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anarchy-n-glitter · 7 months ago

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The Good, The Bad, and...

Summary: Lucy and The Ghoul encounter a shadowy figure from his past while on their way to New Vegas. This stranger, nicknamed Red Eyes, is intent on collecting a bounty on The Ghoul as a means to settle a feud between the two after they were betrayed by him. Will Red Eyes succeed, or will they have a change of heart based on their complicated feelings toward the man? (Cooper Howard x OC/reader) Words: 2,941

A/N: I forgot to post chapter 1 of this on here sorry guys. Anyway this is low key a Star Wars AU because as a Cad Bane fan I simply could not help myself so this is technically kind of a follow up to this fic. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

From the Desert Comes a Stranger

“I’ve taken down so many of dese clones over da years…” Her father began in his heavily accented manner, sighing, and pushing his hat back with his pointer finger as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. The red of his irises were somehow muted by the red lenses of the goggles he wore, which made it hard to see the look in his eyes as it was. He quickly dropped to his knees and with a single swipe of his knife he removed something from the clone’s body. She couldn’t quite make out what it was before he pocketed it.

He turned around quickly, pointing his gloved finger up at her. She straightened up.

“Now, Ciella, what ya need to know is…” He handed her the bloodied knife, closing her fingers around the hilt and holding her smaller hand in his. It was one of the only times he made a tender gesture towards her other than the odd hug here and there.

“Once you figure out one da rest are easy.” She had to wonder what the point of all this was.

When they arrived on the site - an old, decrepit warehouse with a caved-in roof - her father was quick to corner the clone that now lay dying before them. He tried his best to grab the gun that was strapped to his leg, fumbling with it and managing to point it in her father’s general direction before he was gunned down. Two shots in the chest from the looks of it, shots that left the man (clone) heaving and wheezing on the floor with blank eyes, and she knew that’s what he wanted to happen. If he wanted to shoot the man in the head he would have. He was the fastest shot in the Wasteland, and it would stay that way for many years.

“Now, I want ya to take dat knife dere and,” He finally stood and moved her closer to the dying man. “Yer gonna have to cut his throat, unless ya want to hear him scream. I’m not against it but it’s best dat we keep him quiet. Don’t want any stragglers comin’ in and takin’ us by surprise.”

Ciella drew in a deep breath as she knelt down beside the man. His blank eyes suddenly held so much emotion, it was a look she’d seen in her own eyes a few times before. Mostly on dark nights in the Jewel as she listened to the way men spoke to her mother… and the way her father spoke to her at times. It was the look she saw in the mirror after she saw how her mama took care of those men - their purple, mangled faces contorted in pain and their eyes bloodshot staring up at her, and their hands clutched around their throats.

This man was in pain, and he was afraid of dying.

There was a large tattoo on the side of his face, around his eye. It was a symbol, most likely belonging to whatever faction he belonged to since escaping his vault. From what she overheard her dad discussing, Vault 66 seemed to be defunct, with the clones created within revolting and escaping into the Wasteland. He had been hunting down the clones for the last five years, among other things. She never quite understood why anyone would flee a vault to live on the surface.

Her father took the respirator off of his face, letting it hang below his chin. She felt more at ease at this, happy to hear his own, unmodified voice walking her through what she was about to do. Her heart was beating fast and felt like it had leapt into her throat. She glanced at the open ceiling and focused on the large, white moon that hung in the deep blue sky.

Perhaps the sky full of swirling stars would be enough to comfort her.

“When he’s dead, cut off da part of his face with da tattoo and hand it to da Tin-Man. Den we can go home.” He instructed. Ciella hesitated.

The clone looked at her, stared her down, silently begging her for mercy. He was just a clone, and he was wanted so he must have done something bad, right? She looked back at her dad, who had pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, revealing his bright red eyes staring back at her expectedly. Tufts of navy blue hair peeked out from under his hat and over his goggles and his lips were curved into a small smile.

He actually looked like a supportive father for the first time in his life.

Ciella made her decision at that moment, and the girl at only eight years old turned around and drove the knife into the clone’s throat. His eyes widened and met her gaze for a moment and she felt her heart drop. He groaned and wheezed, the blood gurgling in his throat as the crimson substance dribbled from the corners of his mouth. A sputtering cough had his blood spraying across her face and she wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not. She tried not to heave at the disgusting feeling.

On instinct, she pulled the knife from his throat and drove it back into his flesh. Over and over. A larger, warmer hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her mid motion.

“Dere ya go.” Her father smiled wider as pride swelled in his chest. His baby would be a killer, just like he was. “After dis I’ll teach ya everyding I know.”

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The sun bore down unbearably upon the duo traveling along the Mojave Desert. It had been miles and miles of desert between the Griffith Observatory and the place the Ghoul was certain Lucy’s father was heading. The vaultie was starting to fall behind, clearly tired from the constant moving. It was hard to find shelter all the way out here, and unfortunately for her the Ghoul didn’t feel comfortable stopping out in the open.

