#'i suppose it is your right to speak to me so disrespectfully as a creature of Freedom. as it is mine to crush you with this rock'

[goodmode]

uhhhh from one bored person to another what are your headcanons on venti and zhongli's dynamic? personally i see them as really old friends who call each other bitch all the time and no body really expected them to be friends lmao. like venti will roll up to liyue with bottles of dandelion wine and his lyre and be all like "what's up old man" while zhongli grimaces into his cup of tea for like a fraction of a second and greets venti with a graceful "good evening, old friend" while internally going "this fucker again" but like in a mildly affectionate way

BORED ANON YOUR MIND IS SHARP

i agree with this but i'd also like to add they probably have a history of having fought before. not like in the archon war or anything so serious but venti has a voiceline like "let's go see him!! oh uh but before we do, how strong did he seem? strong enough to blow me away?" so i definitely think venti has annoyed him (probably by flitting around dunking on liyue or morax himself) enough that one second he was hovering at morax's shoulder saying something playfully insulting and the next there is no venti. there is just a stele sticking out of the ground suddenly, and a distant team rocket style twinkle in the sky shaped suspiciously like a yeeted venti

zhongli's opinion of venti is gruff but amicable these days, and he probably wouldn't do it again. maybe. well, maybe he would. (he would.)

venti, to his credit, is determined not to deserve another yeeting so he plays his cards a little more carefully these days, but he is still willing to tempt fate by calling zhongli a blockhead straight to his face

and that's it on the face of it. but underneath all this is a subtle undercurrent of "we are both so old. we are so old and we're the only two left". i think for a long time zhongli genuinely thought venti wouldn't ever be coming back to liyue (his voiceline seems to imply this anyway) but sometime after the traveller arrived and started stirring up teyvat's old skeletons i think venti probably did go back and brought a bottle of osmanthus wine he'd been saving buried out by windrise. i actually wrote a fic with that little vignette in it but never mind me i like to repeat myself

but yeah like. their dynamic now that the ice is broken is mostly venti being annoying, zhongli being vaguely annoyed (but not enough to send him packing) and brief interspersed moments of shared wistfulness that last about as long as it takes for them both to realise theyre being dramatic and then ends with a light cough from zhongli and a sudden strum on the lyre from venti as he prepares to break the moment by launching into 99 Bottles Of Dandelion Wine On The Wall as loudly as possible

[sleepmusicland-1]

Gone chapter 3

Masterlist Gone

Ella POV:

I learned that I had a rare talent, I was paranormally gifted and had the ability to heal, but the most absurd was that I was supposed to be an alleged angel. An earth angel, a creature that had not existed for hundreds of years. Therefore, the ancestors, this witch circle had given the necessary magic to find such a creature, so that the supernatural world would not be destroyed, any threats whose name no one knew, was the reason why I was here.

An average woman who happened to speak several languages and was now supposed to be an exceptionally powerful being? That sounded like a fairy tale to my ears.

"Now you know why you're here", Isabella concluded and waved her left hand to follow her from these catacombs, which I did. I also didn't really have a choice, even though I wasn't the being she thought I was, I couldn't really say no.

She was, after all, a witch who had magic and I knew that the chief witches were very powerful in a circle.

"This is understandably a lot of information, but I will answer all your questions", Isabella promised me, although I actually only had one question, would I ever be able to go back to my own world?

But before I could even start trying to formulate the question, Isabella informed me that there was no way back for me. Her words stuck in the air, in the middle of the exit to the cemetery, in the light, I stopped and looked at her silently.

My life as I knew it was over, I would never see my family again, not my pets, I would not witness a single birthday. Everything I had had in my life, the people I had known, were all gone. Unattainable and the only thing the witch could think of a few steps in front of me in the sunlight was sorry?

But before I could reciprocate, my feelings that were racing through my innermost being, could create words and could put into words what I was holding from the witch in front of my nose, my senses were flooded with emotions, thoughts and coldness.

Fuzzy figures were on the cobblestones that lay on the ground and served as a path, between the mausoleum and tombs of Layafette Cemetery.

They were deceased souls, I could hear them speaking in various languages, pleading, crying and all seemed to have one thing in common, they were trapped here in the cemetery forever. Did the witches draw their magic from it? Not only from their ancestors but also the deceased souls?

