, so that any shots fired would be likely to hit nothing but a bystander or a part of the stage.

With the weapon momentarily not a threat, Luka clenched onto the culprit’s throat with as much strength as his body could manage. He held no restraint as he could feel their throat collapse in his grasp, so that even if Luka was shaken free, they wouldn’t have many breaths left in them anyways.

Finally, they stopped fighting back and dropped the gun to their feet. Luka tossed the shooter onto their back and watched as the last trace of life faded from their eyes. Once Luka was confident that the body became lifeless, Luka turned around to see the expressions of Hyuna’s other supposed collaborators.

They were absolutely horror struck. Exactly what he wanted to see.

Yes.

Feel the pain.

Feel exactly what Luka was feeling when Hyuna uttered her final words within his arms.

Luka was torn between some unholy emotion consisting of blissful laughter and uncontrollable sobbing. The smile on his face was not from happiness, but rather adrenaline-fueled insanity after having claimed the life of one as a fair exchange for Hyuna being taken away from him. Despite his heart practically pounding out of his chest, and the sharpness of his breath as it was forced through his lungs, he couldn’t have felt more dead and soulless himself. The others seemed to be stuck in between putting an end to Luka’s life or prioritizing their own and making a run for it. It was quite odd as to how they haven’t acted yet, but maybe their restraint was a sign that Hyuna really was thinking of Luka.

Ah, the bliss that the thought of Hyuna’s affection filled him with. She thought of him enough to order the soldiers to spare his life. She cared about him enough to embrace him in her final moments.

But, oh how dreadfully lovely it would be for her allies to suffer the same fate as Luka had.

The blood on his hands hadn’t even dried yet when he turned his body around and made for the terrified onlookers. When his foot hit the ground as he lunged forward, all strength was sapped from his body in an instant and Luka collapsed onto the ground. His brief yet violent rampage was abruptly put to an end as his heart ultimately gave out from the stressed and ceased its rhythm. Hyuna was so close to him, yet so far, as he couldn’t muster the strength to pull himself closer to her corpse.

He would have to settle for being near her. But that was okay. She was there…with him…and it didn’t matter if their skin touched; to Luka, they were together, at long last. In his blurred vision, all that he could make out was the body of Hyuna just barely out of reach and one of his arms limped and outstretched.

He could still make out each individual finger on his hand.

One...he counted to himself.

Two...

Three...

...

Four...

…

[scarletwritesshit]

🦁 Mydei x Stelle 🦁 The Chimera King

He sat alone on the rooftop, gazing out beyond the walls of the city. Mydei looked around him, assuring that he was clear of any unwanted onlookers. All of those that were in sight were either far too preoccupied to bat an eye or were simply going about their business as usual. With no focus upon him, that meant that his secret would be safe. A secret that he kept buried deeper than even his greatest fears.

After taking one last frantic look around, Mydei held his robe open. Walking out from under the shelter of his garbs was a small, orange baby chimera. It blinked its massive eyes and shook its head as it adjusted to the glaring sunlight. It then walked onto Mydei’s leg and stretched its body, letting out a small yet mighty yawn. Mydei gently petted its forehead with the back of his finger, smiling softly.

"It’s nice to get a little air once in a while, isn’t it?" he said.

"Raaawr!"

The creature seemed less concerned with the view and more focused on the attention it was receiving from Mydei. It purred, at least to the best of its ability as a small beast, and rubbed its face all over his hand like an attention seeking cat. Though the chimera remained steady on his leg, Mydei still kept himself still, careful as to not accidentally cause it to slide off. With little movements of its scorpion tail and feathered wings, it remained balanced without issue.

All it desired was head scratches from Mydei. And he was more than happy to oblige. Its little fanged smile as thanks for the attention bought a smile to Mydei’s face in return.

Mydei was in his own little world. He cared for nothing at that very moment; not any sort of heroic trials, not that annoying dog boy, not imminent end of the world, nothing. He was so distracted that he had failed to notice Stelle lingering behind him, who trying to peek around and see what he was up to. The chimera was hidden just enough from her view so that she couldn’t clearly tell what he was playing with. Her curiosity was piqued, however, as staying out of the business of others was not her specialty.

"Mydeiiiiiiiiii," Stelle said.

