#assuming that u asked for these two seperately

[superstarzolar]

🎭📖

🎭 - charlie emily

she is somehow bigger than sammy despite them being twins and sammy being more likely to be taller because of him being amab or whatever.

📖 - general timeline

- william and henry try to make a tester aint with real performing animals as the main attraction. this fails.

- they make fredbear’s and it’s a hit

- charlie dies

- sammy dies

- fredbear’s closes down

- freddy’s opens

- missing kids die

- freddy’s closes down, animatronics relocated to fnaf 2 location

- william sneaks in and steals parts from withereds + toys to make funtimes

- attacks of 87 happen, freddys 2 closes down

- freddys 1 gets rebuilt

- richard/pg dies, mike does works a shift before it closes down again and gets abandoned this time

- funtimes are done, but alyssa dies. circus baby’s is cancelled

- william gets springlocked

- fnaf 3 location is made to cash in on freddys horrific history

- mike gets a job at circus baby’s as a technician. nepo baby

- scooped

- mike works at frights and burns it down

- he kind of just wanders around for a bit. by this point the ennard/endo goop is out of him and he’s powered by remnant alone

- henry has had enough and lures everybody to pizza sim

- mike goes too and knows what’s about to happen.

- it happens. they all pass on/die

- all the missing kids torture william in hell for decades [unbeknownst to them]

- charlie drags each of the kids out from hell by giving them their own happiest days

- charlie gives cassidy their happiest day and now they’re all free and roaming about the graveyard

- one by one the kids all pass on. charlie and cassidy are the last ones remaining and cassidy wishes charlie well as they go

- charlie stays behind to help others for the rest of time kind of

- william is now in an empty office for the Actual rest of time

[jumexju]

REQ !! : Hello!! Could I request L, Near and Mello (separately) x reader who can speak Polish? :] Imagine like a scenario where reader swears when annoyed or calls them pet names in that language! Ty 🫶

CATALOGUE

Pairing(s) !! : L, Near, Mello / Reader (Seperate)

CW !! : profanity, apart from that, none !

Summary !! : How they'd be with a reader who speaks polish.

Notes !! : Sorry they're short, i'm not really familiar with the polish language, hopefully you still enjoyed, anon !

✦ MASTERLIST

LAWLIET L !! :

He’s fluent in like 6 languages, he’d probably end up either asking you if you would be willing to teach it to him or he’ll learn it himself

He’d probably like communicating with you in polish when the task force is around just so they don’t know what the both of you are conversing about 

If you would code-switch to polish whenever you cuss, he’d probably find it a little humorous but I don’t think he’d admit that openly

If you were to call him pet names though? He probably feels cherished. 

It’s like something only the two of you share, and he secretly loves the fact that no one else really knows what the two of you are saying half of the time. 

NEAR !! :

I’m going to assume that Near also is multilingual 

So based on that, I believe Near would secretly learn polish on his own after hearing you swear or call him a pet name in that language

He probably would be the type to blush a little once he finds out that you’ve been calling him polish pet names that whole time

Near, despite seeming like a know-it-all sometimes, he does have his soft moments. 

He also calls u pet names in polish but in private, away from his co-workers

And because he’s a menace too, he’d smirk to himself whenever he hears you swear in polish

MELLO !! :

“How do you say f#%@ in polish?” 

Jokes aside, I wouldn’t put it past him. He definitely asks you how to cuss in polish 

If you actually tell him how then he’ll probably use this newfound knowledge when the mafia pisses him off

He definitely would ask you if you could teach him polish because he enjoys the clueless look in the mafia members’ faces when they realize the both of you are speaking in a language foreign to them

Like L, he likes having something that's only for the two of you

He def blushes like an idiot whenever you call him pet names 

He thinks its cute when you get flustered at him doing the same 

He’s def teaching matt swear words btw 

[theriverbeyond]

can we hear about your gideon eyes tinfoil hat theory 🥺 i love to think unhinged thoughts

THANK YOU FOR ASKING also i had an entire essay typed up for you and tumblr lost the draft. apologies because this re-do is Definitely Worse

my unhinged theory is this: Gideon has, and has always had, a fragment of Alecto's soul inside her, that lay somewhat dormant until it was "activated" by Harrow consuming her soul (and thereby also consuming the Alecto fragment).

bear with me: we know Harrow began to be haunted when a fragment of Alecto escaped into Harrow when she kissed her in the tomb at age 10. Harrow's individual fragment wasn't enough for the Body-vision to have sentience OR for her to, as a child, be sending out "I'm here!" signals that were trackable by the other RBs, so they were basically just hanging out.

HOWEVER. when Harrow ate Gideon's soul, two things happenened: 1) Alecto/The Body started speaking to her, protecting her, gained enough coherence to eventually becoming Nona, etc and 2) Harrow became a becon for the RBs, specifically Number 7, who immediately turned towards her to make a beeline to the Mithraeum.

This makes me think that Lyctorhood "activated" the Alecto-fragment in a certain way, and it makes sense to ME that the trigger would be that fragment getting bigger, via Harrow taking up Gideon's soul (including whatever fragments Gideon herself was carrying)

"evidence" (wild speculating) for Gideon having Alecto's soul under the cut!

1. the gold eyes

in these books, eye color is explicitly linked to what soul is in what body. this is a heavily important plot mechanic throughout every single book - it feels "off" for Gideon's eye color to be the ONLY time in the entire series where eye color means "genetics" and not "soul".

Gideon does not have a normal human eye color. the color is described as like an egg yolk & gold coins, and no human eye color reaches even close. This is further evidenced by how when Augustine and Mercymorn saw Gideon in Harrow's eyes, they thought Alecto had woken up. pre-NtN, this made more sense as The Body was assumed by the fandom to look somewhat like Harrow. post-NtN, we know that Harrow and Alecto looked *absolutley* nothing alike, and therfore these eyes are not fucking normal, they're weird enough that if you see them you automatically assume "8 ft tall Barbie Doll Alecto Woke Up" even when the body you are presented with is 5 foot nothing with black hair.

"Lipochrome... recessive" does not make sense even for the most basic understanding of genetics, which I am assuming is what is happening here - eye color genetics can get really complicated but colloquial understanding is that recessive genes present themselves when BOTH parents are carriers. John had gold eyes because Alecto chose him, but.... how would Wake be a carrier for what is basically Alecto's stigmata? it makes NO sense for Wake to be a carrier of the Alecto-specific, egg yolk kind of eyes

2. the emission

John and Alecto's souls are inherently linked. rather than being two seperate souls, they are more like two parts of continuous whole -- John hid himself in Alecto, and he hid Alecto in him. it's not even two puzzle pieces they are just layered over and continuous with each other

John, then, would very reasonable "pass on" a part of Alecto when he, ah. well. you know. blew a big load.

maybe the Holy Emission carried soul fragments, is what I'm saying

3. the two hander

Occam's razor posits that Gideon likes the two hander and is good at it because she is cool and buff and it was the option presented to her. BUT!!!

Nona instinctivly knows how to hold a two handed sword. Alecto has a greatsword with her in the tomb. Gideon uses a two hander. idk makes u think!!

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

i so badly want a wukong pov of being in the zoo, how long do u think he would get stuck in there? a day, two days? a week? a YEAR? would he be seperated from macaque? would he take the zoo monkeys with him when the curse breaks?

monkey orphans seem to be hand raised, which mean they would effectively replace reader with a zoo worker, imagine their reaction to THAT.

face mauling i assume. lots and lots of mauling

… Okay I took forever with this ask. But I am going to give a SMALL glimpse to how this would be. Only because it would be hilarious.

Blood dripped down the zoo keeper’s face as Wukong screeched in his arms, his little claws dripping with his blood. Loud growls and hisses were easily heard. They took you away, you weren’t in sight! Where did they take their precious darling!? The police had to practically drag you away from the two monkeys who hissed and chirped to get you to come back. It didn’t work, no matter how much they called you weren’t answering.

Another worker came up wearing large gloves which got torn to shreds almost immediately.

“What is this breed? I’ve never seen a monkey like this,” The man said as he jumped away while Wukong was dropped into a crate rather unceremoniously. Reader would never be this rough on a cub! How could these people be so cruel!?

With that thought he let out another feral growl, biting and clawing at the man who claimed to be a zookeeper. Growls left his throat, tiny but vicious as he attempted to fight against the humans around him. If he was himself, if he was whole he’d be able to fight against them, he’d be able to KILL them. Their blood would cover the ground easily, and there would be nothing left but blood and broken bones.

‘Macaque!!’ Wukong chirped loudly as his mate was tossed into a different crate. He let out a howl at the mere thought of them taking him away. NO NO NO!!

‘Wukong!’ Macaque chirped angry as he banged against the bars of the crate before it was picked up and he was taken away.

‘NO!!’ Wukong screeched trying to bang against the bars, letting out chirps, chitters and anguished shouts.

“It’s alight little one, we’ll reunite you once we finish with a check up,” A woman spoke up, dressed in a short shorts and a tank top. She looked at him with adoration in her large blue eyes, her long blonde hair tied up in a pony tail as she approached the crate.

Wukong immediately hissed as she approached, she was looking at him with kindness. HE WANTED READER!! He wanted Reader, now now now!! He wanted his darling to snuggle with him and give him scratches. He wanted her to cut him up fruits and give him all the attention he deserves!

He wanted his mate who was always by his side. He wanted his moon, he wanted his calm, he wanted his warrior. For the first time since the curse had started he felt truly and utterly alone. His chest tightened at the very thought, alone? He was alone in a world he didn’t know, with people surrounding him and staring at him like he was some creature to gawk at.

A cold silent fury suddenly built in his chest as the woman let out a coo. He wanted Reader’s coos. The woman was talking, some would call it a beautiful voice but to Wukong it sounded like nothing but nails on a chalkboard.

“Don’t worry, we won’t let that woman hurt you any more.” Hurt them? HURT THEM!? It was those words that sealed their fates.

In an instant there were screams, broken wood, and melting iron. Materials were scattered around as smoke billowed from the standing monkey demon. Like chains snapping away from his soul he knew he was back. He didn’t even have to move to know that the people around him no longer saw the small cute yet angry cub. No they saw what they should always see, the seething warlords with deep gold eyes, and golden fur that covered his body. A thick powerful tail snapped against the ground, the ground breaking from the single motion.

“Hurt me? You think you can keep MY woman away from ME? Maybe I should show you just what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Every words was pierced with nothing but cold fury. Deadly intent soon became clear as he walked towards everyone around him.

“A-A MONSTER!” The last words that filled the air before Wukong let out an enraged roar.

Blood coated the ground, blood dripped down his fangs, his claws and stuck to his fur. Bodies dropped like flies as Wukong slaughtered anyone in his path, traveling in the direction of his mate. Not that he needed to when he watched shadows wrap around every piece of building around them. His beloved’s shadows were always so beautiful to watch.

The sight of his mate was more breathtaking than he had remembered before. Snowy white fur splattered with blood as the shadow monkey made his way directly to Wukong. Their chains now gone they were able to look at each other, really look at each other again. A shiver ran down Wukong’s spine as Macaque wrapped his arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. It was quick, nothing like he REALLY wanted but Macaque’s words stopped him from taking more.

“Let’s go get our wife~”

“With pleasure my love.”

Sooo- This took WAY longer to write than I planned. Yeah over a month. I AM SORRY! But I finally got to it. Adulting is hard sometimes. But I’ve got the work for you.

And yeah, the curse lasts for less than a day in Reader’s world. Why? Because one of the biggest things that keep the curse active is that the monkey duo feels SAFE around each other. They are always together and never leave each other’s sides. However when the curse broke it didn’t just crack of creak, no the thing SHATTERED! So now the zoo has a monkey duo who wants nothing more than to find the woman that the ZOO separated from them.

Remember, Reblogs and comments are always welcome!!

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

what music do u think luis would like the most? also how do you think he would decorate his house? (very random ik but i thought these would be fun questions!!!)

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY YOU THE COOLEST MAN 😎😎

First of all THANK YOU SO MUCH YOURE THE COOLEST!! But to answer your question, the closest we have to a canonical music taste for Luis would be Barbie Girl by Aqua, but if you're asking me I personally think he'd listen to, I think he’d be a fan of musicians like Queen, ABBA, Madonna, Elton John, Billy Joel, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson etc!!!! Just musicians that in general have always been pretty popular in amongst queer communities

As for how he’d decorate his home?? Good question????? This could go one of two ways- one, he’s an absolute mess. If you get a free cam and look around the room that gets lit on fire in Seperate Ways, you can see a bunch of stuff like clothes, pieces of paper, medications etc scattered around and yeah keeping his living tidy PROBABLY wasn’t his top priority while trying to survive but who knows he’s a scientist after all!!!

But on the other hand, Luis has always struck me as being SUPER sentimental- like he keeps photos of his Grandfather and his old Umbrella team on his self whenever he can, he still has his Umbrella lighter and a gun we can kiiiiiiiiind of assume was from his Grandfather etc so I imagine if he were to live, he’d probably wanna fill his home with as many photos and memories and little trinkets as possible!!!!! I like to imagine that he treasures every weird little object Leon, Ashley and Ada gives him and keeps it on his bedside table <3

It’d probably also make a lot of sense for him to be very attatched to little memorabilia, after all he consistently loses the things he loves most in his life over and over again- his Grandfather, his work at Umbrella, his family and friends in Valdelobos etc- so I can easily imagine him finding comfort in having a physical reminder of the people he loves!!

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Honestly, my favorite types of theory on how some of the tf2 mercs got hired are the ones where they aren't even officially hired in the first place. Like, they just appear one day and no one questions it, or just assumes this random stranger is actually supposed to be here. Just imagine all the silly little stories about how the team accidentally picked up a murderous bloodthirsty stray cat mercenary from the side of the road

I can totally imagine the team waking up one day for battle to find Pyro already in a full on fire suit and gas mask with a crude jury-rigged flamethrower and everone just thinking Oh great, it's the new pyro, about time. Meanwhile The Admin is watching through the cameras like "wtf who is this, how did they get in" but lets it slide when she finds out Pyro is pretty good at being a Pyro

Okay, so this one's basically a oneshot fic idea I had bouncing around in my head for a while about how I think Medic got "hired". Just in case some of y'all are interested. Anyways, basically:

Spy, Engie and Sniper are out in town for groceries one day. The two latter go their seperate way into this store and see this tall german dude covered in dirt from head to toe, trying to convince the cashier at the front that he's not crazy or homeless. The strange man then proceeds to get real mad at the stubborn teen behind the counter and pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket, slams it onto the counter like: "you want proof that I'm not homeless? Go get me the most expensive liquor you got in this goddamn shithole of a place". And just to be extra petty and drive his point to the ground he also looks at Sniper and Engie waiting in line behind him and tells the cashier to "get these fine gentlemen some of that candy I see on the shelf behind you", bc funni

Obviously, the two mercs are confused af and as they walk out the shop they ask the soon-to-be Medic wtf happened to him to which he replies: "Oh, just a bit of graverobbing gone wrong. Turns out being the one buried is a messier affair than I had imagined". They genuinely can't tell if he's being serious but judging from the dirt, his bleeding fingertips and the odd glint in his eyes, it's hard not to believe him.

