#I'm an only child but like.... the sibling energy is so strong with these two. so well written. I like people laughing as a pick me up

[shadowkira]

A story of siblings in two parts:

[dreadsuitsamus]

i'm waiting for my state inspection and this mom is here with her baby and the baby is so cuuuuuuute, the noisy lil thing. and now i'm imagining single parent nanami in a similar scenario with baby yuji, and reader being the only other person in the waiting lounge.

kento gently shushes the boy in his arms, the little thing quickly growing into a ball of energy, even at only six months old. "yuji." he murmurs softly, fruitlessly pressing the baby's pacifier into his mouth. "please settle down."

yuji spits out his favorite binkie, waving his hands around as he babbles to his adopted father his woes. kento nods along with a sigh, glancing over at the only other person in the lounge. "i apologize in advance for any headaches." babies deserve their space in public, no doubt, but yuji is so loud that kento feels the need to at least warn you.

smiling warmly, you wave a hand. "don't worry. i raised a child myself for a time— i assure you, i'm used to it."

for a time? perhaps you're a foster parent; kento initially only planned to be as such for yuji himself, but the bond he formed with the pink-haired cutie quickly became too strong for kento to even entertain the idea of giving him up. "thank you for understanding."

"besides, who could possibly ever be mad at that face?" you coo, waving at an enamored baby yuji. his cheeks blush, the now bashful baby hiding his face in his father's broad chest.

"you only act shy around women." kento murmurs, brow perked as he looks down at his boy.

chuckling, you settle back into the nice armchair and open your magazine again. kento glances over at you as he swipes a comforting hand over yuji's back. feeling eyes your way, you look up to catch his gaze. he's handsome. and a good father, from the looks of it. "how old is he?"

"twenty-seven weeks."

nodding, you pick up the toy yuji carelessly throws to the ground that rolled to your feet. standing and coming to hand it over, your fingers brush kento's. "i take it he resembles his mother?"

kento wipes the toy on his shirt before giving it back to the baby. "i'm not sure. i took yuji in when he was just born; he was left in the cold with a note attached to him." all the note said was the boy's name, and that this was what was best for him. a little digging for further information only provided that the boy's two older siblings have been lost to the system, but kento is determined to eventually bring them all together again as brothers should be.

gasping softly, you take the seat beside kento. "he's been through so much, hasn't he?" you murmur softly, eyes soft as the baby stares at you with big, warm eyes.

"he has." kento mumbles, squeezing his son just a bit. "his spirits are high, despite that."

"no doubt because of you."

kento's cheeks warm. "... thank you."

silence falls, or as silent as it can be with a rambunctious baby in the room. yuji begins to whine after a point, likely hungry! kento swears lowly; he hadn't anticipated it would take this long for his car to be serviced, and that's where the baby's snacks are!

the usual routine of bouncing, tickling and kisses isn't working, and you bite your lip as you watch the struggle. a handful of years ago, you fostered a baby too and are more than familiar with this struggle. "... may i?"

kento considers it, eventually handing the boy over. perhaps you'll be able to settle him just long enough for kento to make a dash into the shop—

yuji stops crying the second he's settled in your arms, that little smile bright. returning his grin, you gently rub his tummy. "now, now... giving your papa such grief isn't very nice!"

the baby is putty in your hands, quiet and giggly and bashful as a conversation stirs between you and kento. an hour passes and yuji's fast asleep by the time kento's name is called, and you stand to walk with him to the car and carefully settle yuji in the car seat. kento straps him in, triple-checking each buckle and strap before he's satisfied enough to close the door.

"thank you for your help." kento murmurs, staring down at you and your sweet face. it's been some time since he's encountered a stranger as lovely as you.

"of course... and, if you'd like..." it's your turn to be bashful now, your eyes flicking from kento's to anywhere else. "um... i'd love to see you and yuji again sometime."

glancing at the soundly sleeping baby through the window, kento gazes back at you. "i— we would like that." his cheeks flush, and your giggle pulls the tiniest of smiles to his lips.

[cheianimatez]

Please Don't Cry, Little One

Warnings: Child abuse, violence

You have horrible parents. They treated both you and your older sibling horribly. But your sibling loves you. They swore they will never leave your side and maybe soon, when you two are old enough, you can finally escape this hellhole.

One day, they saw you crying, covered in bruises, so they decided to let you play on their phone. While your parents went out to get drunk, your sibling cooks you dinner. Meanwhile, while you're using their phone, you found a game called "Genshin Impact". You asked your sibling about this and asked for their permission if they can play it. Your sibling said yes.

You played the game and you're amazed from the graphics and the world. It looks like a fairy tale. Your sibling told you some basic knowledge on how to play the game and about the story.

You saw a character named Venti in the team, and when you tried his gameplay, you loved it.

When your sibling saw you happy and when they looked at their phone, they were surprised you used their main.

Everyday, when you have a chance, you played Genshin on your sibling's phone just to play as Venti. The bard is very fun to play with, your sibling can see that.

Until one day, tragedy struck.

Your sibling got beaten to death. Your father is now trying to find you, holding a bloody bat on his hand, while you're hiding in a closet somewhere in your room. You held your sibling's phone, the game still on but the sound volume is low so that the horrid man won't hear it.

[Meanwhile]

Venti is wondering why is his guide no longer responded. He then looked through the screen; on the sky, there is a barrier between two dimensions: His world, and his Traveler's world. He gained sentience the moment he met the main character. He realized the Traveler he usually talked to is not the real one. And he's probably the only one who can see the translucent barrier.

And oh boy, when he looked through, his eyes widened in horror.

A child crying.

He could here their mumbles "My sibling's dead. I'm so sorry, Venti"

Wait, his Traveler is now dead?! The child is their sibling?

He could here faint shouts of another voice.

And it sounded angry.

"Come out, you little sh(#)!"

No!

He won't linger here and watch helplessly!

He must do something!

Then he did what he shouldn't do in Teyvat, let alone in his nation...

He turned to his god form and flew fast towards the barrier.

Your father found you and is now holding you tight by the neck.

"Your sibling won't help you now, helpless creature!"

He's about to throw you to a wall when he suddenly got thrown away by a strong gust of wind, letting his grip on you go.

"Mortal fool, you think you're powerful by hurting a child?"

The man immediately scrambled backwards as his eyes widened to the god. The costume is not even a costume, it's legit.

"You should have taken care of your young. Instead, you and your wife abandoned them. Now, your punishment will be death!"

"The God of Freedom ensures everyone has freedom. But you, it seems you take it for granted..."

.

"So I have no choice but to take away your freedom. Your freedom to live"

Venti, or should I say, Barbatos, summoned his bow, and aimed the arrow infused with Anemo energy, and released it, hitting at the man's heart. You were behind Barbatos's wings, so you can't see what happened to your cruel father, all you heard are his screams of agony.

When the screams are no longer heard, Barbatos turned around, still not letting you see what happened to your father, but all you know is that you're finally safe. When you looked up, he looked familiar to your sibling's main

"Venti?"

"Yes, little one?" -Venti, feeling glad the child, his Traveler's sibling, remembering his human form.

You then hugged him as you let out your quiet sobs, making Venti sad.

"Hush... It's alright, you're safe now" -Venti, hugging you back

"Please don't cry, Little One..."

[beneathsilverstars]

DO YOU HAVE ANY. headcanons about!! families?? outside of the party??

if not, relationships with food / cooking :]

Mira's family dynamics I talked about recently! Only child, lots of pressure to be her parents' perfect coddled baby, they loved her but couldn't love her bc they never gave her space to be herself. Let's say she has a mom and a dad, both trans. I think her parents struggled with infertility and had a previous late-term miscarriage — lots of time to desperately plan out their perfect family, and not much hope of a second child on whom to pin any of those dreams. They're so sad that she's not really in contact with them anymore, but they don't push it because they know they did something wrong, even if they don't quite get what they should've done instead.

Mira tried her best to go along with their plans and act properly as a child, but withdrew more and more as a teenager, then left at age 16. She didn't run away, and technically her parents gave their blessing, but they had a huge fight about it which had never really happened before. Sometimes Mira considers reaching out, but she feels too guilty about making her dad cry like that, and then upset that she feels guilty, etc. Easier to stay strangers.

-

Isabeau we know has a huge family! I think he has three older siblings and two younger (which means he has no older child responsibility, but also no younger child attention). Let's make them up real quick! But only with initials, I can't pull out names that fast.

31 - F - rebellious, angrily resists getting parentified 30 - J - overly kind, helps raise the younger kids, stressed 27 - M - neat freak, lots of hobbies/activities 24 - Isa - quiet, allergic to bothering anyone 23 - D - very sensitive both emotionally and sensorily 21 - L - fussy baby to loud and rambunctious child

The combination of D and L was very difficult! L knocks over D's tower, D starts wailing, L starts screaming, D cries so hard they throw up, etc. Also L's favorite activity from age 2-4 was escaping the house and exploring by herself! And that's why she was the last kid.

Let's say, two moms. Decent people, and good parents for the older couple kids at first, they love kids and looove babies! But they're a bit impulsive, and very stubborn, and really started to struggle with the last two kids. They still did a pretty good job with the most urgent issues, but they just didn't have time or energy for anything that wasn't an urgent issue.

Isabeau's parents often praised him for being so easy — you never cause trouble, you take care of yourself, you're so responsible! So he never went to them when he did maybe need help. Got good at teaching himself skills and repressing difficult emotions and not taking up space. Didn't protest chores, or other people not doing their chores. Didn't invite friends over. Didn't complain. Oh, Isabeau, so self-sufficient you hardly know he's there!