A grown man had never frozen that fast.

"Whatcha got there?"

As fast as he could without harming his little friend, Mydei grabbed the chimera and stashed it back into his robes. He felt terribly guilty for handling it with such roughness, but he had to prioritize the secrecy of his companion’s existence.

"...Nothing,"

She peered her head over his shoulder. Mydei nonchalantly held his robe closer to his body, but unfortunately for him, Stelle being an idiot didn’t make her stupid.

"Whatdaya mean nothin’? What do you have stashed in that robe of yours?"

"I don’t have anything stashed in my robe."

"Stand up and prove it."

Mydei attempted to use his sleight of hand to nudge the chimera further back so that it wouldn’t tumble out. Unfortunately, the creature wasn’t as cooperative as he was hoping for it to be. He tried to be gentle with his nudges, but given how it couldn’t see anything, it probably had no clue what was going on. He had no choice, so as he stood up, Mydei tried to arch himself backwards slightly to send the creature sliding back.

"See?" Mydei said, allowing his rope to dangle open. "Nothing."

Stelle looked unconvinced. She walked around in front of him and huffed.

"Nothing?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

Rawrrr...

Mydei held his glare at Stelle, but his heart rate spiked. Sweat ran down the side of his face, and the grin on her face only grew larger.

"Did your robes just growl?" she said.

"That was my stomach."

"Your stomach sounds an awful lot like a little chimera," Stelle said, wiggling her grubby little fingers. "Let me...take a little look for myself."

Before Mydei could brace himself to react, Stelle lunged forward and reached her hands inside his robes. She swatted and patted her way around to try and find any semblance of something that perhaps shouldn’t be stashed in a cloak, but all she was accomplishing was stroking Mydei’s muscles. Nothing but pleasantly warm bulkiness was to be felt, and if her will was any weaker, she would’ve forgotten her mission within a few short moments. Though she bore the weight of a Stellaron within her body, it didn’t stand a chance against a man of Mydei’s build, and so he had pushed her back with a single nudge of his palm to her face. She wasn’t shooed away before she caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes staring back at her, however.

"Ha! I knew it! I KNEW IT!" Stelle shouted, frantically pointing her finger under his robe.

Mrrrawr...?

Mydei clenched his jaw, wanting to tighten his grip on her head digging his fingers into her skull before sending her flying off of the roof. However, he simply exhaled and pushed her back a little further in defeat.

"Fine," he said, "You win."

He reached under his cloak and pulled out the chimera by the scruff. He held it up with a scowl, his expression a great contrast to the bright-eyed smile of the creature. The look on the chimera’s face was as happy and carefree as one could be, seemingly incapable of any complex thought.

Stelle leaned in close and narrowed her eyes, shifting her observations between Mydei and the chimera. The beast he held in his grasp was of a gentle sunburnt orange with sharp, golden claws. Its scorpion tail and feathered wings dangled down loosely. It stared at her with big golden eyes, devoid of any hostility despite the red ram's horns that could easily cause her some bruising.

Golden eyes, golden fluff, golden claws...

Stelle's expression lit up.

"You two really do look alike!" she shouted in glee.

"Eh?"

Rrrwr?

"I have no idea where you’re even drawing that conclusion from," Mydei said, trying to suppress his flustering.

He plopped the chimera into his palm, as his hand was so big that it could stand on all fours comfortably. The resemblance was almost uncanny to her. If Mydei would bother to smile for once in his life, then Stelle wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the two.

"You’re both so... golden. And so fluffy!" Stelle said, reacting out to pet both of them.

Mydei's chimera practically melted into her palm, despite having never met Stelle personally before. It was already quite used to smelling her scent on Mydei, and it was purring loudly with joy to have finally met her. Mydei, on the other hand, did not share its enthusiasm and found himself rather flustered. If it were not for his long-held dignity as a renowned hero, then he would’ve given in to her touch by now. Stelle’s soft touch was painfully difficult for him to resist. He felt that “tough guy” personality of his melting away by nothing more than her own hands.

When Stelle freed them both from her wrath of pets, his chimera chirped for more.

"It seems to have taken a liking to me already," she commented.

"Well, it is familiar with your scent after all..."

Stelle tilted her head in curiosity.