Before I could think more about it, a new presence pushed into focus. It was a strong presence and my neck hair lined up, whether this new presence was good or evil, I could not say, but one thing I knew for sure, my intuition, my gut feeling was nothing compared to what I felt now, what my senses were telling me now. Isabella seemed to be right, I seemed to have a gift that I had just never known anything about.

I turned to the entrance, the entrance that led back to the catacombs where I had woken up, or was I still dreaming?

The entrance was different from what I had seen so far, most catacombs, mausoleums and tombs I had seen in movies and series, but never stones carved bones, skulls and signs that were embedded exactly in the middle of the arch. What did these signs mean? Was that the reason why I could only now hear the spirits, because the signs suppressed it? Where was I? And, above all, why?

"Miss de La Crux, I thought we had an agreement that the witches of New Orleans may hold small rituals and ceremonies, but there is nothing in the agreement that they may hold a ritual that requires a lot of strength", a well-known voice tore me out of my thoughts, I had a clue and this idea was confirmed by the dark-haired vampire in a branded suit. Almost 10 meters away from Isabelle and me stood Elijah Mikaelson, with his right hand in his trouser pocket, wide-legged he stood between two mausoleums and looked at Isabella and me. I didn't like his look, apart from the fact that I was now sure that I had landed in a TV series and unfortunately knew a little too much, Elijah was unsympathetic to me from the first moment.

His arrogant attitude and his face radiated that he felt superior to the people, where was the vampire who wanted to protect people? Just as he was more than gracious to Elena in Mystic Falls. This vampire was very different from what I remembered from the show.

"Mister Mikaelson, the agreement is that once a year we may perform a ritual in favor of our ancestors, that's what I did, that it requires more magic than a simple tracking attempt, should be clear to them," Isabella replied to him and was absolutely not impressed by him, something that seemed to irritate him.

"They are aware that they first need approval for a ritual as they have just vaguely described and we have to give them first," he replied to her and I realized that the reality here had nothing to do with the series. A lot had changed and perhaps it also explained why he seemed different, more arrogant, as if he had forgotten that it had once been important to him not to hurt people unnecessarily, as Klaus had once said. But this person in front of me wasn't the person I knew from the show and if I was honest, I didn't want to know that person at all. But at that time I had no idea in what way the paths would still cross and bring me too close to a vampire.

"One thing should be clear to them Mister Mikaelson, just because Marcel Gerad has ceded the say over the supernatural community to their family, does not mean that everyone will dance to their noses! " clarified Isabella and I wondered if Marcel had given up his position voluntarily, or rather involuntarily, the tensions that prevailed between Isabella and Elijah was more than just dislike. In front of my inner eye, scenes appeared of the two of them tearing their clothes off, I closed my eyes for a short moment and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes again, I encountered the inquiring gaze of Elijah, had he noticed something in my heartbeat? I didn't know where the vision had come from, I was just relieved not to have seennwhen a shirt that was torn apart and exposed a male upper body.

"And they are?" he wanted to know from me, the tone with which he treated me irritated me immeasurably and I tilted my head to the left side as I looked at it, as if I only noticed him now. "No one of interest, since they didn't imagine either" I answered slightly annoyed and was just glad that my heartbeat was calm, my heart did not reveal in any way, was for awhirlwind of feelings just raging in me.

"Excuse my manners, I am Elijah Mikaelson", Elijah introduced himself and came closer, I stepped every step he took forward, backwards.

"Ella von Els" I answered him and concealed directly that I used the short form of my name, I did not like to hang oneveryone's nose, that I did not really like my full name. "Dutchwoman?" he hooked up, whereupon I looked at him suspiciously, no one I knew would link my last name to my nationality.

"Why is this important?" I hooked up and felt Isabella's gaze on me, she had already told me that Icould nevergetback to my oldlife, even if it was just receding into the background because I had to deal with a vampire questioning my nationality. "I like to know who's in New Orleans and who's in a cemetery with a witch, especially if that personis apparently not an Americancitizen," Elijah replied. "I can be an American citizen just because my last name sounds Dutch, do you directly conclude that I can't be an American?" I hooked up and didn't even try to banish the irritations from my voice.

"What exactly do they want Mister Mikaelson? May I no longer show anyone the cemetery? " Isabella interfered, whereupon he turned to the woman with which he was most likely having an affair. I didn't hear his answer anymore because my attention was drawn to a grave. It was a grave in thewall, with a very well-known name on it. Manuela Isabelle van Elsen was written on the inscription, the person whose name I also partly bore had died 3 years ago. She had just turned 25 years old.

