#and like. some cathedral i want to say. can’t remember | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

stemwriter · 11 months ago

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Pursuit of Knowledge - Chapter 4

Summary:

[Y/N] continues Act II of Mondstadt, finds out the worst thing about not having the ability to control time at will, and, along with Kaeya, takes a well deserved rest. What's something else that happens in Act II?

That's right! The Diluc trial run. Still, even that should be "normal", right?

Completion of story recommended: Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises (Sumeru Act V), Shenanigans and Sweet Wine (Kaeya hangout)

Also on Ao3 under StemWriter!

Word count: ~8k

You were part of the story now, weren’t you? No matter if the world your avatar was in was made from earth and sky or 1’s and 0’s, you were influencing it regardless. At this point, it’d probably be best to just go with the flow, but you had been thinking about what major event you would want to change, and you really hoped everything would stick to the script long enough to enable you to do that. Even if it meant you would end up upsetting people by hiding things from them.

The four of you hung around in the tavern for a bit just thinking, until Venti finally said to you, “Ah, [Y/N], it should be getting close to time now. Shall we get going?”

You looked at your phone to see the time. It was about 15 minutes past 6pm. It was time. “Oh- right, yeah, we should!”

“You two have somewhere to be? Since Kaeya and I have nothing more to talk about up here, I suppose I can go do other things. If you need me, I’ll be working the bar for a while.” Diluc said, crossing his arms.

“Everyone’s leaving already? Well then, I’ll be taking my leave as well.” Kaeya said, heading towards the stairwell.

He hung around for a second, seemingly expecting someone to say something, then left.

“Come on [Y/N], let’s go! Our prize is waiting for us!” Venti tried to make it sound like you weren’t about to try to steal a divine artifact, and become wanted criminals.

Oh right, you were going to see Diluc again after this! You should probably give him a little hint on what’s going to happen.

“Alright, we’re going to go now.” You walked up to Diluc, and began whispering. “Hey Diluc,” He looked at you. “I promise it wasn’t us, it was the Fatui.”

He looked at you in confusion.

“You’ll get that later. Anyway, bye~” Your tone sounded a lot like Venti’s at the end there. You sighed internally when you thought about that.

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“Alright fortune-teller, what’s going to happen?” Venti asked, eager to get a response from you. For some reason, it almost seemed like he already knew, and was just asking you to see what you’d say.

“Well… We’re not going to get arrested, I can tell you that. At least, not if we do this right.” You didn’t want to tell him it wouldn’t work.

“Is that all you can tell me?” He whined. “Fine, let’s go in.” He pouted after saying that. “But you have to tell me more later! I want to see how much you know!”

You went back in the Cathedral with him, making sure to be quiet. He stayed behind while you snuck your way to the Holy Lyre. You made sure to be very careful there, assuming the guards were actual people, and not the dumbest A.I. you’ve ever seen in any modern game. You looked at their movements on your way in, and they… still seemed robotic. Were they still AI? They can’t be, right? You looked at the face of one of the guards, and while his face had a few more polygons than the NPC’s you saw in the regular game, he had a blank stare as he paced back and forth. That’s… something to think about later. You kept going through the basement, avoiding being seen.

During your attempt at burglary, you remembered your soundboard. You hadn’t used that in a bit, and you knew a good moment to use it again is coming up. You got that ready as you made your way through.

As you entered the room with the lyre, an Electro Cicin Mage steals it, and teleports out. Wow! What a surprise! Thankfully, you just got teleported out of the building too, because you weren’t sure you could go back through the basement without getting caught.

“We’re busted! Run!” You and Paimon said at the same time.

Venti looked a bit confused for a second before leaving with you to the tavern. You made sure your soundboard was ready.

*Benny Hill theme*

The goofy music was fitting, considering the wind tunnel things you assumed he made threw you into the huge statue in the middle of the plaza, as well as the roofs of several buildings. Your grand escape wasn’t very graceful, but you made it safely. As you busted into the tavern, Venti gave you a weird look.

Next thing you knew, you were talking with Diluc again. Right before you headed upstairs, you decided to remind him of what you’d said earlier about the Fatui. In the version you remembered, he trusted the Traveler enough to not turn them in, but you still wanted to make sure he didn’t turn you in here. You listened as two Knights rushed in.

“Ah, Master Diluc. Have you seen two thieves around?”

“...What happened?”

“Haven't you heard, Master Diluc? Two thieves were trying to steal the Holy Lyre!”

“Oh? How odd… any ideas on who the culprits could be? Fatui, perhaps?” He remembered. Yes!

“We don’t know, Master Diluc. One appeared young, was dark-haired, and dressed in a teal green, and the other was… blond. We’re putting up wanted posters now.”

You still didn’t know how they got so much from Venti and yet couldn’t describe Aether as anything else as “blond”.

“I believe they headed that way.” Diluc said, pointing out the door.

You went downstairs to talk to him, Venti running ahead of you. Diluc already seemed tired of Venti’s attitude, assuming he stole something. Not the Holy Lyre der Himmel, but a bottle of alcohol.

You forgot the Traveler and Paimon hadn’t met Diluc yet. Sure, you have, but they weren’t you. Thankfully, Diluc understood enough to where a quick “Ooohhh, right, they haven’t met you yet!” was enough to get the point across. He continued as you remembered, sneaking in an expected bash at the Knights at the end.

Diluc really didn’t like the Knights, huh? You understood that he felt that way because of trauma and stuff, but you wished he had a more… positive attitude about things like that. There weren’t any therapists in Teyvat, were there? Oh! New idea! Become the therapist. Were you qualified? Probably not. But at this point, anyone for these people to talk to would help. You sat back and listened to Venti’s stunning performance again, this time without the fancy cutscene to go with it. Diluc looked awe-struck, probably the same way you did when you first heard it.

You agreed to meet after midnight, when the tavern was closed. Great! Another six hours to wait! …That rhymed, didn’t it.

“Alright, I don’t really have anything to do, so I’ll probably just eat something and take a nap. Bye, see you later!” You said to them, leaving the tavern. You found a corner to log off, and left your bedroom to go “take care” of yourself.

Your eyes hurt a bit from looking at the screen for so long, and your stomach growled with hunger. You’d been online for a good 7 hours, and you only now realized just how much you needed a break. Well, time flies fast when you’re having fun! ‘Was all of that really fun though?’ You asked yourself, before immediately pushing that thought out of your mind to go eat a whole family-sized bag of potato chips. Self care!

You snacked before… gracefully falling asleep, yeah, that, on your couch for a nap that would end up lasting way longer than you anticipated.

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As it turns out, falling asleep on an uncomfortable couch after binging on junk food isn't the best for the human body. You woke up on the floor, nauseous, and somehow even more tired than when you fell asleep, and you decided to go in the bathroom just in case. You checked the time on your phone, and it was already close to midnight. Thankfully, the nauseousness went away and you didn’t have to get worried about getting sick at the worst time possible. You washed your face, and headed to your bedroom to meet the others in the tavern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before [Y/N] had left with Venti, they said something that Diluc had no clue what it meant until those Knights came running in, looking for the thief who stole the Holy Lyre. He had chosen to believe [Y/N] when they said they could basically see the future, and this only proved it more.

The question was no longer if they were telling the truth or not. It was how to proceed. He had some time to spare while they waited until the tavern closed. He needed to investigate this on his own. “It was the Fatui”, [Y/N] said. If that was so, then he should start where all the Fatui in the city seem to stay. He headed to the Goth Grand Hotel, preparing for a search for answers.

He hadn’t seen Kaeya at all. He was normally still out and about at this time. Did he actually wrap things up at a decent hour? Or was he up to something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Kaeya left the third floor of the tavern, he was hit with a wave of exhaustion. He was planning to stay in the tavern for a bit, and possibly wait for [Y/N] and Venti to do whatever they needed to, but he desperately needed rest. He left the tavern, beginning to walk to his room in the Favonius Headquarters. Wait, couldn’t he use the waypoint there? [Y/N] had taught him how earlier that day.

It was at the highest point, wasn’t it? He just needed to visualize the area, imagine himself there. Just feel it, and…

And there he was. He almost fainted from the sensation paired with his exhaustion, but he made it. He glided down to the door on the roof, and entered the building. It had been a long day, hadn’t it? He entered his room, took off the bits of armor he was wearing, and promptly passed out on his bed.

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He woke up in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason. Everything told him that he wasn’t supposed to be up right now, but he didn’t feel like he could fall back asleep. He sat up, and realized how bad he felt. He was drenched in sweat, his hair was a mess, and his eyepatch had shifted, making his right eye visible. He quickly adjusted it. There wasn’t anyone else in the room, right? …Of course there wasn’t.

After a quick shower, he changed into a clean uniform, minus most of the accessories. It wasn’t worth the time to put all of that on for the little he was planning to do. He figured he wouldn’t need it, since he could easily hold his own in a fight, should he get in one, but he decided to bring his Vision with him.

He left the building, being careful not to make too much noise, and realized he had no destination in mind. Had the tavern closed yet? Ah, it probably had, it’s not worth it. Is it? Again, something told him to just forget stopping by, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, right? He planned to stop by the tavern to see if it was open, and if it was, to get a drink before leaving the city. After that? You know what they say in Mondstadt:

“Let the wind lead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti couldn’t believe Master Diluc wouldn’t serve him any more alcohol, especially when he was going to be in the tavern, in a room filled with wine barrels for so long. He was alone now, so maybe he could sneak just one more sip without him noticing… But that wouldn’t prove he was trustworthy now, would it? And besides, he wasn’t that addicted to it to where he couldn’t go a few hours without it. For now, he just started to come up with his latest ballad to pass the time.

Or at least he was going to, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about [Y/N]. From the very beginning, they knew who he really was. At first he thought it was because they recognized his voice from when he helped them battle Dvalin, but they supposedly have knowledge of future events. He was wondering how much they knew, but they wouldn’t tell him much at all. It seemed like a weird way to phrase it, and they acted like they knew a lot more detail than he did, but if they really were telling the truth, were they too, aware of the s-

Venti heard Diluc open the door to the room on the third floor. He immediately looked around at the wine barrels, making sure they weren’t touched. Good thing he didn’t try anything!

“Ah, Master Diluc, you’re back! Any news on the Holy Lyre?” Venti perked up. He already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to get the conversation started.

“It’s not where I thought it may be, in the Goth Grand Hotel, but I… persuaded some Fatui members to tell me where it is.” He adjusted his left glove.

“Well then, are we only waiting for [Y/N] and the tavern to close now?” Venti asked.

“That, and I was thinking of contacting one more person to help us. I know it’s late, but hopefully she’ll understand…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diluc stopped by the tavern to close up and check on Venti, and quickly set out again to find some others who could help. It was getting close to time, but he should be able to get someone. Hopefully Jean wouldn’t be too preoccupied with her work…

He opened the door to leave the tavern, and saw Kaeya walking away. Had he not gone to rest? Kaeya turned around after hearing the door open, and looked at Diluc with that same smug expression as always.

“Diluc, you’re still here? And here I’d thought everyone left already… I came for a drink, but I won’t bother you if you’ve already closed up.” He started to turn back around to leave.

“Hold on. I haven’t put everything away, you can come in for a bit if you’d like.” He could help right? Even though Diluc didn’t exactly get along with him very well anymore, he couldn’t deny that he got things done when he needed to.

“Oh, where’s this hospitality coming from? Do you need something from me, is that what this is?"

“I think you’d be useful to us here. I’ll discuss it with you more inside.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diluc said he was going to contact people to help them, but Venti didn’t expect him to be back with help this soon.

He heard two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs, and then there were three in the room. The help he had found was Kaeya, who sounded almost… shy, like he didn’t feel like he should be there. When questioned about it, he got a little nervous and insisted it was just insomnia. From the looks of it, he thought he could cover up his emotions with clean clothes and perfume. Venti played along with him, changing the subject to what they were going to do next.

“So Diluc, where exactly did you say the Holy Lyre was?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You turned on your console, opened the program, and watched the celestial pathway for a while. It had been sitting there for quite a bit now, huh?

Verifying file integrity…

Why was that taking so long?

Almost as soon as you noticed it, it went back to its normal speed, and the doors appeared. It probably wasn’t anything to worry about, but it scared you at first. You thought your game finally realized something was wrong, and was just going to either fix itself, and sever your connection to this Teyvat, or ban your account.

If you remembered correctly, Venti, Diluc, and Jean should be waiting for you inside Angel’s Share. You knew Jean couldn’t hear you, but you wondered if she would notice your avatar’s robotic movements. Apparently, she didn’t back in the Knights headquarters, but who knows? Maybe she just wasn’t paying much attention.

You walked in to an empty tavern, but after a few seconds, Venti jumped down from the second floor, landing right in front of you. He looked around, and you made Aether jump a couple of times.

“The mysterious [Y/N] has finally returned! Ready to go? Master Diluc can tell you where we need to go. Or, perhaps you already know?” He said, smiling.

He wasn’t going to stop bringing that up until you told him every little detail, was he?

You sighed, and said “Yes, I know. It’s near Springvale, isn’t it?”

You had basically just woken up, so your voice didn’t sound the best, but you hoped he wouldn’t notice. Diluc came down the stairs, followed by… Kaeya? Did he come instead of Jean? That wouldn’t drastically change anything, right? Wait, was that why it took so long to load? Because the story had changed? This wouldn’t drastically change anything yet, right? No. It can’t. Not yet.

Diluc looked at your avatar, and answered, “You’re right about the location. If we’re all ready to head off, we should get going.”

Venti turned to you, you, not your avatar, and questioned, “Everything alright, [Y/N]? Is there something bothering you?” Did you sound nervous when you answered him?

“Yeah, I just took a nap, and… I didn’t exactly sleep well. But that shouldn’t matter too much, let’s go.”

You briefly explained to Venti and Diluc how you were able to teleport, and that they should be able to do it too, and then you all were at Springvale in the blink of an eye. Venti acted like it was nothing new to him, while Diluc was… fascinated, to say the least. Kaeya had to explain to him that yes, that feeling of having your soul torn from your body was normal for this.

Diluc had quite a bit to say about it.

“Those waypoints are all over Teyvat… If the wrong people learned how to use them…” He looked in the direction of the hideout. “That could spell catastrophe worldwide.”

At one point, you had noticed Kaeya had a different shirt on. Or was it the same one, just with less of the flamboyant stuff on top of it? It was nice seeing people in different outfits, instead of the exact same clothing 24/7.

As you all stood at the entrance, you thought about what was in this domain. This was the one where you had to ask a bunch of different Fatui agents where the key to a door was, right? …And it was the one with the Diluc trial, wasn’t it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add another thing to the list of [Y/N]’s powers… Not only could they possess others at will, and suddenly make people stronger, and tell the future, but they could teleport anywhere in Teyvat they wanted to. And apparently, anyone could do that last thing. Diluc was surprised no one else had found out about this, and frankly, he was glad. There was also something else he didn’t know about yet. The other two kept looking at a spot a little above and behind [Y/N]’s avatar when they were talking to them. It felt like something was there, but he couldn’t see anything. He doubted it was a secret, since chances are, they wouldn’t be doing it in front of him if it was, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone about it yet.

He was about to go in the hideout with everyone when [Y/N] gasped, and said they needed to tell him something.

“Hey,” they began. “I know I probably should have told you this earlier, but remember what my system did with Kaeya that one time? Or, I guess technically two times, but whatever- Just, that thing where it forces someone into my team?” They sounded very tired saying that. He knew they had just woken up, but he felt they were also just… annoyed by that happening.

“Yes. It happened less than a day ago. …Why are you bringing this up now?”

“So- I- Look, there’s nothing I can do about it, at least, not now. Maybe I can eventually figure out how to fix this, but-”

He sighed. "...I’m about to be forced into your control, aren’t I? You don’t have to tip-toe around it, I guessed that as soon as you brought it up. If you can’t do anything about it, do you at least know how long this is going to take?”

He trusted them, right? As far as he was aware, they hadn’t lied to him yet, and they were warning him beforehand. Still, it felt like he barely knew them. Should he trust them with his body? Did he even have a choice?

“Give me a bit, and I can check, but it shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes.”

“You make it sound like you can check any little detail with the snap of your fingers.”

This was a very specific event of the future they were talking about, but it would just take them a minute to check it? They’d done it before with that letter, but he had no clue how. Either that meant they were a very talented hydromancer, or they were getting their information from some other power or source.

“Oh, uh, I kind of can, except I have to do a little more than just snap my fingers. I type the thing I want into a device, I find the media I want, and then I have it. Sometimes it’s pretty hard to find said media, but I can pretty much find anything you could ever think of. Aaaand here’s the thing I was looking for! One more second…”

“You have a device that allows you to view information on anything you want? I guess that sounds about right if your world also has the technology to see the future of other worlds… I’m sure you already know of this, but we have something called astrology that allows people to see the future using the stars. Does your technology take advantage of that?”

“I’ll tell you more about the device later, but no, the technology my world has doesn’t use that. Astrology does exist here, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work the same as it does in Teyvat. People in my world use it to give people ideas of what may be yet to come in their lives, but here in Teyvat it’s like astrologers can see fate itself. …Anyway, I think we’re getting off track here. Going off of what I’ve seen, it’s going to take a little over 10 minutes, give or take. It might be a little longer because I’ll be focusing more on your safety than getting through it, or it might be a little shorter because I have others to help me now. Are you fine with that?”

So it’s not astrology… What is it, then? …Whatever. They’re right, they’re going off track. 10 minutes shouldn’t be too bad, especially with others watching over him to make sure [Y/N] doesn’t do anything harmful. It’s not like he had a choice, anyway.

“That’s… fine. Just try to get it over with quickly. It’s fine if I get a few scratches, just don’t kill me.”

“Alright, I guess we’re ready to head in. I’ll check to see if the guards in there can hear me. If not, great, but if so, I’m… gonna need to rethink things.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…How were you going to explain to them what a phone is, and what the internet does? That’s a question for another time, but it still made you think.

You’d let Diluc know what was about to happen to him, and you just needed to tell everyone your plan, at least for this first part.

“One more thing, as soon as we go in, there’s going to be a rotating bridge with those cylinder torches or whatever they’re called on one side, and a clear path on the other. Once the bridge flips to the clear side, there should be just enough time to get all the way to the other side if we run like hell.”

Venti thought for a second before responding with, “Wouldn’t it be better for me to just… make a wind current at the start? Then no one has to worry about spinning bridges and torches at all~”

Oh. Right. You had others to help you. He could make a wind current and you could just. Skip over it.

“...Yeah, that might be better. I guess I’m so used to having to rely on my own skillset here that I don’t realize others can help. Also, I’m probably just... tired. Anyway, after that first room, there’s a… door with a guard who acts like he’s about to piss his pants, but after that, there’s a big room with a bunch of smaller rooms inside and we’re going to have to find a key to move on. My question here is, should we split up or stay together while we search?”

Diluc was the first to chime in this time. “Normally I’d suggest we split up, but under these circumstances, it’d be better to stick together in case something goes wrong.”

“Alright.” You said. “We’ve been standing here for a while, I think it’s finally time to go in.”

Diluc adjusted his gloves, and you all went in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Kaeya gets to witness [Y/N]’s powers of possession; except now, he isn’t the one experiencing it.

After everyone entered the hideout, Aether had vanished, and Diluc, now wearing a Fatui mask, stood in his place. Something about this whole situation seemed… familiar, for some reason. Nothing like this had happened before, right? …It’s probably just déjà vu.

“Come on, let’s just get this over with.” [Y/N] said, nudging Diluc forward.

Now, Diluc had the same slightly-inhuman movement Aether had when [Y/N] was using him as their “avatar”. He was somewhat used to seeing it on Aether, but it was strange seeing Diluc move like that. When he was under their control, he could only move his eyes, and now, he couldn’t even see Diluc’s, as they were covered by the mask.

Venti did as he said he would, and made a fairly large wind current to carry everyone over. He made it look incredibly easy. If it wasn’t for him hearing other Anemo Vision bearers talking about their experiences, he would have thought that was something anyone could do.

At first he thought [Y/N] had been hiding something from him, but he had a feeling they weren’t. Something was certainly… different about Venti. He couldn’t merely be just a wandering bard. Until Kaeya found out who he truly was, he figured he would stay on guard around him.

Diluc- No, [Y/N] walked into a small opening, thinking there might be something in the room it led into. There was a chest inside, guarded by 3 small Electro Slimes. They made quick work of them, unsurprisingly, but they weren’t paying attention to the fight, instead focused on something else.

They left the room and headed to a large door guarded by a very nervous-looking Agent, just as [Y/N] said. They went up alone to talk to him, and switched avatars to the Traveler, who was also wearing a Fatui mask. The Agent did not seem to notice the change.

“No, NO! Don’t eat me! Ah? You’re… You’re human? The entire floor’s defenses… have been broken. I thought it was the Abyss Order attacking…”

[Y/N] said “Hey,” testing whether or not he could hear them. No response at all. They chuckled a bit, and he could swear Aether said something, though he couldn’t hear anything.

“AH- No, do- We hi- The place- I don’t kn-”

“This guy-”

“Y-you- One of the Ele- Signora-”

The Agent pointed his sword at them in both fear and anger, still shaking, still not noticing the person he was speaking to change forms in front of him. So to get the key, they have to venture further in, also just like [Y/N] sai- Wait a minute, did he actually hear that guy say any of that? He definitely heard him say the floor’s defenses were broken… and then [Y/N] checked if he could hear them… and then they laughed for some reason… and then about 5 seconds later, the conversation was over. Something must have happened; there’s no way he could have said that much in that little time. He looked at where the man was again, only to see that… he was gone.

Kaeya turned to [Y/N], who now seemed nervous, and simply asked, “... Did you notice anything unusual there, by chance?”

“...Shit, you did notice. Uhhh, so remember when you first met Aether and you didn’t know his name until I told you because you didn’t hear it even though you knew what was said? I might have done the thing that does that again.”

Which was what, exactly? They hadn’t explained it yet, but now wasn’t the time to get an explanation from them, so he reluctantly decided to move on from that.

They opened the door and though he couldn’t see her, Paimon decided now was the time to ask questions.

“Did he say Signora? What a strange name…”

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Kaeya had described to Diluc what it felt like, and although it did feel exactly as he described, he definitely wasn’t used to it. He felt something watching him that he didn’t feel before, but when he looked in its direction, there was nothing there. He didn’t think much of it, as Kaeya had mentioned something like this to him. It was likely where [Y/N] was looking at Teyvat from.

[Y/N] talked to a guard, and for that conversation, he was thrown out of his body, now watching the Traveler from a similar position [Y/N] was. Was this how they saw the world? Strange, but again, exactly what Kaeya described.

Other than that, Diluc didn’t notice anything off with the conversation, but Kaeya apparently did. Diluc wasn’t the type of person to miss things, so he knew something weird was happening when [Y/N] responded to him in a way that practically confirmed something was off. He made a note to himself to ask them about that after this was over with.

He didn’t understand how that fairy thing- Paimon, was talking. Where was she?

“Number 8 of The Eleven. Goes by the name Signora. The fact the Fatui can run amok across the seven nations like they do is entirely because of The Eleven.”

That was his voice talking. Was that what he sounded like? …Whatever, it was just another thing Kaeya had told him about. He had been surprisingly reliable so far, but he still wondered if there was something important he was leaving out.

They entered a large hall, with a large door at the opposite end and two rooms on each side. There was a mechanism in the center that needed a key, and it presumably opened the large door. …If [Y/N]’s system hadn’t taken control of him, everyone could search one room on their own. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, so it was better they stayed together.

They first searched what seemed to be a storage room. No one was there, so they searched every nook and cranny without interruption. At least, until a few Pyro Slimes came out of nowhere, which his abilities couldn’t provide much help with. Sure, if everything was normal, he could use just his sword instead of his Vision, but…

Kaeya and Venti made quick work of the slimes, since Venti could make a massive wind vortex to suck all the slimes in. No key to be found in there. They moved on to the next room, which stood a single guard. He seemed to stop paying attention to anyone other than the Traveler once he started talking to him. The Traveler tried to convince the guy he was part of some alliance and wanted to “borrow” the Holy Lyre, but he obviously didn’t believe it, especially not when he offered a single apple in exchange for it.

A Cicin Mage appeared, and they fought. His Pyro abilities would actually do something here, but [Y/N] still wouldn’t engage in fear they would hurt him too, with how Pyro and Electro interact. It ticked him off a bit. Fight. He told them before they all went in, it was fine if he got a few scratches, just fight, don’t just run around like a headless chicken. Did this have anything to do with them being a pacifist? She’s already attacking you, just defend yourself. Fight. It’s an easy opponent, he could easily take care of her if he could just- fight.

His body stopped for a second, then pulled out a sword he’d only seen in legend, sending off a fiery phoenix at her, setting the blade ablaze. Was he back in control?

[Y/N] screamed, before going completely silent. Diluc heard something fall to the ground with a clatter, and could feel someone watching him in fear. Was that the point Kaeya and Venti were looking at?

He still couldn’t do much. He was only able to mimic the same few repetitive motions, and even those were incredibly difficult. Every movement felt like breaking out of chains. But still, he pushed. How was he able to do this? Kaeya couldn’t escape it after hours, but he could do this after minutes? The mage was defeated, and [Y/N] finally spoke up again.

“I didn’t do any of that. …Diluc?”

He tried to move more freely, but he couldn’t do anything except that same moveset. How did he even do that? He looked around, trying to get the attention of someone, but he realized he was wearing a mask. He had no way to communicate with anyone.

“I… I don’t know, maybe my controller just glitched? Let’s just keep going.”

…There goes any hope of being able to break out of it. He shouldn’t have thought it was that easy. Still, how was he able to control himself at all, even if it was just for a few moments?

They checked the last room that was downstairs, which had a chest with a few Cicins around it. Just like the other enemies here, they weren’t an issue at all. Thankfully, the key was in the chest, and the group managed to open the door. [Y/N] said there was one more fight, and then they could get the Holy Lyre, and this whole thing would be over.

“Hey, you wanna know the guy's name?” [Y/N] asked. They sounded more and more tired by the minute.

“You know his name?” Kaeya scoffed. “If you know that much, you might as well tell us what he says to us.”

He was acting as if he didn’t believe they really could see such things, but he obviously believed it. He was just saying this to squeeze more information out of them, wasn’t he?

“Oh my god, fine, but I’m not going to be able to do stuff like this all the time. First of all, his name is, I hope I’m saying this right, Zamenhoff…? And as soon as we go in there, he says- wait should I do the voice? I’m doing the voice. ‘Where did you rats scurry out from… Signora is not going to tolerate this kind of interference in our affairs. So I'll be the one to take care of you - save her the trouble of having to deal with you herself.’ …I’m sorry. I think I need to go back to sleep.”

That was probably the least professional telling of the future he’s ever heard, but as they walked into the last room, it turned out to be accurate, just as everything else they’ve said has been. They were audibly exhausted, and he could only think of one time they’ve taken something completely seriously. Should he have let them take control of him? It hadn’t gone too horribly yet, and it was almost over, but he started to get a little nervous.

They entered the fight, and once again, he tried to perform those repetitive moves. [Y/N] was actually fighting this time, but he wanted to contribute something as well. They didn’t seem to notice anything was off this time. The Agent was defeated, and finally, he was fully in control of his own body again. He immediately let out a large sigh.

“Signora is going to end you. The songs bards sing of your demise will be so terrifying - the people of Mondstadt will never sleep again for the nightmares they give them.” Said the Agent, now escaping. [Y/N] mocked him while he was saying it, speaking at the same time as him, but in a far more dramatic tone.

They mocked Paimon too, even trying to match her high-pitched voice. He will admit he found it a bit funny, but he kept a straight face, unlike the other two, who couldn’t help but chuckle. She shot them a look before vanishing again.

“You alright?” [Y/N] asked him.

“Well, I’m not dead, so that’s something.” That… definitely could have gone better.

“So… Back to the tavern now, right? Wait, Venti, aren’t you still wanted?”

“Ahh… That may be a problem… But can’t we just teleport back?” Venti sheepishly said.

“We can only teleport to waypoints, at least as far as I know, and the nearest waypoint is right next to the plaza with all of the shops. I know it’s literally the middle of the night, but I don’t think we can be sure there won’t be anyone out. I don’t want someone seeing people appear out of nowhere.” [Y/N] had a point. Doing that when someone was near may have consequences.

“So I suppose we’re walking, then? I’ll walk ahead, and make sure any Knights patrolling at this time are… looking the other way.” Kaeya said, already going ahead of everyone else.

No one said a word for a bit. Venti had a slightly worried expression on his face, as if he was hoping whatever plan he had would work. [Y/N]’s avatar had that same expressionless face as always, which was… creepy, sometimes, but they seemed like they weren’t paying attention to anything now. Normally Diluc wasn’t one to break the silence, but he had something to say now.

“That wasn’t an issue with your controller earlier, [Y/N].”

“...Hmm?” They replied. They sounded… completely out of it. “So you did that? How?”

“I don’t know. I hope you don’t take any offense to this, but your… pacifism doesn’t exactly suit the way I do things, so, I broke out of it, in a way. I wasn’t able to fully break it, but I managed to do something.”

“So the solution to breaking out of it… is to just break out of it. Wow…!” They sarcastically said, before walking their avatar into a tree.

“I don’t mean for it to sound like that. I’m guessing I had enough willpower to resist your system a little. Again, not all the way, but I think I was able to at least do what you could.”

“That’s so weird… I think I’m gonna have to set aside some time to take a closer look at my system and figure out what’s up sometime.” They yawned. “But definitely not tonight…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…God, you were tired. What the hell had happened in that domain? Somehow Diluc had managed to fight against your system, and do a bit on his own. How? No clue, but it was a nice surprise.

You remembered that quest on that far-away island that you couldn’t finish the first day. After this, maybe you could beg Venti to take you there so you could finally finish it. There was still about… what? An hour and a half? before you were able to continue it. Yeah, never mind, screw that. There was no way you’d be able to stay awake that much longer. That nap just made you more tired. Guess that quest’ll stay unfinished…

The four of you finally got back to the tavern. Thankfully, Kaeya managed to keep any Knights from seeing you. You pulled up the Wiki again, and found your way to the page on the part of the quest you were at.

Sure, Kaeya was there instead of Jean, but everyone else’s lines were still the same. It looked like things would be on the right track. You repeated everyone’s lines as they said them, but only vocalizing Paimon’s, while just mouthing Diluc and Venti’s to not weird them out too much.

“From now on, you’ll be known as-” Oh, this part, where Paimon gives him a nickname and refuses to call him by his actual name ever again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tone-deaf bard!” said Paimon and [Y/N] simultaneously. The bard didn’t seem too bothered by his new nickname.

So not only could [Y/N] could just pull up a word-for-word script of the “story” they knew whenever they wanted, but said story was accurate, also down to the word? That’s… concerning.

It had been a very long day… Kaeya hoped he could finally get some sleep. Everyone bid their farewells after agreeing to continue in the morning, and he left. Venti was still wanted, right? That may cause some problems. He made a mental note to tell Jean that the Holy Lyre was in safe hands first thing in the morning.

Again, he teleported to the Knights Headquarters, but now, he remembered why they didn’t teleport back to the tavern. Was anyone watching? He looked around, and could see no one. As for the last time he did this… He didn’t check, did he? …Whatever, it should be fine. He made his way to his dorm, and, now feeling he had enough energy to do so, actually did his nighttime routine rather than just passing out. He stayed awake for quite a while, making notes and pacing around before he finally felt tired enough to be able to sleep through the night.

Those thoughts of [Y/N]’s “story” continued as he drifted to sleep.

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

“But I shall not bow to the will of fate. I am no pawn in heaven's plan.”

…Here he was, acting in a play, as a character destined for tragedy. Seemed familiar. His character was supposed to simply accept it, yet “he” had decided to improv a section on defying fate.

Despite this being “improv”, it was obvious all of this, scripted parts included, was supposed to reflect his own story. He’d noticed the similarities when he first heard of the story, though he didn’t fully remember when that was, but it seemed even more accurate now, looking at it from a different view.

The truth was, the improv was no less scripted than the rest of the play, nor anything else he’d experienced for that matter. This “play” began much before this street performance.

Even though it felt as if it had been years, he still remembered the beginning as clear as day.

When the Traveler first appeared in Mondstadt, he was unable to clearly remember anything prior to when they arrived. Hell, other than the most major events in his life, he couldn’t remember anything at all, and even those major events were fuzzy. He knew his interests, and his relationships with people, but it was like he had some strange form of amnesia. He’d wanted to tell someone about what he was going through, but every time he got a chance, he would black out, and wake up somewhere completely different.

To him, it hadn’t even been that long since he’d first noticed, but already, days had gone by. He “woke up” again outside of Good Hunter, in the middle of a conversation with the Traveler about something he couldn’t recall thinking about. It had been days. The periods of time he was being knocked out for were getting longer. He had to say something as soon as possible, but he found he couldn’t control what he was saying.

He quickly realized that he was bound to some sort of script. Sure, “fate” served as a loose script, but this was word for word. He wondered whether this was happening to anyone else, but had no way to check, since he was either stuck to this script or unconscious.

It would sometimes be months at a time now he would be unconscious, almost like slipping into a coma. The Traveler was there with him wherever he was, so he assumed they must have something to do with it, but he hoped they didn’t know they did. Maybe then he could still tolerate them.

Over time, it seemed like the writer started to tease him more and more. It started with a few jokes from “him” hinting at it being some kind of story, and now it was a whole play.

He was an actor, playing a character, playing a character destined for tragedy. The only difference between this play and his experiences was that in reality, he was given no choice on whether to take the role.

This little improv session with Prince Qubad made the audience think he refused to accept the fate he was given, that he rejected it entirely, but the story still ended in the same way it was written.

As he looked at it now, he was no different from Prince Qubad in this story. Or at least, “Kaeya” wasn’t. He knew how Qubad’s story was similar to his, yes, but this improv session added something to it.

There were two layers to the scripting. One was fate itself. Destiny. Most people knew about this, and it could be seen fairly easily, only needing the help of some magic. This already seemed like enough restriction, as it was supposedly extremely difficult to change, but there was even more on top of that, at least for him.

It looked like in the future, “he” would have to make a very important decision, and end up choosing a secret third option. While this would be rejecting his fate in terms of what the people of Teyvat consider it to be, he would still be following the narrative this second, stricter script had for him.

…Oh, the irony. Just like the play, the character is written to refuse fate. Sure, the original script may not have included that, just as “his” original fate does not include what he’s likely to do.

He’d been wondering whether he should keep trying to break out of this. Obviously, doing so would grant him back autonomy, but it would also be following the whole “defying fate” path set for him by whatever scripted this. Either way, he was still playing right into its hands.

“Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates... much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts. Yep, "inept" is a good word for it. Honestly, it might even be a little too civil to describe a god who turns fathers against their sons and is bent on endless warmongering... don't you think?”

Either somehow, he had managed to change the script slightly with his thoughts, or the writers were mocking him.

…It was the latter, wasn’t it? “He” continued on about how someone doesn’t have to follow the script if they don’t like it, like it was just that easy. He’d made up his mind. He had to get out of this, no matter if that was what the writers wanted.

The conversation was coming to an end now, he could feel it. The Traveler was about to leave, and from what he knew about their journey, they likely wouldn’t be seeing him again any time soon. Any second now, the Traveler would disappear, and he would be knocked out for gods know how long. Couldn’t they just stay a little longer…?

#sagau #genshin sentience au #genshin fanfic #ao3 #pursuit of knowledge

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fancifulplaguerat · 1 year ago

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Sharing some thoughts about Clara because she deserves more attention and I’m obsessed with how the other two protagonists are these twenty-something medical men while she’s this circa fifteen-year-old saint girl who’s actually twelve days old who’s actually as old as Earth itself with magical hands. She’s the literal plague incarnate, an instrument of natural law, but she becomes Clara because she cares about people and her capacity to heal them so much she just denied her very identity. I adore the reveal that she’s branded a thief because she stole her own fucking name like can I ever express how much I want to scratch and bite (affectionate) when Spichka says to her, “You steal something and can’t remember it afterwards. Must’ve been something important—or else something you don’t just put in your pocket. Someone’s name, maybe?”

And it’s painful to me how characters like Yulia/Andrey belittle her faith and question if she even believes in God, since faith/sainthood/etc. are what Clara clings to to define herself as a good person. So much so that it’s what allows her to be a miracle-worker—when Artemy talks to the Rat Prophet in his route, the Rat tells Artemy not to reveal Clara’s identity to her, because it’s only Clara’s belief in her holiness that makes her a saint:

“She is, as a matter of fact, the disease. The Sand Plague personified. But—heads up!—she doesn’t even know it. And so she performs miracles, branding herself a miracle-maker—because she believes that she is one [...] everything she believes in comes true. And so she’ll forget how to do it as soon as she learns the truth.”

And on that note I have to include this interaction with Andrey because it devastates me:

Andrey Stamatin: [...] I don't know what God you believe in, but I don't think you're even old enough to have a concept of one! And you are either a lying imposter—or an abominable Changeling, a temptress, a thing from hell, a shabnak-adyr, a maneater, made of dead bones and dirty clay!

> You heard me! You know the reason! *

> Don't yell at me, don't call me... that! I'm leaving... I'm leaving!

Andrey Stamatin: Shut up! What do you know about faith? What do you know about religion? You had barely been born and already you got your head full of the ravings of a failed prophetess—who's writhing her hands in desperation and envy as she's watching a new star rise—and here you are, thinking you can lecture me, even daring to accuse us of heresy and a revolt against God!

Though I never survive this interaction I think it’s one of my favorites in Clara’s route because it so poignantly encapsulates her conflict, while gesturing to her struggle to define/rewrite herself. Because despite what the Rat says, the Cathedral quest suggests that Clara’s wherewithal isn’t *always* enough. Ough. When Clara tells everyone to take her hands and not to be afraid, that nothing will happen, but we know how it all ends from the Bachelor/Haruspex Routes just. Devastating gameplay. It fills me with dread when Clara is tasked with getting water because of the Bachelor Route, when Anna says that the shabnak “cried” on the ill and Saburov says that the carrier put some sort of liquid on the plague victims’ lips.

But tragedy aside Changeling Clara is so entertaining to me. I love being able to say shit like “I am death” and “Don’t make my angry... or I’ll bite!” to people. Very much enjoy getting to be the Horrors, or when the Rat Prophet says to her, “Greetings, plague dear! Wait just a bit more, we’re almost done embellishing your throne. The very heart of the town shall become the temple of the pest. You’ll have the world at your feet soon.” Lavish. Sumptuous. She is such a fantastic character the intrigue the tragedy the high drama of it all

#pathologic #clara saburova #patho.txt

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yancherrysoda · 1 year ago

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Wind God

This is inspired by @heyheydidjaknow Good Wine story so it’s a yandere Venti x reader.

She helped me with the tense shifts and gave advice on how to make this sound more creative, as it was previously very stiff and written as if it were an essay. I’m not a writer, but I really wanted to give my own take on this plot.

The image above was created using artbreeder. I tried my best to make it look like the Decarabian Tower.

Link to the original: Good Wine

Word count: 3.330

You woke up with a jolt, startled by the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. You blinked a few times and sat up, feeling a surge of panic as you realized you had no idea where you were or how you got there. Looking around you noticed you were lying inside some kind of tower surrounded by swirling air currents where huge rocks made up the area, and a semi-transparent platform with a strange teal seal engraved on it was underneath.

You scrambled to your feet, feeling dizzy and disoriented. The platform resembled glass and you felt as if it would shatter if you stayed on it any longer.

‘’Oh!’’ Someone spoke, breaking the silence. ‘’You’re awake. Are you okay? I didn’t expect you to recover so soon.’’

You cast a glance at the person in front of you; their calm demeanor distinctly contrasted with your current state of panic.

‘’What’s going on? Where am I?’’ You asked. ‘’What am I doing here?’’

Venti didn’t answer right away; his gaze fixed on you as he took in your puzzled expression. His features softened, and after a brief pause, he reached out his hand towards you. ‘’Please, let me explain.’’

You hesitantly eyed his outstretched hand, unsure whether to stay where you were or approach him. Despite having someone familiar next to you, you were still on high alert.

After taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. You grasped his hand and sat next to him, keeping your distance.

‘’I should begin by saying that I mean no harm to you. You’re a person who has a heart of gold, and I cherish you deeply. Your presence in my life has been nothing but joy so far. You’re kind, compassionate, and selfless. You’re empathetic to others' feelings, and you were always there for those in need,’’ he paused. ‘’You were always there for me.’’

The wind around you two got calmer the more he poured his feelings into words.

‘’I wonder if you’ve ever noticed this. Perhaps my behavior made it obvious, but I’m not human,’’ he said, turning to face the other way while fidgeting with his cape. ‘’I am the Anemo Archon; I have taken the form of a human to talk to people. I know it’s difficult to understand, but in all my years of existence, I’ve never felt this way before.’’ Pausing, he bit his lip and looked at you. ‘’Despite my divine nature, I am capable of emotions just as humans are. In other words, I caught feelings for you, and I can’t bear the thought of living without you.’’

Venti scooted closer to you and placed his hand on yours. ‘’There hasn’t been a single day when I haven’t thought of you.’’ His eyes showed that familiar sparkle that you had seen many times before. ‘’Do you remember that time at the cathedral trying to avoid Barbara by hiding behind the pillars? Or when I asked you to meet me at Windrise for a walk? You ran to hug me and we ended up tripping and falling into the pond.’’ He let out a laugh. ‘’We walked all the way to Starsnatch Cliff in our wet clothes just to look at the stars.’’ He looked at you, trying to meet your eyes. ‘’I’m grateful I got to meet and spend my time with such a wonderful person like you, YN.’’

You tried to process his words, but the weight of his confession was overwhelming.

‘’And you brought me here to tell me all of this?’’

He let out a deep sigh. ‘’I… I hope that at some point in your life you’ll end up feeling the same way about me, how I feel about you.’’ He extended his hand to caress your cheek. ‘’And with you here, I won’t have to worry about anybody else taking you away from me.’’ He continued. ‘’I am well aware that my actions are selfish—they even go against my very own principles. However… I couldn’t help but act upon them.’’ He looked at you. ‘’Tell me, YN, is it unethical for a God to have romantic feelings for a mortal?’’

You quickly stood up. You scanned your surroundings more carefully now that you were fully awake, but this place looked unlike anything you had ever seen before.

‘’Where are we?’’ You asked, your tone firm.

Venti tried to remain calm, lest you do something drastic.

‘’We’re in Old Mondstadt. Specifically, on the Decarabian Tower.’’ He answered, trying not to appear bothered by your constant pacing around the seal. ‘’I thought this would be the perfect place to have this conversation without anybody bothering us. Plus, the view up here is amazing, don’t you think?’’ He cast a glance at you, but judging by your expression, his attempt to lighten up the mood did not work.

You turned away from him and hugged yourself tightly, trying to alleviate the anxiety that had been building up inside you.

Venti stood up from the floor, his movements gentle and deliberate. He approached you from behind and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest. He nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, making you shiver. ‘’I’m sorry.’’ He muttered. ‘’I would never have wished to make you feel this way.’’

You stood frozen, feeling a lump in your throat, unable to answer. Soon, tears stream down your face and fall on his sleeve, soaking it. He turned you around, placed his hand on the back of your head, and hugged you tighter before saying in a low voice, ‘’I love you, YN. I will do everything I can to make this work, to make you happy.’’ He promised. ‘’I swear on my own life I’ll do anything for you.’’

The tears continued to flow as you struggled to maintain your composure. You couldn’t understand why the remaining years of your short life had been ripped away so cruelly.

Venti stepped back, withdrawing himself from you. ‘’I’ve got to take care of some things; one of them is bringing your stuff here. I won’t be long; please wait for me.’’ He took your hand in his and squeezed it before he snapped his fingers. You felt a gust of wind that made you close your eyes instinctively, and after you opened them, he was gone, leaving tiny feathers behind.

‘’Fuck.’’ You cursed under your breath in frustration as you wiped your tears.

Looking around the tower, you noticed there wasn’t just one wind barrier surrounding it but several of varying sizes that seemed to have space between them. You still had the wind glider with you, which gave you an idea; perhaps you could use it to escape the tower. After you got it out, you grabbed onto one of the tower’s pillars and looked down. There didn’t appear to be a bottom to this tower; regardless, if you were to fall, you definitely would not survive this.

With all your courage, you ran and tried to glide through between two wind barriers, but you immediately panicked as the wind glider was violently shaken. After several minutes of battle and when you felt the exhaustion take over your body, somehow, you finally ended up on the other side of the barrier. When you landed on one of the ruins, you saw just how damaged the surroundings were. It looked like an abandoned village but on a larger scale. With the wind glider still behind your back, you carefully descended even further. Once down, you frantically looked around for a way out.

The crumbling remnants lay spread across the landscape, a haunting reminder of a past era. Nature had begun to reclaim what was once grand and imposing, as vines made their way through cracks in the weathered stones. The overgrown foliage scratched at your skin, and the fallen debris threatened to trip you up with every step you took.

You noticed a path that led out of the ruins and follow it without hesitation, hoping it will bring you to freedom. As you moved through the crumbling structures, the air became heavy with an eerie silence. The vibrant sounds of life were absent and replaced by the faint rustling of leaves and the echo of your footsteps, amplifying the feeling of solitude and isolation.

Just as you were becoming accustomed to the silence, a crack of thunder rang out once again. Startled, you continued along the path, but were soon confronted by a ruin guard.

Quickly hiding behind a fallen pillar, you peeked out and saw it walk past you. It seemed to be unaware of your presence, its footsteps fading into the distance. You tried to steady your breathing and calm your racing heart as you used this time to look around for a way out. Luckily, you spotted a cave that was situated very high up. The foliage on the boulders could be used to climb up to it.

You thought you were safe as you darted from one ruin to another, but the ruin guard locked on to you. You heard a loud and ominous beeping before the machine fired missiles at you, leaving you no chance of survival.

Feeling a strong gust of wind surround you, you are met with Venti’s form materializing between you and the machine. He was preventing the projectiles from reaching you both by creating a wind barrier. They eventually exploded on the barrier, dispersing debris and dust around. Your heart pounded in your chest as you realized the danger you narrowly avoided.

You saw him move his hand in a slashing motion, successfully splitting the ruin guard in two like it was butter with the help of the wind.

He turned around to face you, his expression a mixture of concern and frustration. ‘’How did you get down here? What were you thinking? I told you to wait for me!’’ Venti tried very hard to maintain his composure, but he ended up yelling at you. ‘’I could have lost you!’’ You felt his arms wrap tightly around you, his grip almost desperate.

You pushed him away and shouted, your voice filled with anger. ‘’What was I thinking? What were you thinking when you brought me here? Trapping me against my will, isolating me from the rest of the world? Do you think I will show gratitude for saving me right now?’’

Thunder rumbles yet again, and the rain begins to pour heavily, drenching the desolate ruins. You backed away and ran towards the boulders beneath the cave, but another wind barrier stopped you.

‘’Let me take you back.’’ He spoke.

You simply walked around the barrier and approached the foliage on the boulders as you attempted to climb up, but were pushed back by the wind. Rage welled up inside you as you realized that escape was futile. How does one escape from a God?

As you struggle to get up to your feet, the rain continues to fall, soaking the ground beneath you. Despite the powerful winds summoned by the Anemo Archon to impede your escape, your determination remains unshaken. You lock eyes with him, a mix of defiance and resilience in your gaze.

‘’YN…’’ Venti’s voice is pleading. He moved closer and reached out a hand to help you up, but you moved away from him while you were still on the ground, supporting your body on your elbows.

‘’I won’t let you take me back,’’ you stated firmly. ‘’I won’t be confined by you. This is not the life I desire or deserve.’’

The wind howls around you, mirroring Venti’s internal conflict. His gaze pleads for you to give in. Seeing as you are not up for negotiation, he withdraws his hand with a heavy sigh and takes a step forward.

As you pushed yourself up from the ground, you immediately took off running in a different direction. However, he quickly caught up with you and now stood in front of you, which caused you to trip and fall backward.

‘’Let’s go back, please? It’s raining a lot. You will end up catching a cold.’’ He attempted to lift you by grabbing your hand, but you pushed him away.

‘’I fucking hate you!’’ You screamed. You tried to make sense of your surroundings, as they now appeared blurry. ‘’We were friends; we had a good relationship. Why did you have to ruin it?’’ A shuddering filled your chest, and a choked wheeze escaped your throat. ‘’Why? Why did you do this? You want me to love you back? What cost you to try and build that sort of relationship with me the normal way?’’ While you yelled, you caught sight of a stone that looked like an arrowhead lay on the ground.

He tried to approach you once more, and without thinking, you grabbed the stone and stabbed him in the shoulder with as much force as you could. Venti breathed in sharply and stumbled a couple of steps back as the arrowhead pierced his shoulder.

‘’Do not approach me.’’ You spat.

He pulled on the protruding part of the arrowhead and got it out, causing some blood to spill onto the ground.

You tried to move away from him with your elbows as you were still on the ground. They started to bruise, and your arms eventually gave out, which caused your body to fall on your back. You felt completely exhausted.

As you lifted your head, you noticed Venti come closer to you while he held his wounded shoulder. Your vision became too blurry at this point. You quickly became lightheaded and passed out.

You opened your eyes, feeling a dull ache in your head. You grunted as you lifted your arm and placed it on your head. You tried to lift yourself by propping yourself on your elbows, but felt someone ease you back onto the pillow and kiss your forehead.

‘’You shouldn’t get up so quickly. You’ll pass out again.’’ Venti insisted.

‘’What are you doing?’’ You asked, your voice hoarse from screaming earlier.

He went back to the end of the bed and carefully wrapped the bandage around your knee, then cut the excess with scissors. ‘’Taking care of your injuries.’’

Disregarding his advice, you lift yourself and sit up. You reach out to your knee and feel the bandage around it. As you do so, you also notice your bandaged elbows. ‘’Why? I tried to—‘’ The room spun around you, your head felt heavy and your vision went fuzzy for a few seconds, almost pushing you to the side if it weren’t for Venti catching you right away.

‘’What did I tell you? You’re not listening to me.’’

You gripped his shirt while trying to sit up straight to regain your balance. ‘’I tried to kill you.’’ You finally said.

‘’So you did.’’

‘’Then why are you helping me?’’

He laid you down for a moment, took a glass from the table beside the bed and poured water into it from a jar before he helped you up again and handed it to you. ‘’Isn’t it obvious? Loving someone implies caring for them.’’

As you drank the water, you looked at his bloody shirt. He noticed your attention fixed on his shoulder. ‘’It’s fine. Injuring me with such a lame weapon has barely any impact on my vessel.’’ He furrowed his eyebrows. ‘’That said, I hope you’ll refrain from trying anything like that again in the future.’’

‘’I can’t promise anything.’’

Venti sighed and then looked at your bandaged knee, elbows, and the Band-Aid on your cheek, nodded in approval and stood up, taking with him the first aid kit that he had brought to patch you up.

‘’Where are we this time?’’ You asked him, placing the empty glass on the table.

‘’We are in a house that’s in a realm separated from the outside world. Things like time and weather work a little differently here.’’ He put the bandages and scissors inside the box and continued. ‘’It’s called the Serenitea Pot; I’m sure you heard of it. It was given to me a while ago by an old friend. I didn’t have a use for it before, but I certainly do now. ‘’He explained. ‘’I planned to bring you here anyway, but I thought it would be best to begin our conversation where we first started to explain who I was. I figured it would help you connect the dots faster.’’

You got up from the bed and looked around. It was a small bedroom with a twin bed and two nightstands on either side. There were two windows, one behind the bedpost and another next to it. A rectangular desk with a potted plant, candles, and books on top was beneath the second window. The bed and desk were separated by a yellow changing screen, creating an illusion of two distinct room sections. You also spotted a fancy ottoman at the foot of the bed, a wardrobe a few steps away, and the exit door next to it.

‘’This place is safe. You are free to roam around the house and even go outside. I took the time to decorate it in a way that I thought you would like. ‘’Venti’s speech caught you off guard, making you jump. ‘’You can’t leave this realm without my assistance. It has everything you need. I will bring more things from the outside world for decoration as time goes on.’’ He smiled at you.

You walked up to the window and leaned against the desk beneath it. It looked like you were located on an island, and the house seemed to be on a small hill.

‘’I’ll go change and then prepare you some food.’’ He gestured to the door. ‘’It’s been a while since you last ate anything. You can use the shower after eating. There’s one on this floor, right in front of your room, or you could use the one in mine that’s upstairs.’’ He winked at you.

You reached for the vase.

‘’Alright, alright.’’ He held his hands up. ‘’Let’s not resort to violence again…’’

He then exited the room, giving you some peace a quiet. You took a deep breath and gathered your thoughts before you returned your gaze to the room. You couldn’t deny that Venti put effort into making a comfortable space for you, but you weren’t happy about being imprisoned here.

You walked over to the wardrobe and opened it to find a variety of clothes arranged inside. They were all your clothes, neatly folded and hung.

After a brief inspection of the wardrobe, you then crossed the room to the desk beneath the window. The books that adorned its surface drew your attention. You took one book and flipped through its pages, discovering that it was a collection of short stories by various authors. It was a wise choice on Venti’s part to provide you with intellectual stimulation and entertainment.

Next, you decided to go outside after a few moments of exploration and stepped out of the exit door onto a stone pathway that led down the hill. It was surrounded by lush vegetation and vibrant flowers. The hill was full of cedar and birch trees that filtered the sunlight through the leaves, casting a glow around the entire area. One would say this could be the place of your dreams, and you would have been content with staying here if it wasn’t for the situation you were in.

You deviated from the pathway to go lower down the hill and reached the sea surrounding the island. The view was breathtaking, with crystal clear water stretching out as far as the eye could see. There was no sign of other land, so there was no way for you to leave. Not that it would matter anyway, considering you were separated from the outside world.

#yandere #venti x reader #venti x y/n #yandere venti #lord barbatos #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader

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kaeyas-beloved · 2 years ago

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Voicelines: Diluc’s Birthday

Characters: Jean, Rosaria, Kaeya, Diluc, (Y/N)

Summary: Some people have some things to say in regards to today…

Genre: Fluff/Mild-Angst + Snippets

CWs: romantic Diluc x gn!reader & platonic for everyone else

a/n: I really enjoyed doing this for Kaeya way back when, so I decided why not do it for Diluc too :D

Jean

"When Master Diluc was a young boy, he, Kaeya, myself and (Y/N) would travel to all sorts of places. Our destination changed as the years went by but whenever it was Diluc’s birthday we found ourselves returning to the same place each time. Ah, I still remember how freeing the breeze felt. It doesn’t have to be on that same mountain ledge, but I hope the four of us can spend time like we used to."

Rosaria

"It’s none of my business, but I sometimes spot him by the cathedral’s graveyard late at night. He just comes around more often today than any other. Whatever happened must’ve left a mark on him. If it’s the reason why he is the way he is… then maybe I can see where he’s coming from.”

Kaeya

“Master Diluc is ever the popular one today, isn’t he? More so than usual. What, you don’t know? Oh, traveler, today’s the grump’s birthday! Why don’t you go give him your well wishes on his special day, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

Diluc

"Kaeya said what? Hmph, of course he did. He doesn't know when to stop talking sometimes. *sigh* Yes, it's true, today is my birthday. Another year has gone by yet nothing changes. Oh you know what I mean, nothing changes about me specifically. At least that’s what it feels like. The only difference is that this year (Y/N) will be celebrating with me. It’s been a while since they did and knowing them they’ll want to make up for those missed years. It’s… somewhat exciting. I can’t wait to see what they have planned.”

(Of course, being with them is enough of a present. The best I could ever hope to receive)

(Y/N)

"We actually shared our first kiss on his 17th birthday.

Heh, bet you didn’t know that Traveler. We’d already been together a few months back then, taking things slow with one another, and I thought it would be a good gift to give. Archons you should’ve seen how red his face was! Needless to say, he liked it.

…I thought that Diluc was long gone. I thought that I’d have to relearn how to love a completely different man after he came back. In some ways I did. At the same time though he’ll still blush so bad his ears fade into his hair if I catch him off guard, he still has the kindest heart I’ve ever witnessed and he’s as strong as I remember, protecting everything he loves. I want to protect him like he protects Mond, like he protects his friends, like he protects me. It's the bare minimum he should get after everything."

Tag list: @spoopy-fish-writes // @that-enby-alien // @xenuuu // @kaeyaloml // // @x-zho // @mariposa666haruka // @quackquackmfs // @kaerui-kaisen // @ajaxstar // @genshin-impact-writings // @ventisweetheart // @lordbugs // @leena-shi // @lemontum // @akiria12167 // @ari-the-wr1ter // @dontmindmebeing // @xiaos-wife // @stage-lucida // @irethepotato

. . .

Wanna be tagged in future works? Consider filling out this form! And if you want to be removed just DM or send an ask into my inbox!

#diluc x reader #diluc x gender neutral reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #aprilluc 2023 #aprilluc #genshin impact

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commanderbragh · 3 months ago

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Travels, Slow and Quick

The waves lapped at the side of the ship as it sliced through the water. Banagan stood at the railing along the deck and watched as the docks of Stormwind grew ever closer. He appeared lost in thought as he stood there, so much so that everyone else on the deck just let him be.

It was a relaxing trip, he thought to himself. Sure, he could have made use of the portal back to Stormwind and arrived almost instantly. But the trip back gave him plenty of time to relax and the privacy to consider his thoughts. As the ship made its way next to the dock, the paladin knew his time was up and he would have to rejoin the rest of the moving world.

Banny watched as the men on the ship and the dock worked to secure the ship. Finally the call was made. Passengers and crew both began disembarking, carefully making their way down the gangplank. Banny picked up the satchel that had been on the deck next to his feet, adjusted his shield over his shoulder and started following the rest of the crowd. Within moments, he was on the sturdy dock and soon after that on solid land. Banny glanced up the huge path that led up from the docks to the city above, took a deep breath, and began making his way up the incline.

Once he finally made it to the top of the walkway, Banagan turned and looked back at the docks below. He could see the ship he was recently on. The sails were slowly lowering as the remaining crew secured them for their stay.

“Welcome back, Mister Larethian.”

Banagan turned to see a familiar person standing close by. The sunlight beamed on his shaved head and his worn leather tunic creaked a little as he shifted.

“Thanks, Erik. Been waiting long?” he asked with a grin.

“Not at all. But I heard you were on that boat,” he said, nodding his head slightly towards the docks.

“Heard? You been spying on me?” Banny stepped over and extended his hand which Erik took and shook firmly.

“No. But my business partners assume that I will want to know when certain individuals arrive in Stormwind.”

“I’m that important?”

“Your family is, yes.”

“Good to know. How are you doing these days?”

“Business is busy as always. And you?”

“I’m doing okay. The trip was relaxing.”

“That’s why you chose a boat instead of the portal.”

“Yeah. Wanted a little time to think.” Banagan started moving towards the entrance to the city with the rogue falling in beside him.

“Troubles?”

“I don’t know. Weird dreams, mostly.”

“Dreams?”

“Yeah. For the last few weeks, I’ve been having some odd dreams. I can never remember them. But when I get up, I’m still tired and I know that there was something important to them, but I can’t remember what.”

“Interesting.”

“Interesting? How so?”

“Others have told me about odd dreams as well. Something urgent or concerning for all of them. Mostly people associated with the Cathedral.”

“My father?”

“Not that he’s told me,” Erik said, shaking his head.

“But he wouldn’t necessarily say anything,” Banagan said, finishing Erik’s thought.

“Not necessarily.”

“What have the others said about their dreams?”

“Just that there always seemed something important that needed to be done.”

“And did they figure out what that was?” Banny asked, stopped along the path to look at the rogue.

“Not that they have told me. A few of them spoke of traveling to Dalaran.”

“Dalaran? Why there?”

“I don’t know. I think some of them just thought it was the right place to begin. And since Khadgar and the Kirin Tor are there, maybe they believed someone there could help them to figure out the meaning.”

“I mean, it’s a place to start I guess,” Banny responded with a shrug. “Maybe I should head there and see what’s been figured out.”

“Before going home and seeing your father?” Erik asked, his eyebrow raised slightly.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t take that long,” Banny answered with a grin. “And it’s not like I’ll take a boat back from there. Maybe a couple of hours asking around and then I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“Sounds reasonable enough.”

“Would you send word to my father and let him know what I’m doing?”

“Of course. Anything else?”

“I think I’m good,” Banny said, reaching out to shake Erik’s hand again. “Thanks. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

“Safe travels, Banagan.” Erik released the paladin’s hand and turned towards the trade district of the city.

Banagan smiled and then started walking towards the mage tower that peaked above the surrounding buildings. After a little bit of walking, he finally found himself standing at the foot of the tower and the winding path that circled up around it. Adjusting his gear again, he began his ascent and soon found himself at the entrance. Stepping inside, he found a novice mage greeting people. The paladin asked about hiring someone to open a portal to the city of Dalaran. After a moment of discussion about price, the novice led the paladin into the tower and introduced him to another mage. The novice explained the request to the mage. Soon coins were exchanged and the mage cast his spell. A portal spun open before them and Banagan could see the streets of the floating city through it. Banagan thanked the mage and began stepping through the portal.

As the paladin passed the threshold of the portal, he experienced several different sensations, each immediately following the previous. First there was a bright flash of multi-colored light. Then he felt as if he was being pressed against from all sides. Finally, as he passed through the portal he found that there was no ground for his foot and he began to fall. The wind rushed against him as he fell and bits of rock struck his shoulder.

Banagan barely had the presence of mind to look around and see that he was in midair, free falling towards water below with debris of various size around him. Most importantly, though, was the complete absence of a floating city. Looking down, he saw the water directly below and only a short distance away was land. The water was quickly getting closer and it was at the last minute that Banny’s instincts kicked in. He called on the Light and shimmering glow surrounded him just before he struck the surface.

“Oh sh—“

#WoW RP #Banny the paladin #Stormwind #Dalaran #Erik the Rogue #shrouded dawn #Free Fallin'

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calidrisminuta · 1 year ago

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Botany of Orsterra (From CotC)

The list of foods and cuisines is proving really useful in my writing, so I thought I'd do the same with the plantlife of CotC's Orsterra, too. I'm missing quite a few because I can't review certain Traveller Stories, but I've got a few from notes and the like, and there's a fair bit from NPC dialogue in the various towns.

This is very much a work in progress!

There isn't as much as I thought there would be, since I was only wanting to include Orsterran-specific plants, rather than generic ones like roses or pine trees, unless a specific variety is mentioned in the story.

I haven't checked the memoirs yet either, but I'll be adding to this post every time I find some (or I find Traveller Stories to review on youtube), so thank goodness for the ability to edit here!

Anyway, without further ado, the list:

M = Medicinal B = Botanical E = Edible

Various: Blue Hydrangea {Master of Fame}, Crimson Devilbloom (M) {Ashlan's Tale} A presently illegal medicinal herb, and no-one knows where it grows, although it's been studied in Atlasdam so it may originate there. Thanks to @hazelgatoya for that one! Also, thanks to @theynanigans again for finding the mention in Isla's letters, too: "Day 361: Crimson Devilbloom - "The sickly secretions of that plant cause thinking to take meow-mentous ef-fur-t."

Theatropolis: Lapisleaf (B) {Eunice’s Tale}. Contains a pigment that creates a vivid blue, used in painting. (Edited to add) According to Isla: “When the nectar of these flowers is mixed with pigment, it changes into a striking blue colour. This was a closely guarded secret among painters of old, but researchers eventually discovered this characteristic fur the whole world to know.”

Theatroshroom (E) {??Can’t remember where this one came from??} Apparently, they're very tasty. Edited to add - they're from Adelle's Tale. Thank you, @theynanigans!

Atlasdam: None mentioned.

Rippletide: None mentioned.

Grandport: Quatrait blooms (NPC Woman from Quaragosa) (E) Apparently this can be stewed with fish to create a tasty dish.

Emberglow: Embershrooms (E), used in a variety of dishes. Frostfern (M) {Miles’ Tale}, a compound for a remedy used by the Knights Ardante. Snow Crystals (B) {Sofia’s Tale}, Grace Mushrooms (M) {Rodion’s Tale}, the spores of which are used in a remedy. Cave Mint (M) (E) {Shelby’s Tale}. Shelby's favourite herb, and apparently it can be brewed into a tasty tea. More info from Isla's Letters again: "Day 286: Cave Mint - "Do you know which herb can grow in even the darkest caves, and is useful as an ingredient in both food and medicine? Why, it's cave mint, of course! Hmm… I think next time I have afternoon tea with my cait fur-ends, I'll use cave mint to make tea." Thanks to Theynanigans for finding this!

Frostlands: Züsbaum (E), Per one of Isla’s letters, it grows in the Frostlands and its leaves have a sweet flavour. A tea made from them has a taste distinct from sugar. Many monsters love them, so picking the leaves is a monumental challenge, but many say it is worth the risk.

Also from the Frostlands: Snowstalks (B), a plant that grows in the plains near Emberglow. By soaking cloth in their sap, it can be used to make clothes that are warmer and better against cold conditions. Soaking cloth in the sap of Snowstalks makes it very soft, and will keep people dry. It’s also Lulu’s favourite.

Cathedral of Tytos: None mentioned.

Cragspear: Adorablooms (B) {Main Story}, Apple Blossoms (M) (B) {Therion’s Tale} Spoilers for Therion's Tale, but IIRC Apple Blossom was used in a perfume that helped to control/charm people. Might have different properties in Orsterra.

Valore: White Grape Blossoms (B) {Main Story} A flower sold in Valore, and of great significance to Bargello. Has no medicinal properties that we know of. Wyrmwood (M) {Millard's Tale}, a plant that grows around Valore, and is used in medicine.

Also Valore: Vermiliweed Blossom (B) Features in the main story. "A flower that flourishes in the Woodlands. Contrary to its adorable appearance, it is poisonous and used to hunt wild boars."

Sufrataljah: Drizzleshrooms (M) {Soleil’s Tale}, King Cactus Meat (M) {Soleil’s Tale} Both used in remedies. Drizzleshrooms were boiled with something by a Sunshade tribe to create a remedy, and King Cactus meat is bitter but can bring down Desert Fever.

Victors Hollow: None mentioned.

Sunshade: None mentioned.

Shepherds Rock: Nothing in the area is poisonous, according to Merrit's Tale. Antidock grass grows in the Highlands, and is medicinal (used to make antidotes for poisons.) Also known as Noxroot in other areas of Orsterra. Ephemera is a plant with distinct leaf patterns and purple flowers, and the use is medicinal. (powder from the stems can be used in first aid, and it can be dissolved in hot water to make a cold remedy.) Info again from the wonderful @hazelgatoya!

Flamesgrace: None mentioned.

Berecain: None mentioned.

I’cirlo: Panacea Herb (M) (E) {Former Edoras Ambassador}

Clearbrook: Bellflower (M) {Rita’s Tale} Possibly contains different properties in Orsterra, but I need to review Rita's Tale to see if anything different is mentioned. From Isla's Letters: "Day 312: Bellflower - "Have you ever seen an herb with bell-shaped petals blooming by the riverside? Its characteristics change slightly depending where it grows, so only ex-purr-ienced botanists can identify them!" Credit to Theynanigans!

Redleaf Grass (M). {Penny's Tale} Has bright red leaves, and grows along the rivers in Clearbrook. Waterweed (M) {Rita's Tale, but also mentioned in Hayes' Tale}. Grows along the Clearbrook Traverse, and has bright blue petals. Used in medicinal salves. Isla's letter mentions it as well, as something to use if you get hurt. Laurel Seed Oil (M) {Rita's Tale}. Alfyn uses it to take the scent of tallow away from his salve. "Laurel leaves have a pain relieving compound, and the oil made from their seeds can cool down feverish patches," Rita says.

Donescu: None mentioned.

Edit: From Largo's Traveller Story, we have Blue Poppy (B), a flower that is highly attractive to monsters, Slumbersage (M), a plant with a sedative nature, and Sungrass (B), a plant that Shaggy Meeps like to graze on. From Isla’s letters: Slumbersage is purr-fect for making medicine to help people sleep, but it’s difficult to get the dosage correct, so don’t try without an apothecary present.

SPOILERS! Edit 2, from Miza's Journal in Bestower of All Ch.5: Marisnows (B), Rosettes (B), Scarletseeds (B).

Arte Shrooms (M), from Dorothea’s Traveller Story. When processed, they are both the cause and cure of an illness in Shepherds Rock. They are both tasteless and odourless.

From Cornelia’s Traveler Story: Snowrosea (M), found in the depths of the Cave of Laments. Can be used as a remedy for Frostlung when infused into a tea. Stilldrop (M), "a powerful herb that grows near the village of Stillsnow. A small dose has the power to cure all sorts of illnesses, but frequent use can lead to a condition similar to Frostlung." It has a sweet scent.

River Beans (E) Phaseolus Lunatus - Lima beans!

From Lemaire's Traveler Story: Phantom Flowers. (B) They grow on the North Theatropolis Plains, and appear a dull grey colour until it rains, when they gain a sheen similar to that of a rainbow.

From Ogen's Traveler Story: Mugwort. An actual plant with many uses, from culinary to medicinal.

From Emberflame Story pt 4: Lumiflower. One of the rabbits wants nectar from a Lumiflower, which grows in the West Valore Countryside.

They also want a Bestiodor Mushroom, which grows by the Great Tree's Tears. When combined with lumiflower nectar it creates a pungent odour that attracts monsters.

#octopath traveler champions of the continent #octopath cotc #octopath traveler cotc

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likeadevils · 10 months ago

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rank songs Jack Antonoff made with Florence + The Machine?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING

The Bomb: i feel like objectively this isn’t the best song on the album however i’m just absolutely obsessed with it. it’s absolutely perfect, it’s just such a simple concept delivered concisely with just the right amount of wistfulness. that “come here baby, tell me that i’m wrong” is just so perfectly delivered. please tell me i’m wrong. but you can’t. and that’s okay, i’m mostly over it now. except for all the ways i’m not

Morning Elvis: i can’t listen to this without crying at some point i don’t know it’s so good just listen to it. that build? immaculate

King: i remember listening to this for the first time in the car and i didn’t want to stop listening to it so i ended up driving for like two hours all alone and just screaming along with the wailing at the end. it’s so. she has an insane command of her voice and that bit at the end is so. what can not be said will be wept

Girls Against God: genuinely at 18 i came to this exact same realization and to this day it’s what drags me out of suicidal spirals. just. spitting at god and saying if you want me dead come down here and do it yourself, i won’t do it for you, fuck you. also the first verse calls me the fuck out

Cassandra: so my mom grew up super catholic, and she genuinely believed in it for most of her adult life, but a couple of years ago so started really struggling with her faith. and kinda in the middle of that she got to go to italy, and she had this day to herself, so she was wandering around the duomo in florence which is this like, massive, beautiful cathedral, and she was listening to this song and openly weaping because she realized she just didn’t feel god’s love within her anymore. and i never really believed in god myself but i can’t listen to those “well can you see me? i can not see you” without thinking of my mom

Free: I’M ALWAYS RUNNING FROM SOMETHING, I PUSH IT BACK BUT IT JUST KEEPS ON COMING, AND BEING CLEVER NEVER GOT ME VERY FAR, BECAUSE ITS ALL IN MY HEAD! OH, YOURE TOO SENSITIVE THEY SAID, I SAID OKAY, BUT LETS DISCUSS THIS AT THE HOSPITAL!!!

Choreomania: i want to like this song so much more than i do, like don’t get me wrong i still like it, but this should by all accounts be a love, but i don’t know. i don’t love the spoken intro. but i absolutely love the SOMETHINGS! COMING!s, and “but do they speak to you? because they speak to me too, the pressure and the panic you push your body through.” and of course, “you said that rock and roll is dead, but is it just because it hasn’t been resurrected in your image” (though like if jesus came back but in a beautiful dress does undercut it a bit for me)

Dream Girl Evil: obsessed with the production on this, the verses are amazing, it incorporates religion in a genuinely perfect way, i love the idea of the chant on the chorus, but every once in a while there’s a line that pulls me out

Heaven is Here: love this so much. like i can’t stress enough how much i love florence and the machine like if this was on another artists album then it would easily be in the top five but it’s on this album so it’s somehow in the bottom 3

Prayer Factory: i love the melody for “why don’t you give me a call, open my mouth yes i’ll take it all”

White Cliffs of Dover: it’s good? i don’t think i’d go out of my way to listen to it but i also won’t skip it if it pops up

Back in Town: a rare skip for florence, i’ve genuinely probably listened to this song maybe five times ever

#asks*

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wa-royal-tea · 2 years ago

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End of Part 3: Act 2

Hiiii yall! Sorry it took me a while to say my thanks to everyone who has been following the story so far. I realised I haven’t said my thanks when “The One” arc ended and I’m terribly sorry for that. I wanted to save up my thanks to the actual end for the 2nd act of this part bcs wow, act 2 has been super long compared to the pervious ones 💀 Trust me when I say I didn’t expect for it to take this long.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank my collab partner, Miss @thebrixtons for joining in the madness of collabing with me. She has been helping me with developing Alfina’s story and also letting a passing joke became a reality lol! Alfina won’t happen without her. Thank you for borrowing Edward, Mary, Clem, Rhys, Aubrey, and Sumiko to me. Oh, and “Mist” too 😋. I look forward to the chaos you probably have planned in your story!😚 And thank you too for building the cathedral Alfina married in! It was stunning 🥺😭

I’d also like to thank everyone who sent me their sims for Alfina’s wedding. Thank you for accepting my invitation and being part of their big day ❤

I want to thank all my readers, new and old for following the story and sending me asks throughout this 2nd act. I am very entertained with the amount of theories some of you guys have come up with 😂 There are some theories that had me wondering if any of you guys somehow got into my Notion & Milanote account and read what I have planned bcs you guys are too smart! 😂 Some of you had a theory right up to a T but because I want to keep what I had planned a secret, I had to come up with various lies and denial. And for that, I apologise 😌 Thank you for keeping me entertained with the asks that was sent my way! I love each and every one of it. You guys really made my day 😊❤

I’ve hit several milestones during the duration of this part and I want to thank everyone who has been there since this blog first came to be and up to this moment. I would also want to welcome new readers to the ship. Hi, new people, I hope you’ll enjoy your ride while you’re here! 😂 Thank you for being here! I can’t express the amount of gratitude I have for each and every one of you 🥺

Lastly, I have several extras I’ll be posting in the coming days. I’d like to warn my younger readers, minors especially, to block the #sims spice tag bcs the next few posts is going to be a bit...spicy (dw, the actual spice will be put under a cut!). It’s Alfina’s honeymoon posts so...you get it. Let them have this, y’all. I’ve put them through hell in this arc and the previous one 😌 But it won’t be just spice tho. I might have a hint or two on what I plan to do next after I come back from my usual story break 😌 Hint; remember the movie au? We’re getting there 🤭

That’s all! I hope you guys have a good day! Take care and stay safe!

- Nina

#sims story #sims storytelling #ts4 story #sims 4 story #ts4 storytelling #sims 4 storytelling #ts4 royal #ts4 legacy #ts4 #ts4 edit #ts4 roleplay #ts4 screenshots #ts4 simblr #Also. Sorry to Leonora followers. It had to be done 😔#sorry for the long rambles. i just have so many things to say jkhfkjs #also 2.0. Never realised that the Fredericks' family are THIS big #Like goddamn. There's a lot of ppl in Alfie's side of the family 😭😭😭

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gold-rhine · 2 years ago

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Repost bc my previous blog got shadowbanned.

Diluc

Diluc’s love language is Doing Things For You, which ranges from just generally being useful to dealing with problems and being protective, sometimes overbearingly, but what he himself recognizes as love language are specifically Grand Gestures.

Caveat: Grand Gestures do not mean “expensive”, Diluc has so much money that he doesn’t see spending it as something special, no matter how much.

Grand Gestures are also not something done publicly, Diluc likes to keep his most important things secret.

No, Grand Gesture has to be a) done for the specific person only b) by Diluc himself c) require considerable effort from him.

Examples: creating a cocktail for someone and asking them to name it (high friendship teapot), climbing mountains on his own birthday to collect rare berries and then cook a special dish with them for dinner (birthday letter).

The problem is that with these conditions it might sometimes be difficult to realize that the Grand Gesture is happening, bc Diluc himself is not gonna tell you. Sometimes you can deduce from context that he spent a lot of effort on it, but the context won’t always be obvious.

He’s constantly giving himself mental grades for everything he does, and especially for Grand Gestures, and unless the person he’s doing it for explicitly compliments him on a good job, he’s gonna decide he failed by default and forever remember how he disappointed his loved one.

(I will never get over the coffeeshop event where he was like “when I mixed my first drink as a small child, my father didn’t tell me that I succeeded, which means I failed a test of creativity.” MB YOUR DAD JUST WANTED U TO PLAY WITH SYRUPS FOR FUCKS SAKE)

So yeah, its better to err on the side of more “good jobs”. The man has a praise kink the size of Mond’s cathedral anyway, so can’t go wrong with that

Thoma

Thoma’s love language is also doing things for you, but specifically small everyday things.

He’s very perceptive and great at reading ppl, so he notices what you like and dislike, and accordingly surrounds you with your favorite things and removes annoyances.

It might sometimes require a lot of effort on his part, but he’ll never say it

Like you can mention that you love some rare jam at the cafe and next week it’s at your home and Thoma’s like “haha yeah, I found a place that sells it:)”, but actually he had to make three different deals and blackmail a merchant bc its not normally sold in shops

Your biggest cheerleader, incredibly supportive in all of your endeavors, if you have a deadline or big project coming up will try to do everything so you can focus on your thing with most comfort

Source: have you met him?

He also can find positives in any situation and will try to improve your mood if you’re feeling down

Like, what are you gonna do, NOT smile and feel better when he gives you a kitten in a knitted sweater?

Each separate thing might be small, but together they all create a protective golden bubble of warmth and positivity, that significantly improves your quality of life, even at the moments when he’s not around himself

Bc like you go to make tea and there’s your favorite tea, and your favorite jam, and the leaking water pipe was fixed without you even noticing, and there are fresh-baked cookies shaped like hearts and puppies

An off-field pyro shield, you might say adfhjkdfg

He also likes showing you his favorite places and just generally sharing nice moments together, esp if he thinks you need a break (hangout, high friendship teapot)

Xiao

Xiao is a weird case, because he sees himself only valuable as a weapon, so he doesn’t think that trying to do something nice for other people would lead to anything good.

“You believe a Yaksha who knows nothing more than how to massacre countless souls and emerge unscathed is a suitable mentor for such an individual?” and so on and so forth.

So like the closest he gets to love language is actually this:

“If you awake to a knife at your throat, if monsters dig their claws into you, if death comes knocking at your door, call out my name. Adeptus Xiao. I will be here when you call.” “If you encounter a difficult situation, don't be stubborn. Call my name. I will make it right.” “I deal in death. If you cannot bring yourself to kill — speak my name.” “I'm willing to protect you. But don't think about getting close, and stay out of my way, or all that awaits you is regret.”

Which is not just protectiveness, but like his specific brand of willingness to blacken his soul even more so you don’t have to, while getting nothing in return. So yeah, even Xiao’s love language is basically angst lmao.

Though to be fair, once he gets over the fact that someone likes his company, he becomes curious and goes out of his way trying to understand them. He doesn’t see this as an expression of affection, more as a research, because it’s easier for him to rationalize it like that.

“It's too late. The connection between us is too strong. Even if you wanted to, it's too late to sever it. Hm? You've never thought to sever it? *sigh* This eternal dance of demon subjugation... My fight goes on. But I would like to know more about you.“

And the high friendship teapot dialogue, where he asks to go to Liyue together “The stories of these times, or their joys... If I don't experience such things myself, it'll be hard to understand your thoughts. So... you're doing this for me? Xiao: Yes, to understand you.”

So he starts going out of his comfort zone to do things together (tho probably grumbling the whole way)

Kaeya

Like in most aspects, Kaeya contains multitudes. On the one hand, he is a hedonist.

Kaeya: I have to say, though, that chatting with you is quite intoxicating... Kaeya: Actually, in much the same way that drinking is. Kaeya: So, I suppose... I'm just greedy and want to enjoy both of these pleasures at the same time.

So all in all, I'm just another layer in your cocktail of pleasure? Kaeya: Hahaha... What an interesting metaphor! I hadn't looked at it from that angle... Kaeya: Let me think... Kaeya: Hmm... Your analogy seems largely correct.

He will want to create moments combining as many pleasurable things as possible, but he will want to know that he is the most enjoyable thing for you in a situation.

In a boring\shitty situation, unlike Thoma who will try to find positives in it, Kaeya will try to become a positive thing that offsets bad parts himself

He’s naturally charming and talkative, likes making compliments and teasing, finding out things about other people, hearing you talk about your day and share problems (“Nothing would make me feel prouder than knowing that my words of advice are of some help to you. That would imply that you trust me and proves that I am capable of helping you solve your problems.” - it might sound exaggerated, but it actually isn’t, I’ll get to that)

He also loves storytelling and has a knack for it (second birthday letter where he offers to entertain with stories, ghost anecdotes, loves telling stories to kids, obv to Klee, but apparentely just likes telling fucked up scary stories to Mond’s children, Kaeya, just become a horror writer and stop giving kids nightmares ffs)

So he likes telling stories, from horror stories to life anecdotes he’s got from the tavern to retelling the books he’s read, and he’s funny and imaginative enough to make anything sound entertaining.

In sum, Kaeya’s love language is literally enjoying each other’s company, settling in a nice place with a bottle of wine and talking hours away about everything and anything, and knowing he can keep you happy and entertained

On the other hand, as i’ve said, he is a book nerd and he loves sharing knowledge. He has to hide his origins, and he obv hates it, and as an off-set he likes sharing his experience.

Like, Kaeya prioritizes giving advice and teaching what he knows to someone to help them learn how to deal with a thing instead of just doing it himself, so they can handle it even if they leave him later. The “give man one fish, teach man to fish” philosophy.

Sources: wrote “rules for survival” for Klee, “In fact... would you like me to compile a guide for you...? It would contain all kinds of practical knowledge for at home and on the road, including the techniques I have developed for communicating with people from all walks of life. I'd like to share it all with you.”

idk how ppl think he’s just a shallow flirt, he literally offers to write a dedicated book for you unprompted, can you imagine how much effort, like??

But also imagine getting personalized “Manipulating People 101” in a beautiful handwriting asdfghjk what a nerd

No shit, if Klee was growing up at a normal rate, in her teens she’d have like 20 lovingly written textbooks like “How to use your innocent appearance to get away with anything”, “Calculating possible property damage from bombing,” “How to pin pyro damage on Darknight hero so Jean doesn’t get mad at you”.

He also likes doing nice things for ppl, but when he does nice things he likes to give credit to others or make it seem like he wasn't intending to do a nice thing and it just *happened* to end up like that, for like variety of reasons that i'm not getting into rn bc it's already too long lmao

#rhine character study #diluc #kaeya #thoma #xiao

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nebylitsa · 1 year ago

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The Offstage Adventures of Prince Hamlet

Hamlet’s birthday

On his birthday, Hamlet writes to Horatio, “I’m getting older and I have nothing to do. Nothing to show for it.” As if he hasn’t just been heroically dragged offstage. As if he hasn’t played his role perfectly. Horatio only sighs and writes a few lines of consolation – his only job, it seems, these days. Ophelia, still abroad after her surreptitious exit, would know how to deal with the prince’s moods more effectively, but she refuses to send even so much as a picture postcard with a cathedral or a monument on it. She needed some time to be a hermit, she’d said before she left.

•

Hamlet and his friends

Soon after their first acquaintance at Wittenberg, Hamlet writes Horatio an instruction manual containing all the rules necessary for a good friendship. The rules apply to them both, he says. Don’t gossip about each other. Do treat vows of undying love with the seriousness they deserve. Don’t turn a blind eye to self-destructive habits, like drinking or reading romantic novels. Do remember the phrase “contra mundum.” Don’t wear a mask. Don’t break your friend’s heart. Don’t flinch when your friend breaks yours. Horatio reads the entire thing, scribbles wry comments in the margins, learns the precepts by heart. To Ophelia, Hamlet sends a book about mysticism – its seven chapters have titles like “Vengeful Ghosts,” “Tricks of the Light,” and “Secret Societies.” He tells her not to read it in order, but to open it at random and see what meanings reveal themselves to her. She follows his advice and comes across a passage on plant symbolism. How curious, she thinks, that so many different flowers signify loyalty. That night, the three of them all have the same dream: they’re in a garden, kissing each other.

•

Hamlet in Italy

This is what the three of them do when they travel to Italy. Ophelia tears up a garden, thieving every single violet and lilac, deaf to the hotelier’s protestations. Horatio, his nose in a book, falls into a canal. Hamlet casts his nighted color off and buys an embroidered suit. Ophelia makes Hamlet a nosegay from her stolen flowers. Horatio considers running off with the proprietor of an antique shop. Hamlet puts the flowers in his pocket, their petals peeking out over the fabric like eyes. Ophelia insults a priest during high mass thanks to a shoddy phrasebook. Horatio is found fondling a bust of Marcus Aurelius. Hamlet throws the flowers into a canal. Ophelia kisses Horatio on the mouth and wonders what it would be like if he were a woman. Horatio forgets all about the ancient ruins he saw that day. Hamlet sits for a portrait in his new suit, his hand positioned on a table as if ready for a bloodletting. Hamlet gets marvellously drunk and tells a ghost story. Hamlet finds out Laertes is staying in the same hotel. Hamlet challenges Laertes to a duel during breakfast, which consists of lemon biscotti and black tea. Hamlet hears the duel’s been called off. Hamlet and Laertes laugh about it and get drunk together. Hamlet loses his luggage at the train station. Ophelia breaks a window. Horatio burns his travel diary. Hamlet receives a letter edged in black.

•

Hamlet and family

When Hamlet meets Horatio’s family, he’s struck by how very ordinary love is. A cup of tea is offered with extra sugar for no reason other than that sugar is sweet. There are flowers on the windowsill and it doesn’t seem to matter that soon they will wilt. Nobody in this family feels the need to dig up secrets: and so there are no secrets. The caged parrot in the parlor sings words of reassurance. Horatio’s mother opens the golden latch; the bird flies out and away into the garden. It always comes back. Hamlet is amazed. Like a traveler in a faraway land, he finds himself getting used to the strange customs and manners here – small smiles, evenings together by the fireplace, little notes passed back and forth, no dissembling. He wants to stay here forever. He can’t.

•

Hamlet’s new hobby

He needs something to while away the long nights at Elsinore, so Hamlet takes up building miniature castles. Each one is an exercise in fancy: each window no bigger than an eye, each ballroom small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. He paints the castles with a tiny brush, hands never shaking though he’s hardly slept. He wonders if this is what it feels like to be a god. Did the demiurge entrusted with the creation of all the fragile things in the world also stay up late like this, minutely toiling away through the night? How did it decide which paint to use? Did it, too, grieve that it could never see its handiwork from the perspective of a toy soldier?

•

Hamlet and his elders

The king and the queen are so alike, they might as well be the same person. This is a change that Hamlet had not foreseen, but perhaps it’s a natural consequence of marriage. His mother now takes her coffee black like his uncle does; his uncle’s acquired his mother’s habit of descending staircases with extraordinary slowness like an aging tragedienne. Gertrude now has a permanent predatory twinkle in her eye, inspects the regiments every morning, wears epaulettes and gleaming black boots, sleeps with every officer in the kingdom. Claudius now drinks less, makes plans to open a school for intelligent bourgeois girls who are down on their luck, uses words like “motherland” in his speeches to the senate, kisses Hamlet on the cheek. No, they’re not the same person – rather, they’ve exchanged natures. How far will this misrule go? Hamlet worries that soon he won’t be able to tell the difference between himself and Laertes, of all people.

•

Hamlet visits the capital

The manager of the theater flat out refuses to put on any revenge tragedies while the prince is in the capital. He says the idea of such a performance would be a bigger spectacle than the show itself – good for ticket sales, maybe, but not for politics. Bookshops, too, replace all their Gothic novels with pamphlets on Stoic philosophy. Public monuments are covered up with tarp. Even the fountains in the parks are drained, now nothing but heaps of dry marble. People are advised to stay indoors. It’s as if another great plague is coming to the city. In spite of this, crowds of children, actors, fishwives, and gravediggers fill the streets to get a glimpse of Hamlet. He takes hand after hand, answers each breathless greeting with a smile. This is how his uncle must feel when he goes on a royal progress through the country. Horatio stays close to Hamlet, glasses askew. Ophelia, draped in green silk, dances in a circle with a gaggle of prostitutes – silly girls who can’t possibly be older than she is. Because all the church bells have been dismantled in anticipation of Hamlet’s visit, nobody knows what time it is until the night watchmen show up.

•

Hamlet goes to war

Ophelia laughs at him for going. She guesses it’s all part of some scheme of his to be more like Fortinbras, but she simply can’t imagine Hamlet marching to the beat of a drum, a rifle on his shoulder, unflinching as he trudges through snow. War won’t chase the bad dreams away, she says. He knows this. He goes anyway. It’s only when she sees him putting on his uniform that Ophelia realizes he’s serious – she chases him all the way to the barracks, silk shawl unfurling like a flag, still laughing through her tears but begging him to stay. Horatio worries himself sick. He pores over maps and Roman military manuals, listens for gunshots, writes Hamlet three letters a day. When he returns, Hamlet puts all his toy soldiers in a box.

•

Hamlet’s coronation

At what point does Prince Hamlet become Julius Caesar? How many times should he refuse the crown? Should he take a different regnal name, so as to avoid being compared to his father in odes and elegies alike? Horatio will come with him, of course, but will Ophelia be there? Can he bring a sword into the cathedral, or will he have to leave it by the door? How long until his subjects give him a subversive nickname? How long until his subjects see who he really is? How long until his subjects decide they don’t like him? Is chivalry still relevant? If at some point he finds he’s turned into Julius Caesar, which of his friends will play Brutus?

•

The death of Hamlet

Many years have passed since the death of Hamlet. He doesn’t remember his last lines – only that he was betrayed. Only that he never got to grow old, that he was never crowned, that for a few wild moments he held a sword in each hand, that one of the swords was envenomed. He doesn’t remember if he became a ghost afterwards. He doubts it; he isn’t the haunting type. The miniature castles gather dust in his study. The embroidered suit, immaculate except for a bloodstain near the heart, lies folded in a chest. All the letters he ever received are locked in a drawer somewhere. He can’t bring himself to throw all these useless things away.

#mp #shakespeare #hamlet #writeblr #writers on tumblr #i wrote this back in college and am still really proud of it

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houseofbrat · 1 year ago

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Well, well, well...

I knew there were public relations games at hand once Roya Nikkhah wrote this:

“The country is struggling on so many fronts and big changes within the monarchy might not chime well with the times. I think Charles realises that the main changemaker will be William, who will have more licence to do it [as monarch] and Charles has decided to be the ‘steady-as-we-go’ monarch, providing the stability and continuity the country needs now.”

Because five days later, the Daily Mail had an article regarding how 20% of the staff is going to be on the chopping block.

'There is a real feeling that the staffing at all the palaces is too heavy,’ said one insider. 'There are far too many assistants to assistants. The King and Queen would prefer to pay people proper wages top to bottom but have less people. 'For instance, there are chefs for them and chefs for the staff. Why, they ask, can’t there be one lot of kitchen staff for everyone?��

The King and Queen eating food made by the same chefs as the ones that fix food for the plebes! Hey, even "frugal" Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip didn't do that! That is nothing to sneeze at. Eliminating TWENTY PERCENT of staff is a huge change of how things work behind the scenes in the monarchy.

However, for some reason, the BRF needs to project "stability" right now. As if they are not under siege from outside forces. Or internal problems.

It's already been established that they know there is a coming shit storm regarding Andrew. Then, naturally, there is the continuing Harry problem. No surprises there.

Why would they be worried about more problems? Was there some kind of preventable problem/scandal that most people don't know about? Or didn't know about?

Gee, it doesn't have anything to do with Gordon Rayner's creative writing project from 22 August, does it? You know, the one where "Kate is keen to do more." She's still going to work, you know? You didn't forget that did you? She's not some kind of loose canon that needs to be reined in by the King and Queen. Oh, no siree! She tells people in advance what she's doing. The peeps at the top are always aware!

She and her husband will always follow the directions of the sovereign! We know because that's why William was seen driving Andrew to church two weeks ago, regardless of William's "well-known hostility" to Andrew.

Now the plan is to say that they didn't want Kate's pregnancy--you know, the magical pregnancy that hardly anyone noticed--to distract from the coronation festivities. That Will & Kate didn't want to detract from the King's first year on the throne. That they didn't want to take away from everyone remembering the late Queen Elizabeth II. (Cue the PR shield that is the late QEII!) That the new princess won't stop Kate from fulfilling her duties in the short term. Because she's all about the "work," y'all!

That's why Russell Myers got the exclusive news that Will & Kate were going be at St. David's Cathedral in Wales to remember QEII on Friday. (KP didn't announce it; it was a strategic leak.) Just like Will & Kate will be attending more than one rugby game this year. They attended the Rugby World Cup in France separately, so that one parent can be at home with the new baby at all times. They are working parents, y'all! Don't you forget that they are working hard, just like everyone else in the UK! These are tough times in the UK. The heir to the throne and his wife work, work, work, work! That's what they are known for, right? "Work."

Roya Nikkhah's latest puff piece comes as no surprise to me today. Complete with an "aide" commenting about how William's "focus is always on getting on with the job and focusing on his work.” Because as the "aides" say William is “very keen” to work. William is a workaholic now, y'all! Don't forget that this article is basically straight from Kensington Palace given that an "aide" was quoted/mentioned FOUR times! (I do wonder what pr firm they hired to come up with this "work" strategy. Same pr firm that they'll use later this year when this "work" strategy doesn't completely pan out?)

Kate just made the comment, “I’ve been there and done that,” because she didn't want to detract from the coronation festivities. Just like she may or may not have drunk champagne at polo. (It was just photo assumption by lazy journalists & die-hard fans! LOL!!) She didn't look pregnant at Wimbledon because The King ordered her to just slay looks while wearing green! Because Kate is all about "getting on with the job!"

I'm sure no one with half a brain will remember that babies take nine months to gestate. Or that Kate has pictures from three other pregnancies that they can compare to 2023.

I'm sure there will be no upcoming problems for Will or Kate in the UK press regarding the nation's new princess. It's not as if the UK press wants to write about controversy! (Or the basement baby!)

#well well well #well there's your problem #strategery #pr games #Wales kid number FOUR #William The Prince of Wales #Catherine The Princess of Wales #PR fail #fail!#The Workshy Waleses #Workshy Will #my gif #Roya Nikkhah #Russell Myers #Gordon Rayner #princess basement baby

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undefeatablesin · 2 years ago

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So I want to talk about the Bloodborne Comics today, more specifically I want to talk about the hunter from Death of Sleep, mainly because they served as my gateway to the franchise and I think about them a lot even to this day-but nobody else ever seems to mention them or the comics for that matter? But I don’t control my brainrots, they control me, so here we are. This is long as hell, so buckle up lmao.

In any case, I’m going to preface this by saying I definitely understand why the comics aren’t talked about a great deal in the fandom as far as I can tell, since we only get one issue that actually centres around the more familiar and expected story of the hunt, and even then the story’s trajectory veers off in a wildly different direction than you might anticipate-and then the rest of the issues by and large all revolve around characters that are only canon to the comics except for Eileen. I appreciate them for what they are, even though I think a lot of opportunity to explore more pertinent characters was definitely missed, but I’m not here to talk about that in particular today when The Death of Sleep has only become of increasing interest to me since I finally played the game for myself. There will be spoilers for this issue mentioned throughout, so if you haven’t read it and still want to, please keep that in mind.

For those who haven’t read it or just as a refresher for those that have, Death of Sleep follows a nameless hunter on their journey to uncover the meaning of paleblood in order to transcend the hunt they are trapped in the cycle of. This story presumably takes place a little earlier than our hunter’s story in the game, something we can safely assume based on two key details in particular:

Djura is present with all of his powder kegs in Old Yharnam as opposed to being by himself with only one accomplice, and furthermore does not yet seem to be driving other hunters out of the city. He even refers to the nameless hunter as his “friend” and the powder kegs are all taking refuge in the cathedral which, by the time of the game, has obviously been overrun with beast patients praying to the strung up corpse of a blood-starved beast. There are also dogs and huntsmen present in Old Yharnam in the comic, which there definitively is not during the events of the game. Could just be an oversight, but I like to believe this is just a relatively earlier point in time.

Iosefka has not been turned into a celestial emissary and replaced by her imposter yet in the comic; the real Iosefka is still very much alive and present, as we can define by her strict dedication to keeping contaminants out of her clinic and away from her patients while the hunt is in process. As we know, the fake Iosefka is not interested in protecting the patients so much as she is in acquiring even more of them to experiment on.

The hunter of this story is delivered to us as a blank slate in many ways; they have no name, no memory of their past, their family or why they came to Yharnam (if they indeed came from the outside at all), nor how long they have even been a paleblood hunter, asking Gehrman at one point how long they have been bound to the dream (which Gehrman does not actually answer.) The only fragments of their past we are privy to is that a) they have some blurry memories of a child they can’t fully remember, whether that is a child of their own, a different family member or someone else entirely that they have forgotten throughout the hunt. And b) they have some sort of history with Iosefka, which I will expound on further later.

The basic story in DoS revolves around The hunter being entrusted with a strange child by Djura, the both of them believing that the child is the fabled Paleblood that the hunter seeks, due to the fact that, as one might guess, the child quite literally bleeds pale blood. The hunter takes the child with them out of Old Yharnam (after dying once attempting to do so in a confrontation with the Blood Starved Beast), intending for the both of them to escape the hunt with the child’s help.

They journey through some familiar locations like the Forbidden Woods and Iosefka’s clinic and then further out to the Old Fishing Hamlet in search of a boat; though where the hunter thinks they are going to go with that boat or what they are going to do with the child is never disclosed. However, predictably and yet unfortunately for the hunter, the child is heavily implied to be an escaped experiment of the Healing Church as opposed to the answer to the hunter’s plight. The child bleeds the same murky colour as the kin enemies (and the children in the upper cathedral ward orphanage are supposedly the source of celestial emissaries created by the choir’s experiments). The child remarks that they have always “felt sick”, not unlike how imposter Iosefka describes nausea after the blood moon descends. The child likewise does not remember their name or their past and exhibits supernatural abilities, is able to see the amygdalas in the world, and all of this eventually culminates in them turning into a grotesque monster at the very end of the story-making it grimly apparent that they are not what the hunter was looking for at all. The two leave together regardless on a boat out of the fishing hamlet, going to who knows where.

It’s a rather short and simple story, and not one that cares to explain much or expand much on the context we already have, but yet it really fascinates me regardless simply because of how much it emphasizes the presumed hopelessness of Bloodborne’s world and the aching that the hunter feels for an escape from it. For such a relatively mysterious character, we gather a great deal about them purely through the implications of their internal dialogue and the actions they take throughout the pages. If you have no other knowledge of the comic whatsoever, you probably have at least seen this meme-

Which is the hunter’s reply to the doll asking what the hunter desires once they return to the dream after dying to BSB, and the first real instance we see of this particular hunter’s weariness with the hunt that is only compounded by the struggles they have to face throughout their journey. They want out, and they want it terribly, even if they don’t remember what, if anything, they have to return to. They often ideate about death, what it means to die, their inability to truly die, and yet how it is enough for them to die showing the prey that they are unafraid. They feel stranded and hopeless, yet cling to a single foolish hope of finding their way out. They are sick and tired of the hunt, but the hunt now is all they know and all that they are-its their centre, their core, their person. I don’t often see depictions of a paleblood hunter so downtrodden and world-weary that they want to just lay down and give up but simply cannot, or one that goes so far out of their way to avoid the path that the Dream (and thereby the Moon Presence) demands of them. The path which, ironically, is the actual path they need to take to ever truly escape the hunt, whether they know that or not-or whether they are just purely too tired to tread it.

They are a walking, tragic paradox, which in a lot of ways is well-suited to the tragic and bleak world of Bloodborne, and when you think about it, a perfect contrast to the role we end up taking in the game however long after. Our hunter is a relentless force that sees their duty through to the bitter end, whatever end that winds up being, a single shining beacon of hope in this hopeless world-the definition of creating your own destiny, while the nameless hunter in many a way sadly succumbs to the one thrust upon them-seen abandoning their saw cleaver on the shores of the hamlet before they sail away to an unknown fate, though one we know will grant them no peace. They are bound to the dream still, even if they now refuse to fight any longer (not so unlike Djura denouncing his status as a hunter in the face of his own grievances, a very interesting parallel to the nameless hunter and likely an intentional one, since he of all people was chosen to be featured in the comic alongside the nameless hunter.) Frankly, I find them wonderfully, tragically interesting as our own hunter’s predecessor in a narrative sense, and one that is just buried away in these comics and never really spoken of.

I’m also surprised that at the very least nobody talks about the fact the nameless hunter is canonically non-binary! Though the comic summary and Djura both refer to the hunter as “he”, the hunter themself does not apply any particular gender to their person when questioned about it by Iosefka.

And last of all, speaking of Iosefka once more, I am also surprised nobody talks about the implied relationship between the hunter and Iosefka. For as brief as their time in the comic together might be, there are some interesting implications in the dialogues between them. Iosefka claims that “not even her dear hunter” could change her mind about letting people enter the clinic during a hunt-but yet took the hunter in along with the child regardless when the hunter turned up wounded from their jaunt in the forbidden woods and collapsed outside her clinic, as well as treating them with the best blood in her possession (presumably even her own?) The hunter in particular though has some dialogue that just reeks with yearning after they depart from Iosefka’s clinic, having the following things to say:

“Iosefka, I remember the smell of your skin. Soft, subtle markings. Then overwhelm. Honey and bitter medicines. In another world, we could have seen each other again. In another world...not this cursed dream.”

A remarkably intimate statement, by all accounts, especially given this hunter’s rather impersonal comments about the other characters in the story, none of which the hunter has terribly much to say about-whether or not this dialogue was supposed to denote a romantic connection of some kind, I am not going to say definitively. I am going to say the implication definitely keeps me up at night though.

All this said and done: pls read Death of Sleep, you might find it surprisingly interesting lmao.

#sin speaking #(more like sin screams into a plastic cup about her niche obsession with the comic hunter)#{fun fact! this hunter was the one I was originally going to basically adopt for my depictions and art and stuff on tumblr)#(but then i played the game myself. wanted to tell my own stories. design my own canon. make my own hunter...)#(and well you know who they ended up inspiring by now LOL IM SURE. EVEN IF THE TWO ARE FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT AT THIS POINT.)#(i would love to make some nameless hunter content too tho one day bc clearly. the rot is not gone just bc my oc took over AJSKDFG)#(THATS ANOTHER THING NOBODY DRAWS THEM EITHER!!! I THINK THEY DESERVE AT LEAST THAT!!!)#(once again.........it falls to ME. the undercooked niche artist with her weirdly specific fixations ASJDFKGDLF)

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simperator · 2 years ago

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Haeresis Dea - Chapter Three

AO3 Link

Secondo remembers a Sister and feels warm nostalgia and affection, a Sister knows Secondo and feels nothing but fear.

You look like an idiot right now. Say something, anything, just don’t say that again.

Every thought shooting through Secondo’s head seemed to be running at a mile a minute, and none of them were good. Not only does this girl look absolutely petrified of you, but she also doesn’t know what the hell you’re talking about. To add insult to injury, you can stand there saying you remember her but you can’t even recall the poor girl’s name.

Unfortunately, the only laurel he knew to rest on was the fact he had satanic nepotism, to speak to them as a superior no matter the situation. The thought of it made his stomach churn in pure self-loathing and disgust. His younger brother Terzo had always loved the attention and actively revels in it, and even his older brother Primo is quietly lofty with other people.

“Yes, I think we knew each other as children, Sorella.”

Secondo winced at himself for only calling her by her title. He had always made an effort to learn people’s names but seeing how this Sister hypothetically slapped him on the wrist for it by neglecting to call Copia by his newly ordained name. That was the big lightbulb for him into remembering her, the relationship they shared. No one in their right mind should be talking to an Emeritus that way, correcting them on what they are allowed to call their subordinates. After all, their bloodline has been associated with the satanic papacy since Nihil’s father, his father’s father, and however long Nihil was able to continue on for when reminding the brothers of this fact.

But here the Sister was, not afraid to stand up for the young priest and openly disregard the unholy bloodline, to an Emeritus’ face. She could get many extremely stern talking to’s by her elder Sister’s for doing that. Disrespecting his father and his role in the church. Secondo liked that.

“We… we did?”

In fact, it was that very abrasive attitude that kicked off his memory of this particular Sister. Growing up within the church’s curriculum and subsequent nuns and priests as teachers, obviously there was a level of strictness, which made room for a level of rebellion. Of course, Terzo and some of the young boys were usual problem children, talking back and slacking off on assigned work. Not young Sorella. She was never afraid to stick up for herself and question authority no matter what matter was at hand- a very welcomed blessing in a Satanic environment but it definitely got old for many Sisters after a long day.

It was definitely a more-than-once-a-week occasion Secondo would be surveying the cathedral halls with his older brother and father and see her sitting outside, slumped over a desk pushed outside grumbling to herself. His father would always lightheartedly chastise her with his shit-eating grin with a line like “You focus better out here?” while Primo tried to silently discipline her by means of a disappointed stare. This vexed Secondo for two reasons. One, shouldn’t they be encouraging rebellion as one of the pillars of their faith? Two, they acted exactly like this toward everyone all of the time. Nihil acts too much like a child to be Papa and Primo acts too much like Papa to be a child. Whenever the two would share their unwelcome two cents with the poor girl Secondo just looked at her and tried to send his sympathies with just a look. Maybe she would remember his attempt at telepathy.

“Yes, I remember you uh… would get in trouble a lot. My brothers and I would see you outside.”

Secondo wanted this to stir up playful nostalgia in the poor Sister but her face contorted into somewhere between a sneer and guilt. “Ah. Right. They sure had a lot to say.” Secondo bit the inside of his cheek. Once again, Secondo’s attempt at honest, light conversation seems to go awry. He knows that he’s intimidating, arguably the most out of all of the Emeritus men, but that didn’t mean he wanted people to fear him. It just sort of… came with the territory of his height, status, and general flat tone. The only thing Secondo could think to do to remedy this would be to squat down to match the young Sister’s eye level but that would be wildly patronizing.

Trying to think fast, Secondo wanted to soothe any feeling going through her head, and let her know that he wasn’t scolding or making fun of her. “I always thought they were a bit hard on you…” Secondo’s eyes were fixed on the hallway ahead, pretending not to be hesitant about looking back to the Sister, whose eyes were wide with surprise. The lack of eye contact gave Secondo the confidence to continue his thought. “My family and the older Sisters.”

Secondo, despite his resting I’m-going-to-maul-you-if-you-say-the-wrong-thing face, was in reality just a shy young boy with insurmountable pressure put on him since the time he was born. Being a bastard son of the reigning Papa and brother to both the most insufferably high-achieving and just regular insufferable left him in an impossible position. Secondo worked hard every day to make up for what Terzo lacked in regards to future Papacy, but was forever cast in Primo’s shadow because he couldn’t help raise his younger brother and aim for perfection in everything he did because it would break him down.

He did not want to disappoint his father but felt as though his very existence did that for him. All of the Emeritus brothers felt that way, they all just coped with it differently. Primo tried to be the best at everything in an attempt for validation, Terzo just coasted through with his looks and charm because he had given up on appeasing Nihil a long time ago. Secondo was in the middle of these two extremes but was not allowed to complain about it at all. Any attempt at venting would result in Primo saying he has no right because he doesn’t work hard enough or Terzo just brushing him off saying that he shouldn’t care. He felt trapped, and anyone who was able to break out of their hypothetical cages- no matter what they were, earned his respect.

He was snapped out of what he believed to be a pity party by a small snort from the Sister. Hearing a small semblance of joy after she was practically radiating fear was a small nugget of pure relief. Secondo turned back to her, her hand covering her mouth. “I’m sorry, Father Emeritus it’s just… really? You looked like you were going to give me a real talking to every time you looked at me.” Damnit. Not only was Secondo scaring the living daylights out of the poor girl all she knows from him is fear. It was right then and there Secondo decided that right now, even if it was just one person, was going to realize how warm he really was.

“Please, if anyone needed to be sent into time-out it’d be my father for teasing children instead of doing any papal duties.” Secondo could feel the tension in the air dissipating, all because he let his mask slip a little. He grew up constantly hearing from Sister Imperator to speak formally with everyone in the Clergy and to always remain collected and professional, which earned him a lot of respect but also made it very hard to make friends. He prayed the Sister wouldn’t notice his discomfort in being comfortable with someone who wasn’t Imperator or his family. Hell, at this rate, he may even end up smiling, which according to Terzo would bring about the apocalypse.

Small, poorly-hidden giggling was echoing through the halls, the young Sister was eating this up. Secondo let a small, awkward smile stretch across his face, and a sense of pride twang in his chest. Being able to convince this girl he wasn’t going to bite her head off and joke about something that the Clergy considers oh-so-serious was a feeling completely foreign to him, but one he was now desperate into happening more often. That’s not even mentioning hearing how he made the young Sister laugh. She sounded so delighted, genuine, and… pretty…

“Father Emeritus, should you not talk about Papa that way? What if somebody hears you?” The Sister chirped through laughter. Secondo wasn’t even thinking about anyone else right now, he didn’t care if anyone, not even Imperator, heard him knocking his father down a few pegs with a subordinate. Secondo decided to push this new feeling even further. “What they do, tell on me? They’ll have to find him dicking off or pestering Sister Imperator first.” Speaking casually with an inferior, making fun of Papa, and now swearing. Secondo was on a roll. It was freeing calling his father out on his shortcomings to someone who was raised believing he was oh-so-all-important, especially when it meant he could see a smile and hear a laugh half as adorable as the young Sisters-

Nope. Too far. Shooting the shit with Clergy members is one thing, finding them attractive is a whole different beast and a whole other world of angry lecturing from Imperator. Secondo tried to nip these feelings in the bud but this conversation was just too good. He liked this new energy he can create, and he liked how she responded to it. That’s totally innocent, right? “Are you going to tell my mentor that I’m laughing at your slander, Father?” Secondo's smile quickly faded. “Mentor?” The not-a-Sister Sister swats a few more laughs from out of the air, but still smiling responded. “Yes, I’m a Novitiate.” Oh no. Not only was he testing out a new streak of cockiness to make a cute girl laugh, but this cute girl also wasn’t even an ordained Sister. They both could get into some serious hot water if this got out. The Novitiate was an adult, twenty at least, so it wouldn’t be like a teenager giggling with their friends and getting him in trouble. During his little crisis she continued, “...Perhaps I should have told you before you called me Sister…” Her smile began to slowly drop.

Not on Secondo’s watch. It was like a line of a drug sharing laughter with a Clergy member, for once as potential friends rather than a business partner. Plus, it would not be out of pity, this notion utterly puzzled him. From what he remembered, despite her constant sticking-to-the-man, she had a lot of potential and much going for her by the time she graduated from the Clerical equivalent of high school. With her passion, she should have been an ordained Sister years ago, what is she doing stuck in that position? Secondo just had to know. “You’re not ordained? Were you not someone apart of top-of-the-class and well-liked among the Clergy?” The Novitiate smirked, meeting Secondo’s green eye. “Smart, maybe. Well-liked by my Sisters? You just mentioned how much of a problem child I was.” Secondo was affronted by this. He knew problem children, he has dealt with some real pieces of work both in the Sister and Priesthood. Someone who was simply just passionate and argumentative should not be held back like this. “That’s ridiculous. Well, if someone like my younger brother could end up an ordained priest 6 years early, you should be fine.” “Your brother is also your brother. It makes sense he’d be ordained and I’m not.”

Right. The whole son-of-the-Papa thing. Secondo felt a strange sense of guilt despite not having any part in anyone’s potential clerical career. Terzo was not ready for ordination, he barely cares about the church. In fact, Secondo barely knew anything about the church until after he was ordained into the priesthood, he had to pick up where his schooling left off by whiling away hours in the cathedral library. He hated unfair treatment and hated how much he benefitted from it. “Besides…” she began again. “I wasn’t born in the Clergy…”

That’s it. He knew about nepotism but had no idea it stretched to everyone who had the so-called honour of being born from a Papa and his Prime Mover, and discriminated against anyone who converted or was left here on the steps… just like him. “There’s no reason why you’re stuck under everyone’s thumb just because you’re not the byproduct of some bloodline bullshit.” His tone was deep and angry, this touched a deep nerve in him so sorely he did not realize the tone of his voice and how passionate he was getting. So much so that his anger made the Novitiate recoil.

Secondo immediately let his fire fizzle out, he hated upsetting people. Especially someone he had been so, perhaps unbeknownst to them, vulnerable with. He put his gloved hands on her shoulders and leaned down to match her eyeline, no longer caring about coming off as anything and simply trying to soothe her. “You don’t deserve this kind of treatment, especially from the people who claim to be family. Now, you tell me if anyone hinders you or makes you feel like you don’t belong here, understand?”

His voice was stern but not out of commanding respect, but out of feeling disrespect for another. Noticing the slightly shaken expression on the Novitiate's face Secondo’s eyes softened. He moved his hands from firmly on her shoulders to holding them in his hands. “I’m on your side. Promise me you’ll tell me.” She blinked a couple of times and then nodded slightly, letting out a small sigh of destressing from the sudden outburst. “Thank you, Father.”

He sighed in a strange sense of embarrassment for letting himself be so emotional, a very typical response for a man in his power but more for potentially upsetting the Novitiate. Not wanting to mess anything up further, he quietly held her hands and slowly glided his thumbs over her soft hands. The two stood there for a few beats, just breathing, quietly rebalancing the comfort felt just seconds before. Secondo looked down at the ground, shamefully.

“Really,” she spoke again, Secondo meeting her eyes expectantly. “Thank you, Father.” She smiled warmly at him, a silent acknowledgment of his fears and a way of soothing him in return, a way of her saying I’m-not-afraid. Secondo stood up and straightened himself up, not letting go of the Novitiate's hands, who was now shyly averting eye contact. “I really must be getting to the Sister’s quarters…” she squeaked out, her face flush. “They’d uhm… get really upset with me if I skipped out on chores.”

Secondo’s shoulders relaxed, now fully safe in the knowledge that she felt safe, but he didn’t want to leave this newfound companion on an awkward note, just parting ways like this didn’t mean something to him or she was just another subordinate to dismiss whenever he pleased. The Novitiate let go of his hands hesitantly, she was absolutely worried she was overstepping holding hands with an Emeritus but Secondo secretly mourned the loss of her touch. Secondo took a leap. “Per favore, lascia che ti accompagni indietro.”

The Novitiate cocked her head, puzzled. Ah, right. “Please let me walk you back,” Secondo repeated, putting his son-of-the-Papa voice on to mask his nervousness. He swallowed a dry throat. “If you would like…” The Novitiate's face got so hot Secondo could practically feel it, which he absolutely adored. “Yes…” she began, voice hoarse. “I would like that.”

The two turned and questioningly took their first steps back towards the Sister’s sleeping quarters. The Novitiate's hands were poised elegantly in front of her while Secondo opted to put his hands in his pockets. He secretly wanted to offer up his arm to hold, more than anything to be a gentleman but also as an excuse to be close to her again, but his shyness got the better of him. The walk back was still pleasant, the two enjoying the other's company in silent comfort. Secondo felt her eyes glance at him, scanning his large frame but when he attempted to look back her eyes darted back forward, which pulled a restrained chuckle out of him. She was making it very hard to repress the feelings he convinced himself he rid of earlier.

It seemed like a minute and they were at the crossroads between sleeping quarters, the hallway stretching with midday sunlight dappling the walls through the tall cathedral windows. The Novitiate continued walking but noticed the presence beside her disappearing. She looked to Secondo, curious as to why he stopped so suddenly. Secondo put his hands behind his back formally, letting his lip twitch before speaking for the first time in a good few minutes. “I don’t want to startle any Sisters.” If he was to be nothing else, Secondo was going to be respectable, and as much as he wanted to ignore any of his duties for the day and spend more time with the sweet girl he just gotten acquainted with he knew better than to impose his presence on potentially unwilling Sisters. Respecting women’s privacy went without saying to him and his brothers of course but any young priest who tried to glance would definitely be subject to cruel and well-deserved punishment- even the old casanova knows that.

“Ah, well, thank you very much for accompanying me, Father Emeritus.” She was putting on her own formal voice now. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you at Papa’s next sermon.” Secondo let that damn smile creep back on his face, hoping the distance between the two of them would render it unnoticeable. “I’m sure I will, but please, you may call me Secondo.” She looked to him, eyes twinkling with disbelief, and then to the floor, her face bright pink and fingers twiddling anxiously. “Am… I dismissed… Secondo?” She was unsure of the new name, Secondo liked how it sounded coming from her voice. “You do not need my permission,” he replied, as warmly as he could muster. The Novitiate looked back to him with a restrained smile on her face, still facing him as she began to walk back to her room. “Farewell, Secondo.” His smile grew wider without his own volition at the unspoken new signal of friendship “Farewell, Sorella.”

Turning away from her before she caught on that he was absolutely bursting with butterflies, he began the long trudge back to the library, contorting his face in all sorts of ways to stop smiling like an idiot. Just because she could see him without the stuffy and aloof act doesn’t mean he’s ready for everyone else to be able to as well. Saying nothing to those he passed by besides offering a curt nod with an unchanging typical Secondo expression his head was absolutely reeling. Replaying the conversation, picking apart all the things he did, and trying to burn the Novitiate’s laugh in his memory.

Standing in front of the heavy doors for the library he entered, with so much of his usual bravado he did not notice that Terzo was in there, book half-open in his hands. When the two’s eyes met Secondo completely dropped into a usual scowl. The library was his safe space, his space to ponder on those moments, and his little brother infecting it. “Since when did you read,” Secondo growled. Terzo’s face went from neutral to a shit-eating grin, very usual fashion for him “Since when did you flirt with the Sisters?”

Secondo’s face rose in temperature rapidly, burning an ever-increasing red. Terzo had very little idea what was going through his head but was very delighted to mercilessly tease the brother that so often scolds him for everything. Secondo let a hand drop over his features in a failing attempt to cover his embarrassed blush. “I was not flirting with anyone!” Terzo let out a laugh. “Ooh! Defensive! This is a big deal, most of us were under the impression you didn’t have feelings!” Secondo was about to slam that door in an attempt to assert his brotherly dominance but Terzo stood with his hands up disarmingly. He loved to tease but truly was invested in Secondo’s little venture. “It’s okay, Fratello, I won’t tell Imperator. But you must tell me who the lucky girl is!” Secondo’s fingers impatiently tapped on the door as he avoided eye contact with his brother.

“Or boy…” Terzo added. Secondo knew that Terzo was absolutely saying that but this was about all he could take. He shut the door behind him, leaving Terzo to simply shrug off what just happened and chalk it up to Secondo being Secondo. Standing outside the library door, he stared into nothing for a few beats, then buried his face and hair into his hands. If he wasn’t overthinking it before, he certainly was now. Did I make her uncomfortable? Does she think I was flirting with her? If I did would she be upset?

Great. Not only did he make himself vulnerable, shortcircuit with social anxiety, and risk getting a royal ass-whooping from Imperator for saying all that stuff about his father, but now his brothers have more ammo to tease him with. Worse yet, he now is stuck with all of these feelings he would never have had if he had just stayed in his library or in his quarters all day. So much Secondo now had to suffer, but the worst part is, he didn’t want it to stop.

#ghost bc #ghost band #secondo #secondo x reader #terzo #ghost fanfiction #ghost the band #fanfic #haeresis dea fic

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demiclar · 2 years ago

Text

The Ghost of You

The Ghost of You - Ao3

Shiro begins to reconcile with his Nightmares.

“Why did you come here?”

Shiro blinks, glancing up from where he sits on his bunk in his ship, patching up a tear in his yellow cloak. Suzume could do the same thing in half a thought, the task that could take Shiro over an hour done in a moment, but Shiro likes the work. The old cloak is soft and worn under his fingers, as familiar as the man who appears before him, watching Shiro from the open space in the center of his ship.

He hasn’t left the Leviathan. He retreated back to his ship, but parked in orbit with the heralded eater of worlds, he’s still close enough for the Nightmares to reach him. Some part of him, some desperate, aching piece of him isn’t ready to let them go. Even singing their abuse, spinning their lies and weaving their traps around him, they bear the faces of his old friends. They whisper in their voices, the ghosts of the people Shiro remembers.

“Shouldn’t you already know that?” He feels a pinch of pain alongside the bitterness that immediately rises within him. He can’t help but guard himself against the Nightmares, even when they know everything there is to know about him. They are him. Maybe that’s why he’s so afraid of them, and so desperate to hold onto them.

“I want to hear it from you.”

Andal’s voice comes with its own echo, even when Shiro’s voice doesn’t ripple around the ship. It’s like Andal is speaking into a chasm, or a great cathedral, even as he appears before Shiro.

“Why?” Shiro can’t hold his gaze. He shifts his optics back down to his work, pulling dark thread through a House banner to return it to its careful line of fabric.

“No one stays for as long as you do without a reason.” Andal tells him. At least the Nightmare stays fixed in the center of the ship, looming over Shiro as he floats with his feet hovering over the floor. The real Andal would have taken the pilot’s seat by now, or sat himself on Shiro’s counter. Cayde would have pilfered his cupboards for snacks and Tevis probably would have helped him. Cayde and Tevis aren’t here, though, just Andal, and the Nightmare stays stock still above Shiro.

Still, he isn’t wrong. Shiro has gone over more than enough logs to know the Guardians that came to the Leviathan left it behind about as promptly as they could. No one would stick around this Nightmare infested hellscape without a reason. Shiro’s not even sure what his reason really is.

“Say it and it will mean more than it does in your head.” Andal tells him. Shiro can practically hear his next words before he speaks them, they’re from his own mind after all. “Acknowledge me and I will mean more to you than I do like this.”

He waits for Shiro to lift his optics, and stares him dead in the face.

“Why am I here, Shiro?”

He’s spent only a day with the Nightmares and already Andal is the one that startles him the most. There’s something human in his eyes that doesn’t linger in the others, something almost sentient. He can always tell Tevis and Cayde from their red glow and dark power, but it feels as though he’s constantly catching glimpses of Andal that aren’t made of the Nightmares’ essence. Shiro can practically smell him from where he stands before him, the polish he would use on his leather armor, the scent of his shampoo, and the joints he used to smoke.

Shiro considers the needle pinched between his fingers. He thinks that if he drove it into the Nightmare right now, he’d bleed red.

“Taniks.”

It’s the only explanation Shiro has to offer, but Andal hums, like it's the start of explaining everything. It might be.

“I can’t forget what the Splicers did to me. What Taniks did to you. The Fallen that killed the Wolves during the Red War.” Saladin had taken on a set of new proteges, to be the next generation of Iron Lords, but he and Shiro watched them all die at Fallen and Red Legion hands, back when they didn’t have the Light to defend them.

“But?” Andal prompts, and Shiro sighs ruefully. He drives his needle into a section of his cloak that doesn’t need to be stitched, setting it aside.

“But,” he says, dragging his fingertips over his head the way he might scratch his scalp if he were still human, “there are Fallen now. Eliksni. In the city. We’re supposed to be at peace with them.”

“But you’re not?”

“How can I be?” He reaches down, pulling Trespasser from the holster on his thigh to show it to Andal. For a moment, he wonders what might happen if he leveled the gun at his friend’s head and shot it, would it grant him a moment of peace? But he remembers what happened when he tried to push Cayde earlier, the way his hands had slipped through the Nightmare and touched only air. With any luck, the bullet would ricochet off the ship wall and hit Shiro instead. That would grant him a moment of peace, at least until Suzume brought him back.

He ejects the magazine before he can get any more impulsive thoughts, throwing it through Andal to the floor. The Nightmare frowns at the action, but he doesn’t comment, and Shiro’s optics fall to the gun again.

You are not welcome. He thinks of the Eliksni in the city, of that monster, Spider, and the cloak of House banners that sits just beside him. He wonders if the feeling is mutual.

“Taniks destroyed you. He did so much to us.” Shiro breathes. Andal gives him a weak smile.

“We destroyed him, too.” His words have Shiro frowning in an instant.

“Don’t.” He snaps, shoving Trespasser back into the holster on his thigh. “Don’t try that with me, don’t you dare try to tell me Taniks is innocent, or that I shouldn’t blame him. Don’t say that we’re just as bad as he was.”

He doesn’t realize he’s stood up until he’s leveling a finger at Andal, nearly touching him. The other Hunter just smiles, lifting his hands in surrender.

“I didn’t say that.” He says, but Shiro knows Andal isn’t saying any of this. The man standing before him is a concoction of Shiro’s own fears, and the Pyramid’s dark power. Andal isn’t here, and he never will be. “I only meant that the House of Light isn’t the old Houses. They aren’t the Kings.” He nods to Shiro’s cloak, “or the Devils. They haven’t hurt you yet.”

“But I’ve hurt them.” He thinks about Saint-14 and his story. He remembers Saladin telling him about how the Eliksni would tell stories about Saint to their children to frighten them, to make them afraid of Guardians before they could be killed by them in the wilds. Saint became a figurehead for Guardian violence against the Eliksni. Shiro is just another contributor. “Maybe not directly, but you know what I’ve done to Eliksni in the past.” Shiro couldn’t count the number of Fallen he’s murdered. There’s no comprehending a number like that. So many dead, and he lives on.

He thinks about the Eliksni’s dedication to the Traveler. How could it be that their god’s chosen people are so violent towards them? Have gone on crusades against them? Shiro sinks back down onto his bunk.

“Then you’ve hurt them in the same way that they've hurt you.” Andal drifts a little closer. The toes of his boots brush the floor and he sinks a little lower, his feet taking his weight on the floor of Shiro’s ship. None of the nightmares he’s seen before have done that. Shiro stares at Andal’s feet, at his legs as they move to take a step towards him. He crouches down, squatting down in front of Shiro to catch his gaze. Shiro meets his eyes for a moment before he has to look away, but Andal stays close. “What do you want me to tell you, Shiro?”

Shiro sighs heavily, his optics darkening. He doubles over his legs, bracing his elbows on his thighs and dragging his fingertips over his skull. When he lights his optics again, he’s so close to Andal their foreheads nearly brush, but Andal doesn’t back away.

“I’m afraid.” He can only whisper it, wrapping his hands together so tight he’s surprised his silicone doesn’t groan, the joints don’t pop. He chokes down a shaking breath.

Andal gives him a sad smile, reaching out towards him. He rests his hand over Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro can almost feel the tight grip of Andal’s hand, the brush of his thumb over Shiro’s collarbone.

“It’s okay to be afraid.” Andal tells him. His eyes crinkle at the corners with his smile, and Shiro thinks he can make out a bit of their original brown amid the swirling red.

Old grief and pain swarms Shiro’s circuitry. He was always closer with Cayde than he was with Andal or Tevis, but Andal was the leader of their pack. Andal looked out for him, kept him grounded when Cayde’s antics nearly threw him from the group or made him feel unsteady and untethered. He always knew exactly what to say.

If he could cry, he’s sure there would be tears streaming down his cheeks, but he hasn’t had that ability since long before he was revived. Still, he shudders and shakes, and Andal reaches out to grip both his shoulders. He leans forward to press their foreheads together.

“I miss you.” Shiro chokes out. The Darkness doesn’t feel nearly so icy as it presses against Shiro’s skin. “You and Cayde and Tevis. I just–I don’t know how to go on without you.”

“I know.” Andal draws back enough to look into Shiro’s optics. “But you need to move on. You’re already doing it. You found Saladin, and if you could mentor Crow, you could connect back with the Hunters that need you.”

“I don’t–” Shiro’s throat feels choked by fluids, welling up in his systems to clear any blockages that might be causing him discomfort. “I don’t want to move on.”

“The world is changing, Shiro.” Andal tells him. He squeezes Shiro’s shoulder and Shiro can feel it. “We’re gone, you have to let us go and change too. I know it’s hard.”

“You were all I had.” He feels desperate now. He wants to curl his fingers into Andal’s cloak and hold him tight, but he doesn’t dare. He couldn’t bear the feeling of his fingers slipping through the air where the fabric should be. “With Saladin gone, I don’t–there’s nothing left for me. I don’t have anything to give the Hunters. Crow doesn’t need me. He has enough people looking out for him. It’s like you said, I’m not worth anything anymore.”

“That’s just your fear talking.” Andal says, and again Shiro feels struck by that sentience, the color in his visage where there should be only red. He feels a bit like he’s bracing for a blow, waiting for the anger and hatred to come back. Andal squeezes his shoulders tight. “Just try, Shiro. Go to the Eliksni quarter. Talk to Crow.”

“What if I let you down? What if I’m not welcome?” He thinks of Trespasser again, in the holster on his thigh.

“Try. That's all you can do.” Andal gives him another sad smile. “You won’t let us down.”

#destiny #destiny fanfiction #destcember2022 #destcember #destiny shiro-4 #destiny andal brask #demiwrites

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