#but Zhn's death was so shocking she forgot the details surrounding it for years

[foxyverserambles]

Ori, Elly n Zhn rambles

CW: Buncha stuff honestly. Mentions of death/killing/poisoning idk In general this is about the edgiest thing I've written in a WHILE and I am unapologetic about it.

So like.

CW: Cringe.

Zhn met Oriana when she was already really deep into the brainwashing, to the point where she'd drink poison without flinching.

The point of the poison was numbing people's emotions on the job, Ori's dose was especially big because she's very emotional and also she had to literally kill people on the fly so they couldn't afford her hesitating.

Except uh. Ori's magic handling? Bad. This is both for her using magic and people using magic on her. Especially when it came to her mind. They gave her a dose that was way too high so Oriana was very much losing herself.

Supposedly they gave antidotes to people after missions but with Oriana being the only human and frankly them not caring, it absolutely wasn't enough.

Zhn, whose doses of poison was much smaller (and frankly, too small to even have an effect on him), started giving her his dose of antidote. It wasn't enough to undo the effects but it was a start.

Being the only dragon and human, they were both outcast. Zhn convinced Ori they should watch each other's backs because of this. Ori had been told she was below everyone else and even if Zhn was "just a dragon", he was part of "everyone else". So she agreed.

Still, being treated with humanely was a nice change of pace that helped Ori regain some of her. Well. Humanity.

Elly's not very relevant in their story, but considering Ori was, according to everyone, Elly's pet. She uh. Was "let know" Zhn was socializing "too much" with Ori.

Elly was very much against Ori being referred as anyone's pet but she knew it was for her safety (Mostly because Anastasia's a freak, more on that some other time). So she started "watching over" Ori and Zhn, which resulted in her growing close to the dragon.

They weren't friends.

But compared to everyone else... their company was almost pleasant.

How did Zhn fall for Ori? How could he not?

So bright, in both personality and intellect, even while treated as a mere pet and deprived of her senses for hours on end, letting her thoughts wear on her. She gives her whole self to everything she does, even if it puts her at risk. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She covers her mouth when she laughs, she puffs one cheek when she's upset. She sings songs from another world, shrugging off their meaning, as she walks around town pretending to lead a normal life. Kind without a hint of hypocrisy, beyond the regret of the cards she's been dealt.

She stares at the stars for way too long and sometimes for only a second he can see life in those empty eyes.

How could he not want to bring life back to them? Whether he loved her or not, she deserved better than this hell.

Ori initially responding "Me too" to Zhn's "I love you" because she thought he was just joking.

He loved that about her too.

It was awkward. And almost a bit too upsetting.

Zhn went into this knowing he'd be rejected but hearing Oriana so easily dismiss her value as a person, her deserving of love, was enough to drive him to find a way to get her away from the mill.

Well.

We all know how that went.