They had traveled through a few settlements at that point, each one growing more and more decrepit and sparse. The people were quieter and hid away in their own corners of the small towns, eyeing the Ghoul and his traveling companion wearily. The whispers and glares of the different townsfolk hardly made for good hospitality, if anything it was that fact that drove him away from each place. Something was happening, someone said something, and he felt it was too risky to stop for a few nights in any of the settlements.

The last place they’d been to was a day’s walk away at this point, and the talk amongst the people in that saloon made him deeply uncomfortable. Then there was the body.

In the sandy dunes of the last settlement they had been to laid a man with sun kissed skin and snow white hair stained at the temples with red. The poor man had his brains blown out, by who… well, let’s just say he had a good idea of who it was. It was clear the job was done quickly, the man clearly didn’t see them coming, and the fact the man’s armor and other supplies went untouched raised even more alarm bells. He got them out of there quickly and quietly.

Unfortunately for Lucy, the Ghoul was one-track minded at the moment. His family was out there, he could feel it. There was a reason he kept going for over two hundred years, and he would not let those years of anguish be in vain.

He would kill anyone who tried to get between them.

“There’s gotta be somewhere we can stop, right?” Lucy sounded hoarse, tired. He wished he could answer her truthfully. He hadn’t traveled this far into the desert before, and the way the sun seemed to hang so high in the sky for so long made him question whether anyone ventured that far, let alone set up shop. He shrugged.

The dunes seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, with only a few rocky formations on the horizon. A few dried plants littered the ground here and there, somehow finding the strength to grow in such a harsh climate. It was a wonder anything was able to grow and flourish after the bombs. Maybe he should have sent the vaultie to ask for some sort of transport back at the saloon instead of being stubborn like he usually was.

“Maybe that person’s coming from a settlement down that way?” The Ghoul froze, feeling himself go numb.

Among the dancing heatwaves stood a dark-clad figure on the horizon.

They stood still, any discernible features hidden by a wide-brimmed hat and respirator over the figure’s mouth. The wind blew and kicked up dust and whipped the figure’s coat to the side, revealing the large holster against their hip. Their dark attire starkly contrasted with the bright blue sky and pale sand.

The words of the men in the saloon ran through his mind.

Someone’s lookin’ for a ghoul just like ya! There was a bounty put out not too long ago, I think it’s been taken offa the board. A lotta caps goin’ for that guy. He considered that a warning at the time.

Anyway, it looked like the guy who took the bounty was Red Eyes. He had the goggles an’ everything, but we all thought he was dead.

And Red Eyes was supposed to be dead. He died around five or six years ago.

The figure in front of him was a ghost.

Red Eyes stopped a good twenty feet in front of them, standing perfectly still. The wind shifted again and from beneath the wide-brimmed hat came a tuft of navy blue hair that blew in the breeze. The desert was all too quiet now, and it felt like something from one of his old movies. Red Eyes felt like an old western villain, dark and ominous, seemingly a force of nature. He worried the figure wasn’t only after him.

“Lucy, you should head back.” The Ghoul muttered, putting a hand out to stop her from moving any further. She stared at the figure for a moment, suddenly afraid because of the Ghoul’s reaction.

“It’s only one person.” She muttered. “Maybe they’re lost?” The Ghoul stayed silent. He would not repeat himself.

Her doe-like eyes flickered to him and she noticed the way his mouth was set in a seemingly permanent frown. His whole body looked stiff, like a cornered animal. She nodded, understanding finally, before turning on her heel to make a run for it.

The Ghoul watched as the stranger glanced in Lucy’s direction. Red Eyes observed her, seemingly studying her like an unbothered predator eyeing a nearby animal knowing it couldn’t do anything to stop it. He grit his teeth and took a few steps forward, spurs jangling with each stride.

This was not good.

“Now I know that fancy getup you got on is not yours.” He began through a false bravado, flashing teeth that used to be a pearly white. It was so easy for him to slip back into a role, something he had been doing this entire time. Yet, this time, he was given the chance to play the good guy. It felt unfamiliar somehow, after all, it had been several years since he’d done such a thing. He was almost grateful for this stranger’s theatrics. “Who might you be? Cause you sure as hell ain’t Red Eyes… he’s dead.”

He knew all too well who this was.

Red Eyes looked up, the red goggles reflecting the bright sun and making it impossible to see past their lenses. More of the stranger’s hair seemed to flow from behind them, long strands of navy waving in the wind like a flag. Their stance shifted from one of leisure to subtly looking like they would pounce. The stranger moved their coat away from their hip, revealing the large gun strapped to their form.

“I’d be careful where I was sticking my nose if I were you.” The heavily modulated voice called out. “Or lack thereof.”

The Ghoul bit his tongue. “I’m assuming that corpse we found back there was you, then? Certainly wasn’t the handiwork of any ol’ fiend.”

“Wasn’t much work.” Red Eyes spat quickly. “Was a clone. They're easy. Woulda gotten in my way.” Their accent, even through the voice changer, was thick. Louisiana, most likely from the New Orleans area.

“You’re here for me.” He didn’t feel the need to ask. He threaded his thumbs through the belt loops on his trousers, opting to seem more relaxed than he was. He knew Red Eyes would see right through his guise.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Their hand twitched beside their gun. He eyed them wearily.