Then they meet up with Spy who was doing some shopping at another store and when he sees Medic he recognizes him because: "Hey aren't you the guy that Miss Pauling asked me to get rid of like 2 days ago? Aren't you supposed to be dead 6 feet under??" and Medic is like: "Oh hey murderer :D, fyi your taste in coffin is shit, who tf buys spruce wood coffins anymore. I would kill you for that but u guys outnumber me by 3 to 1 so I won't"

They bring Medic to the base because they don't know what to do with him. Spy calls Miss Pauling to ask and she's like: "Holy shit, that guy survived being nearly killed by you and also being buried alive?? AND he's a doctor with no qualms about murder?? Get that man on the phone, we got ourselves a new Medic"

[pielove123clan]

assuming you are reblogging the f/o ask memes because you would like to talk about your f/os :3c very sorry if u r not :c

🦷💌🖇️ -the horror one

🎒🍒 -the misc one

Yeah your right. I do want to. I don't know who this is but my f/o is Ryoshu. Answers are under the cut, nothing nsfw, I just felt like it. Thank you for reading!

🦷 does your f/o bite?

Absolutly. Yeah she does. I bite too. I bite more.

💌 would your f/o stalk you? what would be the gut dropping signs that you're being stalked? how would your special freak let you know? OR, would you stalk your f/o and how would they find out?

No, Id try to stalk her but she'd notice immeditely because she's really perceptive when it comes to that sort of thing. When I get very excited, I stomp and make loud foot steps. She'd give me the stink eye and if she was in a particularly bad mood, I bet Ryoshu would directly walk up to me and either take the odachi to my neck or slap me. Or threaten violence. Or maybe just grab me and then expose that I am there, in the area and then I would get very embarrassed for making a scene.

🖇️ how did you and your f/o meet if you've thought about it?

I've thought about this and I've told some of my friends but I've been thinking of doing a project moon au of my general self insert oc Lily. It's not the best explanation but yeah. The au version is an abnormality based off the Aztec god Huēhuecoyōtl. The explanations are either:

Found in the Mirror Dungeon and the abnormality somehow follows the Limbus crew out of the Mirror Dungeon and she simply (im thinking of playing around with the gender of the abnormality but im just using she for now because that's my gender) won't go back so it's agreed to store the abnormality in some other room within the corridor and for some reason, it has a particular liking to Ryoshu?

The abnormality was found outside an old Lobotomy facility wandering around and the bus crew has to deal with it.

In the Mirror Dungeon, specifically Ryoshu gets an EGO gift and it doesn't go away outside the Mirror Dungeon but the abnormality is within the EGO gift

Any interaction with the two exist inside a void and seperate reality with no context.

🎒- What is your f/o’s ideal pet? Would you want to take care of that type of animal together?

I have no idea. Cats or raccoons maybe? Actually, it can depend on the ID. Me, I don't want animals (birds are tempting but message me directly, any of you, if you want a bird rant. TLDR: Their an exotic animal that shouldn't be pets. Any bird ownner worth their salt would tell you DO NOT GET A BIRD.) I mean, Ryoshu cannonically tried to get a bird both in the book and in Limbus. I can at least confidently say I am the best bet with taking care of a bird but at the same time, If she doesn't want to put any work on the birds, I will do my best to re-home them. Birds are a lot of work. I'm already kind of stressed of inhereting my parrots when my mom dies. They hate my guts.

🍒- What is your f/o’s music taste like? How does it differ from your own?

Hmm. Her music taste feels rough, metalic. Its easy to say she'd be into metal music but I think she'd also be to some slower songs. I'm bad at describing music. Experimental music might be something she'd look into. What Ryoshu wouldn't be into would be things country music, not much into rap, or songs with non-sense lyrics like that Yummy song by Justin Beaver?

I have some random person on tumblr's Ryoshu playlist and they put Ghost Busters and, yeah. Yeah, I can see Ryoshu listening to Ghost Busters. It's got that flavor, that funk, that style. Time For Love is also in the same playlist and I've imagined Ryoshu listening to that, not for the message but the timbre of the vocalist. For a fact, her standards for music are high.

My music taste is all over the place. Some songs she'd like, some she wouldn't. Whenever I listen to folk music, she'd think it to be boring. I think we can both enjoy PinocchioP and Pinkshift together. IDKHTFM and Bear Ghost might be too prep-y for her. Touhou Arrangements are natually a mixed bag and so are Mili songs.

The moment Ghost Busters plays and her ears hear Vinesauce Joel go, "I AM THE RAT MAN" any device being used to play music will get cut in two. She doesn't appreciate Vinesauce Joel's magnum opus of the same shitty midi of the Ghostbuster's theme uttilized over and over. It's ruined the song for her.

[s3a-s1ug]

Mmm after 3 seperate breakdowns with 20 minute breaks in between im in questionable mood, my eyes are still burning from tears so i will use my fragile state of mind to request a fear and hunger nsfw scenerio... fic... thing?

How about Ragnvaldr × Cahara? I know its a joke in the fandom that Cahara is a size queen for all the fucked up reasons you can imagine, but from the ingame art to fanart, he seems kinda like a hoe ngl. I know he has a wife but come on, let a girl dream. Basically the fic would be in the canon setting of the game, and the two would meet as normal, but Ragnvaldr notices that Cahara attempted to steal his shit. However, instead of getting mad and kicking Cahara on his merry way in the dungeon, he decides to keep a close eye on him. The dungeon is a dangerous place and its always good to have more hands for weapons.

One thing leads to another, you'll be the judge of that, and they end up sharing a bed. And Cahara once again proves himself to be untrustworthy by feeling around in Ragnvaldr's pockets. But what he touches isnt his pocket, unfortunately.

God I hate myself. Its 4 am, i need to sleep

Oh and also happy christmas

“The Thief’s Tricks”

Cahara x Ragnvaldr Fic - Part One

༺☆༻

THIS REQUEST SAVED ME!!! This is actually so fun. The next part should be out soon! I’m that case enjoy!!! …and merry Christmas to you too..? Time is a construct I guess.

༺☆༻

The prisons. The heavy oppressive nature of the sights to be seen in there would shake anyone to their core. Bloodied empty prison cells captured the true horrors of what happened to its unfortunate prisoners. All for except one.

“…hey…hey big guy..!”

Ragnvaldr stopped in his tracks and locked into the prison cell. A man with dark messy hair on the other side. He seemed to be in shape but he looked very tired. Bags under his eyes. He gave a tired smile

“Look.. I’ll give it to you straight… I’m in a tough one here and I could REALLY use your help. You look strong. You think you could get me outta here..?” He asked with a hint of desperation in his voice

Ragnvaldr analyzed the man on the other side of the bars. Could he be trusted?…then again…the dungeons are very dangerous and it could be better to traverse them with some help…

“Hmm… what is your name?”

“Cahara..! Of the south.”

“Ragnvaldr. If I were to help you out of here you will have to help me too.”

“Oh?”

“I am on a quest to find a person..and kill him. He is long way down these dungeons so if you are willing I could use the help.”

The mercenary didn’t even give himself time to think and answered immediately

“Yeah sure! I’ll help. I’d say I’m a pretty useful asset. Im a mercenary so I think I could be of good help.

Ragnvaldr only nodded in agreement. He held the bars of the cell. They were rusty and worn out but sturdy enough to keep someone from getting out. He gripped the bars and slowly separated two of them to make an opening for Cahara to get out.

“Woah…damn…you ARE strong..!” He said in awe. A little intimidated even.

“Ja. But you must promise me one thing. You will not deceive me. Since I have helped you, you must return the favor.” He held out his hand for Cahara to shake

“Yeah sure thing”

Cahara shook his hand then brought him into…a hug..?

“I can’t thank ya enough, man. I mean it”

Ragnvaldr was taken aback by this. He swore he felt something in his pocket but before he could react Cahara pulled off from the hug and smiled

“Well I’d assume you know the way?”

“U-uh ja. Follow me” He said with a hint of confusion. He was still cautious mainly due to Cahara’s “off” vibe.

They walked for a bit trying to find their way out of the prisons. Multiple corners were turned in silence. Ragnvaldr went to grab for something in his pocket but…it was gone… he stopped in his tracks. Cahara, who was pretty far behind him now, stopped us well, pretty taken aback.

“Cahara.” Ragnvaldr said sternly, not looking at him

Cahara seemed nervous

“Uh, yeah..?”

“Give it back. You took it.”

“Took what? I wouldn’t steal anything from you. Uh promise! I’m here to help after all heh”

Ragnvaldr turned around and looked at Cahara. He walked up to him and grabbed Cahara’s wrist.

“Give. It. Back.” He squeezed Cahara’s wrist tightly while giving him a stern glare

Cahara gulped. He was in a tight spot. Cahara was in no way weak. He had a fine build and could try to fight back but… that probably wouldn’t last long.

Cahara sighed. He shuffled through his pocket using his other hand and grumbled pulling the vials out and giving them to Ragnvaldr

He let go of Cahara’s wrist

“You made a promise. Next time I won’t be so forgiving. As it may seem I actually need to help. So don’t try this again”

Cahara nodded silently, clearly getting the message.

“You will walk by my side. You’re very sneaky. This will not happen again.”

Ragnvaldr turned around again and continued walking with Cahara catching up to his side silently

‘Damn this guy is tough. Really tough. I don’t want to stay here but I did promise… if there was just a way I could find to leave…hmm’

They walked for a good long while, encountered some enemies, nothing too bad, but it was beginning to get grueling

Cahara yawned and groaned loudly

“Ughhhh… man how long have we been walkin for? My legs are starting to sore….”

“…hmm…ja I suppose we have been walking for… a while” Ragnvaldr didn’t say it but even he was starting to feel tired “well perhaps there is a room nearby, keep a look out”

They walked for another long while until reaching a small stone room. Wasn’t much in it. A tattered rug, cabinet with some old drinks, and one singular bed. Cahara slightly glanced at Ragnvaldr

“Soooo…um… should I like… sleep on the floor? Or..”

“Nej, we will share it. We both need rest. We will make do”

“Oh..! Alright then”

This was certainly gonna be…interesting.

To be continued…

༺☆༻

Next part will be NSFW muahahah so stayed tuned!!!!

☆〜（ゝ。∂）

[faithlesbian]

how do we feel about t4t bangel ?

oh my god that's spooky i was literally just thinking about what it would look like for them both to talk about their bisexuality after that s3 dyke (proverbial) post!! let these two discuss their queer experiences night apparently

i'm assuming u mean trans girl buffy right? love that reading. i've gotta say, similar to the t4t spangel ask (im assuming ur the same anon), i'm not a "shipper" in the traditional sense and specifically in this instance part of my love for their dynamic is Really feeling glad they don't end up together. my opinions on them in general probably deserve their own post, so i'll just summarise and say my favourite iteration of their relationship is friendly exes who can go to eachother for help, specifically stuff like angel showing up after joyce's funeral and the offscreen reunion after her resurrection in s6. like. these people care about eachother!!! and they want to make life easier for eachother!! specifically i love it when buffy can lean on angel for support if she needs to despite their lives being fairly seperate, bc good god does she need that.

so assuming obviously that buffy would be living as a girl from the get go in this version, you could build a starting over as herself element into her moving to a new town and new school in the pilot. you could play with the supernatural-as-queerness subtext from the show and have the understanding of her slayer identity between her and angel that she doesn't feel from her normal friends extend to her being out to him before she's out to the scoobies, which could then extend further into the s2 angelus arc with the threat of him outing her, and potentially that being how the scoobies find out if you really want narrative cohesion with canon (or if you want to be nice to buffy then. literally anything else happening)

going with my established Trans Angel Reading, he'd only figure things out himself long after their relationship is over, and i think that could honestly be such a fucking Moment for them both, for him to confide this in her now after they've reached an understanding as she did in him right back at the start before everything went wrong. bittersweet but also kind of promising, like if it's possible to learn something new about yourself after 250 years then there's definitely still ways for their relationship to grow even if they cant be together. i feel like just as angel was able to help buffy navigate the world of the supernatural initially, she could help him navigate gender in the 21st century, and i think getting that understanding from her would be really important to him in a totally different way to getting it from the ats gang.

i think for buffy it could be a kind of closure for, once again, just how badly their relationship went to know that despite everything she was understood by the first person she loved, more than she even knew at the time. however, a beloved Buffy Trait of mine is how badly she reacts to people she sees as threatening to replace her in any way (see homecoming and kendra and faith's respective first episodes) so alternately you could get the much funnier response of hello?? that was my thing first?? how dare you?? which synchronises really well with the previous ask and the possibility for coming out to put an end to angel and spike's rivalry - it starts a whole new one with buffy!

[divorcetual]

okay okay so Calypso and Calliope are two major characters from a lil game I had planned put when I was 14. Ive forgotten most of the game now but basically they were two cats that were connected by the faces. As one might assume. Calypso was rlly meek and shy while Calliope was loud and energetic. He always spoke in caps while Calypso was all lowercase. They were sorta like merchants throughout the game that just helped you along the way

They both had different shops. I think Calypso's was like heling items n consumables while Calliope's was all weapons and armor?

Anyway so theyre siblings right. twins. Dont ask how the gender works one of them is trans or smth idk. You can tell my tragic siblings fixation has been going on a long time lmao. I think i was debating between if they were born/created like they are, or if something happened to make them like that. rn im leaning towards born that way.

They get more or less "seperate" depending on their emotions/closeness iirc? So like u can see in some drawings they both have two eyes, in some they only have one each. Tgey never fully seperate tho their faces are always connected.

