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bamsywrites · 2 years ago

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Guilt (Tyrion Lannister x Reader)

paring: Tyrion x Reader; Tywin x Reader

summary: Tyrion is consumed with guilt as he sees just how his actions have affected you

word count: idk but sure as fuck not 13.k Idk where I got that number from 🤦

tags: pregnant! reader, mentions of miscarriage/infant loss, pretty fucking huge age gaps mentioned. tywin doing tywin things. angsty with some hurt/comfort. there's a lot of plot building as i want to attempt to make this into a series. pining. future friends to lovers.

AN: this is my first time writing in a loooong fucking time. I am open to constructive criticism and feedback. I have plans on making this into a series so let me know if that would interest you. this scenario has been in my maladaptive daydreams for so long lol. Please let me know how you like it!

Tyrion watched you from his spot overlooking the river where the women were doing the washing for the day. An older woman was showing you the best methods for getting stains out from the fabrics of sheets and clothes, you watched with a furrowed brow and genuine curiosity from your seat on a large boulder. Tyrion had noticed this was a new behavior trend of yours. You'd go to the kitchens, the stables, the rivers, all to try and lend a hand or learn. Your noble birth made it so you never had to wash your clothes or clean your rooms or make your food. He'd observed that since arriving in Mereen, you almost seemed to be trying to repent of the sin of being born a noblewoman by doing the chores and duties of those most would consider beneath someone of your birth. Not that you ever thought that way.

Tyrion's eyes drifted down to your swollen belly which you were stroking softly as you watched the woman and he scoffed with a quick swig from a flask of whatever wine he was able to get his hands on. You were nearing the end of your pregnancy, evident by your size and the waddle to which you walked. Dany had been accommodating to your state by having someone around to assist you if need be and keeping a midwife on standby for the impending birth. The queen had been more forgiving than he could have hoped for when it came to the two of you. You had given a rather convincing speech when you had arrived after fleeing Kings Landing. He could still hear the words ring in his mind.

"Your Majesty, I was but a child when your father was overthrown and family murdered. I was a child still when I was betrothed. No choice in my life has ever been my own. I was sold like cattle to the highest bidder and forced to have his children so he could in turn ship them away and form alliances with lords and kings. Everything I have done has been to protect me and my children. All I ever will do is to protect my children. I want them to live a life better than mine and from what I have seen here you would be able to provide that more than any man in Westores currently fighting for the throne. For that, you will have my loyalty."

It was well-spoken and you stood tall while you said it, but he could see the fear in your eyes. How could he blame you? A pregnant woman far from home in the territory of someone who wanted her dead simply because of who she was forced to marry. Staying in the Red Keep wouldn't have bode well for you either, his sister had never been fond of you and with the death of his father, the castle suddenly became very dangerous for you.

Tyrion understood why Tywin wanted to make an alliance with your house. Your father was lord of a southern house that was known for its impressive feats on the field of battle, no one had ever defeated House ____ on the battlefield and most were met with devastating defeats when they were on horseback. The best tacticians Westores had ever seen either came from your house or were mentored by the lords of your house. Tywin wanted that alliance and he was always looking to further his family line but Jamie had made vows and Tywin would rather die than give Tyrion any claim to Casterly Rock. That left him to marry you, which he did. You were young. Very young. He remembered how scared you looked on your wedding day as his father covered you in a robe of Lannister Red.

You'd done your duty as a wife very well. 6 years since your wedding to his father and you'd had several pregnancies and two living children - daughters much to Tywins dismay. You bore him a son named Tytos but he fell asleep one night never to wake again. Tyrion remembered that day very well, he walked into the hall to see his father holding you as you sobbed, pressing a kiss to your head and looking as vulnerable as Tyrion had ever seen him. Tywin always seemed to respect you and held some possessiveness over the fact that you were his lady wife. You were spoiled by him as was expected, always in the finest dresses and jewelry. Tywin made an example of anyone who dared to disrespect you, even if that person was the boy king himself. He seemed to value your intellect and wit, finding bragging rights in your brains and beauty. A fact that drove Ceresi mad. Though Tyrion supposed, the way Tywin treats your daughters was an even bigger slight to the Queen Regent.

Trysta and Nataria.

Tywin doted on them more than he did you. It was made known behind closed doors that Tywin would keep putting babes in your belly until you gave him an "heir and a spare" but there was a light to his eyes when his youngest daughters were around that made it known he cared for them too. There was an affection there that Tyrion did not remember his father showing Ceresi or Jamie as children. A fact confirmed by the jealousy his sister had for the two young girls, Jamie had never made a comment on it but he enjoyed the company of your daughters very much.

They were very sweet girls, with your eyes but the signature Lannister hair. Trysta was the eldest at five years old, she was smart and sassy, a combination that always brought a smile to Tyrion's face. There was nothing like watching a noble lord be put in their place by a small girl in a pink dress, knowing that they dare not comment back for fear of facing her father's wrath. Nataria was younger, still not quite speaking in full sentences yet, and always wanting to be picked up by anyone who would take her. Tyrion would never forget walking into the tower of the hand to see her sat on Tywins lap with her head nuzzled into his chest as she napped. Tywin informed Tyrion that the babe you were carrying was making you ill and the handmaids were unable to get her to stop crying. He didn't look up from the papers scattered across his desk and his voice was as stern and emotionless as it always was. It was almost alien to see it, to see how much Tywin was capable of some form of care for his children. Tywin often made the comment that his first three children were disappointments and that he was going to make sure his next turned out differently.

You had made the smart choice to send the two girls to stay with your family after Jofferys murder. Kings Landing was not safe for them and both girls adored Tyrion. You had not wanted them to witness his trial or execution or to be brought into the middle of dangerous court politics. You probably would have joined them if Tywin had allowed it. Tyrion was sad he never got to say goodbye to them. He loved them as much as they loved him, always reading books or buying trinkets for them. He missed them dearly but knew you missed them more.

Especially today. It was Nataria's second name day.

Tyrion was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of your laugh as you watched the children play in the water and their splashes of water soaking your dress and hair. He noticed that your laugh didn't quite reach your eyes and the guilt panged through him.

It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault.

You were distracting yourself, he realized, from the pain of what today meant. The pain of not being with your children. The pain of not knowing when you will see them again. He couldn't imagine the pain in your heart. Almost like you knew what he was thinking, your eyes locked with his and he gave you a curt nod before standing and heading away from the river.

---

Later that night he saw you again, sat in the gardens of a courtyard lit by the stars, and a few torches spread over the area. There was a piece of parchment paper in your lap and your fingers were playing with a necklace around your neck. Tyrion noticed your beauty in the light of the stars. The way the flames from the torches flicked across your features. He always knew you were beautiful but it was dawning on him that you were more than beautiful. He sometimes found the air leaving his lungs if the light hit you right. The sound of your laugh, your voice, when he heard you sing it was like the whole world stood still. It wasn't fair, he thought, that someone as kind and smart and witty as you could also be so beautiful.

The sound of a muffled sob brought him out of his thoughts and he felt that searing guilt tear threw him once more.

It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault.

His feet moved him through the courtyard and he sat next to you in silence. You quickly wiped at your eyes and shoved the paper, what Tyrion could now see was an old letter from your father about how your daughters were doing, into your dress. The two sat in silence for a few moments, neither knowing what to say. You'd always treated Tyrion with such respect and kindness and he'd returned the favor to you. You never let Tywin taint your view of him.

"You've been avoiding me," your voice cut through the silence.

It was true. He hadn't spoken more than a few sentences since defending you to the Queen when you were brought to her throne room. "And yet you have been watching my every move."

He nodded, eyes fixated on a particular patch of grass in the courtyard. "Always observant aren't you?" His voice was soft.

"You'd think someone of your size would be better at hiding but alas....."

Your comment made him laugh. The first laugh in a long time.

"Spying is not my strong suit, I must admit. Drinking, books, and whores are my real talents." His eyes traveled over to you and he noticed your small smile.

Your smile shouldn't cause him to feel the way he was.

The two of you sat in silence for a long while after that. It wasn't an awkward silence, neither of you seemed to know how to get the thoughts flowing through your head to form into words. There was so much to say, so much to explain. You broke first.

"I miss them," Your voice wavered and your lip trembled. "I miss them so. It feels as though my heart has been ripped out of my chest." The tears started to fall all at once, Tyrion swore he could hear them hit the ground like rain.

It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault

"Every time the babe inside me moves, I remember how it felt to feel them move too. I think of them from the moment I wake to the moment I sleep and then I dream of them. Are they happy? Are they safe? Where are they? When will I see them?" You rambled through the thickness of your tears, your fingers gripping tightly at the fabric of your dress.

Tyrion hesitantly grabbed your hand in his, afraid you'd hurt yourself and gave it a small squeeze.

"Your sister...Oh, your sister...she hates them. She hates me. She'll have them killed. I can't...I can't.." you choked on sob after sob

He said your name softly and moved to stand in front of you so he could look into your eyes. The tears falling down your cheeks and hitting the skirt of your dress broke his heart.

It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault

"Ceresi is many things. A hateful bitch is among one of her most prominent attributes. But, she is not stupid enough to wage war on your family. Her hatred for me consumes her. Last I heard they think I kidnapped you." He almost laughed bitterly at the thought. Remembering how he rushed you out of The Red Keep, it wasn't too far from the truth. "And despite even with all of that aside. Do you think Jamie would let her? Let her kill your children? Our sisters?" In truth, he had no idea what would happen but he had to hope. He had to have faith that his choice wouldn't lead to the fatalities of you and your daughters.

Your arms quickly wrapped around him and your face nuzzled into his neck. For a moment he just stood there in shock, this was the closest you'd ever been to him and he found himself enamored with how you smelt and soft you felt. But soon he ran his fingers through your hair in an attempt to soothe you. Tyrion could feel your hot tears on his shoulder and the mantra repeated in his head.

It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault.

"I'm so fucking sorry," He whispered into your hair. "I'm so sorry."

You pulled away and he found himself missing your warmth. He told himself it was because he wasn't used to such interaction, which wasn't a lie, but there was a stirring deep within him that he had to push down and hide. That would only bring him more shame and heartbreak and insult you further than he already has.

"All my life, my father hated me for killing my mother and for being a dwarf. He loathed my very existence. The only thing that kept me alive was my name. I was a Lannister. And then he lets me be led like a lamb to slaughter for a murder he knew I didn't commit. My only option is death or going to The Wall, there's not much difference there as people seem to think. He takes the woman I love and turns her against me, having her lie to all of Kings Landing. And then I find he's fucking her..." Tears were starting to well in his eyes now as he remembered Shae and how it felt to find her in his father's bed. "I didn't think about the consequences. Not for you or the girls until after it was done."

He remembered how the lamp light flickered across your face as you stood there, hand on your belly and mouth agape as he held the crossbow. He remembered how it felt to have the realization slap him in the face. Tywin had become fond of using you to belittle Cerasi, often saying you were more worthy to be a Lannister than she was. Cerasi was jealous of how Tywin seemed to care for and respect you. You wouldn't last long at The Red Keep. Tyrion remembered the scared look in your eyes as he took your wrist in a harsh grasp and led you through the corridors to where he was to meet Varys.

He was pulled from his memories when he could feel your fingertips lightly brush away his tears. "It's my fault," Tyrion's voice broke as he said those words to you, "and I can never express how sorry I am."

You swallowed thickly and looked at him for a moment before your eyes drifted up to the night sky. You were quiet again and this time the silence was thick and heavy. Tyrion could see your brain working hard to formulate thoughts and feelings into words.

"I was 15 when I was betrothed to Tywin," You said softly, your eyes still on the stars. "My father was so excited. The Lannisters would make a great ally and I was the only daughter he had to offer. For two years I waited, knowing that I was to be married to a man who rode into battle with my grandfather. It was the day after my 17th name day that we were wed. Within a year I had Trysta." Your tongue peaked out to wet your lips. "Tywin was not a moral man. He was not a good man. He was a smart man. An ambitious man. But not a good one. I know he respected me, I think he may have cared for me in his own complicated way. I know he cared for our children. But he was old and mean and arrogant."

Tyrion was silent as you spoke, you two had talked in the past for hours about books and history but you never quite opened up about your relationship with his father. Your eyes fell down to your lap and you picked at a loose string.

"I may be cursed for thinking it but I do not miss him. I miss my home. I miss Casterly Rock. I miss the sea and the beach. I miss Trysta and Nataria. But I do not miss Tywin. I am not naive enough to think that I will ever experience what it's like to be loved...to marry for love. That's not a reality for high-born women but I do hope the next time I'm married off it's to someone who is less of an ass."

Tyrion stood there for a moment and then took your face into his hands, "I promise you by whatever Gods are listening that I will get you back home. Back to your children. Or I will die trying." And he meant it.

You simply nodded. He took his seat next to you, his hand resting atop yours. The two of you sat there in a peaceful silence looking at the stars with his hand on yours and you weren't sure how long for. It could have been 15 minutes or two hours. When Tyrion noticed your head starting to bob and your eyes struggled to stay open, he stood up and silently offered you his arm.

The walk to your room was quiet. He had more he wanted to say to you but he knew this was not the time to say it. Once he got to your door he didn't know what to say, he didn't know if he should say anything. He cleared his throat and rested his arm at his side.

"If you, uhm, if you need me...." His voice trailed off.

"I know," you nodded, "thank you." You placed a soft kiss on his forehead before disappearing into your room.

Tyrion stood there for a moment, frustration rushing over him like waves. It was happening. He could feel the feeling creep into his heart: he was falling in love with the woman he widowed and he wasn't sure how to stop it.

#tyrion lannister x reader #tyrion x reader #game of thrones x reader #game of thrones fanfiction #tywin x reader #tywin lannister x reader #game of thrones reader insert #reader insert

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sasheneskywalker · 1 year ago

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brudick fic recs

a bird in the hand by wingdingery The first time Clark meets Robin, he’s completely confused about why Batman (Mr. I am vengeance, I am the night, and I work alone) would choose to have a hyperactive neon-colored ten-year-old as his partner in vigilanteism.

Over the next twenty years, he comes to understand clearly what makes Nightwing so special—though the relationship between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne never gets any less complicated over time.

T | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson & Clark Kent, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne

a painting you could never frame by wingdingery Batman gets hit by a curse that can only be broken by his soulmate. Fortunately, that’s easy enough for Dick to fix.

The only problem is, no one else knows that he’s Bruce’s soulmate—not even Bruce himself.

T | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

the courage of stars by wingdingery Dick's time at Spyral ends with the Somnus satellite getting activated – and all memories of Richard John Grayson ever existing wiped from the world. After Dick realizes that trying to get anyone to remember him only causes them pain, he decides that the best thing to do is say goodbye to Gotham and leave his old life behind entirely.

The only problem is, his old life can’t seem to let him go.

T | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Everyone

love is a river by wingdingery Realizing that he’s in the future is unsettling enough for Bruce; realizing that everyone in the future is trying to keep something a secret from him is even worse.

But realizing exactly what that secret is turns out to be the worst of all.

T | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

mutually assured by wingdingery Dick’s mom always told him that kissing a wound would help it heal faster.

Somehow, Dick’s not sure that’s ever really worked for him and Bruce.

E | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

when all the walls come down by wormsin This isn't the first time one of them has been dying in the other's arms. But it might be the last. As far as deathbed confessions goes, Dick thinks his is pretty good.

“Once upon a time, there was a kingdom without a King or Queen…”

Or: It takes a building falling on their heads for Dick to tell Bruce how he really feels.

E | Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

One-Way Glass by wormsin Dick Grayson—husband, father, hero—is de-aged to his early days as Robin.

There are lots of different ways to look at the past. Sometimes, it's hard to know what really happened.

E | Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

Hit me with your sweet love, steal me with a kiss by ful_crum After Jason’s death, Dick spends more time back at the manor. There are many opportunities for sparring between Bruce and Dick, but it’s only a matter of time until sparring turns into fighting.

Or, what happens when you fistfight your former mentor that you kind of hate and kind of love?

M | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

Compromising Positions by ful_crum Bruce and Dick keep getting caught in compromising positions. It’s all just circumstantial though, of course. Dick keeps insisting they aren’t fucking, so they must not be.

Right?

OR, five times someone walks into Bruce and Dick in compromising yet innocent positions, and the one time they’re actually fucking.

(BruDick Week 2024 — Day 6: Caught in the Act)

E | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

Fledgling by quickmanifyouloveme "But are you in love with me?"