"...with you liking to stick your hands in various places, it has grown quite accustomed to smelling you. I’d argue that it’s happy to finally have a face to match to the scent."

The chimera growled as if in agreement, then reached out its paw asking her for more attention.

"And I’d say it agrees. Which is good. I wouldn’t want to be thrown into the abyss because your pet didn’t like me...you wouldn’t do that, right?"

Mydei smiled. "Guess we will never find out, now will we?”

[scarletwritesshit]

thank you @ahllohehn for all of the fantastic work you've done for me!

he's also the one who did the art for my new model, so look forward to that when its ready to go around the middle of next month!

[scarletwritesshit]

thank you @ahllohehn for all of the fantastic work you've done for me!

he's also the one who did the art for my new model, so look forward to that when its ready to go around the middle of next month!

[scarletwritesshit]

❄️CONTRIBUTOR LINEUP❄️

We’re incredibly lucky to have such a talented team bringing this project to life! Our team is beyond excited, and we hope you are too.

Now, without further ado, let’s introduce the cast!

[scarletwritesshit]

📚Anaxa x Aglaea 📚Contradictory Claims Of Intellect

"Scholar who has forsaken the gods..." Aglaea said.

"I have a name, woman. Anaxagoras, to refresh that rather challenged memory of yours," Anaxa said.

"You could at least do a lady a favor and remember hers in turn."

"I would. If, you deserved it, that is. But no, that feeble mind of yours is overran with your fictional poetic nonsense."

"Fictional sure means a lot coming from the man who will become such in due time."

"I would rather die aa a legend than live solely in fiction."

"You’re as imaginative as the flowery words you speak of," Aglaea said, gently kicking the water with her feet. "Why don’t you wash some of those thoughts out of your mind with a nice bath?"

"No thanks. I prefer to keep my clothes and body intact. Especially in the presence of you." Anaxa said, tightening up his suit.

"I didn’t ask you to strip, darling. Unless, that is what you were hoping for?"

"Quite the opposite, actually. But feel free to yourself," Anaxa said, turning his back to Aglaea.

"Oh, so now you want to see me bare?"

"I would rather not see you at all."

"Yet here you are, communicating with me personally. Amusing how things work out."

Anaxa scanned the vicinity. One eye was enough to see that the baths below were fairly populated, though any attention wasn’t directed towards them.

"If we were in the sweet confines of solitude, I would not hesitate to silence you from my ears forever."

"Oh, darling, I’m getting some mixed signals from you. You push me away so eagerly, yet pull me back at a moment’s notice."

"How else am I to ensure that you do not spread your nonsense prophecies around to those none the wiser?"

"I hardly have to exert any effort when every word out of your mouth sounds like one."

"Consider me no better than a dead man if I start speaking in favor of the gods," Anaxa said, crossing his arms and holding his head up high.

"You might as well be with that rotting body of yours" Aglaea said with a laugh.

Anaxa looked around once again. Those in the baths around were still present, but dared not pay any mind to the sight of the eccentric scholar practically at the neck of Lady Aglaea. Out of courtesy, or utter ignorance, they remained focused on their own business. The bath on their level, however, was unoccupied with the exception of the two of them. Anaxa turned around, taking one final glance that the coast was clear as he did so, then walked towards Aglaea.

His footsteps were light, yet were not gentle enough to leave the water undisturbed. With the rippling tides slowly increasing in intensity relative to her position, Aglaea backed up to match Anaxa's steps, until they were far enough out of sight from any potential onlookers down below. She stood firm, stopping a few feet away from the back wall and refusing to allow him to corner her. Anaxa readied his gun and stuck the muzzle under her chin, lifting her head up enough so that their eyes would meet.

"Your...’prophecy’ spells for your demise, does it not? If you believe it in so devoutly, then perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I sped up the process for you."

Aglaea laughed slyly. "I’m impressed that you’ve managed to remember that much, for someone who couldn’t care less about the gods. Unless, it’s not the gods that you find yourself concerned with, but rather, I am the topic of your interest?”

Anaxa clenched his jaw and nudged the gun further up her chin.

"You want me dead so badly, yet you didn’t even turn the safety off," Aglaea remarked.