Calypso was okay with that, of more like. She was rlly scared of what would happen if they were ever seperated. But Calliope secretly rlly hated his sister and being connected to her. he didnt like how meek she was. So near the end of the game he took a pair of scissors and cut them apart

You can still shop w/ Calliope, but Calypso is kneeling on the floor n clutching her face in pain. Calliope has all his normal items, and also a low number of Calypso's consumables. He also has two items you can only get in this area- one he gives to you after closing out the menu (or if you try to leave without opening the shop he chases after you and gives it), which is the scissors he used to seperate himself. He says there's no use for them anymore. Besides that, theres also an item in the shop that you have the option of buying or not. I didnt have a name for it at the time but it was smth you needed to unlock a secret ending

[violentviolette]

for romantic relationships for me the two biggest things were learning how to identify the insecurity driving the rejected feelings and then find healthier ways to soothe that, and making sure i surround myself with constant tangible reminders of my partners actual feelings about me that i can pull up when i need to

so with the first one, usually with perceived rejection, i'm not actually reacting to their actual thoughts or feelings or actions, im reacting to my own internalized insecurity that i'm then projecting onto them. something like, i am afraid i am fundimentally unlovable, so i project rejection onto the ppl who say they love me in order to "prove" that insecurity right. breaking feelings down like that in the moment helps me to seperate my feelings and incorrect assesements of the situation from their actual behavior and then makes them easier to talk down. of course im reading negativity into all of their motives if im purposefully looking for it. this also then helps me redirect my train of thought. things like "i can find anything if i look for it. how much love will i find if i look for that instead of rejection? how many times have they said they loved and cared for me, how many times have they done kind things for me, made me smile, took time out of their day to send me a meme or casually include me in their life" ect ect which then brings us to the tangible reminders. when im feeling really negative it can be hard to remember the positve things, so it helps to have actual reminders. i screenshot absolutely everything that makes me smile that the ppl i love say to me, i take lots of pics when we hang out, ect and keep them in little folders to reread on bad days. it's hard to still feel like someone hates u when uve got a folder full of 700 screenshots of them saying nice things about u, finding u funny, and just overall making u happy.

it can also be helpful to learn to ask for reassurance without assuming ill intent or placing blame. things like instead of saying "i feel like ur mad at me" or "u dont love me anymore" or things like that, saying "im feelings really insecure today, can u give me some extra love?" "ive been having a lot of anxiety about our relationship lately and how u feel about me, can we talk about it and can u reassure me u still like me and want me around?" and things like that. these statements center ur feelings while not assuming anything about the other person or putting unnecessary blame on them or making them feel like they're doing something wrong when they arent.

it also helps to really remind myself that it is okay for things to not be okay. that in a healthy relationship, my partner can feel negative things about me in the moment, find me annoying, be too tired to want my company, can prefer to be alone, or even be upset at me, without that fundimentally changing how they view me and making them hate me. non-abusive peoples emotions are not so fickle as to be completely changed by a moment of irritation. negative emotions are an inevitable and healthy part of life, they will always happen no matter what sometimes. so if im kind of annoying one day, that is okay. if someone actually loves me, they will love me even when im annoying. they will not suddenly hate me because i said something cringe or stuck my foot in my mouth. because loving people in real and healthy ways means acknowleging the reality that negative feelings will happen sometimes, and thats okay and normal and healthy. how we deal with those negative feelings and how we handle those situations is far more important than the negative emotion itself

does anyone with npd/rsd have any tips for better handling perceived rejection? i end up turning into this sobbing mess & cant seem to find any coping mechanisms & googles no help

[chanfictions]

kakashi + yamato (if u write for him) (seperate) with the ‘there was only one bed’ trope? 😳

Okay, okay. I know this was supposed to be a request for the one bed trope, but before I knew what happened, I had engineered a scenario, and getting there required plot, and that spawned a whole fricken story, which then led to me getting incredibly carried away… I don't know what happened. There is a single bed buried in here somewhere, though I think I am now far more than two feet to the left of your ask, so I apologize for that. I'm still attaching this story to your request even though it isn't the smut you asked for since it was this prompt that set the whole picture in motion.

Edited to add: big thanks to @lemony-snickers for beta-reading for me when my brain was too cooked to edit without a second set of eyes. I was so tired when I posted this that my dumb self forgot to add this bit.

Masquerade

Yamato x Reader

After a hastily assigned mission takes an unexpected turn, you and Captain Yamato finally find the time to address the long-standing elephant in the room.

11k

"You summoned me, sir?" Peering into the large, open office, you scanned the room for a moment, waiting for acknowledgement before setting foot in the domain of the leader of your village. From your vantage point in the doorway, he was nowhere to be seen, though you heard quiet rumblings that abruptly hushed upon the announcement of your arrival. Another figure stood in front of the desk, their back turned to you, blocking your view of the Hokage's chair. Heat crept into your cheeks, as you immediately recognized them from behind. Yamato.

"Yes, please come in," Kakashi spoke coolly, clearing his throat as he glanced around the obstruction to wave you in.

Straightening yourself and willing your face to cool behind the cover of your anbu mask, you confidently strode toward him, taking your place beside Yamato with your eyes trained firmly forward. It felt as though the pictures of Hokages past hanging on the walls were staring through your soul and reading your mind. "What can I do for you, Lord Sixth?"

Suppressing his urge to ask you not to call him that, Kakashi took a breath and exhaled before speaking again. "I was just beginning to tell Captain Yamato that I have a special mission that I need to assign somewhat urgently, and I think the two of you will be perfectly suited for it," he explained, placing his hands on two files at the edge of his desk.

"What's the assignment?"

"This is a… rather unique operation. We're calling it a bait and switch. It's likely going to get a little messy with how little notice we were given to prepare, but you two are going to be acting as body doubles and impersonating some very important clients of the village. They have reason to believe that someone is going to make an assassination attempt on them at the event you'll be attending in their stead. Another team is already en route. They will handle the assassin, assuming there is one, and subdue them covertly before the ceremony starts while you two stand in for the clients. Since you're one of our most adept with the transformation jutsu, I've chosen you to accompany Captain Yamato."

You stood there blankly, blinking in confusion as the words began to sink in through your momentary distraction. "Excuse me, sir, did you say ceremony?"

"Yes. This is a wedding. Did I not mention that earlier?"

"You did, Ka--I mean, Lord Hokage, just before she arrived," Yamato cleared his throat stiffly.

Your brain malfunctioned for a moment as your heart climbed into your mouth, fighting through the swell in your chest to maintain the air of composure and professionalism befitting a shinobi of your standing. "And… who is it we will be impersonating?"

"The head of a noble family from the Land of Tea," Kakashi stated casually as he slid the files forward. "We forged a relationship with them some years ago when I was leading Team Seven. Everything you will need to know about the event and all of the personal details about the identities you will be assuming are in these mission dossiers."

Chewing the inside of your cheek to maintain your air of calm, you carefully plucked the packet of papers from his desk, scanning through them to glean some vague details regarding your assignment. Pictures, statistics, and relationship diagrams related to the woman you were to become flashed before your eyes as you flipped through the pages. "And where will the clients be staying while we are replacing them?" You inquired without looking up.

"Here, in the village. They'll be stowed in a discrete location after arriving under the guise of shopping for wedding gifts for the event. You two will assume their identities and leave as them," Kakashi said with a glance to the open window, shifting in his seat as a messenger bird perched on the sill. Upon unrolling the sealed scroll attached to its leg, he hummed lightly before rolling the parchment up and setting it aside again. "Looks like they'll be arriving ahead of schedule. I need you two to get ready to head out as quickly as possible. Meet at the designated location at dusk to make the swap."

"Understood."

~

This is what I get for being so goddamn good at doing impressions, you thought to yourself with a heavy sigh as you sat upon a creaky bench in the courtyard of the administrative building housing Kakashi's office, mission dossier flopped open on your lap. Having precious little time to study, you chose to forego returning home before embarking on this assignment and instead spent your time absorbing as much information from the pages in front of you as possible. Mannerisms, pitch of voice, quirks of the face that appeared only with genuine emotions all needed to be memorized if you were to fool those closest to these people into believing that you were in fact the genuine article. Transformation jutsu and body doubling weren't just about physically appearing identical to your mark -- you had to become them, and that's precisely why you were tapped for this mission. At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

Your mind drifted off as the implications of the details involving this mission began to sink in. You had to pose as Yamato's wife. Well, as the wife of the man he was impersonating, at least. But that meant behaving as a happily married couple with Yamato. Your face flamed, prompting you to pick up the bound copy of your notes to hide your tenuously contained embarrassment behind open pages as you swallowed back a lump in your throat. The carefully packaged affections -- rather, this crush -- you harbored for your assigned partner were bubbling dangerously close to the surface of your professional exterior.

You and Yamato had been dancing around this for months. Neither of you seemed quite daring enough to make the first move, being unaware of the feelings each harbored for the other. Yamato could be a touch stiff sometimes when it came to matters of the heart, even when off duty, and the last thing you wanted to do was spook him. You worked together frequently and had superb chemistry when it came to collaborating on missions, but you just couldn't get a read on him to know if there was anything beyond that. You went on assuming your feelings were unreciprocated and kept them to yourself until about a week ago when Yugao ribbed you playfully about Yamato stealing glances at you when your team had gone out for drinks on a much-needed day off.

Not a good time, brain, you silently chastised yourself, shaking your head as you took a deep breath and lowered the documents onto your lap again. There were far more important things to be worrying about than your schoolgirlish interest, namely getting into character for your mission. With how many close friends and relatives you would be interacting with, this was one situation where your acting skills needed to be absolutely on point.

Glancing up at the lazy orange rays filtering off the setting sun, you closed your mission dossier after having spent the last couple of hours absorbing all of the data contained within those bindings and rose to your feet, adjusting your mask slightly.

Better get a move on. The show's about to start.

With a loud pop of your neck and a deep, cleansing breath, you vanished into the rustling trees.

~

I can't believe people actually live like this, Yamato thought to himself as he cleared his throat and took a seat beside you in the carriage belonging to the faces you both currently wore. While he had been on his fair share of missions for the elite, the decadence with which they lived still never ceased to amaze him. A pile of gifts and carefully wrapped packages occupied the opposite bench, flaunting the wealth of the nobles who hired the Hidden Leaf for this mission. Paper rustled and shifted slightly as the cabin began to move. Camouflaging his opinions under the mild-mannered guise of his mark, Yamato brushed a bit of fuzz from the plush fabric of the seat and gazed through the sheer coverings hanging over the carriage's window as it traveled through the village's gates. At least everything is going smoothly.

Dawn had just broken in the Land of Fire, and its quiet warmth filtered into the small space he shared with you. It was remarkably pleasant. The sun yawned its way through the clouds, shining sleepy rays of light across the horizon as it readied itself for another day of work illuminating the landscape below.

With a quiet hum, Yamato reached for the dainty hand of his mark's wife, making idle chat as he laced his fingers through yours in the affectionate manner he had observed during his brief meeting with the couple the night before. "Did you enjoy your shopping trip in the village?"

Your heart skipped a beat. "I only wish we could have stayed longer," you sighed wistfully with the noblewoman's musical timbre. "I simply can't get enough of these quaint little villages. They're just so adorably rustic," you chirped. "Like stepping into another world. It's just so fascinating."

Still as skilled as ever at putting on a show, Yamato mused to himself from behind his transformation. He couldn't help but to admire how easily you settled into these roles, adopting the mannerisms and quirks of strangers from nothing but a brief meeting and a cram session with a profile book. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he was holding the real Lady Nanami's hand. He admired so much more about you, but it just never seemed like the right time to say something about it. "Shame it's such a lengthy trip," he hummed in return.

"Oh, please. You know you're just going to sleep the entire way to the venue," you teased with a melodic laugh.

That's right. Yamato managed a quiet chuckle befitting Lord Tenji and leaned over to press a chaste kiss to your cheek before settling into his seat and closing his eyes. "Ah, darling. You know me too well."

"I'll wake you when we arrive." Were it not for your extensive training and impressive poker face, you might have broken character when the man played by Yamato brushed his lips so daringly close to yours and sent an army of butterflies flitting wildly about in your stomach. All you could do was enjoy it for a moment under the unabashed mask of a doting wife and try to remind yourself that you were just playing pretend.

~

As expected, the day-long journey from the village to the accommodations booked for the wedding was largely uneventful, save for a minor detour after you discovered the bridge you were to take into town had been damaged under suspicious circumstances. You hummed quietly for much of the ride, tapping coded details about the mission status against your faux-husband's knuckles as he feigned sleep and snored convincingly on the bench seat beside you. When the carriage finally halted and you spotted a large building through the window coverings, you gave Yamato's disguised shoulder a nudge.

"Wake up, dear. We're here."

Just hearing those words leave your lips caused the butterflies in your stomach to return with a vengeance. You smiled teasingly as Yamato's Tenji mask made the grumbling sounds one might make after sleeping through a long trip and peered through the window with squinting eyes. He gave your hand another brief squeeze before one of the couple's attendants opened the carriage door, prompting Yamato to exit and offer a hand to his darling wife. Donning the noblewoman's air of confidence, you placed your palm in his and carefully stepped out of the cabin, admiring the impressive building before you. A sucker for architecture, Yamato was staring at its lovely features as well. Several stories tall, the traditionally-styled inn was adorned with beautifully carved, ornate curves highlighting the corners of the multi-tiered roof. It was a breathtaking sight for you, though Lady Nanami would hardly be so impressed.

"A little small for such a large wedding, don't you think?" You hummed with her cheery, condescending tone.

"Mm, it hardly matters, so long as our room has that spacious bath we requested," her husband's voice chortled just loud enough for the help to overhear. If you didn't know better, you might have thought Yamato was enjoying this.

Oh, how you wished you could break character right now. Instead, all you could do was buzz with the appropriate amount of mischievous laughter befitting a married noblewoman as you accompanied your husband into the hotel. As you went through the lengthy, formal greetings that needed to be bestowed upon fellow honored guests that you met upon entering the lobby, your mind began to wander while you operated on autopilot. You toyed with the idea that this was some kind of elaborate setup on Kakashi's part -- an effort to meddle in his friend's distinct lack of a love life by inserting you into his target's sights as a person of interest.

That's absurd. He's the goddamn Hokage, not a middle school matchmaker. This is a mission. FOCUS.

