#anyway Homelander should be easy to draw for me now because he's just Harry but blonde

[tearueful]

Anyway I had a horrible realization about my Wildstar OTPs of the past and my current hyperfixation.

Granted, Wildstar had ONE fantastic hairstyle for Exile men (and the one coat model every basic white boy used...) BUT-

Man, I love that hairstyle on men a lot.

[auncyen]

Parts 1 & 2 of the Hanahaki prompt story can be found here. I probably need a title for this at some point.

Before that day, Ringabel had thought he would have had a knack for sensing when danger was afoot, just as he had a talent for piloting an airship. Part of having a rogue's charm. Apparently that idea had been completely wrong, and now the ship he'd been growing to like had been brought low and constrained to the inner sea, unable to help them reach Florem, because he had completely missed Edea's charming friend making a visit. The dark knight Alternis Dim had struck Tiz by surprise and broken the skystone to ground their group. "Really! You'd think with how long they've known each other, he would at least hear her out before breaking ships and punching people," Ringabel complained. "It would have been nice," Tiz agreed. Now that he'd had time to recover from the punch, his color was back to normal, though he winced every once in a while as they trudged toward the miasma woods that separated Ancheim from Florem. "He thought we'd kidnapped her though. And once she told him she was with us of her own free will, he really lost it." "Alternis has always been like that," Edea said blandly. "He tries to act stoic, but he couldn't keep a cool head unless he was risking frostbite." "And you have a passion to match," Ringabel mused. "I must have missed quite the row." "Excuse me?" Ringabel quickly raised his hands in surrender, though he didn't miss the slightest smile on Agnès' face, and he was a bit suspicious of how conveniently Tiz had to cough into his hand at that moment. "There's nothing wrong with having passion, is there? You were defending Tiz and Agnès!" She stared him down longer than he would have liked, but after a few seconds, Edea accepted it, turning back around and leading the way. "At any rate, I hope that's the last we see of him. But Alternis seemed to have other ideas, and he's known for his tenacity. I'd keep an eye out for him." "...To be honest, I'm still surprised you two are childhood friends," Agnès said quietly. "Some of the things he said were...quite harsh." Edea offered only a half-hearted shrug. Ringabel frowned. Just what had Alternis said? "Of course, he's only angry at me for how this might reflect on my parents. I couldn't have expected anything else from him." "Not concerned for your safety?" Ringabel said. "I would expect that, given his feelings." "What feelings? I told you, he got his flowers removed." "What? But, what does that have to do with..." Ringabel completely stopped in his confusion. Alternis loved Edea. He'd had Love's Languish, Hanahaki disease because she didn't reciprocate, and he was only cured because he'd had the flowers removed. Wasn't that what Edea had told him before? But nothing about that meant the man should no longer love her. Tiz made a small 'hm?', slowing in his steps as he looked between Ringabel and Edea, but it took the girl a couple more seconds before she stopped walking ahead. "Oh, I see...I suppose I didn't really explain well enough before. It's fairly common knowledge in Eternia." Ringabel couldn't see her face, as she remained facing forward, but he saw how her head turned down, her hand resting on her chest. "The surgery is to remove the flowers, but because they're the manifestation of emotions, the person loses those feelings too. It's apparently typical for people to be indifferent toward the former object of their affection afterward. Though, in Alternis' case..." She didn't seem to want to finish that thought, and Ringabel was too upset to indulge in curiosity and ask. "That's a very critical detail," he said, his throat tight. "It would be one thing if it simply cured people, but when it deprives them of their feelings--" "Of one feeling! One feeling that was making them miserable!" Now Edea did turn around, stomping her foot as she did. "You are suffering for some girl you don't even remember, don't tell me that's reasonable!" "It's you, I've told you, I know it is!" "You have no memory." "I do still remember that I have amnesia, funny enough. I may have no memory, but I have my heart, and I know, it's you." "And I don't love you." In the corner of one eye, Ringabel could see Tiz and Agnès having a small exchange between themselves and putting a few extra feet between the two of them and Edea and him. He supposed this was starting to seem like a fight, and he tried taking a step back himself, despite the pressure he felt building up in his chest. "I know you don't. But I have hopes you may in the future, and even if--" Edea was just not having it. "Ohh, no. No. I've heard the 'even if you don't' before, and it's not true. You have hopes. That's all. And I can tell you right now, I don't love you, I am not going to fall in love with you, and if you want to stop coughing up flowers, your choices are either moving on of your own accord, or getting the surgery to help you move on. It's those two. Your pick. Because I don't feel particularly attracted to shamelessly flirty men who lack common sense--" Ringabel took a deep breath. Or tried to. Between the thickness of the miasma in the air and the flowers tangling in his lungs, his breath caught, and Agnès looked sharply at him before stepping forward. "Edea, you two may have this discussion once we are clear of the woods, but not a moment sooner. Ringabel, ...save your breath and take care of yourself." "We've only restored one crystal's light!" Airy chimed in from Agnès' shoulder. "We don't have time for silly arguments!" Edea huffed an aggrieved sigh. "Even if Alternis hates me now, at least he can argue with me without coughing up flowers," she muttered. She'd clearly caught his trouble too, and Ringabel turned away from the others with shame burning his cheeks as he waited for his breathing to calm. She'd gotten him good with that unflattering description, and ...if she really saw him that way, perhaps it would be better to get the flowers removed, with a chunk of his heart besides. But to be indifferent to her? To hate her? The way she'd touched her chest while talking about the surgery's side effect...even though she played it off as a necessary consequence, he was fairly sure it bothered her that her childhood friend no longer liked her, even if he was in better health now. But he had to leave the matter alone for now. She was upset, and so was he. Only Tiz chattered, trying to restore a better mood in the group, and even his efforts petered out after they went nowhere. The group made the rest of their way through the miasma woods in relative silence.