Anaxa was surprised that she figured out that he hadn’t bothered to flick the safety off of his gun. His shock quickly dissipated upon the realization that it would not have been something that she would’ve seen, but rather, something that she would’ve heard.

"I was simply acting wise enough to avoid an unfortunate tragedy for any unlucky onlookers," Anaxa said, flicking it off with a click, "but I suppose my efforts were for naught."

Despite a fully loaded and ready-to-fire gun at her throat, Aglaea smiled cockily. "You wouldn’t dare, now would you?"

"Don’t test me, woman."

Anaxa was so focused on staring down Aglaea that he had failed to take notice of the golden threads creeping up behind him and in his blind spot. Aglaea held her chin up high and smiled as she held her hands behind her back, subtly manipulating the threads.

"No need to keep your finger on the trigger," she said. "I have my own ways of finding out."

Aglaea threaded the golden silk around his finger that rested on the trigger, then pulled away and tied it down firmly. He couldn’t resist with his free hand, as by the time he could have reacted, it became tightly bound. Escape was no longer an option, as he realized that his legs were firmly anchored to the ground.

Axana broke eye contact, if it could be called that, to see her unhide her hands from behind her back and reveal the golden threads tied around her fingers. Both of them were caught in a cruel stalemate. One wrong move from either could spell the end of both of their lives.

Anaxa could blow off Aglaea's head in a split second, should he be able to slip his finger through the thread. Aglaea’s golden threads could slit his wrists, leaving him to die a slow death in the pool.

"Answer wisely, but more importantly, honestly, and perhaps I will spare you."

"Bring it on," Anaxa said, tugging at the golden threads. "I speak only the truth of this world."

"We shall see," Aglaea said. "Now tell me, do you really, truthfully, wholeheartedly despise me with every fiber of what remains of your body?"

"Indeed, I do."

The golden threads remained motionless.

"Interesting," Aglaea said. "Now, how about this. Do you like me?"

Anaxa smirked. "'Like' isn’t the most accurate way of describing such feelings."

Aglaea waited in silence for a few moments, win the event that the threads had a delayed reaction. Nothing.  She was most intrigued by this response, as it wasn’t a definitive no, but her threads had no indication of the presence of a half-truth. Her next suggestion was a longshot, but her golden thread had her back regardless of the validity of his response.

"Very well," she continued. "Then perhaps, you actually love me?"

"Correct."

No movement from the threads.

Aglaea was most perplexed by the enigmatic scholar’s response. Threatening to kill her by his own hand, yet attempting to steer her away from a similar demise predetermined by the gods. A contradiction of a man, unable to find his own answers when he had one for everything else.

Or perhaps, there were no answers to be sought.

Thoroughly amused, Aglaea freed him of her tightly bound threads. In response, Anaxa clicked the shotgun safety back on and lowered it from her chin. Despite them keeping their cool as they held their ground, the tension noticeably lifted from both of their bodies and their voices.

"You really are mysterious, Anaxagoras," Aglaea said with a giggle.

"I don’t quite understand you myself, Lady Aglaea," he said, crossing his arms.

"Well, I would aid in your studies, but I don’t believe that the middle of a public bath is the best place to do so," she said, nudging his chin up with her finger.

"A shock that we can find something to agree upon."

"Second time."

"Mm?"

"The first being feelings shared between us, genius."

"You’re either talking about hatred or love," Anaxa said, narrowing his eye at Aglaea.

"Which one do you believe it to be?"

"I suppose I have yet to find out."

"And you will soon enough," Aglaea said with a wink.

[scarletwritesshit]

🍾Brant x F!Rover🍾The Ale Is Mightier Than The Sword

There was no way that he could’ve already downed that many bottles.

If Rover didn’t witness it happen with her own eyes, she wouldn’t even have believed it. But the scattered empty bottles told the rest of his tale where his actions didn’t.

Five, going on six, whole bottles of ale. Though he was loud and quite in her way, Rover was secretly thankful that Brant had decided to pull his chair closer to her for some friendly chatter. In the event that he would topple over, someone whose mind was still within the realm of Solaris-3 had to be around to catch him. It wasn’t an unlikely possibility either, as Brant was swaying around in his chair as if he were caught in an ocean storm. Rover, though a little tipsy herself, kept a watchful eye to make sure he didn’t knock his head off of something.