Your eyes flicked from face to face, searching for any that didn't appear in your dossier. So far, there didn't seem to be anyone unexpected present, though you were well aware that all of the guests had yet to arrive. Some likely wouldn't be here until morning. While it wasn't part of your orders to apprehend the unknown suspect in question, you still needed to be on alert. Just as your gaze fell upon a face that you couldn't quite place, an attendant stole your attention, informing you that he would be showing you and your husband to your suite. Two small taps against your palm indicated that Yamato had spied the same unknown figure, prompting you to squeeze his hand in acknowledgement before beginning to chatter to the man rolling your suitcases about the accommodations your room was to have.

"Rest assured, Lady Nanami, the room is most certainly up to your standards," the young man beamed with a saccharine smile as he unlocked the door, ushering you and your partner inside. He deposited the keys into your masquerading husband's hands, still with that forced friendliness pulling at his lips. "Please, don't hesitate to call the front desk should you need anything at all."

As the door clicked shut, your eyes fell upon the alarmingly lavish accommodations contained in the deceivingly spacious suite in which you stood beside your fellow actor. A king-sized, canopy bed more ornate than anything you had ever laid eyes on in your life was the crown jewel in the center of the main room, topped with more decorative pillows and plush blankets than could ever possibly be necessary. The fluttering in your stomach returned upon realizing you were likely going to be sharing that enormous mattress with Yamato for the duration of your mission. While there was a chaise lounge tucked against the far window, you doubted he would risk being caught sleeping anywhere that would be deemed out of character on the off chance that someone came to the couple's room between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding ceremony.

"Sweetheart, why don't you go check on the state of that bath? I'd hate to get settled in if it isn't what we requested," you chimed, still standing beside the door, unsure if anyone was still lingering outside. With a quick twist of your hands, you signed, 'spider'.

Yamato gave you a slight nod before prattling on in the teasing tone of a recently married man as he began checking around the bathroom for listening devices.

You answered with coded, flirtatious retorts as you casually flipped through the bedding, searching other areas of the room for any insidious items that may have been planted prior to your arrival. While you expected this assassination attempt to occur over dinner, you chose to err on the side of caution. The last thing you needed was to have your cover blown before the rehearsal even began.

"Well?" You chirped from beside the heavy, wooden dresser, peering innocently around the large mirror as you scanned every inch of the suite.

"It's perfect," the voice of Nanami's husband called back after a bit of cabinet opening and towel shuffling was heard from the bathroom, which was code for all clear. "What about the bed?"

"A little frilly for my taste, but it will suffice."

Yamato chuckled softly. Only she could adopt someone else's sense of humor so quickly. "We have a little while yet before the rehearsal, do you want to take that bath?"

Heat flashed through your cheeks, as you imagined those words being delivered in Yamato's rich baritone instead of the stuffy drawl of your character's husband. Stay on mission! Your inner voice berated you so loudly that you were sure the entire building could hear. Clearing your throat, you replied cheekily in a dazzling display of manufactured composure with a sly smile perched upon the noblewoman's lips, "I'm afraid we don't have nearly enough time for that."

Wait… is she… did she think I meant… oh, hell… Yamato froze for a moment, as his brain malfunctioned over whether it was deciphering a coded message or being flirted with.

You weren't entirely sure what you meant by that yourself, if it was intended to be your character teasing her husband or if you were making veiled passes at Yamato. Perhaps, beneath the acting and the impressions, it was a bit of both. Shaking your head as you admonished yourself again, you began unpacking your bags, setting out a smattering of your ninja tools mixed in with the absurdly fancy dress you would be required to wear in another hour or so. Truthfully, you did want a bath, as the long trip spent sitting in a carriage in someone else's clothes left you feeling a bit itchy, but there wasn't enough time. The real Nanami explained to you that getting into this particular dress required a bit of gymnastics and controlled breathing, recommending that you not wait until the last minute to attempt putting it on.

"I didn't realize it had gotten so late already," Yamato finally spoke again after regaining his bearings, stepping out of the bathroom to see you staging the bed with all of the things you would require for the evening.

"You wouldn't know since you slept through it, but the trip took a bit longer since one of the main bridges was out," you hummed, eyeing him and then the door as you hid your knives.

Hearing the movement outside, he apologized as he swiped a few objects out of sight beneath the many pillows. "Right. I suppose I missed that."

Three light taps rattled the door, and a familiar voice rang through from outside. "Room service, courtesy of the bride and groom."

Seriously? Is this their big plan? Yamato's fingers tightened around the hilt of a kunai as he calmly strode toward the door, peering through the peephole carved into the top. There, with a silver cart topped with bottles of very expensive looking sake, stood the attendant who showed you to your room not twenty minutes ago.

After taking a breath, you pressed down on the sides of your ribs, making your voice sound strained as you did your best impression of a Nanami panicked by embarrassment. "For the love of--Husband! Don't you dare open that door!"

Yamato watched through the peephole as the young man's face tarnished with a lovely shade of red upon hearing your shrill cry. "Erm, yes. As you heard, I'm afraid I can't open the door right now. Please leave whatever it is on the table there." That seemed to be enough to scare him off, as he quickly deposited the bottle next to a vase on the table to the side of the door before hastily moving on to the next room. Yamato breathed a momentary sigh of relief, giving you a signal for all clear.

What? You signed with a perplexed expression.

After ensuring that the door was locked, Yamato mimed drinking. That absurd gesture might have gotten a small smile out of you were it not for the grave reminder that followed -- a warning delivered on borrowed hands. Poison. While the probably was implied, neither of you were going to risk it, especially while in the middle of a mission in which the people you were masquerading as were actively the targets of a still unknown assassin.

With a slight nod, you looked back down at the mess you had made of the bedding in your rush to hide your tools, wrinkling your nose as you realized that now was the time to get yourself wrestled into that rib-breakingly clingy dress. Getting the hint, Yamato gathered the suit he was to wear and whisked off to the bathroom to make a quick change.

You, meanwhile, were cursing under your breath as you executed the series of complicated maneuvers and breathing techniques Lady Nanami detailed would be required to wriggle your way into that thing. Why couldn't she just have chosen a different dress? The conversation regarding this very thing hung in the back of your mind as you recalled Kakashi attempting to bargain with her on the matter for the sake of the mission, but Nanami refused to budge, insisting that it would be out of character for her to come dressed in anything else.

With a quiet, frustrated growl, you looked up at your disheveled reflection upon hearing Yamato's footsteps move into the room again and watched him approach you from behind. You thanked your lucky stars that you had such a good poker face, as the embarrassment that would have been flaming your head otherwise would have been intolerable. While you were half-zipped into the medieval torture device cleverly disguised as lady's ware, Yamato was fully clothed, looking quite dapper while cloaked in a strange man's face. Apparently, getting into a suit required far less effort. Maybe I should have made him go as Lady Nanami instead.

Both you and Yamato knew this was probably going to be an issue, as Lady Nanami had offhandedly mentioned that she sometimes needed a little bit of help getting zipped in, though neither of you had discussed how this would pan out in practice. There just wasn't enough time. Having worked with you extensively in the past, Yamato was well aware that you disliked enclosed spaces, especially after a particularly sketchy mission that had you squished into a crack in a rockface for two days to avoid enemy detection. This dress definitely qualified as an enclosed space.

"Exhale," Yamato murmured in his own voice, gingerly setting his hands on either side of your ribs in an effort to provide some familiarity and be grounding. The heat of his breath fanning your neck as he stood directly behind you felt oddly pleasant despite your growing discomfort with Nanami's godforsaken dress.

Hunched over the edge of the dresser, you let out the last little bit of air in your lungs to shrink your rib cage enough for Yamato to advance the zipper and wrap down the accompanying clasps. You felt like you might actually pass out when you tried to inhale again and found your lung capacity to be extremely restricted. "I'm a sitting duck in this thing," you whispered.

"Everything is going to be fine. Just remember what she said about breathing vertically and keep playing the part," he stated calmly while keeping his volume to a minimum.

"I can't bend or reach the kunai on my leg," you all but wheezed while maintaining an eerily straight face. "Do we have a plan b?"

Yamato's borrowed eyes scanned the mask of calm you were wearing over Lady Nanami's face, noting the tension in your jaw that was becoming more and more difficult to conceal. "Unfortunately, no. You're going to have to just tough it out. We always intended for you to be bait to draw them out if it came down to it, but don't worry. Lady Nanami's husband isn't going to leave her side, and we have the other team working in the shadows. You aren't going to be a sitting duck." While Yamato's carefully delivered words came as a slight reassurance, they did little to remedy the obvious functional issues your present state would have on dealing with assassins. Disguising his voice again, he spoke with his hands still on your sides. "Sit down over here. I'll help you with your shoes."

You followed his direction without objection and awkwardly lowered yourself onto the padded chair near the window, taking the opportunity to get a handle on breathing with this much pressure crushing your ribs. Meanwhile, Yamato knelt before you and buckled shoes very unfit for shinobi life onto your feet. It felt strange, letting him dress you like a doll, but it was all part of the mission, you told yourself -- not to mention the fact that you had little chance of leaning over and putting on those shoes yourself with how stiff the bodice of your dress was. This was just a bit of professional role play. Pretend with a paycheck, nothing more.

With a quiet smile, he retrieved an item from his pocket and clasped a piece of delicate jewelry around the back of your neck, taking his time to adjust the shimmering stone pendant to sit properly just below your collarbones with a few careful turns of the chain. "You look lovely." Thinking that was part of the act, you glanced up at him to say a thanks appropriate for the situation. When he unexpectedly brushed the cheek of your character's mask almost affectionately, for an instant it seemed he wasn't smiling at her, but rather, he was smiling at you. "Shall we, my dear Nanami?"

A pang of rejection struck your chest as the illusion shattered and you took his outstretched hand, wearing your most convincing smile.

~

When you arrived at the banquet hall arm-in-arm with your fellow fraud, you were greeted by quite an impressive sight as you stepped through the threshold leading into the ballroom. Hardly seeming like a mere rehearsal dinner, the tables and chairs were elegantly set as though they were ready for the main event. The grand chandelier hanging from the impossibly high ceiling glittered and threw twinkling sparkles around the vast space, shrouding everything the light touched in fairytale glamor.

"Mikasa outdid herself," you hummed knowingly in Nanami's melodic voice as you struggled to contain your awe at the extravagance of it all while simultaneously controlling your breathing so as to not pass out.

"Nami-chan, you made it!" An excited voice squealed in surprise from across the hall. The blushing bride, your identity's dear friend, rushed toward you with outstretched arms.

With a twist of guilt wringing your heart that you were a mere imitation of the woman the bride thought you to be, you echoed her enthusiasm and wrapped her in a warm hug, recalling that the two were quite close and that this was an appropriate greeting, according to your file. "Darling! Look at you -- you're positively radiant! Of course I made it. I wouldn't have missed your special day for the world."

"I was so worried after hearing about that bridge and those bandits--" Mikasa chattered dramatically, pausing abruptly as she laid eyes on the help shuffling about in the background. "Excuse me," she whispered before quickly clearing her throat and clacking off to address some grievous offense made by a hapless kitchen worker. "Young man! What are you doing with that? Those go over -- give me -- yes, I'm aware this dress is worth more than your house -- give me that right now--"

Stifling laughter, you and Yamato glanced at each other briefly before taking your marked seats at the table meant for the rehearsal. Nanami had warned you of her friend's micromanaging antics and gave you permission to giggle if Mikasa did anything ridiculous, as Nanami herself would have been cracking up at such a sight. It wouldn't have surprised Nanami to hear that her friend had all but thrown herself two weddings. You were only sorry she couldn't be here to see it.

As the minutes ticked by and Mikasa squeaked panicked orders at the overworked kitchen staff, the rest of the guests slowly began filtering in, filling the chamber with the low, echoing hum of idle conversation. You donned your best haughty expression as every mover and shaker in the Land of Tea stopped by to get chummy with the Lord and Lady played by Yamato and yourself as they waited for the bride and groom to make their official appearance. All the while, you and your disguised comrade were working to suss out the rat -- scanning for signs of discontent amongst the groveling passersby as they stopped by your places to humbly kiss ass before taking their own seats, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Critically eyeing the room, you made a show of seeming displeased over something trivial with a slight gesture of your hand before leaning in toward your companion. "Are we sure we're the targets?" you whispered against Yamato's cheek over the quiet trills of the strings warming up in the background.

"Positive. There isn't nearly as much to be gained politically by going after Mikasa or her family. It has to be… us," he murmured back in a near inaudible hum, placing his hand on your shoulder in a manner that an onlooker might interpret as him trying to placate you before you broke apart and both settled properly into your respective seats again.

The lights dimmed momentarily as the band began to thrum into quiet song. The remaining guests shuffling about took this as their cue to find their seats, and the room's eyes collectively turned to the center of the ballroom as Mikasa and her husband-to-be made a dramatic entrance, stepping out from the shadows into the beautifully tiled pattern beneath the grand chandelier. She beamed proudly as the lights fell upon her, illuminating her sparkling dress with an ethereal glow as the man at her side addressed the room. Formal greetings and words of gratitude were bestowed upon all in attendance before they went on into speaking briefly about the event planned for the following day.

"But please, enjoy dinner and drinks before we get into the rehearsal itself," Mikasa declared with a wide smile, gesturing to the waiting staff. Heads turned to follow the sound of a train of rolling carts as a line of impeccably dressed kitchen workers appeared one after another, each with a single silver platter topped with a shining dome and accompanying drink on their respective trolly. "Each plate specially was prepared for all of your unique tastes as our clan's way of showing our humble gratitude for the support shown by each and every one of your houses."

The bride's gushing speech buzzed into the accompaniment of the strings as you focused upon the carefully choreographed dance displayed by the kitchen staff as they made the setting -- moving in sync as they placed their trays before their assigned guest, revealing the specialized meals hidden behind shining domes. The rich smells of delicious food and sounds of delighted chatter filled the room as the line of honored guests set their eyes upon the lavish meal prepared just for them. Each plate and paired drink was unique, which made detecting any acts of subterfuge all the more difficult. You couldn't simply look for differences in the spread, which made you all the more suspicious.

Yamato seemed to be following the same line of thought as you, as he feigned interest in seeing what was served down the line before setting his sights on the plate in front of him.

You gazed curiously at your own meal, recalling that it was what Nanami stated to have chosen off of the list she was provided in the wedding invitation. As your eyes trailed upward, following the reflective dome up the hand holding it, you spied a familiar face painted with the same stiff expression as the rest of the line of chefs.

The attendant.

"Enjoy your meal, my Lady," he hummed with a soft bow before turning heel and following the train of carts out of sight once again with the rest of his identically dressed cohorts.

The gears cranked rapidly in your head as you sorted through all of the available data. Nothing about this seemed correct. The setting of the rehearsal dinner, the absurd number of dishes offered -- none of it fell in line with your previously conceived notions of how a wedding typically worked. While you assumed some concessions needed to be made, considering the social standings of these people, something besides the chokingly tight fit of your dress sucked the air from your lungs. None of the guests struck you as suspicious -- only the reappearing attendant who now seemed to be kitchen staff exuded any hint of malice, and his could simply be attributed to a dislike of the elite.

The chime of a glass and the clearing of a throat prompted everyone including you and Yamato to look up. The blushing bride offered another exuberant speech that was largely drowned out by your noisily processing thoughts. It wasn't until glasses were raised in a celebratory toast that you reacted, wearing the aloof smile of an aristocrat as you daintily lifted your glass and joined in the group's declaration of cheers.

A toast. Of course. What better way to ensure everyone takes a drink.

As the liquid in your goblet splashed upon your tongue with a metallic tang that seemed to confirm your suspicions, you reached under the table and placed your hand on Yamato's knee as you slowly tapped letters out in code to signify you were about to be in trouble before reluctantly swallowing the swill as you made smiling eye contact with Mikasa.

Yamato cleared his throat, knowing he had to remain in character despite the dire implications of your tapped message as he drank from his own glass to keep up his charade. Curiously, he found nothing wrong with his drink's taste as you had. Only Lady Nanami was the target? What did we miss? Wait -- did she just drink that knowing it was tainted?

Without missing a beat, you set your drink down, dabbing your lips with a napkin as you tapped a final string of letters against Yamato's thigh. B - A - I - T. You made strong eye contact with him before making polite dinner conversation and picked up your hand to retrieve your utensils to tuck into your meal. By this point, you were in far too deep to cut the mission short just to save your own skin. You knew the risks when you signed up for this. No matter the cost, you were going to see it through to the end.

What the hell is she thinking, baiting the target to reveal themself by letting them believe she's as good as dead? Is that her plan? What about the other team? Yamato chewed his food thoughtfully, his calm facade carefully camouflaging the sickening sensation twisting about in his guts that was wholly unrelated to the meal set before him. Alright, so suppose we wait out the dinner, then what? We have no idea how long whatever she drank is going to take to cause problems or if the antidotes in our medipak are even going to be effective on whatever this is. I'm sure whoever set this in motion doesn't want to cause a scene in front of all of these people. Poison implies it was meant to be discrete. Maybe that means we have a bit of time.

You maintained the carefully crafted mask of Lady Nanami's bubbly demeanor throughout the duration of the meal despite the nauseating burn that was beginning to ravage your insides. When Mikasa rose from her throne to announce that it was now time to rehearse the dance reserved for the noble families, your chest tightened into knots. Sitting down while maintaining this poker face through the roaring agony you were in was one thing. Dancing while you felt like your guts were melting was another beast entirely. All the while, the bride seemed to be keenly focused on you and Yamato while she spoke, as though she were expecting something to happen when she summoned you and her guests to the dance floor. Much to Mikasa's dismay, you rose to your feet after taking Yamato's outstretched hand, following him to the ballroom floor with cleverly disguised support to keep you from collapsing.

As soon as one of the other guests leaves, we can slip out without drawing any attention to ourselves, Yamato reasoned silently. He only hoped you were going to last that long. Judging by the clammy sweat slicking your palms, that window of opportunity needed to open itself sooner rather than later. "Keep it together," he murmured against your temple as he led you through the dance steps dictated by the onlooking bride.

You could only manage a bit of a hum in reply. All of your energy was currently occupied with maintaining your transformation and wearing Lady Nanami's delighted expression while Yamato directed your movements around the room as it began to spin. The songs droned on and the pitches of the instruments began to bend and groan out of sync with reality as the tangled notes tumbled into your head. Sweat was beginning to bead on your brow. The dress seemed to be growing tighter by the second. Swallowing hard with that cheerful mask still plastered to your face, you squeezed Yamato's hand in alternating bursts.

S - O - S.

Yamato flexed his jaw as he scanned the room, looking for any sign that the other guests were getting ready to retire, but there didn't seem to be a sluggish soul in sight. Damn. She's at her limit. Time to improvise. After a moment of thought, he glanced down at the fancy, delicate looking stilettos that were strapped to your feet, eyeing the slim point on which you were precariously balanced. Tenji is a bit of a klutz, right? He mulled over the details of his dossier for a beat before deciding to move forward with his plan regardless. With a calculated, clumsy-looking step, he sent you off balance with a swipe of his foot, resulting in your pointed heel snapping away from its sole with a resounding crack.

"My shoe--" You gasped in genuine surprise through the fog of disorienting pain that left you dizzy and teetering already. You stumbled, shifting your weight onto your other foot and leaned heavily into your dance partner's chest, now realizing what Yamato was up to.

"Oh, darling. I'm so sorry," he babbled sheepishly, quickly swiping the broken spike from the floor, eyeing the reactions of the crowd. It seemed his performance was convincing enough, as he received a judgmental glance from a single couple before they quickly averted their eyes. "Let's return to our room for a spare pair, shall we?"

Nodding with feigned embarrassment, you circled an arm around him for support as he swiftly guided you out of the hall. Glancing over your shoulder, you spied Mikasa staring into the back of your head with a festering malice beginning to stain her features.

It's her.

~

"Almost there," Yamato's voice strained the limits of his disguise as he hurriedly helped you through the halls that led back to your shared room. Raspy breaths wheezed beside him as your hand knotted into the back of his suit jacket, holding on for dear life as you began losing control of the chakra maintaining the illusion of Lady Nanami's visage. With an arm awkwardly wrapped around your waist, he fumbled with the keys to unlock the door as you melted into his shoulder, hiding your face from the mercifully deserted hallway as the illusion shattered and your true features emerged.

"Dress," you croaked desperately, twisting under Yamato's arm the second the door clicked shut as you yanked at the front of the constrictive wrapping. "Get it off--"

Scrambling to keep a grip on you as you stumbled toward the bathroom in a feverish daze, Yamato struggled to make quick work of the clasps between your jerky movements and the tight press of your ribs against the fabric. Releasing his own transformation, he gripped your sides to keep you still as you lurched forward. "Listen to me. You need to pull yourself together for ten seconds so I can get this thing off of you without destroying it. Exhale."

With your head spinning and your stomach threatening to crawl out of your mouth, you latched onto the familiar voice, finding a moment of focus to empty your lungs enough for him to release the clasps and yank the zipper down your back. This was decidedly not how you expected your hypothetical first time experiencing Yamato ripping your clothes off of you to go. You twisted yourself halfway out of the medieval trapping before caving over the toilet and heaving with the fabric still bunched up around your hips.

Brows twisted into knots, Yamato quickly returned to the main room and rifled through the suitcases, digging out the medical pack you had the foresight to bring along for the mission.

"Red -- vial--" you gasped between bouts of retching. You knew what this was, or so you hoped. The taste tainting your wine led you to believe it was a poison favored by hired hitmen, and that one of the vials in your bag would at least buy you some time. A cold sweat slicked your entire body as you clutched the rim of the bowl and tremors climbed your spine.

This is bad. Yamato's eyes narrowed on your twisted form as you dangled over the open seat while he plucked the proper syringe from the lot. A sickening twinge of guilt twisted around in his chest as he made his way back over to you. He was the one who told you that you were probably going to be bait. He gave the order to suck it up and carry on like your insides weren't melting. He told you that everything was going to be fine.

"Whatever this is is definitely in your bloodstream now. The food probably just slowed it down," he stated while trying to maintain an air of calm as he knelt beside your crumpled body.

Coughing and spitting the bile that clung to your tongue, you shifted sideways to sit on the floor, still half tangled in Nanami's dress. Feeling like deep fried death, now was not the time to be coy or shy around your partner. The mission was still incomplete. Your feelings aside, you needed to neutralize the poison before you were completely incapacitated. "Give me the… the thing," you rasped in a confused drawl, motioning to the syringe in his hand as you fumbled with the fabric gathered around your legs.

"Just -- here--"

Before you could quarrel about who was doing what, Yamato unceremoniously grabbed a handful of fabric, shoving the wrinkled mess out of the way to expose your thigh. With the other hand, he jabbed you with the syringe, emptying its contents into the meatiest part of your muscle. You grimaced, growling audibly and cursing under your breath as the noxious ache associated with that substance buzzed through your blood.

"Is that going to be enough? Any idea how much you actually ingested?" He inquired while setting the empty vial down, trying to get you to focus by pointing your face at his. All thoughts of the mission seemed to have been emptied from his head. Now, he was more concerned about you.

"Mikasa," you hissed through your teeth, ignoring the question as your head fell back against the cabinets behind you.

"No, we went over this. She's -- damnit, is that poison clouding your head, too?"

"No," you grunted, swallowing back more bile rising in your throat. "She -- ordered the hit. Had to be her," you choked out between pained breaths, clenching your eyes shut. "If she -- wants power... dead Nanami -- means chaos," you rasped as beads of sweat rolled down your face.

With his mind returning to the mission for a moment, it struck Yamato that you were likely correct. Nanami being the actual heir and head of the family, it made sense that killing her might throw things into disarray if someone wanted to stage a coup. "If that's the case, and Mikasa is behind this, we are way beyond our mission parameters. We don't have authorization to move against the noble families," Yamato clenched his jaw in frustration, glancing between you and the door as the gears in his head turned. "We have to contact the village with this information. We need new orders."

"Scroll," you strained between labored breaths, pointing a shaky arm to the main room at the suitcase sprawled open on the floor beside the bed. "I brought -- one of Sai's."

Of course she did. "Alright, hang tight for a second." Yamato studied you for a beat before standing. You were not in great shape, but this had to be done. Heading into the main room to scrawl out a message, he carried the special parchment over to the window, laying it out on a table before slicing his thumb on a kunai and drawing a swipe of blood over the seal in the corner to activate the jutsu. The ink upon the page twitched and crawled up from the letters, slithering together into the form of an owl. Yamato opened the window with a slight grunt, sending the creature off into the night. Now, all he could do was wait.

The sound of heaving and shuffling fabric coming from the bathroom drew his attention again, sending his own stomach twisting back into nauseating knots of worry. He walked back through the mess he had made of the room in his scramble to dig out the medipak and paused in the bathroom doorway, eyes falling upon your tensed shoulders as you spat more bile into the bowl and moved to sit defeatedly beside it once more, kicking off your broken shoes and twisting uncomfortably as you tried to worm yourself the rest of the way out of that godforsaken dress. Muttered curses and mockery left your cracked lips as you struggled. "Sadistic cow--"

Yamato stifled a laugh as you imitated Lady Nanami under your breath. Even when you looked like death, your sense of humor was still intact. "Here, let me help you with that before you get yourself more tangled up."

"Thank your stars -- that you didn't have to -- wear this thing," you huffed, face contorted in pain and embarrassment as Yamato grabbed the fabric bunched around your hips and shimmied it upward, finding it was easier to get off over your head.

Yamato had something amusing to say about that, but he bit his tongue. Now is not the time. Holding a dress worth more than his yearly salary, he gazed down at you as you sat on the tile in your underwear, looking ready to keel over. With an uneasy exhale, he hung the crumpled mess over a towel rack and snagged a washcloth from a nearby pile, dampening it with cool water before kneeling down in front of you again. "I'm sorry. This was definitely not part of the plan," he lamented while gently swiping the soothing cold over your face.

"We needed to stay in character," you muttered in a strained breath, stuffing down the urge to be sick again. "And I need… to not be upright," you grunted after a nauseating swallow, shifting away from the delightfully cool cloth on your face in order to lay on your side.

"Hey, none of that," Yamato grappled with your uncooperative limbs to sit you back up with growing concern staining his features and worry tightening his throat. "We don't know anything about what you ingested or if that antidote even worked. If you lose consciousness -- you might... not... wake up."

"I'll be fine," you mumbled, your head tipping forward against Yamato's shoulder as he moved you. Staying there seemed like a fine idea. "Probably, anyway."

"Probably isn't good enough," Yamato insisted, pinning you up against the cabinets behind your back by your shoulders.

"M'gonna throw up on you if you keep jostling me around."

"Fine. I don't care. Whatever it takes for you to stay… with me," he faltered, realizing how that sounded after the words left his lips. He meant to say conscious.

You snorted, tipping your head back into the cabinets as you swallowed another sickening lump in your throat. "We aren't in character anymore, Captain. You don't have to keep pretending."

That's just it. "I'm not pretending anything--" Yamato found himself at a loss for words.

"We have company," you interrupted, clenching your eyes shut as you hissed a pained breath through your teeth.

Yamato no doubt sensed it too, as his eyes darted in the direction of the main room before you finished speaking. Without missing a beat, he donned his transformation once again, straightening his tie and brushing wrinkles out of the suit jacket as he stood up. Tightening his grip around the hilt of a kunai, he made his way toward the door, peering through the peephole once again. Unsurprisingly, the same attendant stood at the door, peering directly into the hole cut into the door. "Yes?" He spoke through the door with Tenji's voice.

"Lady Mikasa was concerned that you hadn't returned to the rehearsal. Can I be of any assistance? A new pair of shoes for Lady Nanami, perhaps?"

"Lady Nanami twisted her ankle a bit during our little mishap on the dancefloor. I'm afraid she'll have to rest it until the ceremony tomorrow, so you'll have to excuse us for the remainder of the evening. Please, give our most sincere apologies to Lady Mikasa."

"Some ice, then?" The insistent voice offered.

Are they trying to confirm the kill? "That would be lovely, thank you." Yamato scanned the man through his notch in the door, trying to ascertain what level of threat he currently posed. He needed more information, and the individual behind the door could possibly be convinced to tell, assuming he was in fact in on the plot and not just an innocent, overworked bystander. Remaining perfectly still, he stood guard at the door as the attendant vanished down the long hallway and just waited. The sound of your stuttered breathing and occasional heaving vied for his otherwise rapt attention, though, causing his eyes to shift away from the little circular window following a particularly violent bout of retching coming from the bathroom. Damnit, whatever was in that vial wasn't enough. He turned back to the door with a swell tightening in his throat as he watched the same figure stroll down the hall, pausing at his door with a bucket of ice in hand. Yamato narrowed his eyes, spotting something small, maybe a cylindrical tube, nestled between the cubes inside of the bucket. What in the world? Do they intend to finish the job? Why would he leave it sitting so obviously in the open? Unless…

Three little knocks trilled through the door again, forcing Yamato to make a quick decision. "You can leave the ice on the table there."

The attendant shifted the bucket, causing the vial to turn and exposing the emblem stamped into the top. A leaf. Specifically, a Konaha leaf. "If you would permit me to come in, I might be of some help."

Is that… one of ours? It dawned on him then that the other team Kakashi mentioned must have been working somewhere in the shadows of the building, posing as staff. Taking a cautious leap of faith, he opened the door, allowing the attendant inside. In one swift motion, he lunged, pinning the man against the door as it closed with a kunai to his throat.

"Easy, Captain," the man answered calmly, holding his free hand and the one grasping the handle up as he shed his transformation. "It's Aoba."

Yamato breathed a sigh of relief with a quick apology as he lowered his knife. "It's good to see a friendly face," he said while losing his own transformation again and glancing toward the sound of your continued retching. "What's the news? I assume that if you've replaced one of the workers, the suspect has been captured?"

"Yes, it just took us longer than we thought. The whole thing was a mess. By the time we figured it out, the poison had already been planted and dinner was about to roll out. We had to wait until the staff returned to capture the attendant. Yugao has him under guard," Aoba explained, setting the bucket down and picking up the vial chilled within the ice, holding it out to Yamato. "I can't stay long. Give this to your partner. I doubt one dose was enough, judging by the sounds she's making."

Yamato took it without question. "Did you confirm from the suspect that Mikasa is behind all of this?"

"Yes. We're waiting for new orders from the village, just as I assume you are."

"Alright. Then we'll proceed with the mission as planned. Unless I hear otherwise from you or the Hokage, we'll attend the ceremony tomorrow as though nothing happened."

With a nod, Aoba shifted back into disguise, straightened his hat, and left.

After locking the door, Yamato returned to where you were slumped uncomfortably next to the toilet, still looking a bit green around the gills. "Did you hear any of that?" He inquired while kneeling down beside you and jabbing you in the thigh again with Aoba's present.

You groaned as your head fell back against the cabinets in defeat. "Yeah. Something about having to put that fucking dress back on."

Yamato stifled a laugh, feeling relieved that you were probably going to be fine now as he sat down beside you, setting the now empty vial aside. "At least you should be out of the woods now."

"I could only fit so many different things in the pack. Wasn't sure what we would be dealing with," you mumbled as a shiver wracked your body.

"It's fine. You were more prepared than most would have been, though I can't say I condone drinking poisoned wine without knowing that you had the proper antidote. That was a little reckless," he commented offhandedly, disguising his concern with scolding.

"Orders were to not break character. Nanami is a lush. Leaving a drop of liquid in that glass would have been suspicious," you grimaced, closing your eyes.

Yamato sighed. He of all people understood that sentiment. An awkward silence hung in the air as the things he wanted to say before Aoba's arrival slowly slithered back into his head. Only now, it seemed like the moment was lost, and he couldn't bring himself to spit it out. Gods, I'm such an idiot. "Can… I get you anything? A blanket, or water, maybe?"

"I just want to take a nap," you grumbled quietly. "And maybe to throw up again."

Everything he wanted to say was wadded up in the back of his throat. Words refused to form on his tongue. All Yamato could manage to do was pull his arms out of his suit jacket and drape it over your wilting body. What should I say... he sighed to himself. Before he could register what was happening, you shifted from your spot and curled up on your side, using his leg as a pillow. The frantic energy that carried the two of you to this point and ended in him practically ripping your clothes off for less than fun reasons had all but vanished, leaving a stuffy, uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. "Listen… about what I said earlier…"

"It's fine, really," you mumbled against his leg.

"No, you misunderstood--" Yamato sighed before gingerly setting his hand on your shoulder. "I wasn't feigning concern or just… pretending to care because of our roles for this mission. The masks we wear make everything so complicated," he lamented.

"Tell me about it," you breathed shakily. You were caught wholly off guard when his fingertips grazed your temple, brushing a few sweat-slicked hairs away from your face -- a sweet gesture that mimicked his earlier actions during your little warm up just before you left for the rehearsal. It left the same fluttering in your chest, followed by the same worry that you were reading too much into it.

Maybe I will after this mission is finally over. "Come on. You should really be in an actual bed."

"Unless you plan to carry me, I'm staying right here," you retorted flatly. Your huff rolled into a surprised squeak when Yamato called your bluff, shifting you around and scooping you off the floor. Under different circumstances, having him whisk you off to a bed would have left you buzzing with excitement. But right now, it just made you queasy. "Put me down before I yack all over your suit--"

"You aren't going to yack on my suit," Yamato chuckled as he carried you back into the main room and deposited you atop the disheveled bed. "Try to get some rest. You should be alright to sleep now that you've had a second dose. I'll wake you up when it's time to wrestle you back into that dress again."

With a disgruntled snort, you coiled yourself into one of the loose blankets, willing your thoughts to stop racing long enough for you to relax enough to sleep. As you settled in, Yamato took a seat on the edge of the bed, stationed between you and the door to keep watch for the night. Unable to let his guard down, he resigned himself to just listening to the steady sounds of your muffled breathing, turning every so often to steal a glance at your sweet, sleeping face.

~

The next day moved forward in a strange, dreamy haze. You woke up with a raging headache, feeling incredibly stiff and hungover, no doubt thanks to the side effects of the antidote you had taken to thwart the assassination attempt. You groaned your way out of bed, attempting to shake the lingering chill that simmered under your skin as Yamato helped you slither back into the godforsaken dress you promised to burn if you ever were forced to wear again. His calmly hummed reassurances that you would be returning to the village as soon as the day was through brought some solace, at least. Despite the strong urge to crawl back into the plush blankets piled atop the heavenly bed you slept upon, you sucked it up and put on your mask -- smiling with all of the haughty attitude your aristocratic identity would display for such an occasion.

You made your way to the venue together despite your desperate longing to go back to bed, linked by the arm Yamato kept around your back as he guided you to where you were supposed to be seated for the exchange of vows. Your head was still so hazy and full of noise, it took every ounce of your concentration to just keep up the ruse.

The ceremony itself was lovely from what your fuzzy brain could follow, though Mikasa's surprise as she walked down the aisle and spotted your very much alive face within the crowd was something you definitely wouldn't forget any time soon. You dabbed your teary eyes in faux, joyful wonder that Lady Nanami was able to make it to see her oh-so-special day, waving your handkerchief-wielding hand happily at her when she made eye contact before she turned forward to focus on the altar as the rest of the formalities commenced.

You blindly followed Yamato's protective lead with firmly joined arms from the wedding venue itself onward to the dizzying lights that illuminated the reception hall as your head still throbbed with confusion and fatigue. You were just barely keeping up appearances, and by now, Yamato definitely knew it. While your practiced poker face kept the other guests in the dark, your companion could feel that something wasn't quite right.

Everything seemed to roar past you at double speed while you floundered along in slow motion. Your eyes could only vacantly follow as the kitchen staff marched out in lock step, setting the stage of a fairytale evening just as they had the night before. The same platters topped with polished domes paired with matching goblets of expensive wine were set out in front of the myriad of guests in a carefully choreographed dance that left you wondering if you were seeing things. A curiously familiar face lingered for a moment and left a slip of paper discreetly tucked under your partner's plate before moving along with the rest of the line and vanishing into the kitchens. Yamato placed a hand on your knee under the table, jarring you out of your quiet daze to show you the small note now cupped in his palm. You sighed in relief upon reading the message.

Tea reinforcements en route.

What happened to Mikasa after her wonderful day was of little consequence to you now, as you were just glad to have survived your mission. With that in mind, you smiled genuinely at Yamato through the veil of another woman's face, squeezing his hand firmly. This time, the gesture wasn't simply part of the act.

Yamato leaned in under the guise of Lady Nanami's loving husband as his lips brushed against your cheek to whisper one last reassurance that he thought you might need to get through the remainder of the evening. "Just another hour or so, and we'll be on our way home."

~

"Are you still asleep?" A voice murmured from above as a hand lightly touched your shoulder.

Startled, you jolted upright, thinking that you had dozed off on the ride back to the village. A series of sounds attempting to be words left your mouth in a tangle as you struggled to fully rejoin the waking world. "Your face--"

"I know. We've been in the clear for a while. No need for disguises now," he chuckled lightly.

You blinked again to clear the fog from your head. "Did I sleep the entire way back? What time is it?"

"You could say that. And it's about noon," Yamato replied with another short laugh, resisting the urge to smooth down your sleep-tousled hair as the light shone through the window beside you, giving you a rather angelic glow despite the fatigue that still wrinkled your features.

"What--" You paused mid-word, realizing that you were definitely not in the back of the carriage like you initially thought. Your eyes moved over the white, pristine sheet laying over your legs, the table beside your bed, and lingered on the IV line stuck in your arm that tethered you to a bag of fluids hanging above your head. "--the hell?"

"You're in the hospital. After dinner last night, guardsmen from Lady Nanami's estate in the Land of Tea arrived, and Mikasa was arrested. We headed back to the village in disguise during all of the chaos. You were still pretty out of it for most of the ride back. I had the medics meet us at the swap location so they could bring you here to check you out," Yamato explained.

Still confused, you blinked a few more times, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes as you vaguely recalled the events Yamato described. "How long have I been here?"

"Since early morning. Sakura said it was mostly dehydration and chakra depletion caused by the way that antidote binds to toxins. Something about it utilizing chakra to burn off the byproducts of the neutralized poison. You'll probably be discharged in a few hours."

You glanced around Yamato as he spoke, now spotting the one colorful item that seemed out of place in your otherwise sterile room. There, on the table hidden just behind his shoulder, was a vase of powder blue flowers, delicately arranged and pointed toward your bed. "What… who brought me flowers?"

Yamato's cheeks flushed as he sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, actually..." He stalled for a moment, unsure how you were going to react to what he was about to say as he silently cursed Kakashi for suggesting he do this in the first place. "...I did."

Faint, hopeful fluttering filled your chest for a moment, though you were still preparing yourself for disappointment. "Really?"

"After everything that happened with that mission and…" he trailed off for a beat, seeing the smile begin to fade from your lips as he once again seemed to be failing to get his point across the right way. "Look, I'm terrible at this," he laughed at himself. "And my timing is atrocious, with you being in the hospital and everything. This might be totally inappropriate to ask, but would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime? After you're feeling better, of course. No masks or characters. Just us."

The fading curl upon your lips quickly recovered, and the hopeful fluttering in your chest morphed into a flurry of relief and excitement. As you looked up into the eyes of the man you had spent so much of the last mission wishing you could see instead of those belonging to the person he was masquerading as, you couldn't help but to smirk a little. "As long as I don't have to wear that godforsaken dress again."

The tension broke and Yamato erupted with genuine laughter. "You can wear whatever you like."

"Don't give me that kind of freedom," you teased. "I might show up in pajamas."

"Just let me know what color so I can coordinate with my tie."

You snorted, stifling your giggles, as it was impossible to tell if Yamato was serious or not. Either way, you didn't care. The bandaid had at last been ripped off, and two of you could finally stop dancing around the awkward elephant in the room. "How about tonight?"

"Tonight sounds perfect."

--------

Tagged: @sphinxfantasy

[linkspooky]

idk if ur taking asks abt jjk but i was curious on ur thoughts abt gojo i haven’t rlly heard this around but i’ve been thinking abt the fact that gojo desire to basically indoctrinate children to fit his ideal sorcerer society is a bit strange and i saw this on your meta on how the schools only see these kids as tools but doesn’t gojo do the same idk my thoughts are everywhere and i get that gojo was raised in this system so it’s normalised in his eyes but idk gojo’s ideology is lowkey fucked imo and i was curious what u thought

I think Gojo is a product of the same society that raises up kids to be used as tools, and he unintentionally passes that lesson onto his students.Gojo knows that the system is wrong for using kids that way, but he’s such a fundamental part of the system, he doesn’t really know how to overcome it works inside of it instead.  I think what he said to Megumi is pretty telling of how he treats these kids in general, he tells him you better get strong or else you’ll get left behind.” He thinks he’s teaching them what’s best, because that’s how Gojo understands the world works, but at the same time he’s telling a five year old kid if he fails to protect his sister it’s all his fault. 

Gojo teaches his students to “get stronger, get stronger” as a response for all of their problems. He takes responsibility for their development as sorcerers, but nothing else really, and especially not their well-being as individuals. Gojo basically treats his students like mini-adults, friends he can pal around with, and that makes sense if you think about it, he’s raising them all to be political allies.  He’s not really trying to raise a bunch of healthy adults. I think Gojo genuinely does care for these kids and stick out his neck to protect them, and his goal is entirely an altruistic one to prevent the childhoods of other children from getting destroyed like his did. However, Gojo is fatally a selfish person just like Geto is fatally selfless, he doesn’t offer help out of the goodness of his heart, he barters. He always expects something in return from these children.

So, on one level I believe Gojo yes is intentionally using these children. He only extends help when he gets something in return from them, his helps is always conditional on the fact that he’ll gain another ally. However, at the same time I think the problem more lies in the fact that Gojo doesn’t see individual people as individuals, and therefore doesn’t want to pay attention to the indivdual emotions of his students that he ends up using his students this way. He thinks it’s fine. This is how he was used  growing up, but this time, Gojo is using them for good ends instead of a bad one. 

I think Gojo’s inability to take care of their needs as individuals, especially attending to their emotional needs is why Tokyo Students are so strong indivudally, but weak as a group. Gojo’s only interesting in fostering their strength as sorcerers, not their emotional health, or their interpersonal relationships, because he doesn’t view those things as necessary. I mean he’s only had one best friend his whole life, and look at him, he’s fine. 

To give evidence to my argument though, here’s a comparison between the Tokyo Kids and the Kyoto Kids. 

1. Tokyo vs Kyoto

Gojo can be a fantastic teacher when he wants to be, but it requires him paying attention to a student’s individual needs, which he almost never does. When he designs a lesson plan raound Yuji, he does two things that make him better than most Jujutsu Sorcerers already. First, most traditional teachers teach that cursed technique is everything, and would have rejected Yuji outright. Whereas Gojo sees Yuji’s strength as a brawler. He’s willing to go outside the box, and buck tradition to focus on a student’s individual strength and emphasize those rather than telling Yuji he’ll never be a strong sorcerer without strong techniques. The second is he comes up with a method extremely suited to Yuji’s learning style. 

However, I think it’s important to note that Yuji and Gojo are actually really similiar. He’s a really receptive student who hangs off of Gojo’s every word. For Gojo it’s like him teaching a younger version of himself, someone who believes that strength is everything, and wants to become the strongeste to be a pillar of support to others. You don’t really get good teacher points for spending the most time with someone who’s easy to teach.

And even  with Yuji whose really really receptive to Gojo’s highly individual focused learning style, there are several things that Gojo just neglects to teach or even mention. Basic, fundamental things, that every sorcerer should know. 

Nanami has to go out of his way to give Yuji the 101, because Gojo neglected to tell him all the basics. Children are smart of course, especially adolescents who are capable of thinking for themselves, but they also generally know what they’ve been taught up to this point. Yuji is a complete newcomer to the sorcerery world, it makes sense he’d basically be a blank slate having to learn all of this from scratch, but Gojo himself either doesn’t know this, or doesn’t bother with it because it’s too troublesome. He thinks of the kids as miniature adults so, it would make sense that he just assumes they know everything he knows already.

That’s the entire point of introducing Nanami into the story. Gojo teaches Yuji to be a better sorcerer, but not to be an adult, and it’s because he doesn’t really see him as a child to begin with. Gojo thinks becoming a strong sorcerer is the way to teach these kids to be good adults, but he neglects the emotional half of having to teach because Gojo doesn’t deal with emotions well. I mean, even in his training of Yuji, he designs a training method where Gojo doesn’t actually have to be there, and present with him most of the time. He can lock him in a room, and go run off to do Gojo things while Yuji teaches himself. As opposed to a mentor like Nanami who constantly watches and monitors his development. 

This is where we start to get to the comparison with the Kyoto students. Because even in the creaive way Gojo taught Yuji, there were some things that Yuji just learned wrong, and internalized wrong from Gojo’s lesson.

Gojo explained the theory behind Yuji’s divergent fist, but Yuji learned it wrong, because he didn’t understand the way cursed energy flowed through the body. If Gojo was paying attention, he would have caught it and corrected it, but Gojo’s teaching style is sink or swim, let students learn or fall entirely on their own. Whereas, when Todo actually sees Yuji’s flawed divertgent fist, he’s able to point out the problem.

Todo actually acknowledges that there’s a difference between beginners and elite sorcerers, that their’s a learning curve to these things, and rather than leaving Yuji to learn it on his own he guides him through these things. While at the same time, expecting Yuji to figure out some things naturally. Todo never once goes easy on Yuji, I’d say his standards for people are as harsh as Gojo’s. You either learn it or you don’t. You’re either strong or you’re not. However, there’s a distinct difference between Todo and Gojo’s teaching styles, and it’s that Todo is emotionally intelligent, and Gojo is not.

Todo pays attention to people, he notices when they’re off, when they’re going through something, and rather than just ignore it, he almost immediately addresses it and tries to talk them thorugh it. It’s not perfect of course, but having his emotions paid attention to, helps Yuji develop as a person moreso than a sorcerer. 

The Kyoto students have a teacher who pays attention to their individual needs. A teacher who actually teaches. While we may not know much about Utahime as a character yet, you can see the direct impact she has on her students compared to Gojo.

Gojo’s students are individually strong, but weak as a team,. Utahime’s students are much weaker individually, but can come together.

It shows both in the Kyoto Battle Event, but also the Shibuya arc. The Kyoto kids are all unstable it’s true, they’re all prone to lashing out, but because they’ve dealt with such dark emotions rather than repressing them they’re also way more capable of talking about their feelings to others.

Yes, the Kyoto kids don’t deserve to lash out at whoever they want. Yes, lashing out is a bad way to attempt communication. However, it’s also true that the Tokyo kids respond with what basically amounts to self-righteousness. The Kyoto kids are lashing out because they are going through something, because they’re suffering, yet the Tokyo kids don’t really try to understand those feelings. 

Kamo was seperated from his mother at a young age. Maki left Mai behind in an abusive household. Nobara has never experienced the same abuse that Mai has so she’s not really in a position to judge which twin she thinks is the good twin, and which is the bad one. Mechamaru is chronically ill and in constant agony, and then instead of getting him medical help he’s just being used as a toy soldier. 

So.  The problem is. Gojo’s style of teaching. He wants these kids to be political allies. He wants them to try to make a better world than the one he experienced growing up. However, Gojo doesn’t really teach them to think for themselves. He doesn’t teach them to look at the situation, and the way the Jujutsu World is designed to manipulate and use these children.

Individual responsibiltiy is a good lesson to teach. Individual responssibility can help someone get over themselves and their issues and work towards self improvement, but it’s also, not the only solution. It’s also, impossible to overcome these circumstances all on their own. 

Mai can’t be strong like Maki. She’s not weak for folding under the pressure of being in an abusive household. You could even argue that Maki isn’t stronger than her abuse, because emotionally she’s weak, she can’t even maintain a relationship with her own sister she has to cut herself off from everyone. 

Kamo has to follow the clan’s orders, he’s terrified they’ll hurt his mother and he’ll never see her again. She’s actively being used as a tool to manipulate them. 

Mechamaru is already strong as a sorcerer, that’s not going to stop the fact that he’s chronically ill. 

Basically, in this regard Gojo’s students repeat what Gojo himself always says. “Have you tried getting stronger?” We can see why this approach doesn’t work with Kokichi, because he did do what Gojo would always reccomend. He didn’t want to burden others with his emotions so he tried to be strong and solve everything on his own, and that resulted in his death.

Think if Mechamaru had been supported. If he thought it was okay to confide his problems with others, if it was okay for him to be weak, and ask for help when he didn’t know what to do on his own.

However, when he tried to do that with panda he just got slapped with a “Your behavior is wrong.” It’s why even when telling people, especially children their behavior is wrong you also need to be sure to take care of their emotional needs as well. Especially teenagers, because teenagers are literally all emotions, they’re not minitature, fully-developed adults. Kokichi was wrong to lash out, but his emotions were right. He has every right to be in pain. When he’s told off, he also takes that as a message that he’s weak for trying to confide anything in others, that him complaining about his victimhood made him weak in the first place, so what does Kokichi do. He retreates into himself, he quiets down about his problems, he tries to solve everything on his own and he fails at doing that because you can’t. You cannot solve all your problems by simply being stronger than them. 

Gojo’s students aren’t raised as emotionally healthy individuals, and because of that they also can’t really relate to the emotions of other people, especially the negative one. They are, strong willed individuals yes, strong sorcerers, yes, but they’re not really a team. 

I think that’s illustrated in how they all fall apart in Shibuya. All of Gojo’s students basically make the same mistake, they don’t listen to the adults, they charge into battle because “I’m strong enough.” 

Nobara, the adults literally all told you not to fight. Nobara: Nah it’s fine I’m strong.

Look at how Nobara loses. The second she starts fighting with Yuji as a team, she makes a sloppy mistake because she 1) underestimated her opponent and 2) was never taught how to fight in a team. 

It’s not just Nobara though it’s every single one of them.

Yuji runs off on his own, fights on his own, and loses to Choso.  Megumi suicide attacks to take down one (1) opponent whose just a regular curse user when he reaches his limit. 

This is what they are all taught. They all have to fight on their own, be strong on their own, and if they’re strong enough they’ll win, if they’re not strong enough oh well. The Tokyo Kids genuinely like each other as a team but they’re always running away from each other. They all overestimate themselves and what they’re capable of handling and get in over their heads. 

And it does go back to the Kyoto Battle arc, because the Tokyo kids are just as emotionally disturbed as the Kyoto kids, they just are repressed about it. Take Megumi for example, Megumi has been abandoned and neglected all of his life, and Gojo never really offered him any support or healing for that abandonment.

There’s no canon indication that Gojo ever raised Megumi or did anything with him other than provide for housing, and protect him from the Zenin clan on the condition that Megumi STILL BECOME A SORCERER, JUST ONE POLITICALLY ALLIGNED FOR HIM AND NOT THE ZENIN. 

He didn’t offer Megumi a chance at a normal life, or even help him grow up as an individual because Gojo’s not interested in these things. Gojo’s help is conditional on the fact that Megumi work hard to pay him back, and reach his full potential as a sorcerer. As a result, Megumi is walking around with completely unaddressed abandonment issues as a result of never having a stable adult in his life, and this goes, completely unnoticed, which leads to him constantly risking his own life, endangering and harming himself. Megumi’s just as unstable  as the Kyoto kids, he’s going to do something dangerous someday soon. It’s just Megumi’s been taught from a young age, he has to be the responsible one in his household, and he has to take responsibility for everything on his own by working to become stronger, and look like where that has led him.

Hmm, I wonder why Megumi always feels like it’s his responsibility to sacrifice, what could have possibly led him ot that conclusion? Why does he feel so responsible for the actions of other people around him? It’s a geuine mystery.

However, the Kyoto kids are capable of doing something the Tokyo kids can’t do. They can cry and be weak in front of other people. They can support each other as a group. Not only did they help Miwa at her lowest point, but Yuji would have given up, had Todo not shown up when he did. 

Yuji actually wasn’t capable of handling it all on his own. He couldn’t defeat Mahito just by being stronger than him, or having a strong will. 

Individualism like Gojo teaches is important, but it’s also incomplete. It’s only half the solution. The Tokyo kids need the camraderie of the Kyoto kids, the same way the Kyoto kids need to learn to take responsibility for themselves.

That’s why the Shibuya arc ends the way it does. The Tokyo kids failing as individuals, and the Kyoto kids coming together as team. However, since both sides only have half the answer, neither side is able to defeat Kamo Sr. totally.

However, Gojo’s mistakes are shown even more clearly after the arc resolves. Gojo doesn’t actually teach people to think for themselves, because he’s raising them up to follow his politics. Now, look at what his students are doing in his absence. Gojo wants to fix the broken world, but Yuji’s conclusion he comes too after suffering is that he doesn’t want to think about fixing the world. He just wants to become another cog in the machine.

What was the greatest mistake the previous generation made?

Geto. Not only in exposing him to the trauma of Riko dying in front of him. But also, offering him no support a year afterwards.  Yaga completely neglecting him and failing to see what was going wrong. Then, when Geto finally did break, sending another student to kill him.

Yaga really can’t understand why this eighteen year old would hestiate to kill this other eighteen year old, that’s been his best and only friend for three years.  Why is this child not comfortable with an execution mission? It baffles the mind.

Gojo, by failing to raise his students as emotionally healthy individuals repeats the same mistake.

Yuta and Yuji both don’t really care about the world around them, or politics. They don’t pay attention to those things, they weren’t raised to do that. However, now because of that, because both are willing to become cogs in the machine they’re both letting themselves beused right now. 

They refused to think for themselves, so now the elders are manipulating them into a conflict against each other. Yuta because he doesn’t see the situation at large, he only wants to protect his friends. Yuji, because the only way he thinks he has value is by killing curses, he’s just going to keep blindly executing them until Yuta comes to kill him. Gojo’s students are divided specially because of that reason. They’re not together as a group, they’re just a group of particularly strong individuals, and Gojo never even thought that these strong individuals with no particular connection to each other might turn against each other. They might lie to each other. They might keep secrets from each other. They might fail to communicate. Because, Gojo doesn’t really pay attention to complex relaitonships like that. He’s only had his one friend his whole life. 

Even though that’s also exactly what happened to his one and only friend, his emotional needs were neglected by the system around him until he completely fell apart. Geto and Gojo’s problem wasn’t that they weren’t “the strongest” when they were together. It’s that they were never “together” again after a certain point. 

[ryegarden]

What do you mean that biological sex is fake?

giving u the benefit of the doubt and assuming you’re genuinely asking and not baiting

biological sex, as we know it, is fake as in.. its a lot more complex than what people reduce it to, and standardizing all of humanity into two distinct sexes is just. redundant. the biology of sex is real, but complicated, and things like DSDs (disorders of sexual development, which is an icky term but the one thats used), which occur as frequently as redheads or twins, mean there’s no easy way to draw a line between what is “biologically” male and female. 

Seperating everyone into biologically male and female and going from there is reductive, and ends up causing a plethora of issues - society’s obsession with biological sex is what leads to cases like Caster Semenya, an athlete with high testosterone levels who is kept from competing in her sport (this is also undeniably a sexism and racism issue), or infants recieving genital surgery to be the ““correct”” sex

In terms of sex chromosomes, people very much assume that it’s either XX or XY, and then that determines whether you’re male or female, and then we can split all of humanity into those two categories - in reality, there are six common chromosone groupings; X, XX, XXY, XY, XYY, and XXXY. Assuming that anything other than XX and XY is “abnormal” is denying the experience of millions of people, and is just not something that we would do for anything else. 

As our understanding of science has developed, so must our view on things like “”biological”” sex - but it hasn’t thus far, because of misogyny, and transphobia, and the fact that it is much easier to split everything into two neat categories and do everything based off of that. I’m firmly of the belief that there is nothing in the world that can split humans into two perfect “”biological”” categories.

[myonepiece]

KYAAAAHHHH ANOTHER KYOSHIRO FAN :DDDDD , can u write kyoshiro and bartolomeo with a short fem s/o whos super clingy and is kind of a scardey cat , example:when someone flirts with her she kinda just clings behind his back if that makes sense? and when the guy who’s flirting with her is gone she’s just like:”i love you forever baby babe honey my love my beloved my dear my king my knight in shining armor” on a nother note u are the best writer ever oml 💖

Kyoshiro, Bartolomeo with a clingy short fem!S/O who’s a scaredy cat

Kyoshiro x Reader, Bartolomeo x Reader

Description: Kyoshiro & Bartolomeo (seperate) with a short fem!S/O who is clingy and gets scared easily + short oneshot with her getting scared and hiding behind character

Warnings: none

A/N: yes more Kyoshiro!! 💕

he loves how small you are, he loves feeling like he’s protecting you from the world and he wouldn’t trade you for anything

he’s not the clingiest person, but he has no problem with your constant affection and neediness for affection- he adores this trait

in fact he feels simultaneously serene and alert when you’re touching him in some way, knowing that you’re there right next to him let’s him know that you’re safe and he’s suddenly very alert of the surroundings because it’s like you’re trusting him and relying on him to protect you

you’re cowardliness just makes him fall in love with you even more, he loves teasing you about it (one of his favorite pastimes) and despite his strong feeling of protection towards you and the need to make you feel safe, he finds it hilarious to scare you (jumping out from behind corners is one of his favorite ways)

but the way you hide behind him, tighten your grip on his arm, or take hold of his robes in your hand(s) when you’re scared makes his heart flutter and his eyes fill with adoration while a light blush fists his cheeks (while he unsheathes his swords to take care of whoever dared to scare his sweetheart)

+ oneshot

you weaved your way through the bustling crowd, balancing two bowls of ice cream as you hurried back to Kyoshiro. you were looking ahead of you when a large man abruptly came out of nowhere and you crashed into him, the ice cream dropping and smearing across his kimono before the bowls hit the ground.

you started trembling as you stuttered out apologies, bending down to fetch the bowls when he placed his foot upon them and crushed them easily, causing you to gasp slightly and straighten back up slowly while keeping your head down and eyes trained on the ground.

the man grabbed the collar of your robes and yanked you forward, bring his face down and snarling.

“Oi, you watch where you’re going, how you gonna repay me for ruining my clothes huh?”

you opened your mouth to say something but quickly shut it deciding you couldn’t form a sentence, instead you peered around the man’s large build and spotted the familiar striking blue of your boyfriend’s robes. using all of your strength, you pushed away from the man and stumbled your way through the crowd towards the samurai.

Kyohsiro felt a tug at his sleeve as you clasped the silky material in your hands, but his smile and adoration filled eyes quickly darkened when he looked down and comprehended the fear seizing your expression

he turned quickly and unsheathed in sword in a single nimble motion just as the stranger you had run into barrled into the clearing that had formed when Kyoshiro’s sword was revealed, the swword which was now pointed directly at the man’s throat- the blade gleaming in the late afternoon light, matching the user’s glint of anger present in his eyes

“I wouldn’t take a another step”

the blue-haired samurai’s voice was tense and dripping with venom, he didn’t wnat to ruin your day with blood shed, but this man had most likely already done that so he was not exactly against slitting his throat then and there

the man seemed to understand the threat and danger he was in, but ufortunetly for him Kyoshiro was not about to let the bastard who had unsettled his beloved so leave uninjured, so lifting his free arm so that the cloth of his kimono covered your eyes, he made one quick motion with his sword and a large gash appeared on the man’s torso, erupting blood as he was dragged away by his (assumed) friends

Kyoshiro promptly turned you away from the scene, not allowing you to see the red stained dirt. he placed his hand on you lower back as he led you through the crowd, looking down when you wrapped your arms around his torso and turned your head upward to say

“I love you baby, thank you for protecting me again~” 

your light blush and eyes brimming with love accompanied by your drunkenly sweet smile made Kyoshiro’s heart soar and he laughed, seemingly unaffected by your confession. but if anyone looked close enough they would see the blush appearing on his cheek and the way his toothy grin morphed into a more sincere and lovesick expression, and the way he wrapped his arm around your shoulders to pull you closer against him before asking where the ice cream was

Bartolomeo is quite clingy himself, he likes to have you on his back or shoulders a lot, but one of his favorite positions is supporting you with his hands uder your butt while your legs are wrapped around his waist, he likes the closeness of it and he’ll hug/carry you like that anytime

he has no problem with your easily-scared personailty, he’s always ready to embrace you when you run. away from something, he likes that you trust him to protect him and that he’s always the one you run to for safety

and he couldn’t be more fond of your height, more cuddling positions and ways to carry you! he likes tucking you into his side and holding his coat around you, this is something he tends to do when you’re scared

whenever you do run to him and either hide behind him and/or grab into his coat, his eyes morph into hearts and he practically squeals before picking you up and peppering your face with kisses

after his outburst of affection and praises of your cuteness, his exterior changes to one of determination and it’s rather intimidating, he take shis role as your “protector” very seriously 

+ oneshot

you wandered along the streets of the town, Bartolomeo had told you to explore while he took care of some business. you turned a corner and stopped to look at the little stand full of plushies

you picked up a small turtle plushie up, admiring it and imagining the smile Bartolomeo would have when you gave it to him. you purchased the cute item and turned on your heel ready to head back to your boyfriend- but a hand suddenly placed itself upon your shoulder and you looked up to find a man in a familiar uniform, though you couldn’t name it. you followed his gaze which led you to a man, almost Noble looking, maybe a rank or two below one, but he was heading right towards you, a disturbing smile playing on his lips

the smile sent chills down your spine and you noticed the quivering of your body, you looked back and forth between the man gripping your shoulder and the disconcerting man approaching followed by a large group of uniformed men- your instincts took over and you bolted, running back through the crowd ignoring the shouts from the guards trailing you

your eyes searched the people frantically, searching for the familiar bright green hair or maroon coat, you called Bartolomeo’s name

“Bartolomeo!”

you hoped he would be nearby and hear you- luckily he was, you had managed to run to a little ways away from the ship where Bartolomeo and the crew were finishing up their supply restocking. Bartolomeo heard your voice calling his name and he held his had up shushing the crew, his head turned and examined the people’s faces, his sights descending on the familiar (h/c) hurrying through the crowd

he called his crew to attention and moved to the railing and jumped onto the ground below, you burst through a group of people, still shouting your boyfriend’s name. he moved forward quickly and opened his arms which you jumped into, your hands digging into the material of his coat while he wrapped his arms tightly around you, suddenly yelling about how cute you are and how much he loves you 

“my baby you’re so cute! I missed you!”

he twirls you around, but when he faces front again and see the dressed men appear from the crowd, his smile falls and turns to one of seriousness- his embrace tightens and he sends a warning glare to the men

however, the men don’t seem to get the unspoken message and the man not in uniform stepped approached. Bartolomeo set you down, shedding his coat and placing it around you before pushing you behind him

the “Noble” man reached Bartolomeo and stared slightly up at him with a condescending expression

“give her to me”

Bartolomeo looked down at the pudgy man with an angry and disgusted look, his firgure looming over the ignorant man- in the blink of an eye Bartolomeo’s fist was drawn back and hurled forward, hitting the man square in the face and sending him flying backwards, into the crowd and crashing through the building in his path- his followers turned and chased after him

Bartolomeo turned and his smile instantly returned upon seeing you draped in his oversized coat, his hands clenched into fists and he held them to his mouth, screaming into them as tears gushed from his eyes and he fell forward wrapping his arms around your waist. he picked you up and pivoted once again before lowering you only to pick you up supporting you with his hands under your butt while he skipped back up boarding plank and onto the ship

once onboard the small turtle plush fell from your pocket and once you wedged yourself out of Bartolomeo’s hold, you picked it up and held it out to him

“I thought you would like it, the color reminds me of your hair.”

you’re angelic smile and affectionate gaze, as well as your gift and innocent lovefilled meaning behind it, was just too much for Bartolomeo to handle and he dropped to the deck crying and wailing while clutching his heart like had been impaled, and by his own words he had been.

“I’ve been impaled by a spear of love! you’re too cute my angel!”

[getgoodlol]

An Unwelcome Meeting

part 3 of my Bdubs' Betrayal fanfic!

heyo! disclaimer before u read; i never claimed to be good at writing. this is purely for fun! i am aware that the hermits are all great people and they're all good friends. i am just playing on the roleplay and the characters they play within the storyline.

please do not tag this as ship. thank you and enjoy!

Grian rocked back and fourth on his feet, his hand in an L shape resting on his chin. His eyes were narrowed, staring at one of the chests in the Barge. He was pondering a price change on dirt; it wasn't selling particularly well. However, there were a few diamonds in the chest, so he took them out and eagerly went to his profit box to deposit his earnings.

Upon opening it, he noticed a thin leather book placed gingerly inside. He recognized it immediately- it had once graced his hands, after all. He dropped the diamonds carelessly, now focused on the presumed response from Bdubs. Grian gripped the book with two hands, excitement pulsing through him. A risky offer was always a rush.

He closed the shulker with his gaze still glued to the book. Swiftly, he opened it and flipped past his note. A few pages in, he noticed more writing that looked shaky and wobbly.

Grian scoffed with a smirk. He tried real hard to make it secret, didn't he?

He read each line with an eyebrow raised. Seemed as though Bdubs had turned him down. He was in denial, of course- nobody would want to be a mayor's doormat.

Then his eyes grazed the final scentence. The word accept looked like it was written slowly, the ink was heavier and it was smudged a little bit.

The pure excitement that beamed on Grian's face was priceless. Luckily there were no shoppers to be blinded at the time.

Quickly, he whispered a message in chat to Bdubs. Perhaps he could've sent everything like this from the start. That wouldn't have been as dramatic, though.

Hey Bdubs. Got your message. Meet me at Stress' potion shop.

Almost immediately, he got a response.

Alright, G. Scar's not around, is he?

Grian sighed. So what if he is? You won't get caught. And no, he's not even online.

A few minutes later, Bdubs popped into view, his elytra making a shadow across the shopping district. He folded his wings and landed not-so-gracefully in front of Grian with a nervous grin on his face.

Grian let the previous goofy excitement die down within him. Despite it all, this was still serious, at least for Bdubs. He expected the Mycelium Resistance to be light hearted, but he had to admit, Scar was taking advantage of his power quite ruthlessly. Although G's attitude was normally jokey, he felt maybe he should tone it down for now. A little bit.

Bdubs opened his mouth to speak- man, when did he ever stop rambling? Grian shushed him before he could say anything. The base had to be kept a secret away from all the other Hermits.

Swiftly, Grian showed him the way in through the shulker box.

"Ohhhhhh," Bdubs murmured, earning a glare.

Once they were inside, Grian led the newcomer to the table and had him sit down. "How does it feel?"

"Different," Bdubs sat awkwardly, clearly feeling out of place.

"Different as in: you're not literally sat on the floor."

"I guess you could say that."

He wasn't talking as much now. Had Grian been too harsh?

"I'm gonna call the other guys, okay? I haven't told them I recruited you."

Visible fear washed over the taller man's face. "I'm the mayor's second in command. There's no way they trust me."

"And I'm Mother Spore, founder of the resistance. What difference does it make? If you really care about the environment, you'll make them trust you. Plus, they trust me. And I recruited you."

"...M'kay. You'll introduce me?"

Grian nodded. He was afraid he was going to fast, but he needed to act quickly. He knew this really wasn't about the environment to Bdubs, of course it wasn't!

It really wasn't to him, either. It was about the principal.

Grian pressed the button with a firm press, eyes staying on Bdubs. His gaze was aligned with the table in front of him

"Y'know, G, you did a really great job with this table, the whole place is really cool! You say you're not great at interiors, b-"

Though Grian would have loved to sit and gloat about his builds, Bdubs' scentence was cut short by six ender-porters being activated, and six servermates finding their way into their respective chairs, looking frazzled.

"Grian?? Did you call this meeting?" Impulse asked, fixing his hair. He looked like he had been working on something.

Most of them did; Beef was covered in paint. Or blood. Could have been blood, knowing VintageBeef, but Grian assumed he was working on another album cover.

Stress' hair was full of nether-y bits, twigs, even flowers that were seperate from her regular head piece. She must've been working on her base.

Jevin was holding endstone, which was a surprise to no one.

Ren was quickly putting on his lab coat, brushing off ash from his shoulders.

Etho looked unfazed, but curious, his eyes locked on the new member.

Bdubs, on the other hand, sat quietly, eyes wide. He didn't really know where to rest his gaze, his pupils darting back and fourth. His neatly folded hands came undone, his fingers tapping on his palms.

"Yes," Grian answered simply, "Don't worry, everyone, everything is fine."

Before Grian could explain further, Etho pointed at Bdubs. "Uh, Grian? You sure everything is fine?"

Impulse gasped. "An infiltrator? We have to get out of here!"

Anxious chatter broke out amongst the crowd, everyone starting to get up from their seats. Bdubs looked over at Grian with a bewildered face.

"Everyone! Sit down! He's supposed to be here."

Everyone obeyed him. He held back a smile; it was nice to be in charge.

"So you've captured him, then?" Jevin asked, folding his arms.

"He doesn't look very captured..." Stress pointed out.

"No, I've recruited him."

Silence blanketed the table.

After a moment, Grian continued. "Bdubs has had a change of heart. He's on our side now."

Everyone exchanged looks.

"... He's literally Scar's second hand." Impulse gestured towards the silent man at the foot of the table.

"His lackey," Said Beef, leaning on the table.

"Hey! Am not!" Bdubs exclaimed defensively.

"Bdubs," Grian silenced him. He paused for a moment, looking around at his resistance. "Welcome, Bdubs, to the Mycelium Resistance. We have many things in store for you."

"So, what, you're just gonna tell Scar that you're with us now? He's gonna like... blow up the shopping district!" Ren straightened his goggles, as if he hadn't put them on correctly.

"I was planning on it, tonight, actually. He's expecting a note from me, about the shops or whatever, and instead, I was gonna just leave him a goodbye note."

Grian shook his head. "No, no, you're not doing that. You're now named the Head of Secret Angency."

"You really couldn't come up with a better name?" Etho muttered.

"Hey, mine is 'Head of Farming'. You take what you can get." Jevin laughed.

"Enough about the names. Bdubs, you're a secret agent now. You will be sticking by Scar's side, and reporting everything he does back to us." Grian explained.

Bdubs looked as if he had been put under a hydraulic press. Was he up for the job? Sure, Grian could manage the resistance on his own, but ... something about morals? Taking Bdubs away from the capitalist power? Something like that.

"I dunno about this, G, what if he just... double-agents us? Feeds us false information and tells Scar our plans..." Impulse suggested wearily.

Bdubs took a deep breath, then a long exhale escaped his nose. "Look, fellas, I get it if you can't trust me. I'm Scar's... 'lackey'! I wouldn't trust me either... but you'd wanna join the other side, too, if you were under Scar's command all the time."

He got stares from everyone around the table. Grian almost laughed. He knew it.

As soon as Bdubs realized what he had said, he added swiftly, "He's just so prominent about putting all the grass down! H-he really doesn't realize that the mycelium is the natural land..."

"I think I trust him." Stress offered, making Bdubs smile.

The rest of the table stayed silent.

"You're dismissed." Grian said after a moment of quiet. "Bdubs, go to Scar tonight. Find out anything you can about his plans, and report back at the next meeting tomorrow."

Bdubs nodded.

As everyone started to leave, Grian could see Bdubs gingerly grab Impulse's shoulder.

"Impulse? Can I talk to you after we get out of here?"