He got really good at reading a room! He's seen many a tantrum and argument, and quietly learned which resolution methods worked better or worse and even usually reasoned out why. He just... never did anything with that knowledge, because stepping in to mediate involves stepping in and becoming part of that conflict. Scary! And it's not like any of his siblings would listen to him, anyway, they barely remember he exists.

For the first half of his childhood, one of his mom's siblings lived with them too, along with their two kids. The cousins were nice enough, but 2 and 5 years older than F, and kinda fed up with all the young children pestering them. Though, out of everyone Isa was the favorite of the younger of the two, because he wasn't annoying and made a useful sounding board for her schoolwork. Isa got to learn about advanced topics and sometimes receive cool trinkets! Still not a super strong relationship, but he was devastated when she reached adulthood and moved out.

-

We know Odile's mom left when she was very young, I'm gonna say 1.5 years. She got past the baby period and went fuck, it's not getting easier? It's just getting different kinds of difficult? It's going to be difficult for the next 16.5 years??? And skedaddled. Odile's dad had also been ready for things to settle back into normalcy now that the baby was sleeping through the night and eating normal food, and was absolutely blindsided by his partner leaving. He got extremely depressed and relied a lot on community support to help care for Odile for the next little while.

Once Odile was walking and talking like a person, he was able to pull himself together and be there for her, and loved her so ferociously. But sometimes her laugh or something would remind him too much of her mom and he would kinda check out for the rest of the day. He hated thinking about his ex and then he'd start to hate her and then get so, so sad. Maybe even hate Odile for a moment and get even sadder. Why can't he just be content? Odile's the only light in his life, she's what makes everything worth it, why does he still wish he had her mom back instead?

Pobody's nerfect though and he did pretty well! Odile was a fairly cranky toddler because she just couldn't do all of the things that she so desperately wanted to be able to do (also trauma), but once she got past those first 5 years of constant developmental leaps, she mellowed out a lot. So she didn't mind hanging out and coloring or reading a book by herself while her dad was "taking a nap" (staring at the ceiling fighting his inner demons). And she love love loved all the things he did with her, reading and gardening and especially shopping — she got to write the grocery list and count out the money and everything! She got cranky-frustrated again as a teen, on top of increasingly complex feelings about her mom and realizing her dad is depressed as fuck, but they had a strong enough bond to make it through that phase okay.

At some point in her 20s Odile made him go to therapy! It helped, and so did anti-depressants. He even started dating again eventually and now has a nice husband, who Odile was quite wary of at first and generally not interested in getting to know. She's glad her dad is happier now, though! I think he's still alive during ISAT, but getting fairly old since he and his wife were a bit on the older side when Odile was born.

-

Bonnie is 11 years old during canon and Pétronille is 20; she ran away from home when Bonnie was 4 and she was freshly 14. She saw that their parents were starting to treat Bonnie the way they treated her, now that they were a full kid instead of a useless toddler, and she got them the fuck out of there!

(cw for the next paragraph: abusive parents, person who is both abusive and mentally ill and abused)

Nille is bipolar with psychotic symptoms, and I've been going back and forth on this but I'm gonna say yes it runs in the family and her mom was bipolar as well. She didn't really give a shit about her kids, she had them because that's what you do! She made Nille do most of the housekeeping, and help with her schemes to turn their lives around for real this time: surely if I perfect this recipe I can open a restaurant, surely if we rearrange the furniture I'll stop hating this house, surely if I buy and wear the right necklace my partner will love me again, etc. The second baby was an attempt to fix her relationship, and while she'd thought baby Nille was cute and had enjoyed the intense new baby-mom relationship, she got sick of baby Bonnie even faster and foisted their care onto Nille. Their dad was worse! He bonded with the person he did because he knew she'd be totally reliant on him, and he had kids because he wanted more people to control. Mom sometimes tried to stand up for the kids, but always quickly gave up and withdrew more or turned on them instead.

So! Nille stole her mom's jewelry, put Bonnie in a wheelbarrow and walked as far as she could. She ended up in Bambouche. She started working for a trio who fished and ran a shop/restaurant; she prepared the fish and washed dishes and other odd jobs, and she was allowed to bring Bonnie with her. Some people offered to take the two of them in, or babysit Bonnie, but she did not trust like that. So everyone just quietly patronized that shop a little extra so the trio could afford to do things like say "oh no I bought this huge bag of the wrong kind of rice, can't just serve a different kind, but I don't want it, guess I'll throw it away unless you could use it..?"

Eventually she started trusting her neighbors enough to directly accept leftovers and hand-me-downs, let Bonnie play at their houses, etc. Right in time for her bipolar disorder to really hit! She tried so hard to keep forcing herself through the motions for Bonnie, but one day she went into work manically ranting about how she was going to destroy Bonnie's life just like her parents did hers and her bosses were like woah there! They closed shop for the day to focus on checking on Bonnie and making sure they had babysitting arranged, finding Nille a therapist, and reassuring Nille that Bonnie was safe, and everyone will help make sure that Bonnie stays safe, and she can get help too so she can keep being a great gaurdian.

By pre-canon she is on anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers and knows a fuckton of coping mechanisms! She fishes now and sells her catches herself, and while she works Bonnie goes to school and runs around the village with the other kids and pesters travelers for stories and whatnot.

-

I don't have super solid headcanons for Siffrin's family yet because it makes me soo sad to imagine their family missing them or not-missing them or obliterated. So I'm trying to let myself just leave it open so I can practice the skill of "deciding on worldbuilding facts as they become relevant to your story instead of typing out an entire bible first". But let's say he had three parents and two siblings, which is pretty standard for the island, and lots of cousins and family friends. Someone or other is holding a huge cookout at least twice a week, and, and Siffrin was a really kind-but-mischievious older sibling and, bwahhhh 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

He sailed off for a couple hours at age 15 because his baba's super strict about everyone trying a bite of every food every time, yes even if you're sure you hate it it's important to be a good example for the younger kids and who knows maybe you'll like it this time! So Siffrin ran off to prove that he was basically an adult and not actually beholden to their rules, and they should appreciate his presence and take him seriously instead of treating him like a clueless baby.

:(

[okimnerdy]

What your favorite [BLANK] character says about you, but I'm brutally honest. (Ninjago edition pt.1?)

----

Zane: You're probably an only child who was pretty much sheltered/had pretty strict parents and didn't really get to have a social life. Now that you're able to do so, you learn about the world through people you meet and find your place among people who are patient with you. You're living life to the best of your capabilities and treasuring every moment.

Cole: You don't have the best relationship with your parents, so you became the person most people could lean on. You keep up a strong front, but on the inside you have a bottle ready to overflow or break. You're afraid to ask for help, but when you do, you feel guilty but those who truly care about you don't judge and help you.

Jay: You hide your trauma with humor. Everyone is so used to you being the little energy pill of the group that they don't really see you as anything else. It takes those who know you to ask what's wrong or to even offer help. You put your trust in a select few. Those who know your past and not judge are the ones you let stick around.

Kai: You have parental sibling syndrome, it doesn't matter what age you are or where you fall in the family tree. You had to become the responsible one for those around you and didn't get to enjoy life as is. All you do is worry about what comes next for them instead of yourself. When you finally do start to think for yourself, you may feel guilty. It takes a kick in the butt for you to think about your needs for once.

Nya: You are headstrong but stubborn, feeling no one but yourself can understand what you've been through. You hate being put into molds and want to find your own thing. Change is scary, but forced change is a nightmare. Sometimes it's for the best, sometimes it can amount to nothing.

Lloyd: You just want to be loved. From a young age, you were loaded up with expectations and did everything you could to meet them. Still, it was never enough. When you started defying what was set, you were seen as a traitor or an enemy. It took one person to see you in that different light to turn your whole world around.

Pixal: You were raised to take over a legacy, but it ended up destroying you as a person. Once you built yourself back up, you kept quiet until you found people who understood the real you. You made peace with those that made you, setting boundaries for yourself, and finding love in those that built you up again.

Morro: You're the type to scream "But Daddy I Love Him" or "I Can Fix Him" when there's really nothing to fix. You love him as he is, but need an excuse for those around you who judge him because you feel like they hate him. You know the person underneath and cherish them more than the outward appearance. You end up loving something so broken that you can never forget about it once it's gone.

Garmadon: You blame the world and all who inhabit it because one person wronged you and changed your whole perspective. You don't like feeling this way, but trust is a two way street and few people have earned the right to walk it with you. You feel like you are doomed to solitude, but also know its because of your own doing.

Wu: You're cryptic and choose to be difficult. You use this as a way of blocking out past trauma rather than confronting it. You'd rather handle your problems yourself than accept the help you sought out. You'd rather confront the problem before others can find out there is a problem.

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 20

Chapter 20 Connection

Yugi gets to know his fellow DOMA members and discovers their is more to them then meets the eye.

“Why do I gotta babysit?” Valon groaned as he walked side by side with his fellow swordsmen down the long hallway. “I'm no good with kids!”

“He's not a kid, He's 17.” Raphael answered.

“Whatever! Why do I gotta waste my time looking after Dartz's brat? That's not fair! What did I do to deserve this?” Valon covered his eyes with his free hand a frustrated grunt passing through his lips.

“Because we're not the ones who got injured on the job while trying to flirt with a blonde.” Alister teased “You're lucky Dartz is even giving you work to do after that tremendous blunder.”

“Oi, I was trying to recruit her! She's a strong duelist I can get her to join us! I just need a little more time…” Valon huffed making Alister chuckle before responding

“Valon, there's no woman on EARTH with that much time.”

They were returning from DOMA's main card room; Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood were in there for about an hour preparing their new decks before they were instructed by Dartz to go and capture the souls of the Nameless Pharaoh and Joey Wheeler. With their powered up decks and using the Seal of Orichalcos they'd hoped it would be enough for them to finally beat the two chosen duelists. Both the bug and dino duelists were taken by one of Paradius' private limos to the train station so they could prepare to en act their plans.