I heard footsteps behind me, Isabella stepped to the grave and seemed composed, but also sad, had she known the person buried here?

Elijah POV:

Isabella hid something, I could see it to her, above all she had broken the contract together with her circle, but why? And who was the woman who had stood with her?

I had been able to hear from her pronunciation that she was not from NewOrleans, but why had Isabella been here with her, at thebonemausoleum. I had only learned of the existence of this particular mausoleum when Isabella and I were together months ago.

This particular mausoleum was used by the witches only for very special rituals or sayings and to find them there, with a woman unknown to me, whom I had never seen before and apparently had no bond with the witches. Her excuse is that the woman who had introduced herself as Ella von Els, although you couldn't really imagine it, since she clearly had no desire to give me any information.

She didn't seem to know who she had talked to so disrespectfully or she didn't care. The short conversation I had had with her had given me more questions than answers.

Why had Isabella brought her here? Especially to this mausoleum,which I knew was only used for very special and important rituals. Did the presence of the unknown woman, the shift in power?

That this encounter was the beginning of a mystery, I did not suspect at that time

[playgroundforwords]

Death is a Wise Troll

I

“Arrange his death using a huge marine creature of your choice.”

I stared at the order for a while before turning to Arthur, “I get that it’s his job to specify how we arrange deaths but isn’t he taking too much liberty over here? Where do I get a marine creature this far inland?”

Arthur gave me a sympathetic smile, “Hey, I get you. Last night I had to arrange 8 deaths under different circumstances and my condition was that I get as creative with them as possible and that no two deaths be of the same means.”

“Why is he like this?” I demanded, “What did we ever do wrong?”

Arthur shrugged and tapped my back as he headed out, “Figure out how to do this, pal.”

-----------------------------

I arrived at the spot where I was to reap a soul. There was only an hour before it happened and I still couldn’t figure out how to get a sea creature big enough to cause a person’s death. If I had the order yesterday then maybe I could have arranged for a whale to drop from the sky but the grim reaper was a right old troll. He seemed to derive some sort of sadistic happiness from making his subordinates do his ridiculous biddings.

 (“Sir, what happens if we are unable to complete an order on time?”

“Oh, nothing much.”

“So we can take our time with a reaping?”

“Of course you can, as long as you are willing to increase your contract with me. Meaning you will still be stuck working for me even when you are supposedly free to go. A suitable punishment isn’t it? After all, every time you guys botch a reaping I have to go down and do it myself, to ensure the soul is undamaged.”

“A simple no would have been fine”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing. I have to go reap a soul now, sir. See you later.”)

 Arrange a whale to drop out of the sky. Now, that was an idea. I can’t go to the sea and transport a huge creature on such a short notice. It takes too much time and effort. What I can do instead is to create a riff and bring in a sea creature from another dimension. I knew that it was a huge risk and the Grim Reaper had already warned us against using our powers to interfere with other dimensions.

 (“You can never escape the consequences of interfering with other dimensions. Mess with them and it will come and bite you in the arse.”

“Consequences worse than having to work for you?”

“Say what, now?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

“Why are you still here? You have five more reaping to do today.”

“What? I didn’t get any more orders today.”

“Well congrats, you just did. Now go get reaping!”)

 My contemplations were brought to a halt when I saw my victim driving down the road. I spared a moment to roll my eyes because really, a car accident would have been so much easier to devise and frankly, would have been more realistic.

 (“Does it matter how we reap a soul as long as we reap it on time?”

“No, it doesn’t. Reaping the soul is the important part.”

“But we still have to do it in the ridiculous manner you tell us to?”

“Yes.”

“May I know why?”

“Because I am your boss and it amuses me and I have had fair few things to keep me amused in my long existence.”)

 Gathering all my energy I concentrated on creating a riff while aiming to draw out a sea creature from another dimension. That car was almost at the place where the man was supposed to die and for a brief moment I was afraid that I had failed to carry out my order when suddenly a huge, flat blob fell from the sky and crushed the car. On a closer inspection I realised that it was a giant fish. The man died instantly and I took care of the soul.

 (“What if we fail to carry out the order to the T and instead use our own method to reap the soul?”