“Well, I’m not goin’ willingly.” A low, rumbling chuckle sounded from the stranger.

“I never said I was gonna take ya in alive.” They answered, voice cold with an edge to it. He fought the urge to argue, to call their bluff, for doing so would be too risky.

Truthfully, Red Eyes had every reason to want him dead. It had been a few years, five to be exact, since they last saw each other. Five long years since he turned the fellow bounty hunter in for killing a crime lord. Five years since he left them for dead. This would be a fitting end for their little rivalry, even if it wasn’t always that way.

But he wouldn’t go down just yet. Not without a fight.

He had to find another way to fight them. A quick draw duel would mean a death sentence for him, unfortunately. Red Eyes was and still is the quickest draw in the Wasteland. He would have to throw them off somehow, say something to really disarm them.

He did the only thing he could think of, and instead of indulging in the stranger - instead of going for his gun - words that he never thought he would say slipped from his dry, cracked lips.

“Ciella, I’m sorry.”

Red Eyes froze. Their hand was still dangerously close to their gun’s grip. Over the wind, he vaguely heard the sharp, uneven intake of air from the figure. The breeze picked up again, blowing open the stranger’s coat to reveal the figure of a woman.

“It’s a bit late fer that, isn’t it, cher?” It most definitely was her. “I came ta finish the job. I shoulda known a coffin wouldn’t hold yer ass.”

Cooper held back a laugh. Ciella Bane was an ally at one point, and maybe even a friend, but the moment her picture was up on one of those boards he knew their partnership was over. Someone was offering a hefty reward for whoever could bring the bounty brat in, preferably alive.

That was his mistake. He knew he probably should have killed her while she was sleeping and taken the smaller reward for her corpse. Killing her like this would be a pain in the ass.

“You wanna take off that ridiculous getup and let me see you?” He taunted, much to Ciella’s dismay. He just had to hit her where it hurt, get her emotional and in her head so she missed when she inevitably shot at him. However, it had been a few years, he couldn’t be sure that trick would still work.

Though with dear ol’ daddy not around to give her more of his tips and tricks he doubted she would have improved much more than the last time they brawled.

Ciella scoffed. “The last thing you’ll see are these goggles. Everyone’s gotta know it was Red Eyes who took ya out, ghoul.” She spat, though there was a sadistic playfulness in her voice. Cooper rolled his eyes.

“I got places to be, girl.” Cooper countered with equal venom. He was getting antsy, and he felt she was wasting his time. “Let us through and…” He stopped.

What would he do? What could he do? What could he possibly offer her where she wouldn’t be on his trail while he and Lucy trekked the Wasteland on a wild goose chase? Ciella coming back from whatever corner of the world she ran off to after burying him alive was the last thing he wanted.

“Let us through and we can finish this some other time. I’ll tell you where I’ll be and you come find me.” He offered finally, feeling the weight of his words in his chest. He wouldn’t give up finding his family so she could have her petty revenge, but maybe one day, when everyone around him was gone and he knew his daughter was safe and could live a happy life, he would go to Ciella and let her put him out of his misery.

“We do this here and now.” The bounty hunter replied. “That head o’ yers is fetchin’ a pretty penny. Figured it was better I did it than some chem addicted fiend on the street.” Her words were purposefully inflammatory. She was doing the same thing he was.

She straightened up again, mimicking the stance of a cowboy in a western getting ready to draw, and Cooper knew what it meant. She wasn’t giving him a choice. They’d done this dance once before, and unfortunately for him it didn’t end well.

The Ghoul sighed and moved his coat from his holster, and he mirrored her stance. “This ain’t gonna go the way ya think it will, sweetheart.”

“I doubt that.” That same, robotic voice answered, yet he knew she was still all too human underneath.

#cooper howard x oc #cooper howard x reader #cooper howard x you #star wars au #fallout fanfic #cooper howard #the ghoul #the ghoul x reader #the ghoul x oc #fallout #cad bane mention!!!#so #cad bane #fallout tv series

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strawberrylemonwedge · 5 months ago

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Fuck it, modern au mdzs driving style headcanons (us american version srry)

wei wuxian - he rests his left wrist limply over the top of the steering wheel, his right arm is gesticulating at his passenger as he chatters away the whole drive or he’s leaning it on the center arm rest, body always slightly angled towards the passenger seat even when it’s empty. He always drives at least 5 over the speed limit, but sometimes accidentally more if he’s not paying attention

jiang cheng - left hand firmly at 10 o’clock, right hand loosely at 3ish, sitting straight against his seat at 90 degrees if there’s anyone else in the car. When he’s by hiself and ONLY by hiself he’s got his left hand in a loose grip on the top of the steering wheel and his right arm leaning comfortably on the center arm rest similar to wwx but he’d die before he lets anyone think he’s copying his brother, Least of all wwx!!