Valon again grumbled to himself under his breath, before trying to change the subject.

“So…anyone else freaked out with the kid's power? I thought he was human not some kind of meta human or mutant…”

The other two looked down the hallway both remembering what they witnessed from the vessel; he emitted a monstrous amount of energy the likes of which none of them had seen before. Powerful enough it felt like the whole building was going to crumble around them.

“…You guys think he's Dartz's illegitimate kid? I mean he and Dartz seem to carry the same aura you know.” Valon looked at the other two hoping they were thinking the same thing.

“Pfft I doubt it. It's Dartz's were talking about can you imagine him having a child?” Alister shock his head but still paused for a moment before continuing.

“But I am a bit confused too, how could he have that kind of power? Did the Orichalcos grant it to him or was he hiding this power all along?” Alister looked to Raphael waiting form him to weigh his thoughts in.

Raphael closed his eyes and kept walking “There's no doubt he has a powerful soul, he broke the Orichalcos twice after all. Not to mention he's the chosen vessel of the Nameless Pharaoh…only a vessel with that amount of strength could hold the power the Nameless Pharaoh has.” The blonde man opened his eyes again and looked down the hallway as they passed by more closed doors all incidental to each other.

“Whatever Master Dartz has planned for him we need to make sure to follow his orders; You need to keep an eye on him Valon don't let him out of you're sight.”

“Yeah, last thing we need is for him to go critical on us and blow us all to kingdom come…” Alister added

“So I gotta keep the brat entertained huh?” Valon sighed “Great…how am I supposed to do that?”

Raphael started to recall his own childhood when his younger siblings Sonia and Julian were much smaller and would follow him everywhere he went. They always wanted to spend time with him when he wasn't in one of his private home school lessons or studying something related to that. He loved spending time with them and would always watch out for them when they'd play in the garden. Hide and seek was one of their favourites and he'd always pretend he couldn't find them right away just to keep the game going as long as possible. Their smiles and giggles would always bring warmth to his heart, a warmth he was now missing greatly in his life.

Alister on the other hand could recall his own childhood with his younger brother Mickey; before the war had broken out he was always asked by Mickey to hang out with him when he'd go spend time with his friends. Alister hated having to bring Mickey along with him but with their mother at work he had no choice. He'd sigh and roll his eyes when Mickey would always bring up his favourite hero; Dyna Dude it was embarrassing to have him always talking about that in front of his friends. He'd always wished he'd never have to bring him along anywhere again. Sadly he'd eventually get that wish…Alister touched the area in his jacket were he kept the final remains of Mikey's toy close to his heart.

“You'll be fine. He's a teenager he wont be much trouble.” Raphael spoke coldly trying to straighten his back as they stopped in front of the door.

“…Just do what Dartz's says and keep an eye on him.” Alister spoke with his usual tone but there was a hint of sadness to it that he tried to hide back.

Valon was a bit confused by both of their reactions, he felt they'd become a bit more emotional just now but since they both brushed it off he decided not press any further. He sighed and put his free hand behind the back of his head.

“Guess you two are right…”

Raphael pulled out his card and swiped it in the door before placing his hand on the black square scanner, once it beeped he reached for the handle and opened the door. He and Alister walked in first followed by Valon who kept his eyes shut as he entered. Both the blonde and red head had stopped and stared as their eyes scanned the room left to right; they saw the once pristine and cleaned room was now littered with cards on the floor, the cabinets all opened and riffled through it was like a hurricane had come through the place.

Valon had finally entered and opening his eyes he too got a look at the room.

“I mean how hard can it be-eeAHEGHA!!!” Valon screamed in shock grabbing his head with his free hand. “WTF HAPPENED IN HERE!?”

Just then they all saw Yugi walking back towards a table that sat in the other part of the room, in his hands was a small wooden box inside it was filled with the cards he'd just picked out. He had a very delighted expression on his face, he didn't even notice the other men had entered the room too focused on his treasure box of cards.

Valon hissed as he lowered his arm and pointed a finger at Yugi before screaming “YOU!”

The sudden noise made Yugi jump out of fear with a small yell before he finally took notice of the three older men who'd just entered the room. Two of them were still in shock at the mess while the third- the brunette was fuming in rage.

“You cheeky little shit! What the hell did you do to this place!?”

Yugi blinked confused at the accusation before he finally looked around and it hit him like a ton of bricks that he left the room in such a horrible state! Yugi's eyes widened when he realized this and looked back towards the brunette with a scared expression, instinctively he held up a hand and backed away a bit.

“OMG! I'-I'm sorry! I didn't even notice! I-I'll clean everything up I promise!” Yugi's meek persona once again surfaced as he felt the intimidation from the group hang over him, it was like he was back at school and cornered by bullies once again.

“You betta! Despite the accent mate I'm NOT Marry Bloody Poppin's! I'm not you're personal maid! And if you think I'm gonna clean up after ya I'm gonna give ya a spoon fulla my FIST! Hows that to help the medicine go down!?”

Valon's hand tightened into a fist to give extra emphasis on his threat, which worked since Yugi was feeling intimidated by the man. Finally the other swordsmen had come out of their initial shock and listened into Valon's ranting watching Yugi they could see he wasn't as confident as before, maybe because he was staring down much larger people then the two teens.

“I didn't mean to make a mess! I was gonna clean it up and I just got distracted and- okay no this isn't working. I'm making a horrible impression on you!” Yugi took in a deep breath and with one hand brushed his blonde fringe out of his face before changing his expression to more confident smile, he held out his hand in a gesture for greeting.

“Let's start over! Hi I'm Yusei- No! I mean I'm Yuya- No! I'm Yuki- No! I'm I'm Im-” Yugi was sweating with anxiety before his face had turned red from all of the previous wrong names he yelled out.

“I AM…so embarrassed…” Yugi sighed looking down and holding the box close to his chest with both hands now. How on earth could he forget his own name!? He was supposed to work with these people and now all they were gonna see was a scared child!

The swordsmen had watched him as he continued to ramble off names and slowly shrink back into himself. Valon and Alister had an unimpressed expression on their faces while Raphael kept his normally stone hearted look. He did notice Yugi's embarrassment, he looked like kid who had wanted to appear to be grown up in front of his peers but came off as childish. Recognizing this it did move his heart slightly since he'd experienced this kind of embarrassment before in his childhood and knew what Yugi must be feeling.

So he decided to break the ice so to speak, he cleared his throat getting everyone's attention before he spoke.

“Hello Embarrassed, I'm Raphael.”

His deadpanned expression mixed with his flat delivery caused everyone to be silent for a moment before Alister's frowned mouth curled upward into a slight grin he started to chuckle under his breath and had to turn away a bit. Valon tried to bite his lower lip to keep himself from laughing but failed tremendously as he burst out laughing. Raphael looked between the two of them and had a slight smile on his face, satisfied with the results he folded his arms and looked at Yugi.

Yugi was dumbfounded by how Raphael's words managed to get his fellow swordsmen to lighten up rather quickly. He wasn't really sure what to think of this, should he laugh too or- Finally Valon had gotten enough of grip on himself to wipe away a tear and breathe normally again.

“Raph! You always know how to bring the sunshine mate!” Valon looked down at Yugi with a neutral expression he put his good hand on his hip. “Relax kid, I ain't gonna smack ya but you are gonna clean this place up, right?”

Yugi blinked then nodded with a smile “O-Of course! I'm sorry again I should be more mindful of my actions. I mean we are gonna be working together. After all we are the four musketeers!” He raised a fist up looking to his fellow swordsmen again.

Alister and Raphael had the same neutral expression Valon had earlier but Valon rolled his eyes a bit with and added chuckle.

“Nice try kid but we all know there's only 3 Musketeers!”

“Uhh…actually there are four…” Yugi interjected, making Valon pout a bit and want to argue again only for Raphael to speak up.

“Actually he's right there were four of them. Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and D'Artagnan.”

This made Valon turn his head to the blonde and blinked confused “Wait are you serious?!”

Alister then rolled his eyes and crossed his arms looking at Valon “Someone clearly didn't read the book.”

Valon now turned to Alister and yelled “Wait it's a book!? I thought we was named after the candy bar!”

This made Alister glare at him in annoyance “Did you seriously think we named yourselves after the candy bars?”

“Well yeah there's three of them in a package there's three of us so it makes sense to me.” Valon folded his good arm, making Alsiter smack his face in embarrassment.

“You realize you JUST made the high school student look smarter then you right now right?” Alister grumbled through his hand.

Valon growled and shouted “Hey! you know not all of us is as well read as you!”

“Wouldn't kill ya to pick up a book once in while Val! Then maybe you'd stop embarrassing yourself.”

As the two continued to argue Raphael only rolled his eyes and let them go on, he knew it was the only way to really let them cool off so they'd be less likely to argue more later. Yugi watched on and as he did he couldn't help but see his old friends in the three men; this was how Joey and Tristan would act at times getting into arguments with each other normally leading to some kind of violence between the two, Tea would either end up having to step in to stop them or she'd just watch on with Yugi annoyed with their childishness.

Yugi couldn't help but smile as his mind drifted to those better times, finally he just started to giggle then was laughing out loud. As he did Valon and Alister stopped fighting as they heard Yugi laughing, soon all three of the swordsmen looked at Yugi confused as what had made him laugh this hard.

“Uhh… what's the joke kid?” Valon looked at Yugi who'd had also noticed them staring at him and managed to collect himself enough to answer.

“You guys are people…you're people…” Yugi smiled to them which brought on another confused expression from each of them.

“Yeah, we're are people.” Alister answered flatly. “What else would we be?” he folded his arms.