This seemed to be a regular occurrence, judging by the looks of everyone else’s expressions. They chatted ever so quietly while Brant was running his mouth practically announcing his business to the entire world.

"But, my dear friends, if only you were there to witness the moment I singlehandedly wiped out an entire swarm of Tacet Discords with one fell swoop of my blade!" Brant shouted, nearly tumbling forward and holding onto the back of Rover's chair for stability.

The crew nodded their head, pretending to agree with him in order to not drag out the topic any further. Roccia stared in unamused disbelief, but any argument against his claims would more than likely lead to a flamboyant lecture of his. So, she kept her mouth shut, despite clearly having some cruel words for Brant on her mind.

Rover wanted to humor him. It would more than likely result in some rather disgusted looks from the crew towards her for opening her mouth. But it would be funny. Thus, her internal debate was brief.

"Brant,~ " she said, "how about you tell us more about your heroic endeavors?"

As predicted, the entire crew redirected their disgusted gazes towards Rover.

"Anything for you, my dear friend!" Brant said excitedly, taking another hefty sip from the bottle. "Ohh…where to start…where to start…aha! One time, my blade alone managed to tame the likes of an echo the size of a million billion gulpuffs!!"

Rover knew he was certainly exaggerating, but she couldn’t help but crack a smile. The others, however, did not quite share her amusement.

"When I held out my sword," he continued, raising his bottle in sync with his words, "I beckoned to the great beast, 'Is it a challenge with the legendary Captain Brant that you seek?' Its massive eyes stared me down, knowing damn well it could swallow me with looks alone, and I could hear it say, 'I will humor your challenge, but do not be shocked when I strike you down with one fell swoop of my tail!' A cocky little bastard it was, just because it was bigger than me!"

Brant’s inner theater kid was shining through, much to the discontent of others. Roccia, the only one fully sober, might as well be hungover from his words alone. With each and every boast, Rover grew increasingly concerned that she was on the verge of throwing her cup of juice directly at his forehead.

Brant was trying to stand up to continue his performance, if one could call it that, but he could only manage to wobble on his chair. Rover braced herself to catch him, should he make it onto his feet, but he couldn’t quite harness the coordination to do so.

"That bastard, oooooh, was that bastard wrong! WRONG!" he continued, taking yet another drink. "I gave em’ a good ol’ taste of my trusty blade here! Never seen a big-eyed beast so agape with awe! Haha! Boy, did I send em’ runnin’ too. Bowed down in mercy and went swimming away like a good lil’ fishie."

"Brant. I just think that it didn’t want to put up with your crap," Roccia said, very matter of factly.

"Ahem. Who was there personally face the beast?"

"Who is the one drunk off of his- "

"Exactly!" he shouted, disregarding Roccia’s attempt at a jab at him. "I was there and I know best, meaning I know that my heroic actions are almost unmatched!"

"Almost?" Roccia said smugly.

"Almost! Because nobody can possibly compare to my star! My beautiful, glorious, all powerful star!"

Rover had a most awful feeling she knew who he was referring to. Roccia could see it in Rover’s eyes that she held her suspicions too, and was quite relieved that she wasn’t the direct target of his antics this time around. However, watching Brant loudly declare such things was horribly embarrassing for all around nonetheless. What was worse was that Brant had managed to make it onto his own two feet, and Rover’s eyes went wide with the knowledge that things were about to end badly.

"Nobody, nobody is mightier than my dear Rover! How I would sacrifice everything in my mind, body, and soul for her if she already wasn’t the best!"

"Brant..." Rover said, preparing herself to catch him, "you might want to take a seat. I don’t think you mean to say have of these things- "

"I mean every single word! Every single one!  Would I be so bold as to speak my mind if they were nothing but lies? Haha-urp!"

He was out of his mind and hiccupping like crazy yet still had the guts to take another hefty sip. Rover silently gazed at the others for help, but they had that look as if they were saying, "You’re on your own." Brant was unstable, and had just loudly gone out of his way to declare his love for Rover. Now would have been a perfect time to leave the situation without saying a word more. But she couldn’t just leave him here; the crew would more than likely let him fall on his head.