"I can't let you leave."

Bruce Wayne has died. Tim asks Dick why he doesn't want to help get their father back. Dick is tired of lying about the two years before he left to become Nightwing.

E | Rape/Non-Con, Underage | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson

Down the Line by Averia It's just Bruce being Bruce, Clark says. Lois Lane begs to differ.

M | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent/Lois Lane

Your fortress face belied your fort of lace by treacherous And does any of this lame introspection even matter now when his dick is chubbing up and Bruce is looking at him the same as when he’d brought flavored lube to bed and they didn’t come up for air until the next morning?

(or, Bruce and Dick inevitably come together, inevitably fall apart, and tonight, Dick is weighing the ethics of asking your ex exactly why he broke up with you while he’s dosed with truth serum)

E | Underage | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

Happy Acres by Kyele When a seemingly-rehabilitated Dr. Quinzel opens an upscale retreat for couples in crisis, Batman needs to investigate. An undercover mission as Bruce Wayne and partner should do the trick. Unfortunately, his first choice for the mission is unavailable. As is his second. And his third. And -

“What’s more important?” Dick challenges. “Your considerations - or the lives of the people who may be endangered by a delay in getting the truth about Happy Acres?”

Bruce opens his mouth, and then closes it again. He knows the answer to that. He believes the answer to that. He just - he can’t even form the thought. Logically he knows what Dick is suggesting, but it won’t even compute. He has spent too long preventing his mind from ever considering Dick and romance at the same time.

Dick, who doesn’t have Bruce’s feelings, also doesn’t have Bruce’s difficulties. “That’s what I thought,” he says. Despite his victory, he somehow sounds weary. “So get over yourself, and hand me the damn pocket square. I’m your date tonight, and you’d better start getting used to it.”

E | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

Casino Royale by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin) Boravia’s grand casino, once a hotbed of European crime, has reopened with a high-stakes poker tournament Bruce Wayne suspects may be the work of Roulette. In a country where superheroes are banned, the only way to foil a criminal conspiracy is to enter the tournament as himself, and play his way up to the top.

But not just any card-playing billionaire can get his name on the list. The real price of admission is a lot higher than the two million dollar buy-in. You also need a secret to offer up as your stake. A dirty one. The kind a man like Bruce Wayne would pay dearly to keep quiet.

Enter Dick Grayson.

Though he agrees to accompany Bruce to the tournament in the guise of his illicit lover, to help him fake a blackmail-worthy secret besides the one with masks and capes, Dick's not wild about spending so much time with his old friend in flirtatious playboy mode; but somehow it's harder than expected to watch Bruce direct that legendary charisma at other people, and Dick doesn't quite know why. Over the course of four days, what began as a straightforward undercover job devolves into a messy emotional tangle which forces both men to confront truths they’ve kept hidden for years . . . even from themselves.

E | No Archive Warnings Apply | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

You are forever in my mind by orphan_account This started off as a simple idea: Bruce installs a new set of cameras in the manor; cameras he doesn't tell anyone about. One night, he accidentally sees something that fundamentally affects him - and the way he looks at Dick.

E | Underage | Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne

#dc #dc comics #batman #robin #nightwing #bruce wayne #dick grayson #brudick #fanfic recs #fanfic rec #fic recs #fic rec #fanfic #fanfiction

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wc-confessions · 4 months ago

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Since it's disability pride month I am dedicating this confession to lesser known/underrated disabled WC characters!

Everyone knows and loves cats like Briarlight and Brightheart, but there's quite a few others that aren't talked about as much

First off, One-Eye and Halftail, the two first arc elders. They don't show up much due to being in the Elder's Den, but when they do, they're a delight to see. I love One-Eye's bickering with Smallear and how she helps Brightheart a bit in A Dangerous Path! They're also the parents of Mousefur and Runningwind! One of whom dies fighting Tigerclaw in the same book Halftail dies of smoke inhalation after the fire. I like to think Runningwind rushed into battle against Tigerclaw impulsively since his father had died not long ago. Mousefur, on the other hand, takes after her mom in the new prophecy and onwards as a grumpy old lady lol. Very great characters, I love them a lot!

Speaking of the 1st arc, Brokenstar. He's honestly a really entertaining and threatening villain, and people don't talk about him much or his disability. Him and other cats with damaged tails like Berrynose and Finleap aren't really talked about in conversations about disabled characters. I find Brokenstar very interesting, not because of his motivation (or lack there of lol) which is pretty generic, but because of his lasting effects on the clans. His reign directly or indirectly led to several key events in the first arc or beyond. Tigerclaw becoming the deputy of ThunderClan was caused by Brokenstar killing Lionheart (canonically, we don't know who killed Lion, but I think it was Brokenstar), him being still alive led to Nightstar not getting nine lives and dying in Rising Storm. Which led directly to Tigerstar taking power. He directly killed several cats, but his orders and actions led to many more that wouldn't have happened had he not been leader, which I will not list out because this confession would be way too long. Another thing I like about him is that he is a fantastic villain in OOTS. People often depict the main leader of the Dark Forest being Tigerstar or Mapleshade, but in reality, it's actually Brokenstar. Tigerstar is more of a secondary leader to him. Brokenstar was the first Dark Forest cat to cross into the living world, and he later seemingly detects StarClan cats at the border to the Dark Forest somehow and confronts them, so Jayfeather and Spottedleaf have to sneak in, and he leads Flametail into the Dark Forest so Ivypool can ghost kill him (but this plan was foiled by Tigerheart), and in The Darkest Hour, Ivypool refers to the plans as "What Brokenstar is plotting". So yeah, he's the leader of the DF, not Tigerstar, and Tiger wouldn't have gotten very far without him lol. Crazy how we got multiple disabled leaders and deputies in the first arc and then not ever again, unless you count Berrynose lol

Next is Volewhisper! Who has quite a few parallels with Cinderpelt! One of their back legs were both injured by a villain's scheming (Tigerclaw's trap for Bluestar and Brokenstar making kits fight rats), they were both then inspired by a senior clanmate (Yellowfang and Nightpelt), and Cinderpelt chooses to become a medicine cat while Volewhisper chooses to be a warrior instead. I find him very fun and he's one of my favourite characters in Exile From ShadowClan!

The next cat I wanna talk about is a bit controversial due to some pretty bad writing choices by the team. Finleap. I really really loved him in Darkest Night and River of Fire. He and Twigbranch had a really sweet relationship, and I love how he follows her to ThunderClan. I also hate Sandynose, but that's besides the point. They were really cute and I liked them a lot... but then The Raging Storm happened. Where instead of focusing on the actually interesting plot of Twigbranch struggling to be a mentor, they decide to make her nice, sweet, and sort of goofy boyfriend... a jerk. He's rude he gives her the cold shoulder, it's awful, and so out of character. At least he actually does apologize for it and improve his behaviour, which I admit was a sweet moment in an otherwise pretty bad plotline. Then, after that, he's sort of a background cat. He briefly stands up to The Impostor after Twiggy is punished. In Sky he has a sort of friendship with Nightheart. He and Lionblaze laugh at Nightheart after he gets bit by a Squirrel, but later in the book Nightheart thinks of him in a positive light and he's one of the first cats that Night thinks of telling about Sunbeam. Overall fun guy, nice character despite one really bad book (which is basically every warriors character lol)

Some other underrated disabled cats who I don't really have as much to say about:

Fallowfern (deaf)

Shrewtooth (PTSD)

#confession #anonymous #one-eye #halftail #brokenstar #volewhisper #finleap

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cat-alyzing · 2 years ago

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Lilyclaw (fusion of Goldenflower and Tigerclaw) ideas at this time:

Daughter of Sunfall and a wanderer which keeps her as the sister of Lionheart. Her mentor was Pineheart tho and him leaving hurt her A LOT. Fueled by a mix of self hatred, bullying by her new mentor Thistleclaw, and him leaving she starts hating outsiders. When she’s just brought into camp the prophet Goosefeather receives a vision of her bathed in dawn light on one side and the other covered in blood, this about the way she could’ve been.

At the beginning of the story as Bon comes into camp she is a scratched queen with a swollen flank but battle hungry look in her eyes. She had just come back from a battle with the unconscious deputy Splotchedtail in her jaws. He soon ends up dying but Spottedleaf finds a lily petal in his mouth clueing her in on his true murderer

LOTS OF REPRESSED LESBIANISM. The clans at this time are a little sexist, have a lot of double standards, super xenophobic, and push a heteronormative idea on most cats. In a better life where she was taught or had some cat to guide her she could’ve been much more of a code changer like Bon but instead she followed the trail of tragedy. Her and Spottedleaf flirt a lot, but Lilyclaw always leaves feeling trapped in her partnership with the still undecided mate of hers.

Soon she has Lynxkit (Swiftkit) and Leopardkit (OG Lynxkit) named for the powerful cats and after her foster mom Leoaprdfoot. Sadly Leopardkit dies soon after complications caused by her fighting while so pregnant, and Lynxkit barely makes it. She is angry grieving mother and Bon ends up overhearing the fight she has with Spottedleaf.

Her ideology is based on wanting a better world where she can be free but also hating it from her past traumas. She wants the clans to fuse so more cats like her with a mixed blood can be seen as just as good but also being aggressive towards half blooded cats for the aggression she faced for her parentage. Hypocrite on purpose.

At some point when she’s joined Star Leopardstrike she has Moth, Hawk and Tadpole who are all renamed. Can’t decide if she has them with Leopard as a symbolism of their pact or some other cat. Either way the kits are just older then newborns when Lilyclaw has the battle that ends her life. They still become rogues tho after a raid is done on Riverclan by a group of Bloodclan cats including Sasha but they are tracked down and taken back, over this time the river floods on their way back and Tadpole dies.

She was never given 9 lives. While Starclan is very nuanced in this they do not want the clans to unite so they refuse her. The note of Scourge dying bc of their atheism is instead towards her as Starclan says Lilyclaw has no extra lives. She’s ripped in half in the fight after far for blood is spilt, taking Fireheart’s live that canon Scourge did and dying to the two brothers attacking her. Scourge gets their iconic kill by splitting her from throat to tail a move so horrific it spawns many tales, writings, and depictions for many generations.

From her death, carnage, and death she brought to the clans she did cause change but not by her owns paws. But instead by the paws of the cats who destroyed her. Her daughter Dawnclaw takes her suffix and spreads the other side of her mother that was fiercely loving, powerful, and so so hurt. She is one of the strongest voices to never let a cat with so much potential to be powerful go down a bloodied path like that.

#lilyclaw #I love Lilyclaw so much #I am so focused on this story #really really want to rewrite many of the books myself #Tigerclaw #goldenflower #character drafts

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ladycatofwinterfell · 2 years ago

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Last week @shining-m00nlight made a post about a hunger games/asoiaf au with nedcat. The idea inspired me a lot so below the cut is a way too long and elaborate description of a story I came up with following that. It’s about 3000 words, so basically long enough to be a fic in itself lol

It’s been years since I read the hunger games so I apologise for any mistakes in lore and canon :)

Cat is from district 4, known for fishing. I’m thinking one of the northern districts for Ned and also maybe one of the poorer ones since the North doesn’t have a lot of money. So I’m thinking 6 or 9. I’m leaning towards that he’s from the north of 9, but it doesn’t fit perfectly since it’s main produce is grain. It’s the largest district though and definitely among the poorer ones. So for this AU I’m going with district 9 for Ned.

Ned became a tribute because he volunteered for Benjen, who was initially reaped. Definitely no career thing, just a concern for his family. Brandon wanted to do it instead, but somehow Ned won that fight and ended up as the tribute. Rickard had already died, so the family was struggling. Lyanna was also dead, she was the female tribute the year before. As she was the only girl among the siblings none of them could volunteer in her stead. She put up as much of a fight as she could, but in the end she died. With all that behind him Ned entered his game. Gained a lot of sympathy because his sister died in a previous game but didn’t otherwise do very well in his interviews, he couldn’t bring himself to care about presenting a charming facade. Didn’t earn many sponsors since no one wanted to invest in a tribute from 9 that had little chance of actually winning.

During the bloodbath at the cornucopia he managed to get his hands on a knife and killed two boys that tried to attack him. After that he escaped into the wilderness. He was lucky, it was a cold arena with harsh climate which allowed him to wait it out. He knows how to survive the cold, the others freeze to death. So he’s the last one standing and he wins.

Cat’s game is two years after that. District 4 is typically a career district and Cat’s not an exception from that rule, she volunteered and gained her spot as tribute. There was a lot of family pride in it, The Blackfish volunteered many years earlier and won his games so he was her mentor. He wasn’t too keen on it but also didn’t advice against her volunteering, knowing he couldn’t stop her. She won because those who were with her last drowned in an attempt to chase her down. They formed an alliance to take her down, she realised she couldn’t take on all of them and fled out into a river. Being from district 4 she was a good swimmer and managed to handle the currents, her opponents didn’t. The reason for them teaming up against her was that she killed several tributes earlier on from skill with weapons and didn’t hesitate about it. She allied herself with the male tribute from her district in the beginning, but he died from an infected wound just a few days in. She gained a lot of sponsors that gave her expensive gifts. Partly because of her skill, partly because she had good looks and that gained the attention of the people in the capitol. She did well during her interviews, charming the public to the point where she had them wrapped around her hand.

After their respective victories they stay in the houses made for victors in their respective districts, but as they’re mentors for tributes coming after them. Cat is all but forced into it as the female mentor from her district resigns and she has to take her place as she’s the youngest victor. So she mentors alongside her uncle, and despises it. The games were worse than she was prepared for and having to relive it through her tributes is terrible. She wonders how her uncle had managed to do it for so long and how he could hold himself together enough to mentor her, his own blood.

There hasn’t been any victors from Ned’s district in some time so he also has little choice. He doesn’t find it any less terrible than she does. It’s a mockery that he had to live through what he did and then watch it happen to those after him. All he can do is shut the feelings off and do it, he needs to protect the family he had left.

He’s on his third year of mentoring when Cat begins and they meet for the first time. Cat gets a lot of attention from especially men in the Capitol and can be bought as company, but that first year it never goes as far as sexual favours. Ned is not along the most popular victors so he passes more unnoticed and he avoids the other victors that come with their tributes, he wants little to do with them. He had a particular distaste for careers and those make up most of the victors. So he keeps to himself, his fellow mentor and their tributes. Except Cat’s different, he likes her against himself. During their first year they find a friendship in each other. Initially Ned is wary of her because she was a career and killed one of his tributes, but slowly he warms up to her. He finds a lot of comfort in talking with someone who knows what he’s been through and understands the horrors of the games. Cat can’t help but like him because it very quickly becomes clear that he’s not interested in her just because she’s pretty and has been successful, he cares for her as a person. Though nothing but that happens between them that year. The winner of that game is Jaime Lannister, the male tribute from district 1.

The next year they agree to encourage their tributes to ally with each other. The previous year none of their tributes won, and so they believe that maybe with the help of each other that can change that year. Ned hasn’t set up alliances with other mentors before because of his wariness of them so it’s a first for him. Usually he lets Donella Hornwood, his fellow mentor, handle that part. She’s older, has been in it for much longer, she knows what to do and the other mentors like her better than they like Ned.

Cat is continually used for company by rich and influential people in the capitol, something she grows more uncomfortable with every time it happens. Every time they push her boundaries a little further, and she finds herself accepting things that disgusts her. Ned is in a horrible place every time the games take place, it throws him back what happened to him. Though Lyanna’s death haunts him even more than his own games. He sees her in every female tribute he mentors, in every girl that dies in the arenas. She lives through them and dies over and over again. In the Capitol he’s without the family that remains to him and so Cat is the only one that can give him at least a little peace. She’s his light, the first one he has let close enough to let her know of the sorrows he carries. Their group of tributes stick together on the advice of their mentors, but on the second day they all die in an explosion. It takes hard on both Ned and Cat. This year they share their first kiss after some drinking to drown the sorrows over their dead tributes. That year Cersei Lannister, the twin sister of the previous year’s winner, ends up as the sole survivor. She was part of the group that set up the explosive trap that killed Ned and Cat’s tributes.

Year three as mentors. They go with the same tactic as the previous year. Brynden goes along with it because he can’t tell Cat no. Donella knows that their tributes have a better chance if they ally with careers and so agrees with it. They can’t get a lot of sponsors themselves, so being able to benefit from the gifts given to the tributes of district 4 is the difference between life and death for their tributes. They know that when the alliance inevitably falls apart their tributes will have less of a chance than the careers, though at least it’s a chance.

Ned and Cat continue building on their relationship during this game, trying to forget that in the end there’s only one victor and that their pact can’t last forever. It’s horrible, they hate that they have to watch the games closely every year. Everything is dark, but at least they have each other. In the end one of Cat’s tributes wins. The girl and Ned’s two tributes were the only ones left and so she killed them. It causes a major rift between Ned and Cat. He knows it’s not Cat’s fault and he had known beforehand it would most likely happen, but he can’t help but be angry with her. Never before had his tributes gone so far. For just a little while there had been hope but in the end they met death the same as all the rest of them. He’s watched all ten of his tributes die brutally, he’s broken. All he wants is a victor so that he can resign, now Cat got that. She’ll leave him in the mentorship, he’s sure of it. He’ll once again be all alone. Betrayed, just like his tributes. He might as well have been dead, sometimes he believes that would have been better.

So he’s surprised to once again see Cat the next year. Surprised and delighted. It’s something good in all the misery, he can see Cat again. That year an alliance between their tributes isn’t set up, both Ned and Donella decide against it after the previous year. Though Ned and Cat slowly grow close again, taking up their relationship where they left off the year before. Despite the anger they ended with it’s so hard to resist. It’s as if it’s all forgotten, what matters is they have each other. Cat doesn’t want to resign as a mentor until Ned has the same opportunity and so she stayed. She lets him know that as they have dinner one night with some other mentors and a few sponsors. It turns out they share a dislike of the Lannister twins and the way all sponsors seem to turn to them. Glowing and golden and so false it poisons the air. Ned feels sick just from looking at them, he wonders how he manages to stay polite. Cat looks at them and wondered how she could have been like them once. Entering the games out of free will, volunteering to kill people for glory and riches.

Cat’s continued use as bought company is lessened as the people of the capitol grow more aware of her romance with Ned and it catches the eye of the public. Initially it’s mostly quiet rumours, but it flares up when they’re caught sharing a kiss after a sponsor dinner. The victors of previous games that fell in love as they mentored tributes from different districts, that’s a story the people of the Capitol like. Look what good the games did, look how it brought them together. Catelyn Tully, one of the Capitol’s darlings, and Eddard Stark, the hardened survivor from district 9. This also helps their tributes as that makes people more willing to sponsor them. Cat still loses both her tributes to mutated animals, it seems suspiciously much like something set up by the game makers but that can’t be proved now can it? Ned’s male tribute wins on luck, a little similar to how Ned won. He managed to survive while traps and the environment killed all the others. Ned believes he had never felt such relief as when he watches the winner be announced.

Despite that they only meet for a relatively short time every year they get married not long after the end of that game. For four years they have struggled together every summer, now they both expect retirement from that. They have a winner each to take their place, no one can protest and they’ll finally be left alone. That was the deal, that was their prize for winning. Maybe, just maybe, they can heal together. At least a bit, at least they’ll have it better together without the games than apart except for when they have to mentor. Cat gets pregnant shortly after. They didn’t plan it and abortion is not allowed, but they know that at least their son will not be likely to end up in the games. He won’t have to enter his name several times in order to get more food, they can provide that for him as victors. They have riches beyond what they can spend, it is no issue. And as they won’t have to mentor any longer they can focus on him, give him as good of a life as they can.

So of course they’re devastated when President Aerys lets them know that there will be no retirement. Even with their child, even with other victors to take their place as mentors, they will stay in those positions. They have done so well, why change that? If they despised the president for his games before they feel deep hatred after that. He changed the rules for them, that hadn’t been the deal. He kept them in the Capitol’s spotlight, didn’t allow them to draw back so that their love could be forgotten by everyone but them. Of course they’re not allowed to say they’re involuntary staying as mentors, they have to say that they’re doing it out of free will.

After Robb is born Cat is permitted to move to Ned’s district and live with him there on the condition that she travels home to district 4 every year for the reaping. Their family has to be kept together for the sake of the image it presents. The happy victory family, allowed to live a peaceful life by the benevolent president.

Every year they watch the games closely, every year they must see tributes die. Cat gets another few victors in, Ned gets none. Every year he watches his tributes get chosen and every year he’s sure of that they will die. Just like Lyanna did. Their family continues to grow, it doesn’t seem to matter how much care they take with that. Whenever she’s pregnant during a game Ned worries himself sick over if she will manage everything without completely falling apart, somehow she manages to stay strong. She keeps a bright face for the sponsors and then takes deep breaths in a bathroom to keep herself from throwing up. One year she’s days from giving birth by the end of the game, and the labour is almost like a relief after watching children being slaughtered for more than two weeks. When she holds Bran after it’s all done she wonders what will become of him after the horrors he was part of before he was even born. How is a child to be happy when they’re exposed to the games before they’re a part of the world?

Cat insists the children be trained for the games even though she will never let any of them volunteer. Should they get reaped she wants them to survive. It’s eating Ned alive to see them have to grow into killers so early, but what choice is there? What happened to Lyanna can’t happen to them, he wouldn’t be able to bear it. His children are his pride and joy but during his darkest moments he almost regrets having them. How can it be worth it? Even though the risk of them ending up in the games is low, it’s still there. How can it be worth it to bring a child into the world knowing what could happen?

As Robb turns 11 they want to move to district 4. There all the career volunteers would make it almost impossible for them to get chosen as tributes. That would lessen the risk of them being in the games even more. President Aerys himself informs them of that it doesn’t matter where they move, their children belong to Ned’s district since he’s the father. So every year they hold their breath and hope that none of their children are reaped. Though of course that doesn’t happen, of course Robb is reaped the year he turns 18.

They absolutely forbid their kids from volunteering. Cat let all her children know from an early age that if they volunteered she would kill them before they reached the stage. It doesn’t matter how prepared they believe they are, how much they argue that both Ned and Cat volunteered, they are under every circumstance forbidden from volunteering. So Robb is secretly a little proud when he is reaped, he knows he is as prepared as one can be and is among the older ones which raises his chances of winning. He never would have gone against his parents and volunteered, but that way he gets around that. He becomes a tribute without volunteering. While Ned and Cat are devastated and really struggle with what happens, they can’t believe their child will have to go through what they went through. Especially as Ned has to mentor him and Cat has to mentor two of his opponents. She can’t try to get them killed for the sake of Robb’s survival, but she also doesn’t want them to win at all. All she wants is her son’s survival. In the end she agrees with herself that she could never do anything to lessen Robb’s chances of winning. Her tributes are not her children.

Despite being from 9 Robb becomes a favourite. Both his parents are victors and they’ve trained him. He’s had no official training and still he impresses during his time in the training centre and receives a high score. Meanwhile Ned and Cat do everything they can to make things easier for him. Despite mentoring for a different district Cat helps set up allies and sponsors for him. The Capitol sees the two desperate parents doing everything they can for their child. They have known that the child tributes have parents in theory, but never before have they actually seen the parents. Never have they seen the despair, the grief over what might happen, the frantic working to find a way to ensure survival. It shakes the Capitol to its very core.

#catelyn stark #catelyn tully #ned stark #ned x cat #nedcat hunger games au #this might be a little niche but i went insane over it and had to share with you #maybe someone out there will like it

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lotsadeer · 1 year ago

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🖊️ !

Time to tell you about Bleebo Blorbus from my Brain!

rifles through the files in my head lets see lets see....

ooh let me tell you about Witchlight Stag!

So @redtailedhawk90 is the DM for the only DnD game I'm in, where we're playing the Witchlight module. It's where you go to the Witchlight circus and stuff happens and you end up in the Feywild, its fine. My character is an au version of Stag!

[ID: A drawing of a brass coloured robot with a deer head and ears. His eyes are closed and he's looking down and to the side with a little speech bubble with the "nun" face in it. The robot has swirling green filigree over his metal plating. He has on a pink flower crown and blue butterfly wings, as well as a brown leather strap across his chest. A quarterstaff is strapped to his back. . There are sparkles and flower petals around him.]

Witchlight Stag happened because my friends let me insert my own characters into the things they do. In this case, in the podcast The Room Where It Happened's season Luume, there's a robot NPC who gets saved by the PCs and one of them basically just adopts the robot as his "robot son". And I looked at the robot son and said "that's Stag now"

The rest is gonna be under a cut! Warning for Luume spoilers!

Stag gets adopted by Tseer, Wyatt, and River and is their robot son. He's been through a lot of trauma, Wyatt's old mentor kept magically taking him apart and putting him back together while he was conscious. It was a bad time. Now he's learning magic and fighting and wants to go see more of the world now that it's no longer in danger of being EATEN by a unknowable entity from beyond the veil. He gets his chance when his aunt, Zero, hires people to help find out what's happened to her Archfey patron. She's not doing good. It's bad.

Now Stag is in the Feywild and Things Are Happening to him. He's becoming more ALIVE thanks to the fey magic that helped create him. He's having a Bad Time.

This version of Stag is way more naive than original Stag, and is basically like, a teenager.

#rack of ocs #witchlight stag

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hear-feel-think · 2 years ago

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Meet River Seine (WoLverse)

Name: River Seine

Pronouns: He/him

Sexuality: Pansexual, polyamorous

Personality: River is friendly and flirtatious, always trying to see the best in people. He has learned the value of teamwork over time, but his first instinct is always to rely on himself first, to do what he can on his own to protect himself, his friends, the world - before asking anyone else for help.

Backstory River lost his memories after the Calamity and has spent the time since his awakening searching for his identity. He has recovered fragmented memories of a village called Seine. He remembers learning at puberty that he was a boy, and leaving the hidden village with a male mentor to roam the wilderness and protect their people, as all young Viera men do.

Then... Nothing. The next thing he knows he was alone in the desert of Thanalan. He had to fend for himself, scavenging for food and fighting off wild beasts for days, maybe weeks until a passing merchant picked him up.

Jobs: At first, River apprenticed as a Thamaturge, because he needed the power. He had to protect himself without relying on anyone. He got pretty good at it, eventually becoming a Black Mage. He was able to use his powers not just to fend for himself and support a life of adventure, but to help others, too.

Over time, he learned that even with the most powerful spells he still fared better when he had help from his friends. He discovered a passion for dancing, and learned the Kreigstanz to help him be a team player in combat. With the help of his mentor and troupe, he became a very talented Dancer.

After the liberation of Ala Mhigo, River realized that he was a major player in the fate of Eorzea. It seemed it would be very helpful if he knew more about the cosmology of his star and the wider universe, and incidentally knowing some healing magic wouldn't hurt either. He took a trip to Ishgard to learn astrology, and as his friends started falling into comas one by one, it became ever more urgent. So he became a full-fledged Astrologian before finding himself on the First.

Once the Final Days had been averted, River found himself with some downtime. He asked Estinien to teach him to be a Dragoon, but Estinien grumpily directed him to the lancers guild. With his now-considerable battle experience, confused and impressed the Lancers' guild by showing up fresh off his vacation time at Costa Del Sol, wearing shorts and sandals and nothing protective at all. Estinien showed up to help River train once rumours reached his ears that the Warrior of Light was the star pupil of the Lancers’ guild. But in the end, River didn’t take to the lance as much as he did to chakrams or cards.

One day, River heard a rumour about a man who had been cut down by the Temple Knights as a heretic, despite the efforts made towards reform after the end of the dragonsong war. River connected with the anger and darkness inside of himself that he had long been suppressing, and became a Dark Knight. It’s therapeutic to allow himself to explore his feelings now that the fate of the world no longer hangs in the balance.

Relationships: Yes. River has a wide variety of romantic and sexual relationships. His responsibilities as the Warrior of Light keep him from making strong commitments to any individual, so it’s only fair that they seek out others while he is far from them, if they choose. In turn, they extend that courtesy to him. Being the Warrior of Light can be isolating, so he has made deep connections with as many people as he can in order to feel less alone, wherever he goes. He has enough love in his heart for all of them. Each relationship is different, shaped by the people involved. With Thancred, it’s casual and sexual. With Hien, it’s serious and romantic, with lots of pining over the distance that keeps them apart. With Y’shtola, things get a little kinky. There are as many more, each relationship and each partner unique in their own way.

#ffxiv #Viera #OC River Seine #ffxiv oc intro #final fantasy xiv #Black Mage #Dancer #Astrologian #Dragoon #Dark Knight #KC Speaks

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concealeddarkness13 · 1 year ago

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WHG 20 Day 1 - All of them

Hi! I'm finally writing for during the Games! There's a lot I need to write, so I probably won't write much in between writing the collaborations! Sorry if it seems jagged. Tagging: @ratracechronicler, @maple-writes, @pen-of-roses (thanks for Silver!), @drabbleitout, @grailfish, @forthesanityofsome, and @pied-piper-of-hamlet!

Ares

The Bloodbath was loud and surprisingly not that bloody. I helped Asher join with Triel, and Chess’s mentor had come in with her, so he had helped her join us as well. I was the best bet to go look for tributes, so that was what I did, flying around to try and find anyone. Primary still seemed to be tired, so hopefully I would be good for a while longer.

And luckily for me, Silver was alone! They had a weapon and were looking around. They were ready to fight, and I didn’t want to scare them right away. So, I did the reasonable thing and flew down away from the clearing and walked in still as the phoenix. I chirped all cutely and everything.

Their eyes landed on me immediately, and they only relaxed a bit, holding out a hand to me. I walked over and stared at their hand before pecking at it in a friendly way. They smiled a little and glanced around before saying quietly, “Not a bird, least not normal.” They tapped their ear.

Well, that lasted long. I squawked and transformed back human. I held up my hands to show I didn’t have any weapons, and I remembered that they liked signing, so I signed at them. “Sorry, did not want to scare you. I am with Triel.”

They relaxed even more and signed back. “For the plan? You’re moving fast for that. Good. We’ll need to scope out a base where everyone can meet, but they’re likely going to get suspicious if the living ones keep disappearing off the camera for that.” They frowned.

“Triel has found a place. I can take you!” I smiled. I could help!

“Already? Off camera?” They raised an eyebrow.

“We are still working on getting rid of the cameras, but we have two Synthetics who can hack them really easily, so it has not been too much trouble.”

“You’ll still need someone to guard it who they won’t look for.” They blew out a breath, looking down and biting their lip. “Okay, if she can get a message out to people, I’ll do it. You’re going to need to kill me though.”

They meant make it so the Capitol thought they were dead. I nodded. “She can. And you good with me just cutting your tracker out instead?”

They hesitated. “They will need a show or they might look for a body and—” They froze and shook themself out. “Stab me in front of the cameras, I’ll fall into the water. That way they’ll think the tracker and my body got separated and won’t think too much on it, if they look for a body. It’ll be a good test to see if they do. Don’t worry.” They smiled. “I’ll heal before it actually matters, so you can make it look good.”

I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but this was worth it. “My magic cuts through anything, it would go straight through your arm. Do you happen to have a knife?” Like a smart person, I had forgotten to bring a knife.

They handed me the weapon they had. “Sorry I’m asking this of you.” They did look apologetic. “I promise, I’ll be fine, I’ve been through worse and you can’t even tell.”

I took another deep breath and took it. “How about we get somewhere more open for the cameras to see?”

They squeezed my hand and nodded, running out towards the cornucopia along the river. The cameras would surely notice me “killing” them now. I tapped them as a warning before I grabbed them and spun them around, snarling and stabbing into their arm. I felt the tracker break beneath the blade, so I whipped the knife out of their arm, shoving them into the water and walking away. Far enough away as the cannon went off. I sent my magic to destroy the cameras around us before I walked back.

Silver surfaced when I approached, and they pulled the tracker out. Their wound was already healing. They hadn’t been lying. They looked a little shaky, but they smiled as they signed. “Thanks. People think they know who I was and threatened my family over it, but still, I know that wasn’t the easiest thing to do for me.”

I nodded and smiled weakly back. It just reminded me of when I had killed innocent people. “Glad I could help.”

They sighed, looking down, but they perked up with an excited puff of air and grabbed a plant. “Here, smell this, it helps with calming down. Eating it works too, but it’s more useful cooked or in a tea.”

I did as they said, and it did make me feel calmer. I looked up at them though. They had mentioned cooking. “Can you cook? I love cooking!”

“A little, not any of the fancy dishes from the Capitol, but I know a lot about plants and what they’re good for, which helps.”

I smiled. “Me too! Maybe we could cook together! I only know about plants in cooking. Do you know about other plants?”

“Yes, I think I lived around the plants more than people. Can point out the medicinal ones and which should be avoided at all costs, which is a lot of the stuff I’ve already seen here. There’s some I’ve never seen, but that’s likely from their experiments and—” They stopped themself, stiffening and looking up with wide eyes. “We should move, I think that’s one of their ships.”

“Shit.” I hadn’t even noticed. “Can I fly you to camp?”

They nodded, so I transformed into my phoenix form, and grabbed their shoulders in my feet and flew them off to Triel’s camp. It was in the forest, in an area Shine had already identified as having mutts, but Chess and I could keep the camp safe when they showed up. I chirped happily as I flew. I was able to find someone!

Triel

The camp was going well. I had hacked a few cameras to watch for any traps or people who shouldn’t be there. And Ives and Beau had hacked the other cameras to get rid of them. And Shine was going to teleport in and given us supplies, and my awesome hat and coat, so this was going great!

And now Ares was flying Silver in, so they were safe! I walked over and waved. Silver thanked Ares and looked over at me, signing. “I’m dead, so I can stay here as a guard while everyone else works to throw them off and whatever else we need. Least I can do. But I’ll need to get a message out to let my family know the truth if you can.”

I nodded and signed back. “One of my people on the outside will be coming to bring supplies, so I’ll tell them the message then. I am glad you are okay.”

“Glad you are too.” They smiled. “Also, I warned her,” they motioned at Ares, “but some of the plants here are gonna be highly toxic and other might make people act weird, and some are definitely not natural, so who knows what those will do.”

I nodded. “Fortunately, the supplies do include safe food from outside the arena.”

They blew out a slow breath and smiled more. “Wow, you really got this all figured out. Thanks for including me.”

I nodded again and smiled. “I am glad you believed me. It might take a while, but we will be escaping.”

“And I’ll help anyway you want.” They turned back to Ares. “And thanks again, really.”

I nodded. “Please make yourself comfortable.”

Ares smiled, also signing. Huh. I had no idea that she knew how to sign. “Would love to cook with you sometime.”

Silver nodded and looked back at me. “I do need a small favor though, if it’s not too much to ask. Before the arena, some people threatened me and my friends, and we,” they motioned to Ares, “had to fake my death rather obviously. Can you get a message out to two people in my district that I’m alive?”

I nodded. “Just let me know what message you want to send.”

Chess came back to the camp with Ives, with him helping her walk. They had scouted the area to check for other camps or cameras. Chess looked over and beamed when she saw Silver. She ran up as quickly as she could with a broken leg. (I was gonna kill Ashont for this.) “Silver! You’re okay!”

They smiled and waved and started to sign, but then said out loud instead, “You too!” They then turned back to me, nodding and signing. “If they don’t believe you saying I’m alive, tell them Calla still needs to work on her stance, and Oren needs to find a better hiding spot than under the roof-tile.”

I nodded and walked off to write down the message to give to Shine. There were plenty of things I still needed to work on.

Chess

Before the Games started, Ives already made a sling for me out of a part of the outfit he had been forced to wear. He had told me that it was a replica of the outfit from the arena from his Hunger Games. I asked if we could switch outfits, but that just made him laugh.

He carried me throughout the beginning, and we got with Triel easily with Beau and Garnet, and we got to camp. I let Triel, Beau, and Ives talk about all the tech stuff, but when I heard that Ives was going to scout, I went with him. And we got to talk about some things, and the Capitol sent a parachute for Ives where they gave him a trident that he wouldn’t talk about.

I got distracted by seeing Silver when we got back, and I ran up to them as best I could. “Silver! You’re okay!”

They turned to me with a smile and started to sign but then spoke. “You too!” Before signing something else to Triel.

I gestured for them both to follow me. And I hadn’t learned tons of sign, so I had to speak. “There’s some food I gathered if you need some! Ives made sure I got safe berries.”

The nodded and followed. “Good. You’re not…in pain are you?”

I shrugged. My arm and leg hurt badly, but I could deal with it. “It’s not bad. I can walk well enough, and I have magic!”

They cocked their head and raised their eyebrow, and I smiled and summoned my blue fire dragon wings. “I have good magic now!”

They blinked, taking a step back with wide eyes and a huff, mouthing wow. “Doesn’t hurt anymore?”

I shook my head. “I got help! Maybe I can talk to them about helping you too?”

They shrugged, looking down at their arms, and I could have sworn I saw scales on their arms. “Don’t know if I can be helped. But glad for you.” They smiled widely, looking at the dragon wings. “Those are cool. Li…li…” They shook their head, swallowing.

I got rid of the wings and walked up to them, feeling a little sick. I needed to get better. “I’ll learn more sign. I promise. I’m sorry.”

“It’s o…o…alright.” I still felt bad, but I nodded and brought them to the food so they could eat. I could help in some way!

#writeblr hunger games #whg #writeblr #no editing

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12hangingmaidens · 1 year ago

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MONARCHSTAR

Monarchstar was born in RiverClan at at a very young age she amassed three whole moms, her dead bio mom Cloverheart, Cloverhearts bestie and Monarchs godmom, Cowpelt, and Heronstar, the clans leader, and Monarchstars aunts wifes sister (it makes sense there’s a family tree I can show you if you want). Anyways Cloverheart dies and when Monarch is apprenticed Heronstar makes herself her mentor yay. Anyways yada yada apprenticeship stuff. Wuh oh! Heronstar is murdered during Monarchpaws warriors assessment! By the deputy and her mate, Quickstrike! The obvious conclusion is Quickstrike is out to kill everyone, right? (Wrong he just leaves to become a kittypet). Borageleap, Cowpelts mate and the only medicine cat at this point (Willowcurl, the old medicine cat, retired almost as soon as Borage became a warrior, due to grief over Orchidstar, Monarchs aunts wife, dying) goes to the moonstone to ask for guidance, Heronstar gives Borageleap a vision of a Monarch butterfly and whoopsie Daisy Monarchpaw gets named Monarchwing real quick before getting dragged to the moonstone and given 9 lives.

Some relevant current goings on: this story takes place while sunningrocks is ACTIVELY CHANGING. Aka when the river was diverting to give TC access to the river. This is causing a lot of bad things for RiverClan, both because now they’re getting in fights with ThunderClan WAY more often, but because twolegs (biologists keeping an eye on the rivers idk biology) are further downriver, so their hunting territory has heavily been impacted.

Anyways Monarchstar is not pleased about the situation because she’s

A) traumatized after watching Heronstar die infront of her

B) thinks Quickstrike is some sort of leader killer who’s coming for her next

C) twelve

She is increasing stressed out about every single situation going on, her only stability is Crumbstep, her dad and current deputy, and Cowpelt, her godmother.

Borageleap begins to grow increasingly upset about the way the CHILD is leading the clan and starts to investigate the sign he got. WUH OH 2 Heronstar isn’t in StarClan when Borage goes to look for stuff and WUH OH 3 she’s in the dark forest lol rawr XD. Borageleap is VERY upset, and having never learnt emotional control because his dads a cuck, he gathers a group of angry riverclanners and leads a confrontation against Monarchstar. Everyone in his groups assumed this meant like. Talking to her but Borageleap turns it into an attack and fucking murks one of Monarchstars lives.

While Monarchstar is on the ground dying crumb stays with her while most of riverclan turns on Borage for killing Monarch, cowpelt going so far as to exile him. did I mention she’s currently carrying his kit? LOL. Monarch wakes up and freaks the fuck out, but after a bit she chills out and makes some changes

1) crumb steps down and Cowpelt becomes deputy, Crumbstep never really wanted to be deputy and she only chose him at first because she was nervous about everyone!

2) Willowcurl comes out of retirement to be medicine cat until she can train another apprentice.

After this she gets Hornetthroat (an Ex-BloodClan girlie (ps bloodclan has a lot of extra lore in my story hehe hint hint) who was Orchidstars apprentice, and Ravenstorm, Quickstrikes sister (she has a wife and two kids) to come with her to twoleg place to find quickstrike and confront him. They find him and after some banter quickstrike tells them the whole store that basically heronstar was manipulated by a rlly old DF spirit as a child (charsong, the DF cat) who killed herons parents and made heron bury the bodies, and then haunted her with visions of her becoming leader and killing her sister which prompted heronscreech to kill her sister after she made her deputy and become leader yay power. Heronstar is upset abt the familiacide but overall is happy about the whole in power and not getting caught thing. Quickstrike meanwhile has become mates with a kittypet. The two have been friends since kithood and to help quickstrike hide his mate (this RC is more chill abt kittypets because of the whole Riverstar was kinda a kittypet thing but they PREFER your mate join the clan. Paw in two worlds all that jazz) she proposed they fake being mates. Heronstar and quickstrike met Beans, Quickstrikes mate, when they were all apprentice aged so she likes him too. Anyways quickstrike didn’t know abt the whole killing people thing since heron brought orchid to BC territory to kill her so she could frame BC. Around the time Monarchpaw was apprenticed quickstrike overheard a kittypet talking abt orchidstar and began to investigate the kittypet rumours over the course of monarchs apprenticeship he found everything out about the murder. Heronstar assumes he found out because of beans and through Charsongs advice kills the kittypet (rip beans you were a real one). Quickstrike is like ‘what the fuck you killed my husband’ and kills heronstar as revenge the end.

You seem like you want to talk about your OCs

HNGNHGHGN YEAH I HAVW SO MANY DO U WANNA HEAR ABT THE TRAUMATIZED TEEN WHO WAS FORCED TO BECOME THE LEADER OF HER CLAN BECAUSE OF HER PSEUDO MOMS DEATH OR THE FOX WHO ACCIDENTALLY KILLS HIS BROTHER

#there’s also some irrelevant side characters who have stories #my favourite is cottontail #the nonbinary white cat #with a big cotton tail

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izayoichan · 5 years ago

Photo

He opens the door, a chuckle from River making him smile as the silence of the house takes over. The only real sound is the low sound off the TV from the living room, where he sees Hayle sit with two pets sleeping on him. He takes River with him into the kitchen where he starts gathering ingredients.

“Can I help in any way?”

River looks at him as he starts, Rylan looking back, a smile on his face when he saw River watching him, pondering what he can do, then realizing he should, of course, decide what he wants on top of the pizza.

“Well how about you check in the fridge for something you'd like on it other than the white sauce I'll make, if not it will be white sauce... oh yea, you can choose a cheese, we have a few to choose from.”

He smiles and goes back to making the dough, kneading it together before he lets it rest a little before he will make it into that round form that it needs. River walking over to the fridge takes some ham and notices three different kinds of cheese that have piqued his curiosity on taste. As he comes back, he sees Rylan shape and forms the pizza into a small round one, putting down the ham and the three kinds of cheese.

“You want to use all three? I mean it would be a three-cheese pizza, which sounds fancy.”

He chuckles as he starts on the white sauce, making sure to add very little of the spices he would normally add in it to make sure it would fit River’s taste buds.

“Which one tastes better? We can use that one.”

River smiles gently, leaning at the counter and just watches him work. Surprised at how skilled he has become and how easy he is making it look. Rylan looks at the cheeses, taking the one he knows is the mildest of the tree.

“This is the mildest one, the other two have a more sharp taste, why don't you cut a small piece of each and taste, see what one you want?” “So Vy taught you? Why?” “Yeah, Vy taught me and my dad, I think for me it gave me something to do, and it helps Vy when he is too tired to cook on top of healing my brother. Also, after a while, it became kinda fun. I mean after I stopped cutting my fingers and burning the food.”

River breaks a piece of one of the cheeses, tasting it carefully, grimacing making his nose wrinkle in a way that makes Rylan smile.

“Wow! This one burns on the tongue! Like a tiny salame! Keeping your mind occupied?” “You can mix them too if you want, that way it will be a little less bland, but without too much taste... “

RIver looks away stealing another bite of another cheese, enjoying the taste of this one a bit more though still a bit strong. He turns off the heat under the sauce he is making waiting for River to decide.

“Yeah, when I cook I need to focus on what I am doing, follow a recipe and so on, and that stops the mind from thinking about everything else.” “About what?”

He gives the second mildest to Rylan, having quite enjoyed the taste. In reality, he wants Rylan to tell him how everything has been, what thoughts have been on his mind, everything. Rylan taking the cheese and a grater, grating some before he puts it all together on the pizza bottom and puts it in the oven.

“How you were doing, what you were doing, if I still had a brother… “

He sighs and goes quiet for a while, still not all that willing to go into any detail, not wanting some silly panic attack to ruin things.

“Some idiot at work, and well I guess how my parents were holding up if Vy was okay….”

River listens to him, noticing he is still holding back, just touching the very surface of things, but never going into any detail. He reaches out a hand and gently caresses his cheek.

“If I stay tonight, will you tell me everything? Will you open your heart and spill it all, so at least you don’t have to carry everything alone?”

Rylan looks at him, staying quiet for a while. The “price” of having River stay is tempting, but the panic attacks are not.

“You know you can stay here, right? Not just for one night, but as your home?”

He puts his hand on top of the one River still has on his cheek. Wanting more than anything for him to stay, to live here just like Vy did. It would be good for what his master had tasked him with too.

“And I can try, it tends to trigger... well what you saw some off earlier today.” “Only if you're comfortable with it... But I have a feeling you have been holding a lot inside. Am I wrong?” “You’d get your own room… just like Vy has, not that he spends much time there but he has it.. And you're not wrong, It is how I tend to handle things, and if it hadn’t been for Hayden’s endless nagging to talk to him it would probably have been worse than what I am now.” “There's a lot you didn't tell me on the daydreams, that you could but chose not to. And I imagine why... but... Why didn't you tell me?”

He takes Rylan’s hand and gives it a gentle kiss, wondering just how much he has on his mind, just how much he is carrying on his shoulders. Rylan quickly casting a look at the pizza before he looks back at River.

“I didn't tell you because I was afraid it would make me panic, and I didn't want to worry you with any off it, including my silly panic attacks. Mostly, I didn’t want the dream to break, like the first time.” “I still worried, And I worry that all this time you have been carrying pain and suffering on your own.” “I... I just thought that if you got my problems to worry about, it might take even longer for you to come back... Silly maybe.”

He gets distracted by the ding the oven makes when the timer is up, quickly taking out the pizza, placing it on the bench, taking the pizza cutter and cutting it into slices.

“And now, you will be the judge of my pizza skills!”

River presses his lips to a thin line. Maybe if he had known what was going on he'd been less obtuse with his master, he would have given in earlier and be out of there sooner. He couldn't push back the guilt, the guilt that even though he had gone to them, angry at their verdict, he had decided to act like a tool and fight morgyn every step of the way until he figured out what he was really doing. How he was hurting the one person he had promised not to. he looks at the pizza.

“Yes, I get to judge it now and I can’t wait.”

Rylan hands him a slice of the pizza he has made, sitting down on a stool next to River, curious as to what he would think about it.

“So do I pass?”

Beginning - Previous - Next

#Rylan Ward #River Silversweater #the ward legacy #making pizza #also known as the perfect time to talk #about heavier topics #and of course taste different types of cheese #if nothing else making food for river is something that he will enjoy doing #and he will learn to handle spices better #so it's a good thing #at least I think so #hayden kept his promise to River #he stopped him from emotionally shutting down #and yes #River has been fighting his mentor a lot of the way #which is why things took tie #not that I can blame him much #it was a very harsh judgment #and huge slap in the face

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starpeace · 2 years ago

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Opinion/thoughts on each of the members of the raid team Cassian's with? I really like that they're all quite different in terms of personality & appearance!

hiii okay i saved this ask bc i wanted to answer it properly. there were a lot of characters introduced in a short span of time so i thought i'd rewatch carefully and put together a few thoughts and guesses on each of them! i also realised while checking their names that they have databank entries with extra canon information, which i've added in brackets in case you want to skip information external to the show

vel sartha - luthen has this line to her—“you wanted to lead? this is what it comes to!”—which i think makes it pretty clear this is her first time leading a mission. that also shows in the way she's a little sensitive to criticism, i think. willing to yell at luthen over changing the plan so late, but doesn't bat an eyelid at lying to the team or the idea that cassian is disposable. not completely subordinate to luthen. she won’t take orders without a fight, and he might not give her much choice, but he is visibly relieved by her “yes”. she has in depth practical & historical knowledge of the area, and consistently refers to the sacred nature of the valley and the river. (databank describes her as “above all else” a survivor, always on the move, willing to sacrifice herself and her relationships for the mission.)

karis nemik - the “soft” one. he fell asleep on watch; the imminent danger of their situation maybe hasn’t clicked yet. states openly he is willing to believe in cassian because he wants to believe in cassian. the model of the garrison was clearly made by him. his contributions to the plan discussion are mainly corrections on minor statistical details, or most obviously when he offers an overly complicated more scientific description of the eye. the others roll their eyes at both his softness and his corrections, but it’s amused in more of a fond way rather than particularly dismissive or callous. (youngest and least experienced member of team confirmed. a gifted astro-navigator.)

arvel skeen - obviously the most experienced rebel. tougher, older, familiar with doing ugly work under big names like saw gerrera. his experience shows in the way he simply states a problem he sees rather than questioning his superior outright. he’s taken something of a mentoring role with nemik but refuses to cover for him, insisting he take responsibility for his own actions. (has spent time in tough imperial prisons and is seeking revenge.)

cinta kaz - the team medic. practical and brisk. gives orders to cassian rather than making requests, offers a quick “apologies” for the lack of pain meds but doesn’t waste time over it. least vocal, especially on the matter of cassian, neither questioning vel’s decision to take him nor supporting it. shares an amused glance with gorn when nemik over-explains. (“cold, steely”, “deceptively young and small”, uses the advantage of people underestimating her to cause maximum damage.)

taramyn barcona - carries heavy weaponry even when not on watch and can sense cassian has “got brass”; battle history? quickest and loudest to question vel. gives cassian the datapad of information to learn overnight. (i was right abt the battle history! he's a defected stormtrooper with “invaluable” inside knowledge. he's chief of operations for the team and plans their strategy.)

lieutenant gorn - their man on the inside. i don’t want to trust him because he has a cape and that’s a bad sign in star wars, but such is the nature of disguise, so i’m giving him a pass. he insists that he, personally, should have been consulted about cassian, and vel agrees. since he’s been here as an imperial for seven years, i'm guessing that he’s the most integral to the mission and has the most on the line. he doesn’t trust cassian because he doesn’t know him, implying he does know the rest of the team pretty well, which is carried through by them not being intimidated by him when he’s angry, and the amused glance he shares with cinta over nemik. vel passes over to him to explain the eye so i’m guessing he’s the only one who’s seen it, and he obviously has a deep appreciation for the spectacle. (nothing particularly we don’t already know except to confirm his appreciation for the native culture of aldhani, not shared with his imperial colleagues.)

of course all this information will be pointless if they’re all dead next week lmao but it’s nice to have and it really confirms the point i made about andor putting the Most effort into every single minor character, especially because the databank confirmed all my guesses so i know i’m not coming up with this stuff from nothing. the only thing that strikes me as odd is that they’re all human but i guess that’s just to match the local population. anyway i love them

#andor spoilers #vel sartha #lieutenant gorn #taramyn barcona #cinta kaz #arvel skeen #karis nemik #long post

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lunar-wandering · 3 years ago

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petals for two

finally, here it is. the Shadowpeach non-fatal Hanahaki AU the people have been waiting for.

Word Count: 13k

Read on Ao3

Bajie and Wujing found Wukong kneeling down by the river.

Again.

For the third day in a row.

"...Elder brother?" Wujing asked, watching how Wukong's back and tail stiffened. "Are you...okay?"

"...Just peachy..." Wukong said, but the way he said it was quiet, wheezy, and entirely unconvincing. Bajie quirked an eyebrow.

"Really? Because that's what you've said the last two times now." He said, crossing his arms with a healthy dose of suspicion on his face. "That last fight was pretty bad- y'know it would be pretty unwise of the 'Intelligent Stone Monkey' to be hiding an injury-"

"I said I'm fine!" Wukong snapped, turning around to glare at them with firey red eyes, his fur bristling with anger.

There was a pause, Bajie and Wujing both falling silent as Wukong continued to glare at them-

And then Wukong's hand flew to his mouth, as he turned back around to face the river, his body shaking with muffled coughs. Both Wujing and Bajie rushed to his side, concerned-

Only to freeze as they saw the purple petals slipping through Wukong's fingers, falling into the river and floating downstream. There was a moment of silence, broken only by Wukong's wheezing breaths.

And then they were both kneeling beside him, Wujing rubbing comforting circles on Wukong's back, while Bajie pulled the Monkey King's hand away from his mouth, letting the petals fall freely.

Wukong, surprisingly enough, let them do this, and the three of them quietly watched the petals float away, vanishing as they went around the riverbend.

If Wujing and Bajie noticed the tears running down Wukong's face, they didn't comment on it.

"...I'm sorry." Is what Wujing chose to say, in a soft murmur.

"It's fine, I'm fine." Wukong whispered, for a whisper was all his throat could manage at the time. "I'll be okay."

They all knew he was trying to reassure himself with his words more so than them.

When the three of them returned to their makeshift camp with an apology and a half-baked excuse, Tripitaka barely batted an eye.

Bai Longma, however, stared at a stray petal clinging to Wukong's outfit with a look of knowing.

Miles away, in a cave hidden by shadows, a figure leaned against the cave wall, one hand steadying himself while the other covered the fresh wound to his eye, petals falling out of his mouth as he cursed whoever decided that love could be unrequited.

Hanahaki. The disease of unrequited love.

Or, well, as it was known nowadays, the disease of pining.

Originally, when people were first discovering the disease, they thought it to be only born out of feelings that could never be reciprocated.

As it turns out, that simply wasn't the entire truth.

Overall, about 20% of Hanahaki cases reported end up being due to unrequited love.

The other 80% are due to people who simply, for one reason or another, refuse to confess.

As was recently discovered, about a century or so ago, the one true cure for Hanahaki is to look your beloved in the eyes, and say; "I love you."

As you can imagine, not many people have the courage to do that.

Luckily, the disease has never truly been fatal more than it was a slight hindrance. There even exists some medicines and teas that can reduce the effects of the flowers, although using them comes with its own ballpark of side effects.

Anyways, to make a long story short, MK wasn't surprised to end up meeting someone currently suffering from Hanahaki.

He just hadn't been expecting it to have been the Monkey King.

It hadn't really been obvious at first. Hanahaki will sometimes wither slightly when distanced from whoever the afflicted person has a crush on, but it never really takes much to send the flowers into full bloom again.

MK didn't actually hand out with Wukong a lot, and even when he did, it was only for training, something Mk restlessly focused on in the hopes of getting better at being, well, the Monkey King's successor.

Which was why, when during one of their rare breaks, Wukong froze in shock when MK actually asked him a question (one that, for once, wasn't about training).

"...Monkey King? Do you have any friends?" MK asked.

"Sure I do!" Wukong lied, "Why do you ask?"

"Ah- well-" MK stuttered, staring down at the ground in front of him as he seemed to ponder how to phrase his next sentence. "You just seemed... lonely, I guess."

"Well, I'm not, since I do, in fact, have friends, so. Yeah." Wukong said, crossing his arms as his tail slowly swung back and forth nervously.

"Are your friends from now or before?" MK asked, tilting his head in curiosity. "Actually, did you even have friends before?"

"...Before?"

"Before the Journey to the West." MK elaborated.

"Psh, of course I did!" Wukong said, "Y'know, I was even friends with Demon Bull King back then- you wouldn't believe some of the stories I have about him..."

MK had, in fact, already known about Wukong and Demon Bull King having been friends. Tang had been more than happy to bring that up, multiple times.

But what MK really wanted to know was-

"Was there anybody else?" He asked.

"Of course there was! For example, M-" Wukong started, but very quickly cut himself off, the light in his eyes dulling slightly. MK winced, sensing that he'd somehow stumbled upon a sensitive subject.

Before he could apologize though, Wukong suddenly tensed, before turning and starting to walk away.

"Uh, I'll be right back, I just need to check on the younger monkeys for a moment, okay?" He said. It was an excuse that was easily seen through, but MK couldn't bring himself to mention it.

Similar situations kept happening.

Sometimes it was understandable, like when Wukong would take a second or so to throw a smile back on his face (a smile MK was starting to recognize as fake) whenever MK brought up the subject of the Journey to the West.

Other times, however, it was a little confusing. Like, for example, when after an unspoken kitchen incident, MK had worn a purple jacket to training. (Mei had let him borrow it from her, since his yellow jacket was still in the wash, due to the Kitchen Incident That Shall Not Be Named).

As soon as Wukong had seen the purple jacket, he'd froze, before hastily turning away and running back inside his little house, claiming to have forgotten something.

MK had taken the jacket off and stuffed it into his bag by the time Wukong returned.

It was only after the Macaque fight that things became clear.

They'd been silent, watching the sunrise, and MK had started to doze off, leaning on his mentor's shoulder as he slowly started to fall asleep.

...Only to be jostled back into awareness as Wukong's shoulders shook with barely muffled coughs.

"Are you okay?" MK asked, lifting his head off of Wukong's shoulder and staring at the Monkey King with thinly veiled worry. Wukong leaned away from MK's gaze, a hand still covering his mouth.

He was too busy coughing to give a good response.

"If you broke a rib or something and didn't tell me I'm not going to be very impressed." MK deadpanned. Wukong shook his head 'no' in response, hand still over his mouth despite the fact his coughing fit had already died down. "Well, what is it then?"

MK waited as Wukong seemed to internally debate with himself.

And then the Monkey King slowly removed his hand from his mouth, revealing the petals that he had confined within his palm.

"Oh. Oh!" MK said, realization striking him as the dots connected in his mind. "Oh, you have terrible taste."

"I know..." Wukong groaned, placing his head in his hands, not caring about how this caused some of the petals to stick to his face and fur. MK giggled a little over how silly his mentor looked, Wukong glaring at him and sticking one of the petals onto his successor's cheek in response. MK made a noise of disgust as he wiped the petal off of his face.

Far away from the two of them, Macaque stumbled back into his dojo, nursing a new injury, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and holding crushed flower petals in his fist.

Well. Wukong could officially say that he'd never been in a situation like this before.

Tangled up and dangling from the Spider Queen's spiderweb, Wukong tried to distract himself from the feeling of being trapped, unable to move.... by doing his best to observe his surroundings.

There... sure were a lot of other demons here. He couldn't figure out if it was good or bad that he didn't recognize most of them.

Wait.

Wukong looked around the room again with narrowed eyes.

Could Spider Queen have also taken-

No.

Wukong couldn't see him anywhere, not to mention that the other monkey had always been concerned with his own safety first and foremost. He'd probably scrambled to get out of town at the first sign of trouble. Wukong wasn't going to find Macaque in here.

He wasn't sure why he'd even looked.

...And there was that warm, tickly feeling in the back of his throat again.

Wukong squirmed, trying to ignore the sensation for as long as possible. He even started humming, his go to method for repressing the petals, but it barely worked, and a small dose of panic started to overtake him. He had no way of covering up the petals that would come, his arms and hands pinned at his sides.

He would not let Spider Queen or the rest of her crew find out about this, not to mention....her.

(If the Lady Bone Demon found out about his Hanahaki... well, she already has enough leverage as it is. Wukong isn't about to hand over any more.)

And then there was Demon Bull King. Wukong wasn't entirely sure how his old friend, (ex-friend, he reminded himself), would react, and honestly he wasn't too keen on finding out.

Still though.

The flowers always win in the end.

Wukong did his best to duck his head into his shoulder, and hoped it would be enough as his chest was wracked with coughs.

The Demon Bull King was many things, but he was not, in fact, stupid.

He had been quick to notice the growing panic on Wukong's face, (really, the monkey hadn't even tried to hide it, either due to being lost in thought or because he thought nobody was paying close enough attention to notice), and had decided to watch and see what the Monkey King would do next.

He hadn't expected Wukong to turn his head to the side, doing his upmost best to silence his coughing fit.

He'd expected the flower petals even less.

"You, of all people, haven't gathered up the strength to confess?" Demon Bull King asked, startling Wukong right out of his coughing fit. "I did not take you to be a coward."

"I take offense to that." Wukong wheezed, a few more petals falling from his mouth as he spoke. "Besides, I remember you taking forever to confess to Princess Iron Fan-"

"I'm not the one who held my words in long enough for them to take root and bloom." Demon Bull King said, "Who is the object your affections anyways?"

"None of your business." Wukong said, once again squirming within the confines of the webs. Demon Bull King raised an eyebrow, before glancing down at the petals now littering the floor. The flowers typically would hint at who the afflicted had a crush on, but Demon Bull King was too far away to be able to tell what flowers the petals belonged to.

If he were to hazard a guess though...

"The Six Eared Macaque?" He asked, proceeding to find great amusement in how Wukong's fur stood on end, panic flashing on his face. "Ah, so I'm right then-"

"Shut up." Wukong hissed, his eyes flashing red. "Seriously, shut up. You can't tell anyone else about this-"

"Tell someone- I see flowers aren't the only nonsense your mouth spits out." Demon Bull King said. The red glow faded slightly from Wukong's eyes, as his expression shifted to confusion, with a small dash of hope.

"You... aren't going to tell anyone?" Wukong asked.

"And loose the precious blackmail material you have graced me with? Of course not!" Demon Bull King laughed, and Wukong sighed, sensing that somehow this would come back to bite him later.

Wukong forced his suitcase shut, trying to ignore the niggling feeling of guilt as MK stared at him, unimpressed. Okay, so maybe 'going on a vacation' wasn't the best excuse to use, but Wukong couldn't afford to waste any time coming up with a better one.

He was ready for MK to be worried about training.

He wasn't ready for Mk to be worried about him.

"...Will you be okay?" MK asked, "I mean, you seem to not want anyone to know about your Hanahaki, but if you're with friends then you'll be surrounded by other people at all times, so-"

"Oh, it'll be fine." Wukong said, waving MK's concerns away. "Besides, if the flowers act up, I'll just rip out my lungs."

"Please do not do that!" MK said, the horrified look on his face making Wukong chuckle.

"Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad." He said, "I've done it before."

"That does not make it better!" MK said, looking like he was about to start ranting, and Wukong took that as his cue that it was time to go.

MK pushed the exit door open, stumbling a little as he rushed into the alley way.

"Ugh- why did you do-.....that......" He said, voice trailing off as he registered that the alley way was empty.

Well. Seemingly empty.

One quick check with his true sight later, (he wasn't going to be falling for any tricks again), and MK was holding a dumpster over his head, revealing the shadow monkey that had been crouched down, hiding behind it. Macaque glanced up, his scarf covering his mouth and his fur bristling in shock as MK set the dumpster off to the side.

"So much for you having been a great warrior, huh?" MK said, crossing his arms and staring down at Macaque with an unimpressed expression.

"Uh- ah, so you figured that out, did you? Maybe you aren't as dense as you look." Macaque said, voice slightly raspy, as he stood up, trying to pretend he wasn't just hiding behind a dumpster-

Only for his scarf to slip down a little, allowing some golden flower petals to fall out. Macaque made quick work of snatching them out of the air, crushing them in his grip as he hid them behind his back, tail swishing nervously, but it was too late.

MK had seen.

"...Oh. Oh!" MK said, feeling torn between screaming in frustration or laughing in amusement over what had just been revealed to him. "Oh, you have terrible taste."

"...I have no idea what you're talking about." Macaque said, sighing and breathing out a few more golden petals as he did so, completely unaware of how much this revelation had shaken MK's already very delicate mental state. "Seriously. I don't even know where you got the idea that I'm in love with someone or something like that, because I'm definitely not."

"I never said anything about you being in love." MK said, starting to lean more towards being amused at this entire situation as Macaque stiffened, his tail stilling. "I just said you had terrible taste- maybe I was implying your whole 'performance' with the shadow play back in the theatre was simply lackluster."

"I take offense to that." Macaque hissed, his shadow growing slightly bigger as his tail once again started to thrash back and forth, this time in anger. MK ignored this obvious attempt at intimidation for another question that was on his mind, a much more pressing one, in his opinion.

"You still haven't answered my question from earlier, why did you do that?" He asked, watching as Macaque took a minute to process the question, having not expected the sudden subject change.

"....Why did I do what- Oh! Why did I break the lantern, you mean?" Macaque said, suddenly avoiding eye contact, his hand twitching like he wanted to grab hold of the edge of his scarf as he chewed on the corner of his lip, nervously rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. "Well, I was going to do the whole 'watch the hero get tormented by their inner demons and insecurities' thing like all the other villains, but you seem to already be doing that to yourself so- yeah. Didn't want to bother using my own expansive list of abilities when I could just lay back and watch the show you were already putting on for me."

"But I thought you wanted to be center stage, not in the audience. Y'know, because you want to steal the spotlight from Monkey King." MK said, raising an eyebrow as Macaque's hand finally grabbed the edge of his scarf, and he started fiddling with it nervously. "Or well, either that or you want to share a stage with him."

Something must have been brought to the forefront of Macaque's mind when MK said that, as suddenly he was turning away, using his scarf to cover his mouth as he coughed. MK remained standing in front of him, arms crossed, waiting patiently for the shadow monkey's response.

"I- I have no intention of shar- sharing a stage." Macaque eventually wheezed, pulling his scarf back down as he spoke so that he could be heard clearly. MK amusedly noted that he could see some golden petals peeking out from within the confines of the red cloth. "Not now, not before, and not ever."

"Ah, sure, keep telling yourself that." Mk said, staring pointedly at the flower petals.

Macaque flicked him on the forehead.

"Ow!" MK said, recoiling, a hand going to his forehead to try and numb the sting, his eyes closing reflexively as he leaned back. "Why would you do that for-"

MK paused, blinking bewilderedly, as he realized Macaque was no longer in front of him, seemingly having vanished entirely, having used MK's momentary distraction to fade away into the shadows, only a single left behind flower petal revealing that he had ever actually been there.

If MK had used his true sight again then and there, he would've found that Macaque was now resting on top of one of the nearby rooftops.

As it was though, his friends burst through into the alley way, prepped with questions he wasn't ready to answer.

(Later, Macaque would severely regret failing to remember to warn MK of the danger that was approaching him. But that would be later, and now he fully intended on sneaking back into the theatre to retrieve his shadow lantern...)

Life on the ship honestly wasn't all that bad. Sure, MK had lost all of his powers, and there was the ever looming threat of the Lady Bone Demon, but ignoring all of that important stuff?

Life on the ship was actually rather nice.

"You know what? I think I could actually get used to living like this." MK said, leaning against the railing of the ship, letting the wind rustle his hair. Wukong hummed in agreement, sitting on the railing beside his successor.

"...When all this is said and done, we should take a vacation." He said, "A real vacation. Together this time."

"Can I bring my friends with me?" MK wasn't so sure he could handle leaving the others behind after everything that had happened.

"Sure, go right ahead, if that's what you want." Wukong said, shrugging. MK visibly brightened, and an idea struck him.

"Oh- and you could bring your friends along too, you know, the ones I haven't met yet!" He said, and Wukong stiffened.

"....Uh.... about that..." He started, and MK's smile fell, replaced with a mixture of disappointment and concern.

"...You lied about the whole 'having other friends' thing, didn't you." He said, looking his mentor up and down before rolling out another accusation. "You're far lonelier that I thought you were."

"...Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, Kid." Wukong said, a sad, half-hearted smile on his face. MK tried to come up with a response, either a joke or maybe some comforting words (how do you even comfort an immortal, who has been through so much and had probably heard everything you could possibly say?)-

Only to be completely distracted as the ship was heavily rocked by something crashing into it. MK's grip tightened around the steel railing, steadying himself as he heard the others rush up to the deck, shouting in confusion. Out of the corner of his eye, MK could see Wukong scramble to keep himself from falling over the side of the ship. (Which MK had to admit was... strange. Wukong had his whole cloud sail thing, he could fly, why would he be concerned about falling off?)

The rocking stopped, the ship steadying itself, and MK could smell smoke. Cautiously and slowly, he turned around, mentally preparing himself for the possibility of an attack, brought about by the Lady Bone Demon or one of her 'followers' (demons, that she had entranced to think that they were getting a good deal out of this, when in reality all she was doing was using them, with the full intent to throw them aside once they had served their purpose).

MK expected the broken bits and pieces of another, smaller ship, some parts still burning (and really, they should deal with those fire before they became a bigger problem. Sandy seemed to be running to get the fire extinguisher, so hopefully there wouldn't be any fire induced explosions today).

What he hadn't been expecting (but in hindsight, really should have been), was to see Red Son, standing in the center of the debris, nervously dusting the dirt off of his jacket, with Macaque laying face down on the deck behind him.

Red Son was having a very long day. Or, well, it had been about three days, really, but that wasn't the point here.

He brushed the remaining ship debris off of himself, making himself more 'presentable' while also purposefully prolonging the amount of time he could go without meeting the questioning gazes of MK and his friends.

Catching sight of the monkey still laying on the ground behind him, he turned and nudged Macaque with his foot.

"You really aren't making a good impression here." Red Son hissed, under his breath, knowing that the other's exceptional hearing meant that he could easily hear him.

"There truthfully isn't a good impression to be made." Macaque said, voice muffled by both the deck and his scarf, as he continued to lay face down, making no move to get up. "Not to mention, I'm feeling a little... singed, at the moment. Not everyone is as fire proof as you are, you- you hot headed fool."

The shadow monkey had, overall, been a great help in escaping from the Lady Bone Demon's dungeons, but Red Son wasn't past the point of kicking him in the side. Hard.

Macaque yelped in pain, curling up a little as though to shield himself, but continued to not even try to get up.

Red Son was unfortunately stopped from kicking the monkey again as he was tapped on the shoulder. Turning around, he found himself face to face with MK and Mei, their expressions completely neutral.

"Ah- Hello, Noodle Boy, Dragon Girl." Red Son said, politely nodding to each of them, trying to ignore his own nervousness (he did not feel like getting thrown off a ship today, thank you very much). MK and Mei said nothing, and Red Son began to wonder for a moment if crashing into their ship twice was somehow crossing a line.

But then both of them smiled, and Red Son braced himself just in time as Mei tackle-hugged him, MK laughing as he watched her do so.

"Wow, you really don't have much luck with vehicles and driving, on the ground or in the air, huh?" MK said, pushing a piece of debris from the miniature ship Red Son had flown in to the side with his foot. "Seriously, it's a wonder you ever managed to pass a driving test with skills like this."

"A driving what?" Red Son asked, immediately regretting it as both MK and Mei fixed him with a look of complete and utter horror.

"Oh heavens." Mei breathed, her grip on Red Son's shoulders growing almost uncomfortably tight. "You entered a race without knowing how to drive."

Too loud.

It was far, far too loud.

Still though, it was much better than being trapped down in the Lady Bone Demon's cold, dark, and desolate dungeons.

Or, at least, that is what Macaque thought to himself, even as he subtly pulled his scarf up over his ears, trying and failing miserably to block out the rumble of the engine, the hiss of the fires from the remains of their ship, the hushed whispers from Tang, Pigsy, and Sandy, and the trio's argument about Red Son's apparently non-existent drivers license.

(If he had known Red Son had never really, truly learned how to drive, Macaque wouldn't have let him pilot their escape ship.

...Albeit, Macaque himself wasn't all that much better, having had no idea as to what over half of the buttons in the ship were actually for.

Still though, he would have at least tried to land a perfect landing, instead of going all out on making sure they, quote, 'crashed in style', like what a certain hot tempered demon did.

Seriously Red Son. What the fuck.)

It took a few more minutes of laying there, trying to block everything out, before he realized that, over the roar of the engines and the trio's arguing, he couldn't hear where Wukong was.

...Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Macaque stiffened as a warm hand landed on his shoulder, its grip alternating between being soothing soft and threateningly tight.

"...Macaque?" Wukong's voice asked, and Macaque felt the unfortunately all too familiar twinge in both his chest and throat.

Ah. It was definitely a bad thing then.

Wukong pulled his hand back as Macaque abruptly stood up, stumbling away from him and towards the side of the ship. For a moment, Wukong genuinely wondered if Macaque planned to just jump off the ship, despite the fact that they were thousands of miles above ground.

But Macaque simply grabbed hold of the railing, leaning slightly over it, his shoulders shaking.

"What's the matter, are you sea sick already?" Mei asked, noticing Macaque's movement. "Or, wait, would it be air sick? Meh, it's probably the same thing..."

Macaque gave no response other than raising his hand to flip her off, which simply made her cackle like a mad man. Wukong would've walked right on over to him and smacked the shadow monkey for the rude gesture-

That is, if he hadn't been already preoccupied with covering up the petals his concern for the other had caused him to start coughing up.

Unseen by either of them, MK glanced back and forth between the two monkeys, seeing how Wukong tucked the petals into the pocket of his shirt, and spotting a few golden ones fluttering away from Macaque, carried by the wind. MK sighed, ignoring how Mei and Red Son, the two closest to him who had noticed his reaction, looked at him in confusion.

It was going to be a really long trip.

Macaque stirred a bowl full of cake mix, deeply lost in his thoughts.

You see, being stuck in a ship, thousands of miles up in the air, surrounded by people, especially MK and the others, was a very stressful situation to be in. And unlike back at his dojo, Macaque didn't exactly have any training dummies to take said stress out on.

So, he naturally defaulted to another, less violent technique.

Stress baking.

Macaque had waited patiently in the shadows until Pigsy had left the kitchen to join the others up on the deck, and then had promptly taken over the entire room.

...He wasn't sure why he decided to make a chocolate cake though. He had really just been going through the motions, using the first thing he saw or what was directly in front of him, not feeling like putting in the effort to really search for anything else.

Well, at least thus far only MK had stumbled upon him like this, and the Monkey King's successor had been easily chased away by a purple glare and a hissed threat.

'...Although...' Macaque thought, stirring slowing down slightly as he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, approaching him. 'Maybe saying that I was poisoning everything in the kitchen wasn't the best choice of threat.'

He very nearly dropped the bowl when Wukong entered the room.

"So." Wukong said, leaping up onto the counter and sitting down, cross-legged. "Poison, huh?"

Well. He might as well go along with it. No use in changing his excuse now.

"Yep." Macaque said, taking the spoon out of the bowl as he gestured at the room. "I'm so one hundred percent done with all of you, so I have decided to poison all of you. Finally get rid of the noise, have a bit of peace, you know?"

As he said this, he made the mistake of putting the spoon within Wukong's reach.

The Monkey King, spurred by nothing but his own impulsivity, leaned forwards and casually licked the edge of the spoon.

Macaque pulled the utensil back at record breaking speeds (he avoided putting it back into the bowl, he knew far better than to do that) and proceeded to stare at Wukong with the most offended expression he could manage.

Wukong completely ignored it.

"Your 'poison' happens to taste an awful lot like chocolate." He said, taking a glance around the kitchen, noting all the ingredients on the kitchen island, before looking Macaque up and down. "...Stress baking?"

"Poison." Macaque corrected, glaring at the other as he got a new spoon to stir with. "I'm making poison."

"...Poison for yourself, maybe." Wukong said, looking thoughtful, "If I remember right, you can't eat chocolate, can you?"

Macaque didn't bother to grace him with a response, instead turning his back to the other monkey, continuing to mix more ingredients into the bowl. It was blessedly silent for a while, but-

With Wukong sitting right behind him, watching his every move, even stress baking wasn't able to help Macaque relax.

Not to mention the flowers in his chest that were once again begging to make themselves known.

Macaque forced the flurry of emotions and petals back down as much as he could. He flicked an ear, listening behind him.

Wukong was still there. Why was he still there-

Macaque slammed the bowl down on the kitchen island, barely avoiding chipping it, and taking brief pleasure in how he could hear the Wukong's breath catch, before the Monkey King descended into a small coughing fit, probably from surprise at the shadow monkey's sudden movements. Macaque turned back around to face Wukong, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so.

"What do you want from me?" He hissed, his tail swishing back and forth from agitation. Wukong's tail swished too, but Macaque could tell that his was a sign of nervousness.

"Ah, oh nothing." Wukong said, his hands behind his back as his legs swayed back and forth over the counter. "Just making sure you don't actually decide to poison anything."

"If I had poison, you and I both know that I would have used it already." Macaque said, "I don't even think there's anything I could even use as poison on this ship."

"...Point taken." Wukong said, leaning forwards and resting his chin on his right hand.

(He kept his other hand tucked in behind his back. Macaque did pick up on Wukong seemingly acting suspicious, but was far too focused on trying to get the Monkey King out of the kitchen to actually think much of it.

Something that Wukong was extremely grateful for, as it gave him the time to actually hide the crushed flower petals in his palm within one of his pockets.)

"Um, so uh, how do you know if the kid and the others are all okay?" Macaque asked, deciding to try a new tactic of getting Wukong out of the kitchen, hoping that the Monkey King's stupid over-protectiveness would prompt him to leave the room, which would let Macaque finally bake in peace.

"Oh, I left a hair clone with them." Wukong said, and Macaque slumped, his hopes dashed. "...Say, on a different subject, how do you know if it tastes good?"

"Huh?" Macaque asked, befuddled for a moment before remembering the cake bowl on the table behind him. "Oh- the cake? Well, I don't know really, usually I just sell it or something... Not that I really do this often, mind you! This isn't- I don't- I'm- wait. You want to taste test it more, to get free samples, don't you?"

Wukong simply gave a non-commital shrug, but the smirk on his face gave his intentions away. Macaque sighed wearily, before pulling a smaller spoon out of a nearby drawer with his tail, scooping a bit of cake batter into it, and tossing the spoon at Wukong, mentally willing the utensil to hit the Monkey King smack dab on the forehead.

The utensil, unfortunately, did not, in fact, obey Macaque's wills, as Wukong caught it with ease, and started licking the cake batter off of it, his tail wagging happily.

Macaque bit the inside of his cheek, nearly drawing blood as he used the pain to push the flowers in his throat back down, a light blush dusting his cheeks as he realized just how... cute the other looked in the current moment.

...No, nope, absolutely not-

Macaque spun back around, throwing himself entirely into the task of mixing the last of the ingredients together, and doing his upmost best to ignore the monkey sitting behind him.

Wukong's incessant humming was absolutely not helping in any way shape or form.

Things continued on, Macaque making the cake and occasionally tossing a batter covered spoon over his shoulder so that Wukong could taste it.

(Macaque silently told himself that he was doing it in the hopes that Wukong would become satisfied and leave, already-

But, deep down, he knew it was just because he liked seeing the other monkey happy.)

Macaque dumped the cake batter into a pan, setting the now empty mixing bowl off to the side before shoving the pan into the oven, and setting a small timer.

When he looked back over to where he had placed the mixing bowl, fully intent on washing it and proceeding to use it to make some icing, the bowl was gone.

"What the-" He started, looking around bewildered, before realizing what must have happened.

Sure enough, Wukong had the bowl on his lap, and was using a spoon to scrape the remaining cake batter out of it, to eat.

"...It's not like you were gonna use it anymore... right?" Wukong asked, almost looking sheepish as he realized Macaque was staring at him, and he curled around the bowl protectively.

Macaque glared at him, using his magic to make his eyes flash purple and make the room grow slightly darker.

"Get out of my kitchen before I retract my truce card and cash in on punching you in the face." He threatened.

Although the threat didn't hold much weight (Macaque would probably end up breaking his hand punching Wukong before he could ever hope to actually injure the other) Wukong still scrambled to get out of the room, taking the bowl and spoon with him as he went.

As Wukong rushed pass Macaque in his haste to leave, their tails lightly brushed together.

And that was the last straw for Macaque, who, once he was sure the other was gone, hurried to turn on the sink to cover up the sound of his coughing.

'..........Stupid monkey....' Macaque thought, leaning over the sink and watching flour and flowers go down the drain.

MK found Wukong in the hallway, with petals falling out of both the Monkey King's pocket and his mouth. He seemed to be spacing out, lost within his own thoughts.

He was still carrying the mixing bowl.

"...So I take it you didn't confess to Macaque?" MK asked, sounding almost disappointed.

"What- no- why on Earth would I confess?" Wukong asked, snapping out of his reverie. MK merely shrugged in response, but mentally he cursed.

'I was so sure that baking together would settle this whole mess once and for all.' He thought, watching as Wukong balance his bowl in one hand and softly rubbed a spot on his tail with the other. 'I guess it's back to the drawing board...

....Maybe the others would have some ideas?'

"How to get someone with Hanahaki to confess?" Tang asked, setting his book to the side. "MK, you know that's not really a thing you can force, I mean, look at how long it took Pigsy and I-"

"I know, I know, the both of you have told me about your confession, and how long it took to get there, multiple times." MK said, rolling his eyes. "But like, this is worse than you guys, which honestly, before now I didn't think it was possible, but. This has been going on for centuries."

"...I feel like there's a majorly important piece of information I'm missing here." Tang said, leaning forwards with renewed interest. "Who, exactly, has Hanahaki?"

MK paused, debating for a moment on whether or not he should actually tell him.

But, well, it was kind of obvious, and he seriously needed help getting the two of them together, so-

"Monkey King and Macaque." MK said, before adding, for clarification; "Both of them have it. For each other."

"Oh. Oh, that makes so much sense." Tang said, sounding as though pieces of a centuries old puzzle had magically connected right before his eyes. "...I'm sorry though, I can't help you."

"...Oh. Okay, I'll just ask someone else then-"

"However. I am not opposed to starting a betting pool."

"Hanahaki? Why would I know anything about Hanahaki?" Red Son asked, sounding oddly nervous as MK stood in the door way to his room. "...Why are you even asking me about it anyways?"

"Because Monkey King and Macaque have been pining for centuries, even back during the Journey to the West if the stories from Mei's great grandfather are to be believed, and while I've only been witness to a small portion of it, and I guess it's kinda been amusing, I am so done with it, like-" MK waved his hands around in frustration. "Why won't they just confess already?!"

"...I'm....sure they have their reasons." Red Son said, "What... did Mei say, about this, exactly?"

"Oh, she just laughed when I told her about it, and then cemented her place in the betting pool." MK said.

"There's a betting- Noodle Boy, why didn't you start with the betting pool?!"

Red Son had, in fact, already known about Macaque's Hanahaki.

That kind of thing was a little hard to miss when you're locked up in a cell with someone for an extended period of time.

Finding out Wukong also had Hanahaki came as a little bit of a surprise (though, really, now that he knew about it, it was kind of obvious, but as they say, 20/20 hindsight-).

Outside of making bets though, Red Son was mostly content to just sit back and watch the two monkeys stumble around each other. Sure, he did think their inability to confess made them cowards, but.

At least MK was too wrapped up in his frustration over the monkeys drama to notice the fire demon coughing up smoke and petals behind him.

Wukong slowly sneaked into the room, as quietly as he possibly could. Staying low to the ground, he tip toed over to the shelf, cautiously reaching up-

Only for someone to grab a hold of his hand, stopping him from reaching his prize. A nearby lamp flicked on, and Wukong looked up to see Sandy intently staring down at him.

"...Hi." Wukong said, laughing nervously as he slipped his hand out of Sandy's grip. "Um. I totally wasn't sneaking around or anything, I was just... sleep walking?"

"...I see." Sandy said, reaching over and taking one of the tea tins off of the shelf. "In that case, this one right here will do wonders to improve your sleep-"

"Ah, oh, no thank you, it's fine, I can handle it." Wukong said, subtly scanning the shelf of teas, slumping slightly when he couldn't seem to find the one that he wanted. Upon seeing the monkey's dejected face, Sandy sighed.

"Is this what you were looking for?" He asked, pulling a tin of tea out from behind his back. Wukong looked at it in shock.

"How'd you-" He started.

"It was just a lucky guess." Sandy said, setting the tin in Wukong's waiting hands. "Use it sparingly though, I'm running a little low on supplies right now. Oh, and be careful with the side effects, okay? Stop taking it if anything seriously bad starts to happen."

"...Thank you." Wukong said, pocketing the tea tin and turning to leave Sandy's room.

"Oh, one more thing." Sandy said, causing Wukong to pause mid-step. "The next time you try sneaking around in the dark, use a stronger glamour over your eyes. The glow seriously gives you away."

"...Duly noted."

It smelled like smoke.

That was the first thing Macaque noticed as he stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the storage room. Immediately, he tensed up, his fur standing on end. After all, where there was smoke, there was usually fire as well. And although Macaque would never, never admit it... he wasn't exactly the most... fond of fire.

(A capture hero, trapped and unaware.

A burning mountain, the air choked by smoke.

And an abandoned warrior, trying desperately to escape the mountain's flames.)

But... Macaque couldn't hear any of the noises that usually accompanied something burning. Instead all he could hear was someone's slightly irregular heart beat, and their wheezing breaths.

Macaque forced himself to walk forwards, curiosity starting to over power his caution.

He rounded the shelf of boxes just in time to see Red Son cough out more smoke, along with a few burnt petals.

Macaque paused, knowing the other had yet to actually see him, as he pondered what to do next. His hands twitched towards the edge of his scarf, but he kept himself frozen.

On the one hand, he could just turn around and leave before Red Son could even notice him. As was said before, Macaque was truly not very fond of fire, and despite having spent at least two days trapped with the fire demon, Macaque hadn't really gotten over his general...wariness of him.

On the other hand though, now that he'd seen the other demon, Macaque's curiosity was peaked.

...Well, they say curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, so-

"Who's it for?" Macaque asked, chuckling a little to himself as Red Son startled, finally noticing the other's presence.

"What?" He asked, looking at the shadow monkey in shock and confusion.

"Your Hanahaki." Macaque elaborated, "Who is it for, Mei or MK?"

Red Son remained silent for another moment, blinking in confusion, before the question, along with what was currently happening, seemed to register within his brain, and a furious blush over took his face, a few sparks flying off of him.

(At the sight of said sparks, Macaque took a hesitant step back, glancing around for anything that was possibly flammable.

Red Son was far too wrapped up within his own emotions to notice the monkey's anxiety.)

He sputtered for a moment, struggling and failing to come up with a proper response.

"...Both. It's, It's both of them." He eventually muttered under his breath, avoiding eye contact with Macaque as he shyly rubbed his arm.

"What was that? Sorry, I didn't hear you the first time, could you say that again?" Macaque said, not at all surprised by this new development and instantly deciding that now was the perfect opportunity to mess with the fire demon.

"You damn well did hear me and we both know it." Red Son said, shifting from flustered to angry in the blink of an eye.

...Macaque outright laughed at hm.

"Oh, oh, like you're one to laugh." Red Son said, "I know all about your thing for Monkey King. You're in the same boat as I am, both literally and figuratively."

"...Okay, first of all, we are in an airship, not a boat." Macaque said, leaning 'casually' against a wall of supply boxes. "Secondly- I have literally no idea what you're talking about."

"Why haven't you confessed yet?" Red Son said, moving on with his line of thinking and completely ignoring the shadow monkey's denial.

"Conf- I, I could ask you the exact same question!" Macaque said, caught off guard before pulling himself together and recovering. "Why haven't you confessed?"

"I, am simply waiting for the right time. I'm planning a big romantic gesture, I'll have you know." Red Son said, "You, on the other hand, are simply being a pining idiot."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Macaque denied yet again, a slight growl making it's way into his voice as his eyes flashed purple.

Red Son wasn't impressed.

"Your pitiful attempts at denial and intimidation have little to no effect on me." He said, "Seriously, just admit that you're in love with Monkey King already. Pretty much everyone else already knows about it."

"...I won't say I'm in love."

"Do not start the random musical numbers again, you already did it far too many times when we were trapped together in that cell, and if I have to bear one more minute of it I will not hesitate to toss you overboard."

The tea was bitter.

Very bitter.

Still though, it tasted leagues better than weed killer, which had been a not very well though through experience that Wukong never ever wanted to repeat.

And the tea worked better too, repressing, the flowers better than humming or the previously stated weed killer ever could.

Still though, there was a reason as to why Wukong had never opted to try this method before.

Said reason, of course, being the side effects.

He sighed, staring at how there were now purple flecks within his red eyes. Nothing that his usual glamours couldn't cover, but his magic was dwindling fast. He would have to start cutting a few corners soon if he didn't want to end up completely and utterly powerless, and the glamours concealing his height and eye colour would probably end up having to be the first ones to go.

Other than that though, it was concerning that the eye colour change was happening so soon, not to mention the speed at which it was progressing. A change in eye colour was the most common starting side effect of repressing Hanahaki, after that... things start to tend to become strange and rather unpredictable. The list of side effects caused by repressing Hanahaki was miles long, and was always having new things added to it- the reaction seemed to always depend on the person.

Basically, Wukong had literally no idea of what the side effect would be for him, nor how he could prepare for them.

And, of course, this meant he wouldn't be able to know how to hide them either.

When Wukong woke up the next morning and found that his eyes had already turned fully purple, a faint sense of unease settled itself over him like how a morning mist settles in a forest. He supposed he should've expected this to happen quick, he was repressing thousands of years of pining after all, but still, he hadn't been expecting it to progress this fast....

He felt fine though, nothing different than usual. (He did feel a bit weaker, but that had already been happening before the tea. No, that was something else.) For a moment he wondered if his immortality had made him completely immune to any possible side effects, but immediately shot that idea down, as if that had been the case, his eyes wouldn't have changed colour at all.

Wukong exited his room, throwing his usual glamours back on just in case, and made his way to the ship's kitchen as quietly as possible, he'd awoken a bit earlier than usual this morning, and didn't want to accidentally wake any of the others up.

Warming up the kettle and taking the tea tin out of the pocket (he sadly noted that it was almost empty already), he carefully followed the instructions on the side of the tin, not wanting to mess anything up and risk the tea not working.

A few minutes later, and Wukong sat at the kitchen table, spacing out a little as he slowly sipped his Hanahaki Repressing Tea.

He was starting to almost fall asleep in his chair when Pigsy entered the kitchen.

"Morning." Pigsy greeted, looking Wukong up and down with a mix of worry and suspicion. "You're not usually up this early, is something wrong?"

'No, I'm fine, perfectly fine.' Was what Wukong wanted to say.

Instead though, no sound left his mouth at all.

Oh.

Oh shit.

It wasn't every day that someone say Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, speechless.

Today, however, seemed to be one of the days where he was.

Pigsy watched as Wukong's mouth clicked shut, panic briefly flashing across his face before being replaced with an easily recognizable nervous smile as the monkey drew his tea cup closer to himself, as though to hide it. Pigsy rolled his eyes, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from Wukong, immediately noticing how the monkey avoided eye contact entirely.

"Experiencing the side effects, huh?" Pigsy asked, "Don't give me that surprised look. Even if Sandy hadn't told me about you taking the tea, you're being rather obvious right now."

Wukong visibly winced at that, sipping his tea again.

"How exactly do you plan to get through the day without being able to talk huh?" Pigsy asked, leaning forwards slightly. "Surely you must have some plan prepared."

Wukong started to shake his head no, to show that he didn't, in fact, have any plan here, but then he paused, looking thoughtful.

A sudden pang ran through Pigsy's mind, and he gripped the sides of his head, looking down at the table as he winced, trying to collect himself, feeling as though he'd been set off balance.

"-an you hear me?" Wukong's voice was faint and echoey, before growing stronger. "Can you hear me? Hello-"

"Yes I can fucking hear you." Pigsy said, looking back up, and proceeding to be almost shocked (but at the same time really not) to find that there were now two Wukong's sitting across from him. The new Wukong was obviously Wukong's golden astral projection form, as it perfectly matched how MK had described it.

Or well, it almost matched perfectly...

"Oh, good." Wukong said, via astral connection, "I wasn't sure this would work, but since it does I can just talk to the others like this-"

"Does this form of yours normally look like.... well, that?" Pigsy asked, interrupting.

"...What?" Wukong took a moment to analyze his astral form.

Unlike MK's description of it being 'Monkey King but in gold, like a shiny pokemon', Wukong currently had three tails, one pink, one red, and one purple. Said colours were also splashed all over his astral body, almost giving him a sunset-like appearance.

"...Huh. That's new." Wukong said, "I guess the side effects go deeper than I thought."

"Is this something we should be more concerned about?" Pigsy asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, no, it's fine. At least, it's far better compared to everything else. Maybe. Probably." Wukong said, the nervous smile on both his real self and his astral self growing slightly bigger.

"...Everything else? Probably?" Pigsy questioned, sitting up straighter with worry.

"...Ah, you weren't meant to hear that part." Wukong said, wincing. "Which I suppose that means it's time for me to go-"

"Hey, wait-" Pigsy started, but didn't manage to get any words out as Wukong abruptly closed the astral connection, before standing up and leaving the room faster than the other could ever hope to follow. Pigsy sighed as he caught the barest glimpse of Wukong's tail going out the door.

That damn monkey was definitely going to need a serious intervention one of these days.

"Monkey King this is an intervention." MK said, crossing his arms as he tried to do his best impersonation of one of Tang's infamous glares. He assumed he failed miserably, given Mei's muffled snickering, but Wukong at least shrunk down sheepishly, so he must've been doing something right.

MK sighed as a pang ran through his head, having expected it- before blinking in shock at the astral image that now stood before him.

"Why do I need an intervention? I'm perfectly fine." Wukong said, both his real self and his astral self smiling nervously- and the three other astral copies of him mimicked the motion. One was pink, one was purple, and one was red. They were each surrounded by a faint golden glow, and were each connected to the main golden astral version of Wukong by their tails.

"You- you are definitely not fine!" MK shouted, still having not recovered from the shock, and wasn't given any more time to try and process what he was seeing as the three bonus Wukong's started speaking.

"Shit." The red one hissed, frustration in his voice. "Fuck." (MK blinks, shocked to hear any version of his mentor swear, and immediately decides to smack Wukong on the arm the next time his mentor tries to reprimand him for swearing.)

"At least he's learning how to read people better, now he won't get tricked as easily." The pink one said, sounding almost....proud?

"I won't be able to trick him anymore either- He's catching on. He's starting to catch on now-" The purple one said, panicked. "I need to lie, lie lie lie-"

"Once again, I don't know what you're talking about." The golden, normal Wukong insisted, seemingly ignorant to the existence of the others.

MK had, of course, set up this intervention to talk about how Wukong tended to repress his emotions, (specifically those concerning a certain shadow monkey), but he definitely hadn't been prepared for... whatever all this is.

"Are you fucking seeing this?" He asked Mei.

"I'm not seeing shit." Mei said, wrapping her arm around MK's shoulder and lightly knocking their heads together, as though doing so would transfer the images that MK was seeing into her own brain.

"Language." All four astral Wukong's said, in perfect unison, and MK reached over and smacked the real Wukong on the arm for his hypocrisy.

The hastily put together intervention steadily went downhill from that point forwards, Mei complaining about not having been let in to the Astral Connection, and Wukong closing said connection the instant that MK had revealed the existence of the astral copies to him. The Monkey King had left the room rather swiftly after that, and MK sighed, for what seemed to be the millionth time since he'd found out about his mentor's Hanahaki.

He would have to do a much better, and much more well put together intervention next time.

Wukong ended up running out of tea the next day.

On the one hand, this was a good thing, as it meant he would only have to wait a day or so for the side effects to finally wear off, and he could go back to actually speaking again.

But on the other hand, this meant that he'd be back to coughing up flowers again, much, much sooner than he would like.

Wukong sighed, leaning against the railing of the ship, watching the sunset. He could probably jump off the ship and find the materials needed to make the tea himself, but without his cloud sail, it would certainly cost him precious time.

Time that he currently absolutely could not waste.

So he resigned himself to what would have to happen, and tried to mentally prepare himself for the flowers that would return within the next twenty four hours.

.....For some reason, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched....

In his many years of having known Wukong, Macaque had never seen him be quiet.

But he sure was quiet now, leaning against the ship railing, peacefully watching the sun as it dipped below the horizon.

(The fading colours of the sun reflected perfectly off of Wukong's fur, covering the other in golds, red, purples, and pinks, and overall making him look really pre-

No, nope, Macaque absolutely could not think about that right now, if he started coughing up flowers here and now it was sure to be noticed, and he absolutely couldn't have that happen.)

Macaque really wanted to consider the silence a blessing, finally, a break from the seemingly endless amount of chitter-chatter-

But instead, he couldn't help but feel worried.

Sliding back down to hide behind the crate he'd been sitting on before Wukong had come out onto the deck twenty minutes ago, Macaque lightly chewed on the edge of his scarf, thinking.

Option one: he waltzes over there, throws on a Perfect Smile, and asks Wukong what's wrong. Maybe he could even throw in a jab or two, or say it sarcastically in order to hide his very real concern.

Option two: he sneaks past Wukong, reenters the ship, and hides out inside of his room until he feels confident enough that these stupid emotions have passed.

Macaque was just deciding on option two- when the shadows surrounding him shifted.

Glancing up, he found that Wukong was now holding the crate the shadow monkey had been hiding behind over his head, and was staring down at him, unimpressed.

"...Hi?" Macaque said, letting the edge of his scarf fall out of his mouth and glamouring away any sign that he'd been chewing on it in the first place. "Um. Fancy meeting you here?"

If possible, Wukong's unimpressed look deepened.

"I was- I was here first, I'll have you know." Macaque said, hurriedly standing up, brushing non-existent dirt off of his clothes. "I don't really appreciate you encroaching on my personal space."

Wukong's expression did not waver, but he did set the crate down to the side, so at least Macaque no longer had to worry about having it be thrown at him. Still though, Wukong continued to stare, so maybe he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"So uh, what's with the whole silent act, huh?" Macaque asked, trying his best to be nonchalant about it. He hoped the response would be something meaningless, like a silly little bet or something along those lines.

He didn't expect to receive no verbal response at all, with Wukong's expression shifting away from unimpressed to something Macaque immediately identified as nervous.

Which....probably meant that this really was something to be concerned about.

Which probably also meant that asking any more about it would eventually result in some kind of long, emotional talk, which absolutely was not Macaque's forte.

...Well, he'd been planning to go with option number two from the beginning, so-

"Welp, this was a nice talk." Macaque said, "But, unfortunately, I have some other stuff that need to be tended to so.... bye!"

And with that, Macaque awkwardly flashed a peace sign, before falling down into the shadows, reappearing within the comforts of his own room. Deciding that he'd definitely had enough for one day, he crawled into his bed, pulling the covers over his head and trying his best to banish any thoughts of Wukong from his mind as he fell asleep.

He'd tried to sleep.

Really, he'd tried.

But after his third petal coughing fit of the night (courtesy of his brain refusing to forget how beautiful Wukong looked in the light of the sunset), Macaque gave up.

Which was why he was currently sitting on the couch, staring at the shadows on the wall, letting his mind play tricks on himself, making it seem like the darkness was moving.

He startled when he heard the sound of someone walking down the hallway.

Macaque wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been up for, but something told him that it was still far too early for even the early-risers to be up and about.

It was at the exact moment that someone sluggishly entered the room that Macaque remembered his glamours were down, and he tensed, knowing it was far too late and that he was far too tired to throw them on now.

He relaxed ever so slightly once he realized that the one who had entered the room had seen him glamourless multiple times before.

...Still though. What was Wukong doing up so late?

"...Got nightmares? I hope they're all about me." Macaque said, almost instantly cringing at the words coming out of his mouth, wanting to take them back and shove them into whatever sleep deprived corner of his mind they had come from.

Funnily enough though, Wukong didn't react at all, there wasn't even a small twitch of the ear or tilt of the head to even indicate that the other had even heard him.

There was a beat of silence, and Macaque chewed on the edge of his scarf, distracting himself from the awkwardness of it all by focusing on the sounds of the ship at night.

The beeping of the autopilot, the whir of the engines, the quiet sleeping sounds of the others, Wukong's steady, slow heart beat...

His.... slow heart beat...

"Oh" Macaque breathed, his voice partially muffled as he still had part of his scarf in his mouth. "You're sleep walking."

A contradictory mixture of concern and relief flooded through him at this realization. For a moment he just sat there, watching as Wukong continued to sluggishly make his way around the room.

And then Wukong bumped into the edge of the coffee table, and Macaque got up in record time, ready to catch the other if he fell-

Only to pull himself back as Wukong righted himself, still fast asleep. Macaque sighed, sitting back down on the couch. Why had he even been worried? There was literally nothing to worry about here, Wukong was literally invulnerable, he'd be fine. This was fine.

He rescinded that thought when Wukong suddenly turned, slowly but surely making his way towards Macaque. The shadow monkey watched the other's approach warily, stiffening when Wukog clumsily crawled onto the couch beside him.

Macaque stayed as still as possible, practically frozen, and partially hoping Wukong would get back up and sleep walk his way back to his own bed.

That, of course, didn't happen, and Macaque barely bit back a gasp, the edge of his scarf falling from his mouth to rest on his lap, as Wukong's tail found and curled around Macaque's own.

'Okay.' Macaque thought, feeling the flowers surge within his chest, as well as a faint tingling sensation covering most of his body (it had been a while, since he'd had any positive affection). 'Okay. I can handle this.'

And then Wukong leaned against him, his head resting on Macaque's shoulder.

'I can not handle this.'

When Wukong woke up in the early morning, the first thing he noticed was that he was not, in fact, in his bedroom.

'Ah. I slept walked again.' He thought, wincing, slowly pushing himself up. '...At least I didn't collapse in the middle of the hallway or inside of MK's room this time...'

The second thing he noticed was fabric sliding off of him, landing in a pool on the floor.

Leaning over and picking it up, he instantly identified it as Macaque's scarf.

He'd. Been sleeping while curled around Macaque's scarf.....

Almost immediately, he started coughing, purple petals falling from his mouth.

'Well. There goes the last effects of the tea.'

(When Macaque opened his door later on in the after noon, he would find his scarf sitting on the floor in front of him, perfectly folded.

He would find a singular purple petal within it upon unfolding it, but immediately dismiss it as being unimportant.)

"Why is it a forest, why did the engine need to malfunction and land us in a forest." Macaque complained, laying in the shadow of a tree, staring up into the branches as though the tree would give him an answer.

"Hey, it's better than a mountain." Wukong said, setting down a glass of lemonade beside the other monkey, before turning to hand another one off to Tang. (Pigsy had, for reasons unknown, made Wukong act as his waiter for the day. Nobody was quite sure why, and from the way Wukong glared whenever the subject was brought up, they figured it was best not to ask). "Can you hear how MK and the others are doing though, they've been gone for a while..."

"Why don't you just use your cloud to go check on them?" Macaque groaned, but still did what had been asked of him, tilting his head to the side, listening intently. After a moment, he was able to pin point the trio's voices. As for what they were saying....

Macaque smirked.

"They're fine." He said, "Although, they might be another few minutes before they come back."

When the trio came out of the forest wearing flower crowns, Macaque mentally cheered.

(After somebody with Hanahaki confesses, the flowers need somewhere to go. Usually they simply pop out of the ground around the person who has confessed.

It was a popular tradition to make and wear flower crowns using said flowers if your love was reciprocated.)

"Oh, did Red Son finally confess?" Tang asked, "We've been waiting on that for like. Ever."

"Oh heavens- Was I the only one who didn't know?" MK said, hiding his face in his hands.

"Oh no, I don't think Monkey King here knew either." Sandy said, lightly patting Wukong on the head. Wukong had been adorned with a look of utter shock since the trio had returned, but now he finally broke out of his surprise, and before the trio could even think to move, Wukong had grabbed hold of them, lifting them up a little in an excited hug.

"Oh my gosh- I'm so happy for you!" He said, only putting them down as Red Son started struggling. "We've- we've gotta throw a party- Pigsy can we throw a party-"

Macaque rolled his eyes, blocking out the current party planning, going back to staring at the sky through the tree branches.

"...Macaque."

Macaque looked over to see Red Son standing beside him.

"...Yes?" Macaque asked.

"...I'm braver than you are."

"What the fuck does that mean-"

Of course, Wukong had ended up deciding that they couldn't have the party on the ship. For some reason or another, he was utterly convinced that this party had to be big, which, of course, meant that there had to be a large space to hold it in.

...Had the situation been different, he would've brought everyone to Flower Fruit Mountain.

As it was, he found the next best thing.

"How the fuck did you know about my family hide out?" Red Son asked, watched as Wukong knocked three times on the door.

"You forget I was friends with your father, Red Boy." Wukong said, sending Red Son a smirk. "Oh, and watch your language."

The rest of the group stood slightly behind them, some of them prepared to run away if, somehow, this went awry.

Luckily enough, they didn't have to worry. Demon Bull King and Princess Iron Fan took the fact that Red Son was now dating his former enemies surprisingly well, and were fully willing to let them use the base to hold a party.

Wukong, surprisingly enough, ended up being the one to regret the decision to come here, the realization that maybe he had made a mistake hitting when Demon Bull King grabbed him by the back of his scarf, lifting him into the air. Wukong went slack immediately, knowing that struggling would be futile.

"The rest of you can keep sorting things out." Demon Bull King said, "I would like to have a few.... words with the simian."

And with that he turned, walking out of the room and bringing Wukong with him.

Demon Bull King entered a smaller room, reaching and closing the door behind him as he did so. Unceremoniously, he let go of Wukong's scarf and let the monkey drop down to the floor. Wukong let out an 'oof' as he hit the solid concrete.

"Ow." He hissed, glaring up at Demon Bull King. "Ya could have been a little more gentle there, Bull King."

"You can handle it." Demon Bull King said, "Now, onto the real matter of business. You haven't confessed yet, have you."

"What? Oh, is that what this is all about- I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about." Wukong said, laughing nervously. Demon Bull King stared down at him, unimpressed.

"So I'm right, you really still haven't confessed." Demon Bull King sighed, "Really, I expected better from you. Oh well, I suppose it is a good thing that my son is braver than you, not that that's very hard."

"Ouch." Wukong said, slightly jokingly. "You...really aren't pulling back your punches today huh."

"You trapped me under a mountain. I can be permitted to throw a few heavy hits." Demon Bull King said, "As it is though, if you do not confess sooner rather than later, you may miss your chance."

"Huh?"

"Do not make me out to be a fool, Sun Wukong. I can see the way your body grows weaker." Demon Bull King stared pointedly at a scrape Wukong had gotten on his hand when he'd been dropped onto the floor. Wukong, following the other's gaze, hid it behind his back. "You can't hide it from me. A month ago that fall would've been nothing to you. The Lady Bone Demon has affected you more than you're letting on."

"...So what if she has?" Wukong asked, "It's fine, it doesn't really mean anything, my powers will come back to their full strength sooner or later, you know."

"When I carried you, you weighed a little heavier than you used to."

"Hey now, don't go making comments about my weight!" Wukong said, letting the glamour on his eyes drop so that he could give Demon Bull King the red-eyed glare. "Seriously, I don't know what you think you've figured out, but just, drop it, okay?"

"...If that is what you wish." Demon Bull King sighed, opening the door and standing slightly to the side in order to let Wukong through first. "Promise me one thing though, for the sake of our old friendship."

"...Of course."

"Please confess before the time runs out."

"I'll... I'll try."

The party had been great.

In fact, the party had been spectacular.

Which was why, of course, that merely a week after the party, their luck seemingly ran out.

One of the Lady Bone Demon's 'followers' attacked the group during a supply run. Somehow, someway, Wukong and Macaque had managed to draw it away from the others, giving the rest of the group ample time to get the ship loaded and get everyone to a safe place.

Now all the two monkeys had to do was find a way for themselves to escape.

Macaque ducked under a wave of magic, glancing over at Wukong, hoping that the other would have some kind of plan.

He could immediately tell from the look on the other's face that he did not, in fact, have any sort of plan.

Macaque kept dodging as he watched Wukong impulsively take the offensive, sliding under a wave of magic, running up and jumping to kick the demon in the face- Only for the demon to catch him by the foot, spinning him around and tossing him. Wukong's back slammed against the mountain they'd ended up fighting beside, and he fell onto one knee for a moment.

And then he slowly stood back up, his fur messed up. He used his sleeve to wipe some blood away from the corner of his mouth, his eyes burning red and oh-

Oh, that was kinda hot-

Macaque immediately cursed letting himself get distracted, as the flowers grew in his chest, and he stumbled, wheezing as a few golden petals fell out of his mouth.

A wave of magic hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground and sending him skidding over to where Wukong now stood.

"Shit- are you okay?" Wukong asked, keeping one eye on the demon, who simply watched them in slight amusement, as he helped the shadow monkey back to his feet. Macaque glanced between the demon and Wukong, feeling the flowers in both his throat and his mouth.

Fuck, he wouldn't be able to win this fight if he stayed like this, in this state.

...Which only left him one option.

Taking only the barest of seconds to prepare himself, Macaque grabbed a hold of both side of Wukong's face, ignoring the monkey's confused squeak as he made sure their eyes met.

"I love you." Macaque said, a single petal falling out of his mouth.

"...I love you too?" Wukong said, confusion and shock filling his face.

"Wait, what?" Macaque asked, but was given no time to question it as the demon seemingly had enough of waiting, and threw a whip of magic at them, the two monkeys having to separate from each other and leap to different sides in order to avoid the attack. As the dust from the attack settled, Macaque locked eyes with Wukong again, the Monkey King's face coloured with a blush, looking shocked, and Macaque was sure the expression was reflected on his own face.

"You love me too?!" He asked, sliding to the side, to avoid another attack.

"Yes!" Wukong shouted, backflipping out of the way of a burst of flame.

"Then why did you say it as a question?!" Macaque asked, slowly making his way back over to the other monkey while avoiding the demon's attempts to hit him at the same time.

"I don't know, why did you confess in the middle of a fight!?" Wukong asked, mirroring the other monkey's movements.

"It seemed like the best option!" Macaque said, leaping over top of another magic whip, spinning around and finding himself back to back with Wukong. "I- I didn't really think it through."

"And people say that I'm the impulsive one." Wukong muttered, deflecting a beam of magic away from them with his wrist.

"I heard that." Macaque hissed, turning ever so slightly to glare at him.

"I know." Wukong said- before turning and knocking Macaque to the ground, just in time for a blade to go sailing over top of them. "When did he get a scythe?!"

"How should I know?!" Macaque asked- before his ear twitched, and he grabbed Wukong's shoulders, rolling the both of over to the right, swapping their positions as the ground where they had previously been suddenly broke apart, a spike rising out of it. Both of them stared at it in shock, before glancing back at each other.

"Well, there's one thing that I think we both know." Wukong said, as Macaque stood up, pulling Wukong to his feet along with him. They both turned to glare at the demon. "And it's that we're starting to get real sick of this guy."

"...You know, I hear that there's a solar eclipse coming up." Macaque said, and Wukong immediately smirked.

The demon sent another blast of magic, and, still holding hands, the two of them stepped to the side, Macaque even taking things one step further, twirling Wukong as they dodged the blast, before pulling away, giving the Monkey King a small bow before falling down into the shadows. Wukong, smirk still wide on his face, turned to face the demon with a determined look.

Running forwards, swiftly moving left and right to stay out of the way of the demon's attacks, Wukong got himself right up in the demon's face. Jumping, he flipped backwards, hitting the demon in the chin with his foot as he did so, before landing on his feet slightly further back than he'd been before.

The demon rubbed his chin, eyes blazing with anger, and Wukong laughed.

"C'mon, is this the best you can throw at me?" He taunted, practically dancing out of the way of the spikes that shot out of the ground at him. "Surely you can do better than this!"

The demon growled, not seeing the trap for what it was, summoning his scythe and charging forwards. Wukong stayed where he was, smirk still firm in place on his face.

When the blade was almost close enough for Wukong to taste the tang of the metal, the shadows in front of him shifted.

Macaque shot up from the shadows, with a spear made out of the darkness, easily blocking the demon's attack, his eyes glowing purple as he stepped forwards, shadows still trailing and swirling around his feet as he forced the demon to take a step back.

The demon grit his teeth, so focused in trying to keep Macaque advancing any further- that he failed to notice as Wukong slid beside him, his eyes glowing red as he took power away from his glamours and channeled it into making sure this punch was the last one.

The strike hit, and Macaque stepped back, his fur rustled by the wind as the demon was sent flying past him, slamming into the mountain, hard.

The two monkeys stood there for a moment, panting, staring at the demon's prone form.

A minute passed, and that was all it took for the two of them to confirm that the demon was not going to be getting back up.

A sigh of relief left the two of them, Wukong falling down to sit on the ground, while Macaque slumped, leaning against his spear as the two of them took a moment to finally relax.

Only to jump as a field of yellow chrysanthemums and purple, flowering wisterias appeared around them.

The two of them stared around themselves in shock for a moment, Macaque dispelling his spear as he sank down to the ground beside Wukong. A breeze flew by, knocking loose a few petals, mixing yellow and purple together.

"...You know, I can't decide if these flowers are hilariously late or perfectly on time." Macaque said, and Wukong laughed.

"Say, who do you think has more flowers for them?" He asked, and the both of them took a second to think about it, looking out over the field. Wukong abruptly stood up. "Why don't we make some clones to help and find out?"

Macaque laughed, standing up and summoning his own shadow clones as Wukong blew on a few of his hairs, and they went to work, counting flowers.

...In the end, they ended up giving up after the third recount also ended up in a tie.

When the two of them finally returned to the ship, adorn in matching flower crowns, MK took one look at them, a brief expression of shock flickering on his face, before he fell backwards onto the couch, a strangled laugh escaping him.

"Fucking finally!"

#Monkie Kid #shadowpeach #fanfic #my writing #non fatal hanahaki au #this took forever

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