“Uh nothing…” Yugi sighed contently and turned around “I'm gonna start cleaning this mess.”

Yugi smiled and headed towards the table to put the box down then he began to pick up some of the cards on the ground closest to him. The three swordsmen looked between each other still confused about what had just happened. Valon giving a shrug before he headed towards the table to sit the other two following after him.

--

After Kaiba exploded about Yami Yugi's loss to Raphael during the video call the gang knew they would have to find a different method to get to Florida. They ultimately decided split up; Yami, Tea, Joey and Tristan would use a train to get to the airport, while Mai, Duke, Rebecca and Professor Hawkin's would drive into town to find another airport then meet each other there.

Everyone started packing up and getting themselves ready; Tea and Mai had mentioned they wanted a quick shower so they could change clothes for the trip. The Professor's RV had running water so he offered it to them along with the bed room for them to change. Mai offered Tea the shower first so she was in the shower while Mai instructed the boys to keep their distance and help move things into Duke's car again for the drive, and to help pack up her bike on the trailer hitch.

Yami Yugi had wondered outside and further into the desert away form his friends whom he didn't want to face right now. The sun was beating down hard as it getting closer to Noon, he stopped just past a few rocks and looked down at the ground. Only dust and rocks at his feet and stray lizard that had run by. His mind was still flooded with guilt not only because of what happened to Yugi but now the world was in danger because of his actions.

//What have I done? Now thanks to me he's gone…and if he is the key to stopping DOMA I just handed him over to them! Partner…how could I have done this to you…//

His mind drifted back to the duel, just when he was about to play the Seal of Orichalcos Yugi stopped him only for him to yell at him.

“This is my fight! This is my justice! My beliefs are on the line! And I don't need you butting into everything I do! Do you hear me!? Be quiet and stay out of this!”

He winced at his own words as they echoed in his memory; he longed to have his old memories back to know who he was in his past… but with this memory oh how he wished he could forget this one too. “I DONT NEED YOU!”

His gut sank even lower at that final staement the final thing he told Yugi before he played that awful card. The fear in Yugi's eyes… he did that to him. Tears started to threaten in the corner of his own eyes now. And even after he was so rotten Yugi still saved him! He always saved him from becoming his worse self but now- tears ran down his cheeks as he tried to scrub them away.

He felt weak and powerless…

“So you never did change did you?”

Yami blinked and turned around for the source of the voice, it was Mai standing with her arms crossed and a look of disappointment on her face. Yami didn't want to look her in the eyes right now so he looked at the ground again.

“I really had hoped you had changed since our duel in Duelist Kingdom. And I had believed it during Battle City. You grew up you changed and became even stronger as a duelist. You trusted yourself and you still kept your principles. But the Yugi I saw back there in that duel…That was the same scared and stubborn child I duel back in the finals.”

“Y-you don't understand. There was so much riding on that duel! I had to use the Seal it was-”

“It was the cowards way out! You were scared of losing so you decided any method was the best method even if it would cost you someone precious!” She yelled.

“I never thought he would-” Yami argued only to be shot down again.

“You knew what the other Yugi was like! You KNEW he'd never put you in danger! I think he'd starve himself before he'd let you go hungry! Face it you did this because you're a coward!” Mai pointed to him.

He hated that word he HATED it so much! It drove a dagger into his stomach and twisted it deeper inside the more he thought about it. She was right…he didn't need to play the card, if only he'd had Yugi's humility… if only he had listened to him! Why didn't he listen to him? Yami looked as if he was about to cry again, only to feel Mai put her hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her and saw she'd softened her expression a bit and looked him directly in the eyes.

“You screwed up big time…but now is the REAL test for you. You can either sit here and wallow in your own pain and failure. Or you can find the strength to keep going you can find the strength to fight for him again.”

Mai took her hand off his shoulder and headed back towards her Jeep, Yami stood there and watched her leave before returning his gaze to the sands. He swallowed hard and turned around heading towards the trailer.

--

Yugi had taken off his long over coat and hung it on the back of one of the chairs while he cleaned up. He didn't realize just how much of mess he'd made until he had to perform his own personal game of 52 pick up but instead it was more like 5200 pick up. Luckily for him he was used to having to clean up loose cards not only that but cleaning up after kids in general. When they'd come to the store most times the kids would make mess of things and of course it was Yugi's job to clean up the mess afterwards. it was quite an annoyance for him but over time he'd gotten used to it and was much faster at tidying up.

After cleaning up the cards around him and placing them back in their cases in the proper order Yugi decided to sweep the floor a bit, a habit he picked up form his grandfather. As he swept up his fellow swordsmen sat at the rectangular table and watched him work. They didn't mind he was being extra cleanly no doubt a way to show he was sorry for the mess from earlier. And it meant they were spared from cleaning up before Dartz would come back and check in on them.

Valon decided to speak up first.

“You know I don't get why you went so nuts about the cards in here, don't your family own a card shop or somethin'?”

Yugi kept his sweeping momentum going while answering.

“Well first, it's a general game store not exclusively a card shop. Domino City has a few hobby and card shops but we focus on a variety of games. Even though Gramps prefers old school styled ones like chess, solitaire, etc. Second, this is like the biggest card collection I've ever seen in my life!”

Yugi gestured to the cabinets around them before going up to case to case and reading off the cards he'd just put back.

“I've never even heard of half of these cards before! “Nightmare Tri-Mirror” “Royal Decree” “Spirit Hunting” I swear Dartz must have the worlds best collection!”

Yugi sounded so excited when he was talking about cards it was like talking to someone about their special interest, once they get going they just get more excited and happy.

“We do have access to every card produced, Dartz would reserve only the best ones for us and himself of course. ” Raphael answered.

“Guess that makes us pretty lucky.” Yugi smiled before finally finishing his sweeping. “Which means I can make a really strong deck just like Dartz said.”

He put the broom away and went back to the table to pick up his card box. Instead of sitting at the table with the other's Yugi sat on the ground and started to sort through his cards; making piles for magic, trap and monsters. They all found it a bit odd Yugi would just sit on the ground and work but then again it's not like the ground wasn't clean.

As he started working Alister piped up curious.

“So what kind of deck will you build?”

Yugi paused for a bit thinking “Well I'm still brain storming a bit…I've always stuck to dark monsters but maybe I can try something different…”

“Well if you were looking to use the God cards you're outta luck kid. I don't think Dartz will be willing to part with them even for you.” Valon grinned a bit as he sat back in his chair he was hoping he got on Yugi's nerves just a bit since he was the type to tease people.

The air in the room had a sudden chill sweep across as Yugi paused what he was doing holding one single card in his hand. His hand shook a little as he bit down on his teeth hard trying to repress the anger that was building in him.

He huffed out

“Fine with me. I hope I NEVER see those miserable things again!” Yugi slapped the card down on the ground.

All three men looked down at Yugi confused by his answer, especially Valon.

“What's the matter kid? You was ready to fight us at 'fisty cuffs' to get them back the first night we met, now you're acting like their cursed or somefin'…oh shit they ain't actually cursed are they?” Valon sweated looking at the others before looking back at Yugi.

“No, they aren't 'cursed' but they might as well be…” Yugi paused again as his mind was starting to flood with memories of the events of the latest tournament. It started to over flow and this time he had no dam to try and hold himself back from speaking so he started to spill.

“Everyone thinks Battle City was some kind of cake walk for me since The Nameless Pharaoh gained all three of the God cards and won the title of Duel King. But every other duel was like life or death! A constant parade of one bad event after another like a waking nightmare!”

Raphael watched him carefully; he knew this kind of body language meant this was a touchy subject for Yugi, still a fresh wound not quite healed and still festering under the bandages. While he was curious he still understood the pain, so he didn't really want to press him more but Valon ever the curious sort asked for him.

“Whadda ya mean?”

Yugi was still he had both hands on the ground now as he stopped and tried to think of his answer, his heart was overflowing with emotions and his mind was trying to control them as best it could. He wasn't sure how to best answer so he decided to start from the beginning.

“You guys know who the 'Ghouls' are right?”

They did, they encountered them a few times in their line of work. Card thieves and counterfeiters who worked under a mysterious man only known as Marik, only recently they'd been disbanded due to Marik's change of heart.

“Like me Marik was chosen to hold a Millennium Item-the Millennium Rod; using it he could control people's minds and make them do what he wanted like some kind of twisted puppet master…And of course he had some kind of grudge against the Nameless Pharaoh meaning he held a grudge against me.”

“During Battle City he sent his goons after me; The first guy…I didn't know his name but he used an Exodia deck. Not bad once you figure it out and can counter him. But then the next guy was a Dark Magician user and some kind of illusionist? Archena. He was a BIG time cheater! He shackled our ankles to the ground, with giant buzz saws that would inch closer to our legs every time we'd lose life points and if you lose you'd get your legs sawed off and die bleeding to death!”

All three older men's eyes widened when they heard him talking about the buzz saw trap, they all exchanged a looked between each other before Yugi continued with his recount of Battle City. After that duel The Nameless Pharaoh had dueled a Mime named Strings who held the God card Slyfir the Sky Dragon and how they would have lost if Kaiba didn't show up to kept give them a confidence boost. But speaking of Kaiba.

“And you know you'd think Kaiba would be a little more thoughtful and hold a little sympathy about the fact a maniac was after my friends and they would be in serious life threatening danger but NOOOOO! It's just “We have to Duel Yugi!” “You can't run away from our fated Duel, Yugi!” Like are you SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!? I told his stubborn ass we didn't have time to fight and of course he has away to track Joey down for me. BUT I'm stuck having to hear him go on about 'fated fight' this and 'duel title' that! I wanted to smack him SO hard!”