lan wangji - a proper 10 and 2 position sitting stick straight, eyes on the road. Wei wuxian is of course a menace of a passenger spending the ride trying to distract him with his hands on his thighs, practically crawling in his lap to whisper in his ear. Lan wangji doesn’t cave of course but the steering wheel certainly does

lan xichen - a proper 10 and 2 position a bit more relaxed than his brothers, fingers looser and curled a bit more on the back of the wheel. Xichen actually Loves driving and the little break if affords him from his responsibilities. He finds it relaxing to drive solidly at the speed limit with his favorite music playing

nie mingjue - he drives with his window rolled down in almost all weather, left arm resting along the door or dangling outside. His right hand tightly gripping 2 o’clock. If he tends to drive with his sleeves rolled up so he can flex that arm when xichen is in the passenger seat, that’s honestly no one’s business

nie huaisang - if his da-ge is in the car, huaisang has both hands properly on the wheel, seat pulled forward so he can see over the dash, never driving more than 5 over the speed limit. If his da-ge is Not in the car his ass is driving with his damn knees, both hands on his phone, only occasionally grabbing the steering wheel (which is adjusted to the lowest setting) to turn, or if a cop is nearby. He’s watching reels, texting, and playing dj bc no one else is allowed to pick the music in his car

xue yang - ok his left foot is propped up on his seat, left arm resting on that knee, with a very loose two-finger-one-thumb hold on the steering wheel. His seat is leaned back so far you could say he’s lounging. His right arm sits on the center armrest when he isn’t reaching over to poke at xingchen or tug his hair or flip off other cars. A-Qing isn’t allowed to sit anywhere other than the backseat even if Xingchen isn’t riding with them, but he does secretly slip songs he knows she enjoys into their playlist if he’s feeling nice (only if he likes the songs too tho)

what do we think?? also bonus points if you can guess who i drive most similarly to lol

edit - there’s a junior quartet version now, tag yourself~

#mdzs #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the untamed #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #lan wangji #xue yang #do i gotta tag everyone??#lan xichen #nie mingjue #there is One that i drive like most of the time #i made this cause i was driving one day and the mdzs brainrot kicked in #and i thought hmm how would each character drive their cars?#and i wanted to draw it!!#but alas i cannot draw #but i Can post my headcanons on tumblr dot com

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mintytealfox · 2 months ago

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tis the au anon!

One other thing that would be interesting is if the Da Capo team finds a tunnel entrance that ends up being connected to the Golden Cave... Ohhhhh Norton would have a horrible time going into the tunnel and be understandingly resistant to the idea.

Personally you think that Norton would let the team know that this a place he grew up and worked..... or would he try to keep that to himself..... more importantly would he let the other know when he's slowly transforming.

Also I would imagine that this transformation would be painful.

EEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! 👀🙏🙏🙏

What an absolutely nightmare for Norton LOOOOOOL

But Norton constantly making excuses on why they shouldn't go down there and constantly sabotaging any efforts to go to the tunnel! Doing everything he can behind the scenes to keep them from getting there or finding out he has connections to the place

I think the only reason he gets found out is because of Orpheus's creepy connection to the stuff that transforming everything, so he probably got glimpses of what happened here in the past, and then naturally outs Norton, like: Orpheus: "He is the reason we can't continue forward! He is sabotaging the mission!" Melly: "What??" -looks at Norton- "You're the one who is supposed to be guiding us! Helping us survive!" Norton: "I AM! I know for a DAMN FACT we all won't make it through there!" Orpheus: "Or are you just saying that because you don't want your dirty little secrets getting out, and they just so happen to be buried....right.... down.... there....~" Norton: "??"

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Oh maaaannn 100% he would keep that slow and painful transformation a secret! AH! He would likely go off on his own to 'take a leak' but is actually just checking on the progression under his shirt and silently cursing himself and trying to figure out what to do ;; I can totally see him keeping that locked up until its obvious and can't be hidden anymoreeee 😭😭😭 (makes note: 'and he gets noticeably taller' -shuts notebook- okay cool cool -WHEEEZZEEE-)

But Alice looking him over and seeing what this transformation is doing to him, just amazed on how he was able to keep such pain a secret for so long, going through all that chaos and running and fighting, acting like nothing was wrong!

AHH

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Then the thought of Norton going to Frederick while the others are sleeping and not really needing to say a word:

Frederick cleaning up his rifle "you don't need to ask, just say, 'when'." Norton: "I don't know what the hell is happening, but if loosing myself is in the cards, .....just don't let me hurt her" Frederick: "just so we are clear I won't let you hurt me either" Norton: "fair..."

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swemtpotamtam · 5 months ago

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Power is out again so it's time to infodump about the DA au👀

So far Niners' stuff is still a work in progress so I will talk about Nico for now

(Will for sure add to this post after I figure out more stuff for Niners in this au)

Nico and his family are qunari but they are tal-vashoth. The parents had his sister and him some years after they ran away from Seheron. As both Nico and Olivia were born with magical abilities, their parents were relieved to know that their precious kids will grow up far away from the Qun, never having to experience the awful ways mages are treated under it. They never joined any circles so they technically are apostates.