“I will express my gratitude because I didn’t have to clean up any mess but then I will increase your contract because you defied my orders.”

“You really love lording that over us, don’t you?”)

 I was about to leave. The creature will make headlines tomorrow when people find out that it had dropped out of nowhere and crushed a car. Sadly, it will probably die. But fishes die all the time so I didn’t spare it much sympathy.

“Where am I?”

I froze. It was the fish who spoke.

II

I crept nearer to the accident site and waited a bit more to make sure that I wasn’t hearing things. The fish saw me and I could see that it was intelligent.

“You can breathe out here?” I asked.

“Yes. Is that surprising?” the fish said. It was disconcerting to hold a conversation with a fish lying flat on top of a car.

It was disconcerting to hold a conversation with a fish. Period.

“Fishes don’t breath out of water here. Or speak.” I informed it. “You are a fish right?”

“Considering that fish is part of my species’ name, I would say that yes I am a fish.”

Great. A smartass fish.

“What exactly are you? I have never seen a fish like you.”

“I am an Ocean Sunfish but you can call me Gary.”

Do we have ocean sunfishes in this dimension? I ‘googled’ it and found out that yes we do have ocean sunfishes. The non-talking, water breathing variety. Apparently completely useless because they are huge but are not exactly nourishing. What do I do with him now? I can’t leave a talking fish out here. My conscience, that was willing to abandon a fish, was less prone to wanting to abandon an intelligent being.

“So…um…Gary, I am Sam and I will be taking you with me to my house. Is that okay with you?”

“Do you have water in your house?”

“Do you need water? You seem to be doing fine.”

Gary rolled his eyes. “I can breathe outside but my skin will dry out and my scales will get flaky.”

“I have a bathtub but I don’t know if you will fit in there. But it will have to do until I find a way to get you to the ocean.”

“Why am I here anyways?” Gary asked.

“I may have transported you from your dimension to mine.”

“So send me back.”

I shook my head, “I can’t. I already expended too much energy getting you from there. I don’t have enough energy to send you back.”

Gary sighed. I did not know fishes could sigh.

“Alright, let’s go to your place.”

III

Gary made himself at home in my bathtub. I could see cracks forming outside the tub because Gary was not a light fish. Ocean fishes are huge and ridiculously heavy. My energy was severely depleted from lugging him and I could only pray that the bathtub holds until tomorrow.

I would have liked to take some rest but someone was standing in my living room when I came out of the bathroom.

“Sheesh, this is my personal space. I know you are my boss and all but can you at least knock before entering someone’s home?” I grumbled, once I got over the initial shock of seeing the Grim Reaper.

“You acknowledge that I am your boss and yet speak so disrespectfully with me.”

“You are the Grim Reaper. You are death. It’s not like I can be scared of death. I am already dead.”

He pulls out a paper that I knew to be my contract.

“Oh great Grim Reaper, my home is blessed with your presence. Drop by any time you want. Whenever you want,” I said.

“That’s more like it,” He smirked, “I came here to talk about your newly acquired pet actually.”

“What about him?”

“What are you planning to do with him?”

I thought for a while before speaking, “I was thinking of asking you to give a day off tomorrow so that I can bring Gary to the ocean until I get enough energy to send him back to his dimension.”              

The Grim Reaper smiled. The kind of smile that does not bode good news.

“About that, you can’t open a gateway to another dimension. Not anymore. If you remove something from another dimension, then something gets removed from this one to keep the balance. In your case, your powers were taken away,” he said.

What? I thought.

“What?!” I exclaimed out loud.

“Which means,” continued the Grim Reaper like he did not drop a huge bombshell on me, “that you will be responsible for this Gary, until he dies or your contract ends and you move on.”

“But, you can send him back right?” I asked, “You can send Gary back to his dimension.”

“I can but I won’t. You need to learn the consequences for doing something you were warned against,” Grim Reaper’s tone was firm and left no room for argument, “If it makes you feel better, I am assigning you to a coastal area so that you can babysit effectively.”

He left as suddenly as he came in.

I cursed out loud and went back to the bathroom. One look at Gary and I knew that he had heard everything.

“Hello, friend,” he said and he sounded as enthusiastic as I felt.

I sighed.

IV

It’s been a week since Gary came to my life and surprisingly I have adjusted pretty well to the whole thing. I usually take the time to visit him after I am done with my duties. He would swim to the surface and keep me company for a while.