Yugi rubbed his face hard just thinking about Kaiba's stubbornness and how it almost cost them a tag team duel that would have gotten them BOTH killed made him fume. Alister couldn't help but relate to Yugi's plight about Seto Kaiba, his rude and selfish attitude and how nothing else mattered as long as he got what he wanted.

Yugi's shoulders lowered again as now he had to recall his most painful memory from Battle City, his life or death duel against Joey…Marik used his mind control to brainwash his best friend and force them to fight with each other. One or none of them would survive if Marik had it his way, how could someone be so cruel? Forcing two people to fight in such a despicable manner…burning this pain forever into his heart. And why? because he was mad at the Nameless Pharaoh for something he wasn't even present for? He wasn't the one who killed Marik's father…Marik's dark self did that! And of course Shadi…Odion…even Ishizu was there! WHY! WHY didn't they tell him!?

All of this madness and pain could have been avoided if any of them had done something to stop Marik! But no they all sat back and allowed everything to happen! It didn't matter who got hurt right? As long as the Pharaoh could regain his memories…

“All of Millennium Items…They really do have evil in them…And HE'S part of it! Why did my friends have to suffer just because of him!?”

Yugi felt tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, he was angry not just angry he was furious! A great fury that caused the Seal of Orichalcos to appear on his forehead again. The more he thought about it the more it made sense one by one more people were hurt by this; Bakura was injured thanks to the spirit of his Ring working with Marik and he too was later sent into the shadows. Odion suffered from Ra's wrath for using a fake card given to him by Marik to trick them all into thinking he was the real one. Mai was tortured then trapped in a living nightmare as her mind was eaten by the darkness…and Joey…Joey died right in front of his eyes…

“Why…Why did everyone have to suffer just so he could regain his memories? Why does he get to step on all of us just so he can be 'King'?!”

Yugi grit his teeth hard as he felt the darkness start to surround him, he felt the power enter his body driving his anger which made the darkness grow stronger around him, the three swordsmen now witnessing his descent into darkness thanks to Orichalcos.

“…why did I give up my soul for him?” Yugi's tears fell down his cheek as he finally started to sob into his hands.

“When am I going to learn? When am I going to stop being so…stupid.”

As they all watched Yugi break down in front of them, collectively they each realized Yugi was just like each of them. Brutalized and used by a cruel world and left to suffer under a great deal of regret and pain. They all had found themselves in his shoes once and just like him Dartz had come and given them a chance to thrive and finally change the world with their own hands.

Raphael once again was the first one to act, he slowly got up and walked towards Yugi, getting down on his knees he came close to the boy to speak.

“You are not stupid.”

His words rang out and into Yugi's ears making him look up from his hands and turn his head to the more gentle look Raphael had on his face.

“You put your faith in the wrong person, everyone is capable of that. But now you know better…you're on the right side for once.”

“He's right, it's not you're fault the Nameless Pharaoh is corrupted by darkness. He's the one who hurt your friends not you.” Alister got up and stood beside Raphael crossing his arms but he also had an understanding look on his face.

“Exactly! And that prick has the balls to toss you unda the lore just so he can strut 'round and pretend to be you? I say you go and teach that faker a lesson! Show him and everyone else who the real Yugi Mutou is huh? ” Valon grinned getting up and giving a wink.

“We got yur back kid! After all we are the Four Musketeers right?”

Yugi, Raphael and Alister all blinked at Valon surprised by his answer, he then shrugged and said

“What can I say ? its starting the grow on me!”

Yugi looked at both Alister and Valon and wiped some of the tears away, he never thought these guys would be this kind to him. Yugi felt the Seal of Orichalcos leave his forehead, he then felt a very large hand on his shoulder. It was Raphael who once again offered a kind expression, it was hard believe a man so intimating could actually be so kind.

Yugi sighed and sniffled a bit collecting himself as he sat up straight and looked at each of his fellow swordsmen.

“Thank you…now I know that you have my back, I know I wont lose to him.”

[lightdragon789]

I'm going through a bad burn out and art block right now, it's been a roller coaster for me atm.

So, I decided to share some pieces that I've done in the past but never got around to uploading. That being the rest of Nash's family. His mom Clara, his father Howard and his younger sister Agnes (Kid and young adult).

I'm going to give a brief description of his parents, as I haven't figured much out for Agnes yet. Just know she's a very cute kid with lots of energy. Plus that Nash never got to meet Agnes until he venture through Aakahn with Bodie to Montell. This is due to their father never coming to Nash's place for them to meet and Nash never visited due to going through his own mental struggles relating to his father. In the story Nash wrote a song for Agnes, thinking she had their mother's hazel eyes. But she didn't and it disheartened Nash and made him realize just how much of his sister's life he missed.

But anyway, let's start with Howard! Nash's father worked at Aakahn's hunter's guild. He was known as one of the best hunters in his prime, catching many beasts. Bears, wolves and even some avian half-bloods. He was a fighter but also a strategist with traps. It wasn't until Nash was around six that a half-blood from silverben, damaged his leg severely. To the point where he was to use a cane due to his bad limp, thus retiring early from being a hunter. This gave him the push to start training Nash into becoming a hunter like his fathers and brothers before him.

When Nash was showing lack of interest in becoming a hunter and more into the arts though. His father did all he could to disway him from that path. Drilling it into him, how he'd be nothing to nobody if he didn't become a hunter. Stating it was in their family's blood to be a hunter and that he had all the qualities of a hunter. Even when years passed and Nash still didn't show much interest, he took Nash to Montell to shoot an avian folk he caught before him injury with a crossbow. He was proud that Nash took the shot and advanced his training from then on.

He never noticed how much this was effecting Nash, only seeing his progress and showing his pride when Nash did what he was told. Then when Nash was 15, he helped him move out so that there would be space for his younger sibling. He never visited Nash after helping him move, as when he found out he became a librarian instead of a hunter. He grew ashamed of him and focused on his wife, but then she died in child birth. Leaving him to seek a caretaker for the baby while he worked in a more easy place.

It isn't until Nash passes by with Bodie does the two meet again after 4ish years. He's impressed and proud of Nash for catching such an impressive beast. But Nash isn't the same anymore and asks why his dad never visited him or came to console him after his mom's death. To which Howard is dismissive but it makes Nash more annoyed, to point where he lash out with all the years of anger flooding out. It's here he learns that Howard didn't visit due to being ashamed of Nash's choices and Nash disowns his father. Citing they were only tied by a last name and that was it, and how he wants nothing to do with him anymore and leaves with Bodie.

SO, yeah that's Howard! Onto Clara!

Clara all her life wanted to go to Thessla and train to become a mage. As she always was fascinated by glyph magic and knew she had some strong times to her affinities. However, her family was anti-magic and forced her into jobs around Aakahn. It made her feel tied down as she practiced magic on the side, away from her folks. But then they set her for an arranged marriage with Howard and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Thus stopping her magic practices and being wedded to Howard. Then having Nash as their first son. At first, due to postpartum depression. Clara distances herself, only feeding and caring for Nash when he cried.

However, things were easy as Nash was a very relaxed baby. Then as he got older, Clara would still be distant emotionally at times but tried her best to help Nash in anyway she could. Even showing off glyph magic to Nash when Howard was off working. When he went into retirement due to his limp, and started training Nash. She truly saw how much of a toll it was taking on their son. She tried to voice her concerns but was shot down multiple times by Howard. So, she'd make it up to Nash by taking him on nature walks, going to the library and in the summer time watching the fireflies.

She even saved money and bought Nash a violin, after his 11th birthday. Seeing how shaken up he was after shooting the avian half-blood. There wasn't mush she could do, other than say how sorry she was due to all of events his father put him through. Even the day he moved out, all she could muster was a teary sorry as he left. Even still, she waited for her son to visit. Writing letters and sending him the stories he would write her on her birthdays and Mother's Day. After she passed away giving birth to Agnes, she never blamed Nash for never coming but only wish to Div that he lives a better life than she did.

That was a lot to write....

BUT I hope you guys like the rest of Nash's family and I hope you all have a lovely day!

Characters and art belong to me!

[ell-arts]

Honestly wait, I'm not sure if it was mentioned already before but like, i feel like out of all characters, i feel like Spiral waa done dirty the most, yeah i know people already mentioned Ghost Gang also suffered from the same fate, but i feel like people barely talk about Spiral in here due to how we little bit know about him outside of being a bubbly person.

Because in season one he seemed very genuine and fun to be around! And being beside Pac whenever he was needed! Luke a brother to him! But for some reason in season two they reset his character so hard they made him dumb, like whyyyy, he was so fine the way he was! ...or whatever he actually was besides his caring and bubbly personality.

but yeah, what are your thoughts? What are your headcanons for him?

Honestly, I'd say that Spiral stayed relatively the same in season 2. He was still brotherly, caring, fun, genuine, etc, maybe just not as frequent as in season 1. The reason people don't talk much about him could just be because fans will prefer to talk more about their favourite characters, which is natural, it just so happens that Spiral is not at the top of the majority of fans' fave lists. Everyone asks, "Where is Spiral," but nobody asks, "HOW is Spiral" :')

But anyway, headcanons for Spiral:

Spiral's favourite food is bacon, but his all-time favourite meal is his mother's signature dish - barbequed steak with cheddar melt sauce. Or just anything that combines meat with cheese.

Spiral is a liiiiitle bit tone deaf. He enjoys playing the harmonica, but he's yet to realise that he's not particularly good at it. Or maybe he does know, but he keeps playing anyway xD

I'm not quite set on this headcanon yet (or I might just tweak it) but I've started playing with the idea that Spiral could've had a mild form of ADHD in his youth, in that he was a hyperactive kid who couldn't sit still for too long, and often had impulsive tendencies. He's mellowed out as he grew older, but he's still easily excitable and full of energy. He's learned to channel this energy into sports and ghost-fighting, and being a hypeman for Pac.