She kept looking back and forth between the crew and Brant, unsure of what exactly to do in this situation. Before she could come to any sort of conclusion, Brant finally lost his footing, and Rover quickly held out her arms to catch him. He was half-slumped against the chair, but she knew that if she were to let go, he would slide onto the floor like a slippery strand of seaweed. Despite the awkward position he was in, Brant seemingly couldn’t be happier.

"...Could you please excuse us for a moment?" Rover said.

The crew obliged, and took their remaining servings of ale with them. Seemed as if there were no hard feelings, and there was a silent agreement to speak no further on the topic. They were used to and perhaps even amused by his nonsense. Roccia was the only one who didn’t join them immediately. She walked around the other side of the table and helped lift up Brant onto the chair with an impressive amount of strength for her size. Kind of a surprising gesture of kindness after the look on her face earlier.

"Don’t say anything," she said before walking off. "He’s more of my nuisance anyways."

Brant, now comfortably seated on a chair yet still somewhat in Rover’s arms, could not hold himself back from collapsing onto her shoulder. He was beyond half asleep and not entirely with it, so Rover readjusted herself and let him lean against her. That meant she was going to be stuck there for quite some time herself, but it didn’t matter, as she was beginning to doze off from the ale that she drank.

"I told you..." Brant said, dozing off, "they fear me...but they rightfully fear you most..."

"Save it for later before you embarrass yourself further."

Brant’s hat was sliding off of his head. Rover slid it back up, somewhat covering his eyes so that he could rest well.

Some time later, Rover awoke to find that Brant was already awake himself. Quite the surprise, given how he drank astronomically more ale than everyone else combined. He was clutching his head with his hat in his lap, unsurprisingly hungover.

He glanced over at Rover slowly waking in the chair next to him and looked away.

"I...didn’t say anything embarrassing, did I?"

"Well for starters," Rover said, "you claimed to be the biggest badass of the sea then slipped in one too many compliments about me."

"Compliments? As in..."

"You’ve straight up admitted to liking me."

"Rats..." Brant said, putting his hat back on and very wobblily standing up, "this isn’t how I wanted you to find out in the slightest.  Apologies, my dear lady."

Rover still had enough coordination to stand up and grab his sleeve before he could walk off. Brant, still feeling the effects of his binge prior, stumbled backwards.

"Find out? You couldn’t make it more obvious if you tried. I don’t think any mere friends quite say the things that you do."

"S-sorry," Brant said, mind still groggy and unable to form the proper words.

"I didn’t say I was mad," she said with a giggle, "I just think you’re an idiot sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"Just sometimes. Like now. You should really be laying down instead of trying to hobble off on your own."

"And also for the fact that I even thought I had a chance with you, right?"

"No, you’re an idiot for assuming that I didn’t like you in return.”

Brant looked at her, absolutely baffled. He couldn’t tell if it was the alcohol in his system playing tricks on his mind or if she really, truthfully...

He lost his footing, but Rover was close enough by to stabilize him and wrap his arm around her shoulder.

Brant, relieved of the pressure of balancing himself, turned to Rover and said, "Thank you, my dear lady. I hardly deserve the likes of you."

"That’s like saying I don’t deserve greatest hero on the seas," she said with a smile.

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"Let’s just get you to bed," Rover said, completely ignoring his desperate inquiry.

[scarletwritesshit]

new hsr patch this week so like rip to all 492038590 of my fic ideas getting stuck in limbo for the next 2 months

✮ twitch - scarlet_nevermore

✮ bird app - @/crowdrxgon

✮ bluesky - crowdrxgon.bsky.social

✮strawpage - scarletnevermore.straw.page

[scarletwritesshit]

For the next behind the scenes, we are continuing with Scarlet (@scarletwritesshit)! In addition to Fuuka, she is writing the Compendium piece for Shinjiro Aragaki!

[scarletwritesshit]

we're doing fine after wiege

very very fine our mental health has Never Been Better we are Thriving out here

since the release of Wiege, Alien Stage now holds the title for having the longest fanfiction in the ENTIRETY of ao3. make of that what you will

[scarletwritesshit]

Next up for behind the scenes is the amazing Scarlet: @scarletwritesshit. She is responsible for writing the Fuuka Yamagishi Compendium piece!