“How is the ocean today?” I asked.

“Horrible,” he said, “The fishes are dumb here. They are pretty to look at but they can’t speak. I miss my family.”

I felt something ugly rear up in my stomach. Must be guilt.

“Tell me about them,” I said instead.

“Hmmm…I am a great, great, great grandfather. I am probably missing a few greats in there. We don’t stay together but sometimes we used to meet up and it felt nice,”

Silence reigned for a while before he spoke up again, “I don’t mind this part of the day. I like talking to you. You are a good friend.”

“I might not be around for long,” I blurted out.

Gary blinked but did not say anything.

“My contract is coming to an end. Once it ends the Grim Reaper will tell me what ties me to the earth and I will be able to make peace and move on,” I continued.

“Ah,” Gary’s voice was gentle, “You will finally get to know why you were one of the lost souls. Did the Grim Reaper ever explain to you why there are souls that are unable to move on immediately?”

“Hmmm…he said it’s because of excessive resentment and hatred. These emotions tie you to earth and if we are left to fester in these emotions then we would have become poltergeists. He binds us to contracts with the promise that once the contract comes to an end, he will let us know the reason behind our resentments and we will be able to move on.”

Gary took a dip and came back up again, “That’s nice of him.”

I shrugged, “Yeah, despite the ridiculous tasks he makes us do, he is actually a good guy or as he would say in that pompous, self-righteous way of his, ‘Death is neither good nor bad. Death is death.’”

“How does he set the contracts?”

I thought for a while, “I never asked him but I think it has to do with the intensity of our emotions? The more resentment you hold the longer your contract is? His aim is to make us dispel our resentment over time instead of acting on it.”

“How long was your contract?” Gary asked.

“It’s short. Around six years. I know a guy who has a contract of 90 years. I wonder what could have possibly happened to him to hold 90 years’ worth of grudge and resentment.”

“I wonder what kind of event led you to have 6 years’ worth of resentment,” blubbered Gary as he started to swim back. I waved at him and he waved his fin back at me.

V

It was the last day of my contract. I was kind of nervous. If these years were not enough to dispel my grudge, if there are any lingering resentment after the Grim Reaper reveals what was it that binds me to earth then he will remove the memory and increase my contract once again.

I decided to take the longer route to work, taking in the scenic beauty and contemplating what was in store for me after all this is over. I saw her then and suddenly I remembered everything.

I had a wife. I had a family. She cheated on me.

I sat down, suddenly feeling out of breath though I no longer needed to breathe. But the onslaught of memories was too much.

I hated her. God, I hated her so much once I found out. How could she do it to our children? How could she do it to us? But, now...

Now, I looked at her and she was walking with our children. I looked at her and waited to feel the same old hatred but I felt nothing. All I had was a memory of the hatred. A memory of the anger that made me drive so recklessly that it cost my life.

“Working in the line of death, reaping souls, those sorts of things usually makes you realise at least sub-consciously that holding grudges against the living will bear you no fruit.”

I jumped and looked at the side. The Grim Reaper was standing next to me.

“If it makes you feel better, she did remarry but not the guy she cheated on you with.”

I stood and sighed but didn’t say anything. I didn’t have anything to say.

He took out the contract and a pen and held them out to me, “All you have to do is sign this again and you will be free to move on. Congratulations on finally finding peace for your soul.”

I nodded and took them but before I signed I thought of a lonely, talking fish who was essentially useless in our dimension.

“Hey boss, can you hold on to the contract for a bit?”

VI

“You are still here,” Gary said.

“I am. Say, how old are you?”

“Why?”

“Just tell me.”

“Rude,” Gary flipped on the surface, splashing me with water, “a little over ten years.”

“That gives you what? Around another year to live?” I asked.

“You lack sensitivity,” Gary grumbled, “But, yes. Give or take.”

I grinned, “I was braced for the worse. One year ain’t that bad.”

Gary stared at me for a while before comprehension dawned on his face.

“You are staying?”

I nodded.

Gary gave another flip. This one was more celebratory.

------------------                

“Hey, Gary”

“Hello Mr Grim Reaper.”

“So Sam, I was thinking about giving you the task of arranging a death in manner that will revive the myth of the Loch Ness monster.”

“----pain in the ass”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing”