#Prince of the Abyss

[waitineedaname]

now that i've finished tgcf i can make memes about all three books! i was tempted to put binghe at the absolute center because he could easily go into any quadrant at different points in his life, and both lwj and hua cheng could swing jock, but i think the most important thing is that wei wuxian is all four at once. somehow.

[piosplayhouse]

"Oh dear," the unicorn thought. "I must've really mucked up the story beyond compare! The Red Bull Luo Binghe is protecting the last unicorn scum?! Unconscionable! He should have driven me off the cliff by now!!"

[su-rodriguez]

This AU don't have sense. This exist cuz I like the aestethic of Kabukimono and Abyss Prince together, lol. This is something I wrote last year. Here the two "chapters" and two silly chibis

[unamazing-sheep21]

Replica

| I anticipated that you would be angry at me...

Abyss!Aether and Traveler!Lumine

Ragbros and Traveler twins parallels kept coming up in my head I drove me crazy... so I drew this to cope.

[arisewanekosuki]

TLH -What if-: What are you? (Abyss Prince! Aether x Fem!Reader x Dainsleif)

This time short story of What if Lumine was your traveling companion. Also happy 4th anniversary to Genshin Impact!🎉🥳 Thank you Hoyo for all cute and handsome boys hehe

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It was supposed to be a normal day in your travels with Lumine and Paimon. It started with a commission where someone asked your group to go deep into the domain and retrieve some relic. 

-”Still not there… m-maybe let’s go back? Paimon has a bad feeling about this place.” Paimon was looking around, worrying that something would jump out at any moment. -”Don’t worry Paimon! With Lumine here, there is nothing to fear! And if things really go bad I will teleport us immediately!” You took the little girl's hand in yours to reassure her. -”So far we haven't even met any enemies so I don’t think there is anything to worry about.” said Lumine, looking around. -”Yeah!! and this is not normal!!” shouted the white haired girl. “Normally there would be some hilichurs!! Even the guy who commissioned us, didn't he say this place was full of monsters?! So where they are–” then your group heard something hitting the floor. Paimon screamed and held onto your head, slightly pulling off your hair. -”Ouch! Ouch-! Paimon! That hurts!” You shouted trying to take the little girl’s hands from your hair. Lumine meanwhile took her sword out, ready to fight whatever it was coming from another room. -”You should try to not be that loud in this place, The Abyss Order is hiding somewhere.” you heard a male voice coming from the room. -”Dainsleif?!” you and Paimon said in unison. Lumine let breath of relive, hiding her sword. -”Didn’t expect to meet you here.” She said coming closer to the tall man. -”The same goes for your group. Why are you all here?” -”We got a commission to find some relic!” you smiled, joining two blond people.  -”I see.” he looked at you and then at Lumine “I think for now you should leave, I’m not even sure what Abyss Order is planning to do here.” You and Lumine looked at each other and in unison said -”No way! We will help you!!” After seeing your both determined faces, Dainslef only sighed -”Alright, then let’s go. I can feel Abyssal power not far from here. And with that your group started to go deeper into the domain. You cam closer to Paimon and whispered -”See? There were no monsters because Dain took care of them! There is nothing to worry about!” Paimon crossed her arms, not really sure if there is really nothing to worry about.

At some point you reached the room where two Abyss Heralds appeared. Lumine and Dain started to fight them, while you and Paimon hid to not be a burden to them while they fought. But at some point both Abyss Heralds started to run towards another room. -”Don’t let them escape!” shouted the male, running after them. Lumine followed close after him. You and Paimon start to go after them as well when Paimon noticed something -”The doors are closing!! (Y/n) hurry!!” You ran as fast as you could but then you were stopped. It was like your feets got glued to the floor. -”Paimon!!” you shouted after the girl to grab her attention. Trying to move you noticed something dark around your legs. “I can’t move!” Paimon turned around wanting to fly back to you but then the doors closed in front of her face, leaving you alone in this place. You fell to the floor, nothing holding you in place anymore. You got up and run towards doors, hitting them. -”Paimon? Lumine? Dain? Can anyone hear me?!” you shouted, after moment of silence you head Paimon’s voice. -”(Y/n) I’m here but I can’t open the door from here!!” What should I do?! Lumine and Dain went further!” -”Just go after them! I will just wait here till you all will be back!” -”A-are you sure? What if something comes to you??” -”Don’t worry!” you turned around noticing that the way your group came in was blocked too. “All exits are closed, I think I should be fine for now!” There was silence for a moment, you thought she already left but then you heard. -”J-just stay safe okay?” You smiled. -”Okay.” you said calmly. And then there was silence again.

After some time you sat down on the floor, your back towards the door. “I hope they are alright…” you thought, worrying more about your friends than yourself. You sighed and brought your knees closer to your chest. At some point you couldn’t stand the silence so you started to humm some song. But what you didn’t expect is to suddenly hear someone join you and footsteps getting closer. You looked up and gasped. -”That's an interesting melody but it’s not from this world, is it?” the golden haired boy smiled to you gently. You got up, leaning more at the door. -”Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk." He stood in front of you and there is barely space between both of you. -”Shouldn’t you talk with Lumine?” -”Even if I want to, now it’s not time… So at least I want to learn more about you.” -”I don’t think there is anything interesting you can learn.” you turned your head from him. Wondering what to do. Is he going to hurt you? Should you run? Scream? He grabbed your chin and made you look at him. -”You whole being is interesting. You’re not from this world and yet you’re not someone like me and mine sister. It’s like you’re here and at the same time not. Why is that?” It’s not like you knew the answer to this question. There are some things you too don’t understand or how they work.  -”And this…” he took your hand holding it up so you could see it. “that white thread going towards my sister.” -”...W-what white thread?” you asked and Aether was surprised by your confusion. -”Ah so you can’t see it? Even those other threads that go far away from this domain?” They are not that easy to notice like the one you share with his sister but they are still there. -”I really don’t know what you are talking about…” you replied, even more nervous with him gently holding your hand. Aether was paying attention to your hand and then he noticed it. The served black thread… the same one it was on his hand as well. He was silent, glaring at your hand. This made you worried. Is he going to break it?! But then he closed his eyes and smiled. -”I see…” his expression now being more serious “It’s a shame he won’t give us more time.| -”Him?” But before you could do anything else, Aether grabbed you and jumped away from the door. “Wha-!!?” The doors were destroyed with two slashes, in their ruins stood Dainsleif. Aether still held you close and then whispered to your ear. -”Please take care of my sister.” with that he kissed your forehead and let go of you. -”Wait!” shouted a taller man, running to catch a gold haired boy. But he was too late. The Abyss Prince vanished. You were so confused. In such a short time many things happened. Dainsleif placed his hand on your shoulder. -”Are you alright? Did he do something to you?” you shook your head. -”I’m alright.” you replied, giving him a small smile. He sighed, placing his hand on your head and bringing you closer to him. You face got into his chest making your cheeks feel warm “W-what?!” you were confused by this. Then you heard Lumine shouting your name and her fast footsteps, Dain quickly let go of you and took a step back. -”(Y/n)!!! Are you alright?! Did you get hurt?!” She hugged you and then looked around your body to see if there were any bruises. -”I’m okay!! Nothing happened to me!” -”I’m glad! I’m so sorry I left you behind!” Lumine smiled but when you looked at her she had many bruises around her body. -”But what about you?! What happened?” You started to panic, already searching for food that will help her heal quicker. She only smirked and placed hands on her hips. -You should see the ones I was fighting!” she said in a proud voice. Paimon came holding onto some relic. -”Let’s get out of here! (Y/n) is safe and we got what we were looking for!” Everyone nodded and went towards the exit.

When you left the domain you wanted to talk to Dain about Aether but before you could do it, he already left your group. You pouted. “Why does he always have to leave so fast?!” Both Paimon and Lumine were surprised too that he left without any word. After taking money from the commission you went to the inn to rest. You were laying in bed while Lumine went to take a bath and Paimon went to grab food. You were contemplating whether you should tell Lumine about meeting her brother or not. And not only that, you looked at your both hands. Nothing there attached to them. “Is this ‘connection’ the white thread he spoke off? But then why can he see it and not me?”   You sighed, closing your eyes and laying your hands beside your sides. “It’s not like I will get answers… as an ‘observer’ I should be thankful that my body can be here in this world.”

The miracle happened, so cherish it and enjoy your stay in Teyvat as long as you can.

--- Thank you for reading! 💛

[ivyjinna]

Lords that abandoned their thrones

[ksiezniczka-lancelot]

The ley lines are a nightmare

[izunias-meme-hole]

Soulsborne Villains

[lonelymagpies]

Happy Valentines day to them alone 🗣️🗣️🗣️

Finally found the gets to draw a bigger piece for them, finally got to draw Kirke’s burn scar properly and finally tried my hand on a more immersive and detailed background and lighting.

Also I love his skinny thighs so much ok Icy from Winx Club

[kradogsrats]

One Truth: The Nature of the True Heart

The Dragon Prince has long dealt with contrasts and tensions between idealism and pragmatism, particularly as a source for character conflict. From Harrow, Sarai, and Viren clashing over the Magma Titan to Callum, Ezran, and Rayla deciding whether to pursue killing Aaravos or securing his prison, principles weighed against practicality is a never-ending battle for the characters of this world and story.

Since the story never purports to give us the answers to the moral questions it poses, we as the audience are left to form our own opinions and judgements. One of those that is fairly consistent across a lot of the fandom is that Ezran is naive in his pacifism and reliance on negotiation. My opinion on this has largely always been "yeah, he's naive... but he's literally twelve years old and that's developmentally appropriate, even without the trauma."

We knew Ezran and his growth would be challenged in s7, but what we also got was a codification of that process as a tangible in-setting phenomenon: the true heart.

The true heart is described to Terry, Claudia, and us (the audience) as a way of seeing the world that is innocent and good-natured, without the complexities introduced by adult concerns. All children begin life with this worldview, but it is inevitably challenged over the course of their growth by situations that it cannot necessarily react to without being inherently altered.

It is possible, though rare, to hold on to the true heart past childhood into at least the beginning of adulthood—it is revealed to us that Terry is one who has, against all odds, retained his true heart. This allows him to read the map to the Garden of Innocents, the final resting place of unicorns. However, it's Ezran whose arc through s7 is most related to the true heart, as he confronts new challenges in the world around him as well as changes to himself and those he loves.

But what is a true heart? What does it actually mean to have one?

Simple and Clean: Language Surrounding the True Heart

First of all, I think the way the true heart is intended winds up being difficult to articulate properly because even the most neutral language used to describe it is loaded with baggage. Innocence, purity (though "pure" is a word used only by Kruha, who demonstrably struggles with human language), light and darkness, simplicity, and even childhood are all concepts that carry cultural connotations that skew our perception of what's being discussed.

In the heavily Christian-influenced culture of the West and USAmerica, the concepts of childhood, innocence, and simplicity in combination carry associations that become protectiveness, condescension, or dismissal. While childhood and innocence are valued as things that should be protected in those who have them, that leads adults to dismiss children as essentially lesser beings. Innocence and simplicity together are indistinguishable from naivete, another feature associated with a need for protection, but with a nice slice of contempt on the side. If you weren't so naive, you would have known better than to get hurt.

Finally, from a perspective saturated with Christianity, innocence is also conceptually inextricable from the concept of sin. Like, one of the central myths of Christianity is that the first humans were enticed to defy God and eat the forbidden fruit that granted knowledge of good and evil, which made them aware that their naughty sex parts and female-presenting nipples must be covered, which meant they had to be expelled from paradise into a world of struggle, pain, and death. This transgression was so severe that it tainted every human ever born, until a few thousand years later when God personally came to earth as a self-cannibalizing sacrifice to essentially pay bail on letting their souls into heaven. (This is a very serious and 100% theologically accurate summary, don't @ me.) As a result, we get fucking weird about innocence and its "loss."

The point is that in the setting, it's strongly suggested that there is no inherent "better" or "worse" to whether you have a true heart or not. You aren't morally superior for having one (though the nature of the true heart aligns more with compassion and openness, it doesn't have a monopoly on them), nor are you necessarily wiser or more mature for not. There are roles and circumstances where one might serve better than another—the likelihood of Ezran being able to continue indefinitely as king with a true heart has always been low, but an argument could definitely be made that his true heart was necessary to change the world, and the setting would not be what it now is without it. The true heart—as well as people who retain it into adulthood, like Terry—is a vital part of society, in that it inspires people toward an ideal. Terry calling out Claudia on her cruelty toward Rayla shames her enough to go back and correct it. Ezran giving up the crown in exchange for the safety of any moral dissenters within the Katolis army gives those dissenters space to take a stand—something crucial to their eventual victory.

So here's how I propose thinking about it in a way that's slightly less loaded with unnecessary associations: instead of innocence, the true heart is about faith. Specifically, an unwavering faith that people are inherently good. From that faith, several important conclusions are derived:

People are inherently good, therefore all people want the same or similar things both for themselves and for the world: peace, plenty, and community

People are inherently good, therefore if someone is intentionally doing things that hurt others, they either don't understand the impact of their actions or are lashing out as a result of fear or pain

People are inherently good, therefore treating everyone with dignity, respect, and compassion is the natural state of any society

These form the basis of the worldview and resulting behavior of those with true hearts.

The Tides are True: Depth and Complexity

Despite all of that, Aaravos describes the true heart in a fairly neutral manner to Claudia:

All children have a true heart. But as we grow up, we are forced to make choices, sacrifices, compromises. And they change us forever. Childhood innocence gives way to something... complicated.

and later to Terry:

The true heart is a gift of childhood. For a few wonder-filled years, we each have innocent eyes to experience the world's beauty in a simple way. I have seen generations of humans and elves accept the darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light. There is no black or white, only shades of gray. We must all carry complexity. But please believe me that there is beauty in this burden. Your heart will be a little heavier. But now, there will be no more half-truths.

In both explanations, he refers to what replaces the true heart—what we grow into—as "complicated." We learn to accept that nothing, including ourselves, is purely one way or another, but at some gradient point in-between that will be different from everyone else's. The words he uses—"light" and "darkness," "black or white," "shades of gray"—all carry strong connotations of a scale of morality, and the understanding that nothing can be fully good or fully evil, but is instead inevitably... complicated.

However, I think this is meant to be a little deeper than just that surface-level association to tie in with the overall light/dark and complex morality themes of the show overall. These are things we've heard in another context: of all the primal sources Callum could have focused on or arcana he could have unlocked in arc 2, there's a reason what we got was Ocean.

A better way to refer to the "darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light" is as those depths you can't see—it's not about good and evil, it's about clarity and obscurity. Simplicity and complexity. People, even people you love, aren't all the same. They don't all want the same things for themselves and the world.

There are depths within you that you may not see or understand, but even more so, there are depths in others that you will never see or understand. Even if someone is only lashing out because they're hurting, there are hurts you cannot heal. There are people who will refuse to allow their hurts to heal. There are people (and by people I mean Aaravos) who would rather make the entire world hurt along with them than ever allow themselves to heal. You can't heal these people for them. It's beyond your control, and all you can do is respond appropriately to their actions and mitigate the harm they do.

When you accept that, you will treat those people differently. You may decide to keep trying, but with the knowledge that it will be an uphill battle of strategy, compromise, and progress so slow that few will recognize your work as worthwhile. You may decide not to waste your time and effort on them anymore, and focus your attention on doing a broader range of good more efficiently than struggling to change a single heart or mind. You might decide to make them the enemy, and purposefully antagonize them because you are hurting, too—maybe even because of them.

The point is that there is now "us/me" and "them," and that's what's antithetical to the true heart. You can't fix everything simply by reaching the part of them that's the same as you. You will have to compromise.

A Just King: Ezran's True Heart

Before examining Ezran's true heart arc in s4-s7, I want to point out a much earlier, and perhaps unexpected, appearance of a textbook child's true heart:

Yes, back in s1e2, Callum had a true heart. (By the standards with which I'm describing it, at least.) Where did it go? When did it go? Someone more interested in Callum could probably write a very long essay about that. You could probably make a case that being possessed by Aaravos the first time is the final vestiges sliding away.

This also highlights my personal theory that the true heart of childhood is not usually lost in a single, all-or-nothing event. It's like losing your baby teeth—under normal circumstances, it happens one or two at a time over the course of a few years, until you've Ship of Theseus-ed your whole mouth. (Also, in contrast to things like "losing" your virginity, there's no weird purity or moral connotations to it. It is a completely normal thing that happens to everyone as part of growing up.) However, it's also possible to have some, a majority, or even all of your baby teeth traumatically knocked out of your head at once.

Oh, wait.

Let's roll back a bit, first. Ezran's arc, like... well, everyone's, gets its initial setup in s4. In fact, it kicks off s4: the major event starting the season is Zubeia's visit to Katolis, which is clearly one of Ezran's first big initiatives toward not just peace, but potential unification.

In the lead-up to Zubeia's visit, Ezran's true heart is on full display in his behavior and the assumptions he's making:

Zubeia is a good person, and good people will understand and accept that both she and other dragons should be treated as friends.

Everyone will approach this meeting with open hearts, because everyone wants to grow toward peace and understanding.

Even when the meeting, where he is honoring the Dragon Queen in the final resting place of human kings and queens, no small number of whom (including his own mother) were killed by dragons, is sabotaged by a relatively mild act of vandalism, look at his response:

The person who did this is obviously lashing out because they are hurting—they are angry, and that anger needs to be soothed. He affirms that he and the people are the same, inside. They are all angry and in pain... but, like him, they all want to not be angry and in pain anymore, and understand that the way to do that is to move forward.

This is not to say that he's wrong, or even ineffective—he speaks from his true heart, in a poignant call to both himself and his people to acknowledge the past while looking to the future, and to reach for that future in every way they can instead of clinging to the hate of the past. It's a key scene for all of arc 2, and one that is returned to over and over again, thematically.

However, it's also a point where he demonstrates how his true heart leaves him ill-equipped to approach Rex Igneous's selfishness, or Sol Regem's hatred, or even Karim's petty arrogance... much less the shit Aaravos has going on.

(Speaking of Sol Regem... he not only refuses to be healed, but instead demands to be remade into an engine of indiscriminate death and destruction. He really does out-bitter Aaravos, on occasion.)

Then s7 hits, and two things happen: Katolis is destroyed, and Runaan is returned to the living world. Well, both of those technically happen in s6, but Ezran actually has to deal with them in s7.

For all that Katolis being destroyed sets Ezran on a path toward the complex politics and morality of nuclear deterrence, it's really the situation with Runaan that both tests and exemplifies Ezran's true heart. Aaravos's initial explanation of the true heart ("Childhood innocence gives way to something… complicated.") is directly overlaid on Ezran's dealing with the aftermath of Callum helping Rayla and Runaan escape the Banther Lodge. I don't think Ezran ever really expected to have to deal with Harrow's killer, since Runaan is presumed dead, so he's unprepared to be confronted with it—particularly given that he has convinced himself he's over it, when he really isn't. He's tested both in suddenly facing a person he can't see as good, deep down. Runaan wasn't lashing out because he was hurting or scared, nor can Ezran conceive of them wanting the same things. There's also the sense of betrayal at Callum and Rayla differing so deeply from his own reaction, when they were previously so in tune—literally banding together despite being born on opposite sides of a millennia-old war, because they recognized the goodness in each other and that they all wanted peace.

Ezran's reaction to Runaan is definitely affected by what happens to Katolis—he's denied not only any kind of justice for Sol Regem's attack, but any explanation. Runaan's fate is something he can ostensibly control, in a situation where he feels both responsible and powerless. Now, an entire separate post could be done about s7's recurring exploration of punitive versus restorative justice through Rayla's trial, Ezran and Runaan, Janai and Karim, Terry, and (as always) Aaravos, but to briefly recap part of my meta on Terry's true heart and growth: Terry, in being challenged during s7, comes to realize that even if he chooses to continue holding to his true heart's faith in the world and others, he is complicit in the harm Claudia and Aaravos have done, and he feels compelled to start doing the work to repair that harm as much as he can. While he hasn't necessarily done anything that would warrant punitive justice, he recognizes that truly doing good requires work and effort, and sometimes doing difficult things. There's not really anything Runaan can (knowingly) offer to make right what he did, beyond his confession that he has come to realize everything he believed at the time was wrong, and he did grievous harm to Ezran that night. However, in that confession, he says something crucial:

Ezran's true heart led him to rule in a way that changed the world for the better, moving toward an unprecedented era of peace—something that, to Runaan's eyes, required a great deal of strength to put aside completely legitimate pain and grievances that could have easily rekindled millennia of war. (See also: "It's a strong name" in that Terry meta.)

I think it's in part because of that reminder—the description of the kind of person and king he wants to be—that Ezran chooses compassion and working toward forgiveness with Runaan. He's not choosing the true heart as a core part of his identity the way Terry does, but his own past true heart inspires his current self to make a decision that's right, but also hard. As with Terry, he is discovering that goodness can take work—true, concerted effort to both determine and follow the right path.

Does Ezran retain his true heart throughout s7? I don't know. I don't think it's entirely as simple as a yes/no state, and he has definitely lost some of his earlier confidence and beliefs. Ultimately I'm not sure it matters. He took a solid punch to the mouth, but either way... it seems like he's going to come out of it okay.

Not Worthy: Claudia's Skewed Perception

And now, a final tangent.

All that stuff I said earlier about a true heart not making you better or worse, and its "loss" being morally neutral? Well, there's at least one person who doesn't see it that way.

In s7, Claudia's inability to read the map and Terry leaving her (as she knew he would, when he learned the truth about her and her behavior) both contribute to the insecurities she has carried for most of her life. Claudia derives most of her self-worth from being very good at dark magic, and therefore loses emotional stability when either she "fails" at something magic-related or dark magic itself is questioned.

This is an interesting connection, because the true heart and/or its loss isn't inherently linked to dark magic. A true heart doesn't shrivel and die at your first dark magic spell, but it's inevitable that the practice of dark magic will at some point become impossible to reconcile with the core beliefs of the true heart simply because they're inherently incompatible... you can't see sapient magical creatures as "people" the same as you and as resources for spell ingredients. So while it's not surprising that Claudia no longer has her childhood true heart, it's not necessarily because of her dark magic... and yet, some part of her perceives it as an indictment against her.

We also know exactly where she probably internalized that view:

Puzzle House is actually where we first encounter the concept of the true heart, as a yes/no state that allows you to access the map to the Garden of Innocents. Kruha, the map's guardian, doesn't ascribe any moral value to being able to see the map or not—noting that he, himself, is "too old" to see it, anymore. However, a single note from Kpp'Ar, combined with her own insecurities at a point of emotional turmoil in her life—her mother has left her, Kpp'Ar has (apparently) left her, she's acting out by attempting increasingly complex self-taught magic and keeps getting in trouble because of it—lead even a 7-year-old Claudia to question whether she might also be unable to see it due to being "not good."

We still don't know why Kpp'Ar was seeking the Garden of Innocents and what caused his "change of heart," but if it's at all comparable to Viren's experience, he was going through The Horrors(tm)—it's not surprising that he'd indulge in a little self-loathing in what's meant to be a private note. Claudia, meanwhile, has her faith in him as a mentor figure she wishes to emulate shaken—he imprisoned Kruha, keeping him collared like an animal, away from his home and family. She knows that's wrong, and struggles to reconcile the Kpp'Ar she knew with someone who would do that. If Kpp'Ar is somehow bad, and she didn't know, could she also be bad and not realize it?

This is particularly interesting to me because she doesn't have this crisis when Viren quits dark magic, even when he explicitly tells her he led her down the wrong path. She does question whether she should also quit dark magic, but it's from the perspective of "it seems like it might have done him a lot of good, emotionally... maybe I should also try it?" rather than "my dad thinks I'm evil, actually," or even "my dad explicitly said he hopes I'll take a different path, one day... am I betraying him if I don't?" She's remarkably chill about it, though to be fair, she's probably still in a state of emotional shock and dissociation. She gets progressively more sensitive about it again during s7, particularly as she receives validation from Aaravos.

Anyway, just a little window into which little wheels are spinning in Claudia's head when she insists she hasn't changed:

I'm sure that won't be significant as she starts her Dragon Girl Summer (and Autumn, and Winter, and Spring).

[panisestgladio]

Oh Kaeya, Kaeya! Let down your hair!

[luxthestrange]

G.I Incorrect Quotes#38 Brother said no

Lumine & Y/n: Childe, Dainsleif asked to us marry them!

Abyss!Aether*When he found out You and Lumine were romancing his most hated duo*The poor men. They shall recover...

Lumine: I said yes to him

Y/n*Nodding laong*Me too

Abyss!Aether: No.

Lumine: Yes!

Abyss!Aether: No.

Y/n: We weren’t asking!

Abyss!Aether: And neither am I.

[rush-the-stars]

new tricks

pairing: yandere abyss prince kaeya x gender neutral reader

cw: dark content, kidnapping/capture, the reader is treated physically well but is still captured/being held against their will, mentions of a punishment, strange and toxic dynamic, mildly suggestive.

wc: 2.1k

a/n: dividers by @/cafekitsune!

this is just a tiny drabble. don't squint at worldbuilding or plot lol. i had this idea prattling around my head and wanted it out. one day i will write the dark long fic of my dreams but today is not the day. thank you to @/lorelune for taking a peek beforehand and assuring me <33

on the back of your neck, goosebumps ripple to life. a chill races down your spine. you know it well—as intimately as you know the brag of your own heart.

sensing him, you cast your eyes up in the reflection of your mirror to catch the shape of him behind you.

you didn’t even hear him enter your chambers. but you’d felt him somehow, known his presence. maybe known his gaze on you.

(it burns deep and vicious to know his gaze. to become accustomed and attuned to him.)

prince kaeya smiles knowingly.

the dark glint to his eye lets you know he’s in strange ways.

“you’re getting quite perceptive.” he muses. “if only you’d been so sharp when i first took you, maybe you wouldn’t be here.”

you were just a naive artist from mondstadt then. a child who knew the sound of the wind in the trees and the birdsong that rose into the sky early in the morning. you knew the golden hills and the valley and a sort of freedom that made you sing like those birds in the morning, too.

(in the dark, he asks you to sing. sing like you used to, he says. and when you open your mouth, you’re always terrified of what will come out.)

now you sit tucked away in the gilded cage he’s made for you in a land far from your home skies. in a castle where the eyes of gods cannot reach you.

“you’re lucky i wasn’t.” you reply sharply, trying to keep your bite around him.

it grows harder and harder to.

every day the edge you’ve tried so desperately to keep begins to whittle away. it’s hard to always be angry. it’s miserable to always be vicious.

(and he’s never harmed you. not physically—just in stranger, worse ways. emotionally. mentally. you wish he’d just break a bone or make a scar, so that when it heals, you know you’re okay again.

it’s worse that he spoils you. it’s worse that he cherishes you. it’s its own form of torment. he knows it.)

he smiles lazily, on the edges are amusement. fondness. he is endlessly entertained by your contempt.

he approaches where you sit in front of your ornate vanity. it’s too beautiful. it’s too grand.

he’s a dark shadow of blue behind you in the mirror. you watch his reflection carefully. he watches you back as he approaches.

something thrills inside you, wild and dark and sudden.

he reaches out, touches your cheek.

you watch his knuckle brush against your face in the mirror.

he’s testing you.

the last time you bit him.

the moment you turn your face towards his hand, it slips away, dancing out of your reach.

he smiles again knowingly.

it’s insufferable.

sensing your ire, he says, “let’s play our game.”

you breathe hard through your nose.

you turn to face him so you’re not caught in his endless reflection. you glare up at him with all the vitriol you can muster.

(it isn’t much anymore.)

“don’t you have more important things to do?”

“nothing so important as you, darling.”

your teeth grind together. but you get out;

“i’d try to escape from the balcony.”

he tsks.

“the guards would spot you.”

“i’d poison the guards.”

he laughs outright at this, “with what poison?”

you feel heat in your face, but you press on, “the hemlock i’ve been growing in the garden.”

he pauses at that. tilts his head.

“my, you’ve gotten good. i can’t tell if you’re lying.”

“go and check.” you dare.

“maybe later.” he agrees, “say i destroyed it. i froze it.”

“you’re not playing fair.” you accuse.

he laughs warmly, reaching out again to tousle your hair. you swat and push at him, but it only excites him, it only makes his hands catch your wrists and come down to your level. kneeling beside you. he holds your wrists tight, presses them down into your own lap. in another world, he could be a lover on his knees for you, his hands clasped over yours.

he fits himself between your legs. he presses himself too close.

but it isn’t another world. and his eye is like the endless night sky in this one. so dark, so terrifying.

“fine,” he agrees pleasantly, “the guards are poisoned. you slip out from the balcony. i’m a light sleeper—i hear you jump to the ground.”

“i try to run.” you breathe.

“where would you run?” he asks, nose nudging yours. you can feel the sharp cut of his foxish smile.

“past the fountain.”

“come now, you’re cleverer than that. i’d find you and drag you back.”

“i’d kick and scream. i’d make you bleed.”

“you’ve done that all before, it doesn’t stop me anymore.”

your nails bite into his shoulders as he lifts you from your place in front of the vanity. you hang around his neck like a child. instinctively, you wrap your legs around his waist.

you tuck your face into his shoulder so you don’t see the pleased look in his eye.

you know where he’ll take you.

“you need new tricks.” he hums as he sits on the edge of the bed with you in his lap.

“maybe i already have them—if it’s a good trick, you wouldn’t know.” you mumble into his shoulder. you hide there.

his hand creeps up to the back of your neck. goosebumps prickle. his fingers slip into your hair and then curl into a loose fist. he tugs gently to dislodge you from his shoulder, to pull you away so that he may see your face again.

he looks at you as if he’s trying to find the trick you speak of. perhaps it’s in your eyes or the set of your mouth.

“i always know.” he warns.

“let’s play again.” you say.

and this time, you use your weight to push him down onto the bed.

he goes down willingly, too easily.

you capture his wrists the way he did to you earlier. you pin them by his head. languidly, he stretches beneath you, amused with this show of sudden power or interest.

“okay, you begin.” he says and his smile is the curve of a laughing, crescent moon.

“i grow to trust you.”

he tilts his head, uncertain or intrigued, you can’t tell. but you can tell you’ve surprised him. his smile falters.

“i’m pleased—you know it’s all i want.” he says and though it’s softened, it’s guarded. you can feel the way he tenses beneath you, waiting, searching.

“and i grow to—to want you, too.” you say and your voice sounds strange to your own ears. far off. maybe too near. not your own, or else, horrifyingly, only yours.

perhaps there is truth there in a way you cannot even begin to untangle.

he’s silent. watching.

“what do you do?” you prompt, breath hitching, almost beg him to speak. “play the game. it’s your turn.”

you feel his wrists flex, the tendons and muscles moving, encircled in your fingers.

“i—cherish you. i foster your desires. i give you whatever you want.” his voice is bedroom soft. his lashes flutter.

“freedom?”

he releases a slow breath of frustration. you feel it against your cheek.

“a form of it.” he answers. and then, carefully, you feel the shifting of his hand beneath yours. his thumb sweeps over your wrist, into your palm. “more and more as i grow to trust you, too.”

you let your hand open up to his, feel it bloom to the touch.

“being alone in the garden.” you press, “i ask you one day to tend to it by myself, when i please.”

he laces his fingers with yours.

“in time.” he agrees, “and you can tend to your garden alone. you can walk on the grounds, wherever you please. you can take dinner in the atrium or the greenhouse or by the lake. it could all be yours.”

you squeeze his hand, “say i earn your trust—let’s finish the game.”

“i give you the world.” he breathes it and you feel it against your lips, feel it somewhere deep inside of you. on the other, soft side of your chest, where your heart thrums.

you know he is telling the truth.

but it rings discordant inside of you. just as softly, you murmur;

“and then i disappear with it. you wait for me to come in from the garden one day—and i never do.”

the tender hold of your hand turns vicious, biting.

you bare your teeth and hiss, “i steal your world and your trust and the love you gave me and i run and run and run. until you can’t find me—until you can’t catch me. i do it when you least expect it—when i love you too much.”

he pushes and twists you under him. he presses you down hard like he could keep you from disappearing, like you’re slipping from him already. but you press on;

“and you’ll see my face everywhere—in the windows of the atrium and the corners of the greenhouse. in the hemlock i grew in the garden and the wind that howls while you stand on the balcony. but i’ll be gone—“

“you’ll never earn my trust now.” he warns, “and you’ll never know the garden alone, or the world i could give you.”

“but i’ll know the one you took from me.”

his eye flashes dangerously, the flicker of frigid, dark waters beneath ice.

but then he’s gone. off of you. the warmth of him leaves you in a rush.

he grabs for a coat of his, throwing it over his shoulders in a flare of dark fabric.

“where are you going? i thought you wanted to play.” you sneer.

“and i thought you didn’t?” he heads for the door anyways, “i’m going to the garden. alone.”

“scared you’ll find hemlock?” you ask.

“are you scared i’ll find hemlock?” he retorts and then lowers his voice, almost to a caress, “i would punish you.”

“you’ve done that all before, it doesn’t stop me anymore.” you tilt your head, “maybe you need new tricks.”

the door slams behind him. you don’t even flinch.

and in a moment, you watch his figure, a dark smudge against the gray fog, trudge out towards the garden.

you watch from the balcony.

there is no hemlock in the garden.

and he is gentler again when he returns that night. but he locks the door to the balcony and he keeps the key tethered around his neck, pressed to you as he holds you; so close and yet so far.

you can feel it’s cool metal against your bare back. you can feel his skin to yours, the way he holds you like you’re going to slip away.

there is no hemlock in the garden, but there is nightshade.

“let’s play our game.” he whispers that night, pressing scattered kisses like falling stars along your shoulder, your jaw.

“i steal the key around your throat. i unlock the balcony door—“

“i hear you. i let you go, anyways.”

you go perfectly still.

“i—i climb down the balcony and i run—“

“past the fountain?”

you nod slowly. you feel your heart kick into an unsteady rhythm.

“i let you go. i let you get far.”

“you’d let me—“

your throat constricts; a ball of emotion wedged there suddenly. you feel your eyes prick with—with shock. is he really—?

something terrified stirs inside you at even the thought of your real freedom; of the thing you want most.

“and then i hunt you.”

he kisses beneath your ear, like a lover.

your blood goes cold.

“i chase you across the world i gave you and the one i took from you. and every time, i find you. i’d find you. and i’d drag you back.”

“i’d—i’d kick and scream. i’d make you bleed.” you manage to get out.

he props himself up, if only to catch your chin, to force you to look back at him.

he kisses you. slowly. sweetly.

“there’s no hemlock in the garden. you need new tricks.”

but the nightshade opens its flowers to the moon, just outside the locked door of your balcony, in the garden that you can’t tend to alone.

you melt into the kiss, open mouthed and tender. soft and deep like lovers.

when you pull away, you have the key dangling in your hand;

“and this isn’t the key to the balcony. so do you.”

when he kisses you again, brutal and dreadful, and with too much heat for someone so, so cold, you feel the sharp cut of his foxish smile.

and maybe even some sick curve of your own.

[tartar-sous]

enjou (2022)

[mcytegg]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i cant stop thinking abt drastics & the stone sword. abt zam looking mapicc and ro in the eye and telling them to kill him again and again and again— he will never stop fighting them. and ro does it. she looks into the eyes of someone she'd once considered her teammate and she kills him repeatedly; cutting him down again and again so he knows that just as he will never falter, she will never let him get in her way. they're both people unwilling to back down no matter the cost of what theyre doing, whether it is killing someone you could never bring yourself to hate even after they betrayed u or if its dying to someone who never treated you as a true equal even When you were meant to be teamed.

another thing i found interesting abt this incident as well is that for as much as ro kept mapicc on a tight leash, she herself never seemed to listen to him when he told her to stop. that he doesnt like this plan. that she shouldnt do this. up until the betrayal, it was Always him who followed her loyally and went against his own feelings and beliefs for what she wanted. even during the stone sword incident when he was telling her to stop killing zam, He was the one who put zam on 1 heart bc it was what ro wanted. zam had 2 hearts but ro was convinced he was trying to make her ban him so she refused to kill him again, so mapicc did it For her to ensure that zam is actually on 1 like ro had wanted (even if mapicc gave back a heart after finding out zam had a branzy stream to do the next day LOL)

[1-800-c3dr1c]

ABYSS!AETHER SMUT DRABBLE. gender-neutral reader. <3

begging, unprotected sex, mentions of scratching and leaving marks, overstimulation, pet names (love, darling) !!

this is ALSO related to my first ever smut drabble, and i.. am once again feeding the same friend : grin :

requests are: open! please look at pinned post for characters i will write for. <3 let me know if you’d like to be in my tag list for whenever i post anything related to aether under this post as well, or in my inbox!

“aw, love.. you can’t go another around?” the blonde-haired, former traveler stared down at you, a glint that hinted lots of mischievous things in his eyes. “i’m sure you can. for me?” the abyss prince hummed, leaning toward you as his hips snapped against yours, sending jolts throughout your body.

“a- aether, too much..” you whimper out, clutching onto his bare back and digging your nails into it, sure to leave marks later on. he didn’t care, and neither did you. in fact, he adored when you left such marks.

“darling.. it isn’t too much, i promise. i wouldn’t hurt you, hm? you know that.. trust me. one more?” he smiled at you, changing your mind almost completely from your former thoughts to new ones.

“ah, y- yes.. please! i want you so badly!” you cry out, clutching onto him tighter. he chuckled at you, knowing that he was lying to you.. this was not going to be the last round. there would certainly be more than just one more in your near future.