At some point, both Nico and Olivia decided to go adventuring together. Wandering around the lands and keeping each other company was fun, as was getting their asses into trouble and stumbling out of those situations! But the fun couldn't last long. It never does, really.

The qunari siblings did have close calls with templars before but it never came down to full-on threats to the horned apostates' lives. Until one fateful yet grim day, that is. Just like always, Nico and Olivia were traveling through an area - one they've never been to before - when they noticed, albeit too late, a group of templars walking by. The staves the two carried immediately drew suspicion and the templars began approaching the apostates. Confrontation was imminent, both parties knew that, so Olivia quickly grabbed Nico by the sleeve, pulling him as she began to run into the woods. The chase went on for what felt like an eternity. The armored brutes were keeping up surprisingly well so the not-so-pleasant thoughts were creeping up - what if there's another group of templars waiting somewhere deeper in the forest? What then? Sure, both siblings are mages but these are templars and there's too many of them. Is it even possible to escape?

With those thoughts popping up more and more, gathering like clouds on an overcast day, both continued running.

The woods seemed to be clearing up and there was no other group of templars in sight but ill luck struck. The mages found themselves at a dead end - a cave with an open "ceiling". What seemed like a vast green meadow was in reality just lush vegetation basking in the sunrays breaking through the rocky opening above.

The templars arrived shortly, spreading out in a formation to corner the horned apostates, putting forward big rectangular yet slightly curved shields to protect from any magical projectiles thrown their way.

That's it. Nowhere to run. There is no other choice but fight.

Nico swiftly took to arms. As the foot of the staff hit the ground, lightning came raining down from the clear skies above, jumping from one templar to another in a wide arc. Olivia followed suit, casting spells of her own at the other group.

Everything was seemingly going okay, the number of armored brutes throwing themselves at the two mages was whittling down bit by bit as bodies were dropping to the ground.

As another lightning spell crackled and whizzed through the air, a brief moment of silence followed, only to be interrupted by a visceral, punctured noise. Nico's eyes widened, his head turning around towards his sister. For him it felt as if time had slowed down to a painful crawl, like an almost motionless nightmare frozen in place - Olivia wavered, her knees bending as her body lifelessly fumbled to the floor. A man with a spiked mace was standing behind her, both his armor and weapon drenched in crimson.

In that moment, something inside Nico broke and he went on a rampage. He doesn't remember what happened next but when he came to his senses there was nothing but piles of ash instead of all those bastards clad in iron. The horned man rushed towards his sister, falling to his knees and clutching her close. He felt as if he was gonna go insane.

A fresh wound of grief and guilt on his heart, he gave her a proper burial not too far from the cave, assembled a make-shift headstone and put some flowers. He spent the next few nights near the grave, glued to the place like it was his haunting grounds. Eventually, he did leave and continued wandering the lands. However, that previous sense of wonder and adventure was replaced by anguish and apathy that kept gnawing at him, sinking their crooked teeth deeper and deeper. At this point he was merely existing. Sure, he still slept and ate, preferring drinks to that, though - drowning sadness in booze felt better than eating hearty meals - but it was not because he felt positively exhausted or hungry.

Several months go by.

Apathy took over, nothing but white noise buzzing in qunari's head. That night, with nothing better to do, Nico enters the Fade, wading slowly towards a twisted tree-like shape. He sits down, all slumped and empty, and blankly stares forward.

"Be what may. Not like I care anymore..."

With those words, either said out loud or kept to himself, he lowered his head.

After a while, a figure appears, its silhouette unfocused, constantly shifting and wavering. It approaches. Clearly with intent, no less.

Nico catches a glimpse at the corner of his eye - a demon.

"It's about time, huh," the horned man spoke up. "Go ahead, consume my soul. I am a mage, I know your kind likes us."

The figure suddenly stopped.

"No," a simple, short answer shot back at the qunari.

The apostate blinks. The demon's response snaps him back to his sense a little. What? A demon that doesn't want to eat a soul, a mage's soul? Nico's brow furrows and vision narrows. He felt staggered. Wait-. He felt? He actually felt something?

The silhouette dissipates and reappears further away.

"Come with me now."

Something deep inside the mage compels him to get up and start hobbling over towards the specter. As he was about to reach it, it teleported again, waiting patiently further down the path.

And just like that, the spirit led him out of the Fade. This weird experience snapped Nico out enough for him to start living again. The apathy was slowly dissolving and the wound on his bleeding heart healing. It never fully healed, of course, but he got better enough to not feel like a walking and talking husk.

#cardi talks #oc talk #Nico Lallas #Olivia Lallas #Dragon Age AU

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luna-lokisdottir · 1 year ago

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Meeting Wilbur - Music Giant AU

(This is so bad for my first writing. You might think it's good, but I don't)

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"Tallulah!" The young giant heard her papa called out

She gasped and then looked at the human before exclaiming, "Papa!" getting up to greet her father at the cave entrance, Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Papa?" he parroted.

There were more of them? Oh gods.. if there were that, just made Tommy more nervous. A baby giant was bad enough, but a full-grown one? that was a whole other story.. what were they gonna do to him?