For as long as he can remember, Spiral had always wanted a little sibling. His mother never had any more children after him, so he was an only-child. Baby brother or baby sister, doesn't matter, he just wanted someone to play with and to look out for. Then Pac entered the scene :) As soon as their friendship grew into being best friends, Pac became like the little brother that Spiral never had. With time, Spiral also came to see Cyli as a sister.

This could be tweaking canon a lot, but I headcanon that Spiral never knew his biological father. He only has very vague memories of his father when he was a little boy. His father is not part of his and his mom's lives anymore. However, Spiral does have a stepfather, and the two of them get along well enough that Spiral just calls him 'Dad.'

Following up on that, because of the absence of his biological father, there was a period in Spiral's early childhood when he had a strained view of 'family,' and often watched his single mother provide for him with little to no support. This was before his stepfather entered their lives. Afterwards, Spiral's cynicism went away and he's come to learn that family is not just about blood, but about forming strong bonds. This is why his friendship with Pac and Cyli is so strong - he sees them both as family.

We MIGHT have a hint on who Spiral's mother could be. Remember this character?

I know this might be reaching, but she looks so similar to Spiral. They both have blue hair, green eyes, and red skin, and both are quite tall. Like those are all literally Spiral's genes right there.

And if you might need a bit more convincing on why I'm convinced, have a look here:

This shot comes from the episode "Santa Pac," right as Spiral is talking about his parents' holiday decorating business. Spiral's words, combined with the flashback of visuals, make a strong implication that this here is one of his parents. It's that same character with the red skin, blue hair, and even the same lavender gloves. Plus, in most of this character's appearances, she's either a make-up artist or working with arts and crafts, which ties in perfectly with Spiral's parents owning a decorating/creative business.

Overall, it's more likely that this is just your average background/stock character that's being used to fill in empty NPC positions, especially because Spiral didn't acknowledge or talk to her at all in episodes where she appeared more frequently ("Pac-Mania"). But I'd like to think that she's his mom and just has a flexible job schedule in the creative industry :)

[neteyammeowmeow]

Ninjago OCs I'd just like to share right now because the urge to talk is uncontrollable right now (unfortunately I don't have any actual designs so they are only texts for now, art might come if someone's really THAT curious lmfao, but not guaranteed...) I've already writen about Zhìxìn, but there are a few others that are yet to be explained!

1. Jinhai (Lloyd and Benthomaar fankid): At first he was the eldest of his siblings, but to adjust to Dragons Rising's timeline, he is now the youngest. They are a shapeshifting azure dragon.

His design is inspired by the appearance of the Wu Sheng of Peking Opera, it is a role that is based on warriors or soldiers. The correlation with his character, is because he is overall a strong type, not just physically, but also morally. He holds his beliefs highly, he has an immense sense to preserve the balance and justice of the world - due to being raised surrounded by two great leaders who maintain two different worlds under their rule, and that of course affected his ambition and perspective towards the world around him.

Though Jinhai is still young, and he can be easily shaken by how he percieves things. He may be strong at will, but he is also stubborn at that. Overall, he could be an unreliable narrator if he were to tell the story. But back at that, all of what he was introduced to, is what drove him to become a warrior for his nations.

Jinhai did not inherit Lloyd's elemental power, but at the same time he does. This is a more complex ability, it isn't something able to be wielded outright, but Jinhai has the power of empathy. Hopefully this is able to answer the reason on why his morals are strong but also unsteady in a way. Empathy, is similar to energy. While energy is outward, it is life, it is what goes around others, a cosmic and universal ability that blesses so many - empathy is an inward version, a cosmic and universal thing that connect so many together, plants, animals, humans, the sea, the land, the mountains, they all have feeling. Energy and empathy are tied together, thus is the cause of Jinhai's abilities.

More might be explored about this ability, but honestly in a separate post lol (again, if someone's really THAT curious about it)

2. Teyiko (Lloyd and Benthomaar's fankid): She is the middle child, and she is actually Benthomaar's adopted daughter, but only after the Merge reconciliation, she is also Lloyd's. She is a Merlopian based on a whale, once a humpback whale, but her type might change now.

I'm not sure how many have watched the Sea Beast, but it is what inspired her backstory. She intentionally parallels Arin but only vaguely and with certain elements. She is a Merlopian, who lost both of her parents before the Merge, and lived in an orphanage (unhappily) and after (canon divergent worldbuilding heree), she faced the underwater war between the nations, and she was hurt after being caught amidst the storm of a battle. It was then, that she was found by Benthomaar, who decided to take her in, and after discovering that she was an orphan, Benthomaar grew an attachment to her, as she reminded him of himself, and decided to take her in as his daughter.

Teyiko has the tendency to be rebellious, she prefers to do things her own way which causes her to be reckless. Due to her traits, it's easy for her to find herself in trouble, it only comes as a game if she is able to get out or get trapped with her consequences, but she takes that as a challenge instead of a fear. Unlike her brother, Jinhai, who is cautious and shy, she is the exact opposite, she always loves to explore her nation, meeting with her citizens and partaking with royal meetings whenever she is allowed the chance. Her curiosity brings her everywhere.

3. Lysianassa: (she's part of my canon divergent Merlopian worldbuilding!) She is one of Benthomaar's royal assistants, she is an Echenidaean (remora) Merlopian, and is based on the Nereids of greek mythology (her name also belongs to the Nereid of royal delivery). Her species are actually ocean nymphs that serve new Merlopia after the merge.

Lysianassa is an amusingly straightforward character at most times, but this trait easily causes her to be flustered, she's overall meant to be endearing and cute. Of course she isn't just an assistant to Benthomaar, but also one of his dear friends, she's also the one that pushed him to reconnect back with Lloyd because honestly, he seriously needed it. Despite how she can appear blunt, she often speaks very calmly and soothingly.

4/5/6. The Time Triad (but Neteyammeowmeow... What about the Time Twins...) I have NEVER ever, talked about this concept before but I have made these characters. They were once inspired by a really specific thought of mine once (I saw an edit of Dimitrescu's daughters from Resident Evil and it somehow spawned all this, lmfao, no joke).

The Time Triad's existence is caused due to the destruction of the time blades. The power of it combined with the time vortex's chaos, eventually materialized into vessels of the past (Hor), present (Mulo), and future (Igo). Their names combined is an anagram of the constellation: Horologium, the Timepiece. They're meant to be morally ambiguous characters, neither good or evil because time doesn't choose sides - it witnesses, records, and creates history no matter the morality. They're also sisters btw, they don't have a gender but they appear feminine.

Their purpose in world, honestly, I don't know yet, but I like them because they exist.

[extraskully5]

Ahh yea cause torturing punishing another mewtwo or threatening to until Antimony behaves increases the risk of the second mewtwo feeling unfairly treated potential resentment feelings of being undervalued low self esteem and thus breaking their loyalty and making them potentially lash out meaning now you have two defiant mewtwo and two could lead to 3 to 4 ect cause if two are being difficult and they've got strong personalities influences smaller personalities will follow lead creating a whole horrible domino effect

It is really sad though Antimony cared about his siblings so much but his care for them wasn't matched by Cold Strike who values the freedom and power he has from his loyalty

Real golden child vs scapegoat child energy real this is a group of siblings trying their best to survive in an abusive household energy like there's probably clever parallels to be made and had and I'm eating it up complicated conflicting sibling relationships go brrrr

With the other two's personalities, that wouldn't happen. They constantly try to protect eachother but for the most part, their fear is what keeps them loyal. If they weren't afraid of being hurt, they wouldn't be as loyal as they are. Antimony is ironically the only one that isn't scared of being punished himself.

And funny you should say that

Cause Cold Strike is the only one that isn't a sibling. More details on that will be revealed later tho. Is a lore secret

[teal-skull]

I assume you have very strong moral compass and always try make people feel comfortable and cared for by being friendly and attentive. You are also very artistic and comfortable in your own skin. I get energy of someone who has at least two siblings and you are either the oldest or middle child.

People have told me that I have a strong moral compass so I suppose it's true! The second one is kinda true I suppose? It's more like I always just try to not be an asshole, and have respect for other people. There's rarely a reason to not be friendly/polite to some one. (Especially to people working at customer service)

I would consider myself artistic! It affects a lot of things I do. I might appear like some one who is comfortable in their own skin, and partially that is true, however I do have insecurities I'm working on.

The last one is wrong. I'm the only child babyyyy🤘

Put an assumption in my ask. I’ll confirm or dispute it. I’m not gonna be mean or anything, I’m just very interested. You can go anon if you want. [x]

[pizzapasta23045]

Sending another ask so the psot doens't get too long but YEAH I SPENT. A REALLY REALLY LONG TIME ON THAT MOUNTAIN. Actually back pre-sumeru when I had more time and energy (less school) I was extremely intense with my gameplay. I'm talking the Chasm 100%ed within give or take a week after it's release. Hours upon hours spent getting the map to full completion. It was actually INSANE.

ALSO. Also also. Opinions on the organization setup of Khaenri'ah/related groups bc like I KNOW that so far the only DRECTLY Khaenri'ah related groups are the Hexenzircle, Fatui and the Abyss Order but I have. A reallllly really strong feeling that there's a fourth group and that's the one Kaeya belongs to BUT. I am very curious as to what you think :3

100% chasm??? You are so fucking real for that, I could never!

Well, about the different organizations, i sure have some thoughts... There are probably innacurate to some oscure lore but hey, whatever...

So, the Alberich are definetely not connected to the fatui, but that should be a given at this point. The ideologies are just different, one wants to restore the homeland or some semblance of it, the other (Pierro) is described as a traitor to Khaenri'ah, does not seem to care for the restoration and his organazation mostly focuses on ending destiny and destroying celestia. Moreso the second than the first.