"Papa!" he heard her exclaim in an excited tone, He watched as the other giant gasped excitedly, "Tallulah! mi niña!" he replied with the same excitement his daughter gave him, embracing his daughter in a big hug as he ruffled her hair up, Tallulah giggled as she returned the hug, and then she seemed to have remembered that Tommy was there because she quickly followed up with:

"Papa! I have something to show you!"

The Giant raised his eyebrows curiously, "Oh?" he said Tommy felt the vibrations in the ground as he exited the hug.

"What is it, love?" Tommy watched as a little grin grew on the younger ones face, and then, without any real warning, he was picked up from off of the ground and cupped into her hands he jolted as she walked over to her father to show him.

Wilbur crouched down as his daughter brought the human to him, just to gain a better look. "Ta da!" she raised her hands up to the giant who looked in surprise when he saw the little human in his daughters hands.

Tommy, on the other hand, was naturally terrified, this giant was BIG at least several feet taller than his child and given the look on his face he didn't seem too happy about him being there, Tommy gave a nervous little wave to the giant who looked down at him and then back at his child questioning:

"You brought a human into our home?" in a light yet slightly suspicious tone, Tallulah's face fell as she lowered her hands and brought Tommy closer to herself.

"Well.. no- technically, he brought himself into our home."

"That's even worse!" The Giant exclaimed as he looked back down at the human before adding:

"Tallulah, I've told you how dangerous humans are. They're smarter than they look. They'd kill us if they had the chance." The young giant looked down as her father explained this to her, "I know.. but can I just keep him Papa? please! I'd keep an eye on him if he tries anything, and he really doesn't seem like he has anywhere else to go!" she said.

Wilbur raised an eyebrow at the question, "Keep him?" he laughed lightly, "Lulah he probably has a family to go back to, we shouldn't hold him back he probably has a life too, you know."

"Please, Papa?" Tommy had to stop himself from laughing as the young giant gave her father puppy dog eyes, Wilbur sighed.. how could he say no to that face?

Tommy just kind of vibes as the two giants talked it out while being kept by a giant didn't seem like a good idea, he kind of had no where else to go since Cellbit's guards were still after him.

So, maybe this could work? For the time being, at least stay with the two giants until they finally stopped looking for him; "I-" he cleared his throat, which got the other male's attention he looked down nervously those big brown eyes were intimidating to look at even if they meant no harm.

"I actually wouldn't mind staying here with her, if that's alright." He said. Honestly, he couldn't believe that those words came out of his mouth. Wilbur raised an eyebrow while Tallulah gasped in excitement.

"Are you sure?" the giant replied, "I don't want to take you from your family or friends or whoevers waiting for you back there."

Tommy shook his head.

Although a little suspicious, Wilbur sighed and eventually gave in; "Then I guess.. he can stay." Tallulah smiled widely as she exclaimed in excitement.

"Thank you, Papa!" she smiled as she hugged her father. He laughed as he patted her on the head, "I'll take good care of him, I promise." The girl smiled, Tommy looked up at her as she took him into her side of the cave and thought to himself, 'Oh gods.. what did I get myself into-'

#giant!wilbur #giant!tallulah #tiny!tommy #mcyt g/t #dsmp g/t #qsmp g/t #g!wilbur #g!tallulah #t!tommy #this is so bad #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #Music Giant AU #idk what to put in the tags

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n3kk1tty · 8 months ago

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Beast's of Santa Carla

(Beasts of Santa Carla is a AU of the Lost Boys. It involves adult themes, poly relationships, and is definitely not made for the underaged. If you don't like poly content, queer representation, shipping of the boys together or heavy sexual themes and violence. This story is not meant for you and that's okay. This story is made solely for my own enjoyment and anyone else who's along for the ride. )

𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖚𝖊

If people thought the vampires were bad in the murder capitol of Californian then they would be in for a huge surprise for all the other creatures from the other side roaming around. From the succubus burlesque club to the witch shops selling god knows what. This town was riddled full of things people thought only existed in fantasy. It wasn't hard for this place to swallow people whole or pull them into this underworld.

Santa Carla was in fact a natural crossroads for the super natural and had long been established as a Pardoned territory for demonic kinds to hunt live and thrive. A underground society built under another a thin mocking of humanity's own social constructs held together by a mutual understanding , respect, and rules.

Rules set in stone such as not hunting in others territories. The board walk was strictly for Max and his pack of feral vampires and that's where they were supposed to stay. Everyone knew that a lot of what Max did was taboo in Vampiric society but with everyone too busy governing their own groups no one stuck there nose where it shouldn't be.

That was until Max's unwillingness to properly teach and watch over his boys led to whispers around town that there was a group of human boys planning to make a move trying to kill off the vampires. Anyone who knew of Santa Carla's underworld knew that you don't break the balance by killing off people especially not whole groups belonging to the underbelly. This was a pardoned city after all, humans were fair game but the supernatural were most definitely not.

Like in nature prey needed predators to keep the population in check, to keep the balance. To kill off a chunk of predators in a town overflowing with visitors and wash ups all drawn to its pull all the time would completely throw everything into chaos. Disrupt the whole ecosystem. The first place secrets go to die in Santa Carla was the burlesque house. With so much alcohol, drugs, and succubi pheromones swirling in the air you'd be lucky to leave with the clothes on your back let alone all your secrets.

Intoxicated people talk and they spread rumors quickly. So when you have a drunk warlock saying he heard kids in the comic shop researching how to kill vampires you don't take it lightly. You might as well have walked in and said you were lighting all of Santa Carla on fire. This whole ecosystem worked because humans didn't know or didn't care that the supernatural were in this place. The succubi knew the vampires wouldn't treat this seriously even if they told them. I mean human kids making a threat sure didn't sound like anything to be worried about.

They were creatures of the night, strong talented hunters. Max barely even made sure those boys were properly washing their own asses let alone their safety. A warning would be useless but it only takes just one person saying someone pissed in the pool for everyone to think someone did or is going to. It couldn't hurt to offer protection so nothing would occur. The boys were strong and usually kept mischief to themselves but if even one of them got injured or let alone killed then that's all it would take for all hell to break loose.

Living in a cave left too much opportunity for someone to sneak in during the day. They needed someone to stand guard out there while the boys slept just to make sure. If it turned out just to be a rumor then all that happened was some poor demon got stuck on babysitting duty but if it wasn't then this could be what makes or breaks the balance of Santa Carla in the time span of a day. The council quickly held a meeting selecting the best person for guard duty. Knowing the vampires wouldn't be too keen on having a baby sitter this all had to be kept on the secretive side even from Max.

The danger very well could be coming from inside the group itself. It didn't take a telepath to know the vampires were having trouble converting their last few members. Having fledgling vampires running around angry about being turned along with whispers of how to kill vampires was sure pointing to something bad. So the council decided to choose a demon who barely needed rest and was talented enough at providing all protection and care that could be needed without getting caught.

If anything the council wanted the demon to always be close enough to the boys for safety while others behind the scenes worked on taking out the boys who just painted the world's biggest target on their backs. This little rumor was either gonna end with three dead kids or five dead vampires and dead vampires was an outcome no one wanted. This is how a hybrid got stuck on baby sitting duty.

To be continued... ( Chapter 1 )

( this is just a little Au I had cooking in my noggin. I hope at least this can fuel a few others craving for lost boys content or imagination for new ideas.)

#the lost boys #au #tlb 1987 #poly tlb #tlb au #tlb david #tlb x reader

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 1 year ago

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Outta Time

So @littlesmartart and I discovered that we both love Orville Peck, and I decided it might be nice to write Western Cowboy shit that isn't the Brokeback Mountain AU so here's this 😂 Inspired by Orville Peck's song 'Outta Time' from the album Bronco (Jess came up with the plot, I wrote it, and she's drawn art to go along with it for the visual that's directly inspired by the song [and that was all I had in mind for this before she came up with the plot lol]!)

--//--

It was, perhaps, foolishness on Meng Yao’s part to think that Huaisang was telling him nothing but the unvarnished truth when he’d invited him to head out West with him for a luxury vacation, set to last the entirety of their summer break.

“It’ll be like one of those fancy retreats silly rich people go on!” he’d insisted (as if he isn’t mind-bogglingly ridiculous and wealthier than Meng Yao could ever hope of being [considering he’s only just recently been forced to accept he’ll never see a single iota of his father’s support, emotionally or financially]). “Trust me!”

Mistake number 1 had been saying, “Alright A-Sang, I trust you.”

Mistake number 2 : being a man of his word.

Within a month of receiving Huaisang’s invitation, summer arrives with rolling peals of thunder heralding oppressive humidity and swarms of mosquitos. Meng Yao, a man of his word as stated, dutifully packs most of his belongings into a suitcase that weighs far less than the upper limit of the airline’s luggage weight restriction and navigates the pair of them through the airport with minimal stress, mainly thanks to not allowing Huaisang to be in charge of anything at all.

He chats with Huaisang on and off throughout their flight to keep himself distracted from the fact that he’s leaving behind everything he’s ever known to spend three months in the middle of bumfuck nowhere at his only friend’s brother's ranch, which Huaisang had only told him the full truth about yesterday, after it was already far too late to gracefully back out. Meng Yao’s promised luxury vacation destination is apparently in actuality a cattle ranch that Huaisang’s brother apparently runs mostly to keep himself in shape and avoid the stress of city life that had given him a heart attack at the ripe old age of 27 a few years back. (It is, by far, the weirdest ‘so I have this older brother’ story that Meng Yao has ever heard.)

“So this brother of yours –” Meng Yao finally caves and asks about an hour before final descent.

“Uh-huh?”

“He just…up and left New York. For Montana?”

“Yep,” Huaisang pops the ‘p’ and flicks to the next page in his magazine, unbothered, “After his heart attack he said he wanted to see some mountains and get some actual fresh air if he was just going to die soon anyway, it really dramatic and maudlin, which he never is, I was so proud. Only it turns out it was exactly what he needed to not die, so after a while he decided he would just stay out there for good. He bought the house and the land and some horses to give himself something to do besides stare at the sky all day, and then he was still kind of bored so he bought some cattle.”