So the Alberich. I have a feeling that Skirk is an Alberich (you know Skirk, right? Childe's master in the abyss), because she is incredibly misterious, described as looming in the dark, ridicoulusly powerful and in the Abyss where it is speculated Khaenri'ah's survivors went. She's also speculated to be part of the Herzenicle but i don't think so becase she's only describe as a swordwoman and not as a witch.

Dain's also an alberich, imo. Since he's against both the abyss order and the fatui and he can't be part of the Herzickel.

My theory about the Alberich is deeply connected with my theory on the abyss sibling. Which is that the sibling went through the entire journey just as we did and challenged the Heavenly principals, who, since they were loosing, basically reset the entire timeline, choose the traveler as the new descender and pushed the sibling into the role of leader of the abyss to fill in the blanks.

This is because the only, as far as I'm aware, time we can hear about our sister's journey, like really and in detail, is through the Aranara who call them by a nickname and talk in riddles. Which would bypass Irminsul

There's one time from the fatui, i think, but I can't find it and it doesn't seem specific enough to be erased, plus pierro may know how to avoid Irminsul through codes and written "fake" languages.

Now, back to the Alberich. My theory is that the place the alberich had in the world is the equivalent of the fatui in our timeline. So all the fatui's plans are similar to the Alberich's, which would explain why Pierro seems to be able to tell the future. In this case Childe would be Skirk (since I think it'd be funny) and dottore would be rhinedottir (since, you know, insane scientist ect,ect)

Now, after the Alberich's plans failed (since they were using the sibling to defy the world) the intelligence network divided into two groups. Kaeya's father and company basically form the most insane case of maliscous compliance.

Like "technically" they follow the heavenly principals while slowly making sure that the heavens still are defeated. Pierro doesn't like that so he creates the fatui to continue the revolution.

Now the Herznickel I'm not sure about, haven't researched it much to be honest, but my gut tells me they are associated with Celestia. Not sure why, like I said, Haven't researched it, but i'd be glad to listen if you can disprove it or something.

And the Abyss order seems like the farthest away from Khaenri'ah, oddly enough, maybe because most of the people that are part of it are just... mindless monsters trasformed by the curse. Also, any faction (the fatuii, dain, Kaeya to an extent) all seem to hate them or want them gone? We know that Khaenri'ah used to use the field tillers to cleanse the abyss beasts so it may because of that but idk...

Honestly, this is the first time I've externalized any of this so it may not make sense at all. But I'd be glad to hear your theories in turn oh wise sage from the old times (1.3 lmao)(non making fun of you btw, we're both just as insane.

[endereies]

PRODUCER!CHRIS X DANCER!READER INTRO

Pairing: Chris x reader

Contains: A sweet introduction to my new au! Mood board based on these characters!

Requested?: no

Author's notes: I've been creating mood boards and backstory all day so I hope y'all are ready. I have wanted to create something like this for a while so I'm glad i can get this out.

Word Count: 690

✭ - MusicProducer!Chris x Dancer!Reader

༊*·˚ Producer!Chris created his profile through the musical world, spreading his name through hip-hop. It was hard to not know his name since it was plastered everywhere. Starting at 16 allowed him a lot of freedom and time to experiment with his music taste and find inspiration he craved. Years later at 21, he has discovered an audience around the world who adored him and his music.

Ever since he was younger he craved individuality from his brothers. Don't get him wrong, he adored them. It was simply the constant generalisation that spurred him to be different. He didn't want to be just one of the 'Sturniolo Triplets', he wanted to be him. He tended to be hard-headed and tempered, replaced with passion as he grew older. One thing he couldn't manage was his work ethic, Chris simply never stopped. He never felt burnt out by it. It was the amount of pure energy that became his fuel. His lyrics and melody embedded in each song would often stray from how he truly felt, no matter how much it shifted.

Being based in LA, California gave him easy access to opportunities. When his parents realized how much he enjoyed all the aspects of music and experimentation, they placed him in lessons for guitar. Starting out with hires and a simple acoustic guitar he was understanding his tastes more every day. Even if his siblings began to thank the silence, the support from them was immense. With technological advances and stretching his talents over multiple instruments with age, Chris moved over to production.

However he wanted to branch out more which led him to the idea of creating music videos. Following the success of his second album he aspired to become more creative. Ideas for each song swarmed his head and his production team was on board with almost any thought he shared. One of which being back up dancers for is stage performances.

Without a second thought, his team sent out applications across the state for dance studios to step up to this opportunity. Little did he know that Elite Dance Academy soon become his favorite.

༊*·˚ Dancer!Reader is an internationals champion amongst her dance studio troupe members. Her name was recognizable within the dance community, having won her nationals solo twice in a row. As a strong independent dancer, it's hard to miss her confidence on the stage. Dancing since she was 4 gives her about 16 years of experience to flaunt to an audience.

As a child, dancing became such an expresser of emotions when her words failed her. Whenever things got bad at home or she struggled with school, dance started to be the one constant she could heavily rely on. As the years went on, she was enrolled in Elite Dance Academy, starting in J troupe. Beginning at the bottom of her new studio simply meant she had to force chances to prove herself, that's when auditions rolled around. At the age of 18, she finally found herself falling into the same rows as A troupe members. These dancers were intense and she adored it. Finding her strengths in contemporary and hip-hop, she excelled. Y/n wanted her name known, and that's exactly what she got.

She was determined to place her name above the ranks, almost posing herself to injury. She never quite got the grasp of making friends within her troupe, only being close to an odd two or three. Yet when necessary, she showed teamwork which won results. While being independent, anxious feelings would occasionally spiral as a fear of not being the best. She had to succeed and she felt almost like a failure when she didn't.

After eavesdropping on a conversation, Y/n heard news of 'Chris Sturniolo' being interested in our dancers. She ran with that news. At home, she studied his name, finding his Spotify easily. The vast number of listeners shocked her and immediately, she pressed play on his most popular 'Angel Energy'. Obsessed with his music, she choreographed certain pieces of a routine.

She was prepared to make her name reach more than the dance world, including Chris's mind.

© ENDEREIES 2024

@melliflws @yuhayeee @st7rnioioss @sturn-bugz @bueckers @worldlxvlys @raysmayhem-72 @patscorner @y0urm4m @bernardsbendystraws @junnniiieee07 @luverboychris @sleepysturn @jnkvivi @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @shorthairchris

[norovvareta]

DAIGO MAYUMI

大郷 真弓

age: 27

birthdate: 8 january

birthplace: yokohama, japan

gender and pronouns: cisfemale, she/they

sexual orientation: bisexual/biromantic, has a masc preference

occupation: jujutsu sorcerer

signs: capricorn sun, gemini moon, libra rising

mbti: entp, the debater

alignment: chaotic good

face claim: tae takemi, shi miao (teen) voice claim: taneda risa

hair: dark violet, nearly black. stick straight, cut, meticulously, into a short bob with straight bangs eyes: brown height/weight: 5'7"/140 lbs build: lean build, strong arms, solid core, but no super visible muscle mass details: pierced ears and tongue

dominant hand: right skills: excellent researcher, knowledge of local lore, can take a fucking beating, advanced close quarters combat (silat, taekwondo)

cursed technique: okay, so i'm still hashing it all out, but she crystalizes her cursed energy and can freeze weak enough spirits in it. it manifests like a piece of phantom quartz and it leaves the little ones looking like bugs in amber. she stands beside the fact that she thinks they'd be really interesting necklaces and will not hear it if you think otherwise. she can also create spears using this. she'd probably be a grade 1 sorcerer. yes, she is pissy that she's not regarded as special grade. it's 100% a pride thing. despite what she thinks, she does not deserve that.

interests: daytime tv dramas, concerts, literally anything other than cursed spirits religion: agnostic strengths: smart, resourceful, bodily awareness, enhanced strength and speed weaknesses: golly. she's mean. sorry. kind of a coward. super proud.

parents: masaru and himari siblings: none

daigo has played second fiddle her whole life. the only child of parents with what felt like twenty combined siblings and even more talented cousins, she always seemed to be an afterthought. even when she did show talent through cursed energy manipulation, she didn't stand out amongst her classmates. and it drove her up the fucking wall.

in school, she was one to grind harder, work longer, and dig deeper so the two other students in her grade wouldn't leave her in the wayside. this, however, didn't last once yu was killed. everything became a lot more real after that and that scared her. people needed sorcerers to be well rounded, not just fly through the ranks as quickly as you could, so she was required to swerve into that mindset.

after school, she takes on an odd job here or there. usually the ones where she knows she won't be bothered or have to cross paths with other sorcerers. it is hard, thankless work, but who the hell else is going to do it?

daigo wants to be exceptional, but grade 1 meanie will have to suffice.

verses: jjk (main), jjk (curse user), csm (devil hunter), tokyo revengers (age depending on timeline, but what we're not gonna do is be weird), nart (founder era)

[explainyourstory]

~Abyss Anon, Part 2, let us continue

What is it like to live with Anxiety or Depression? to live with ADHD, OCD? DID or OSDD? pt 1/2+1 I decided to split this into two different categories, and I wanted to add Autism as something you might want to add to your questioning. Now, let me be honest, the only official diagnosis I have is Anxiety, but it is strongly implied I have ADD/ADHD without the hyperactivity, and Autism. Depression...I am not sure, it might be a side effect of one of the other cocktails I've got or it might be Bipolar (as my mother was diagnosed Bipolar but with new information, I'm not sure if my mother was bipolar, or if autism/Depression/ADD/Anxiety created a bipolar mimic). Anyways, let's run down the list based on the strongest one I know: Anxiety. Anxiety is like there's a knot in your chest that never goes away, a nagging worry that something is about to go wrong. You're constantly nervous that you're about to be called to the principal's office in school, but you haven't the faintest idea what you've done. Anxiety most definitely contributes to my AFAB paranoia at night. ADD, I've got a fairly strong idea I have, and that it feeds into the anxiety, cause I've always had issues with focusing, my grandfather confirmed he thought he and myself both have ADD, and my younger sibling (who is technically my half sibling, but their dad adopted me, so I use dad to refer to him) has ADHD as well. But the reason I pointed out the anxiety feed-in is because some amount of energy drinks not only help me focus (a trait of ADHD), but it also quells some of my anxiety (but not all). Autism, I know the least about, but my mother confirmed that she theorized myself, her, and my sibling all are on the spectrum, I've had people who are autistic comment that I seem to have autism, and my dad has confirmed that my sibling seems to have autism as well. And a coworker of mine who is diagnosed as autistic has pointed out some of the behaviors and descriptors that point to me having autism. I am very good at mirroring or masking, though I would argue that I don't really have a good view of myself, and would have to ask the people around me if they view me as NT or ND. Depression, I sometimes get cycles of negative thoughts and low energy from depression, though I don't know perfectly with it anymore as the thoughts don't pop up at all thanks to a tactic I used when I was younger when I struggled with suicidal thoughts, and Depression and Anxiety only appeared in my late teens.

What is it like to live with an addiction? I'm modifying this slightly. My dad used to be a bad alcoholic and was and still is a bad smoker. Addiction...I recognize it's a disease, but if you're struggling with it, you, in my opinion, have no right to subject a child to it. My dad would drink a large bottle of Canadian whiskey every night or every other night, and buy a pack of cigarettes every day. I often had to remind my dad to go to bed (8-9~) and feed himself because he drunk himself to sleep. Some things that happened I won't expunge probably didn't help either. But nowadays, I try not to think about the $$. Remember how we were living paycheck to paycheck? Yea, if I calculate how much he spent every week or every two weeks, I won't be able to control my emotions and I'm liable to lash out. I'd rather not...think about how much money was wasted because I wasn't enough for him to get clean back then.

What is it like living with one mom, one dad, both, or neither? I lived with my dad alone from 8-9 to current day, 23. I lived with my mom for a short period of time. I lived with both for an equally short period of time. They both fucked me up in vastly different ways, and for vastly different (or maybe same) reasons. I definitely think living with dad did affect my emotional responses, but my mom didn't help. She got a therapist for me when I was constantly crying to ask why I was crying all the time and tell me not to cry. When a cat I loved died, I didn't cry, and back to the therapist I went, and when asked why I didn't cry, I stated they made it clear I wasn't to cry. So there's a lot of things in play that mess with my ability to say how much of my current personality is due to my extensive time with my dad, negative encounters with children thanks to my mom, and/or the abuse I went through on both parents parts. All I'll say is that parents can have the best of intentions, and their actions can still leave marks on their children that never heal. And I really hate the "Your trauma isn't your fault, it's your responsibility". I get the intent, but what it sounds like to me is "you are responsible for what happened to you". I know it's supposed to teach people who use their trauma to excuse being assholes (I don't use my trauma to excuse hurting others, and don't hurt others when I can help it), but all it does is make people like me wh never got justice from their abusers feel like now, not only do they have to deal with trauma and potential PTSD, but now it's somehow their fault the trauma even happened in the first place. As if being a good enough kid, being a good enough sister, daughter, friend would have been enough to avoid the trauma. YOU CAN NEVER BE A GOOD ENOUGH KID, A GOOD ENOUGH SISTER, A GOOD ENOUGH DAUGHTER, OR A GOOD ENOUGH FRIEND. IF THEY WERE GOING TO ABUSE YOU, THEY'D DO IT REGARDLESS OF HOW GOOD/NOT PROBLEMATIC YOU WERE. A better phrase IMO would be something like "Being abused wasn't your fault, but being abused does not give you the right to abuse others"

What is it like to be the oldest, middle, or the youngest child? So I'm in a weird space. I'm a middle child who has spent much of my life being the oldest child. I was always responsible for my younger sibling during visits, and I was expected to entertain any children in the nearby area, as well as be a role model. I was expected to be a perfect person for children to look to, as if I was a parent. I didn't like children, and that was only exacerbated by the bullshit my mother and dad let happen to me. At this time, my younger sibling and I still have an awkward relationship that is affected by the fact my younger sibling has called me mom by accident. Yea.

What is it like to live where you do? In rural towns, in the city? I live in a city/and near a second (172k where I live, and 62k in the city I'm nearby, which I work in), Personally, I don't really know the difference. I have never been to/lived in a rural town, so I have no frame of reference, though I'll say that compared to what I've heard about rural towns, it's more anonymous to live in a city like where I live. No one knows you, beyond the few people you meet and get to know. But it also means that there isn't a close bond to you and the public servants.

~Abyss Anon, as always, see you in Part 3

Part 2

—————

As I stated in the previous post, the questions are merly examples/guidelines, so you're free to talk about anything you've deemed important or necessary, including Autism! Thank you for the suggestion though!

I've never heard of the saying "Your trauma isn't your fault, it's your responsibility." I agree with your reasoning, it does sound a bit,,, iffy. I like the alternative you proposed! I think it's the point across a lot better and makes it sound less vague.

Thank you for sharing!

[tosxah]

Slow soft moments were hard to come by. But only for lack of trying. Stagnation made his insatiable need for violent stimulation go wild; the copper taste of blood was his alcoholism. Yet in the quiet of the night, in the warmth of her radient company, his itch was soothed, the poison ivy on his soul loosened it's grip and there was something like peace.

Childe listened to each tender word that fell from her lips, a traveller's tale of life so fondly lived. Part of him envied it. She could just seek and run without anything holding her back. Well, there was this situation with her brother... He couldnt imagine what he'd do if his family became so far out of reach he was forced to traverse all of Teyvat in search for them. He'd sooner burn every village and slaughter every passer by than accept the idea of not seeing them again... the longing in her voice made him wonder how far from that prospect she could be.

In honesty, his ability to distinguish one set of stars from the rest was never really his forte. His own, sure, but to get a better understanding he scooched closer, so close his head was practically on her shoulder as he followed her finger as it traced the sky.

Almost on queue, he turned his head too, facing her in the darkness of the moons heavy gaze. She was closer, as close almost as they had been when they danced. What an honour it is to fight someone as strong as her, to dance in the arms of someone as beautiful as her, to even hold a moment of her finite time felt like an infinity of itself. "Not at all." Childe had been staring, almost as though the longer he poured himself into the honey of her hues the closer to her he could be, the more he could loose himself to another abyss. He licked his lips and continued, "I spend more time away from my family than I do with them. It's been that way since the day I went to join the Fatui. I was only 14. Two years later and I'm a Harbinger." He let out a little chuckle at his own triumph. His gaze turned back to the heavens above, the inky sky made him think of the Abyss, the inifitne blackness. There were no stars there. Just demons beyond his child's mind's comprehension. Where Ajax became Childe. Where his desires and depravity were tested. What was it Skirk had said? 'If you gaze for long into an Abyss, the Abyss will gaze into you'. "The youngest Harbinger, that's why they call me 'Childe'... I think my family were happy my- 'energy' was being spent on something more 'productive'." He couldnt cause his poor Batya issues if he was off fighting for the Tsarista. And what an honour too, he thinks it might be the only time in his life his father was ever proud of him. Tonya and Tuecer would probably love him less if they saw him more too... At least that's how his older siblings felt about him. And Mama... she was a strong woman. 7 kids, a sick husband, a damaged son. She carried it all like it was never a burden.

Childe turned his head back to look at her, he could smell her faint scent over the grass and night breeze. She was so close he could kiss her. Gods how he wanted to kiss her. "You'll find him."

As every time Childe was by her side, the ocean shifted the tides of that world, the air thinning around them. Or perhaps was it just her lungs thta found it harder to breath? She felt the grass move around her, his heat radiating from his arm that was barely brushing against hers as he took place next to her on the ground.

"Will you now?" the corner of her lips raised, her eyes searching for Aether's constellation on the night sky. "I guess I will really need to be there to make sure your words are not just pure arrogance" her line of sight fell towards his features, but only with the corner of her eye "As you're usual to let things get over your head." words spilled from her lips like pure honey. There was no trace left of that cynicism that once followed her once towards a Harbingers that had almost taken her own life.

Every night she had looked up at the sky surrounding Teyvat, every time searching for answers that plagued her mind. However, for how much she searched, she never received any response from it.

Almost as if the universe itself had abandoned her completely.

A comfortable silence fell between them, she only agreed to his comment in her mind. Surely Teyvat was extremely small compared to the view she had seen travelling between galaxies, finding world after world to explore by her brother's side.

Finally, she found Aether's constellation, always right by her own. In Fontaine it seemed like they were slightly further east compared to Sumeru.

"Me and my brother used to do this every night" Her voice was as soft as the scent of rainbow roses, nostalgia washing over as she recalled those times by her family's side "we would point at the star we would like to visit one day, wondering what kind of adventures we'd get into. Pondering of what new landscapes we would be able to witness." each word was heavy with nostalgia, each memory sitting like a stone in her stomach, dragging her further down in the depths of a sea she didn’t know how to swim into.

"That's my constellation." Her index pointed up east "and that's my brother's one." She went quiet once again, chewing thoughts that she always struggled to voice out loud.

"I always hope we can at least look at the same sky. It makes me feel closer to him, knowing that even if we are apart our constellations will bring us back together one day." Her small fingers clutched at the fabric of her dress, her eyes reflecting the stars above her. "Is that a silly thing to say?" She turned her heard towards her company, the moonlight illuminating his sharp features.