Naturally. As one does.

“And now he’s…a cattle rancher. From New York City.”

Huaisang laughs and finally looks up from his magazine to smile at Meng Yao like ‘oh you sweet little thing’ in the way Meng Yao kind of hates, but Huaisang does it to everyone so he can’t really take too much offense.

“Yes, Yaoyao, you’ll understand when you meet him! Da-ge’s never really been a city guy, not like us. It suits him much better to be out here, especially since his best friend moved out here to help him out. Xichen-ge treats it like a meditation retreat but with a lot more mucking out stalls. He says even that part’s therapeutic, but I’m just going to take his word on that one, ‘cause ew.”

“Uh-huh.”

Huaisang leaves him to consider just what the hell he’s gotten himself into for the rest of the flight, and then they’re navigating their way (ridiculously easily) through the rinky-dink airport hardly bigger than a parking garage, the sky beyond the terminal windows blue blue blue where it stretches on forever in every direction.

“Da-ge!”

Meng Yao barely manages to snag Huaisang’s duffel when his friend flings it off his shoulder to go sprinting across the 3-carousel baggage claim, the fastest Meng Yao has ever seen him move. It’s a distinct relief that Meng Yao can use juggling their bags as an excuse to approach at a much more respectable pace; he needs the extra time to truly digest what he’s seeing.

Huaisang, as a former-model-turned-fasion-designer who happily calls himself a fruit at every opportunity, is one of the daintiest men Meng Yao has ever met. He’d even go so far as to call him a dandy, if pressed, and fully supports his friend’s decision to call himself every ‘emasculating’ label under the sun with obvious relish. He can’t deny that at least some of his confusion as to his best friend’s mysterious older brother’s chosen lifestyle stemmed from picturing someone like Huaisang, if perhaps a little taller.

He’s not confused anymore.

The man who catches Huaisang midair and swings him in a circle before setting him back on his feet would never be asked to grace the runways of New York — not because he isn’t beautiful enough to make Meng Yao��s fingers twitch for his camera to capture the way the sun cuts across his weather-tanned face, but because no one has ever heard of a fashion model who was roughly 6’7” and perhaps 300 pounds of solid, clearly functional muscle.

Huaisang’s brother towers over everyone else in the building that Meng Yao can see (and he can see most of them, re: rinky-dink airport in the middle of bumfuck Montana), and when he looks over the heads of the few people between Meng Yao and the exit their eyes lock instantly.

“A-Sang, be nicer to your friend,” Meng Yao can hear from here, a bass rumble that Does Things to his chest. “Go get your bag, don’t make your guest carry your shit or he’ll think I never taught you decent manners. Go on.”

Huaisang flutters back over and takes his bag with an unapologetic grin. Meng Yao finishes taking the ten-odd steps necessary for the brother to stick his hand out with a wry little smirk and say, “Hey, I’m Mingjue.”

“Meng Yao,” he replies and slides his hand into Mingjue’s dry, work-calloused palm.

“Welcome to big sky country, A-Yao,” Mingjue replies with a widening smile, a flash of straight white teeth and a dimple hiding under his mustache, and Meng Yao regrets to say that he’s thoroughly fucked.

–//–

The land unfolds around them as they drive down straight roads at an almost leisurely pace through miles and miles of…nothing.

Not nothing, Meng Yao supposes, but long gone are the corridors of towering skyscrapers, the lingering miasma of so many people living together in tight quarters, everyone building up up up to stack ever-more people into the same few square miles. Meng Yao understands, suddenly, why Mingjue had come here and stayed. He doesn’t think he has it in him to eschew all the conveniences of New York City for the open country, but someone like Mingjue seems like the type to appreciate having the space to…expand. To be bigger than life and have the room to do it in. He certainly feels larger than life at the moment as he details for Huaisang all the comings and goings on the ranch since he’d last visited, as he talks about the horses and his cattle and the monsoon rains they’d apparently only just missed that had finally turned everything summer-green.

Meng Yao sits on the bench seat of Mingjue’s beat up old pickup truck and watches the sparse scattering of fluffy white clouds drift over more sky than he’s ever seen in his life and he gets it.

He hasn’t gotten nearly enough of his fill of marveling (subtly) over the view by the time they pull off the road onto a dirt road that Huaisang tells him is actually Mingjue’s driveway, but he contents himself with the knowledge that they’re here for three months, he’ll have plenty of time to appreciate the view later. They rattle over a few metal grates Mingjue explains are cattle guards to keep the animals from escaping the ranch should they manage to break out of their pastures, and Meng Yao isn’t a child so he doesn’t exclaim about how fucking huge the cattle are some distance away from the road where they’re grazing (but he certainly rethinks his half-baked desire to see them up close anytime soon).

“Home sweet home,” Mingjue announces when they reach the end of the lane after another mile or two and opens his door with a creak. Meng Yao leans forward to look up at the house through his lashes and must not be able to control his expression as much as he’d prefer as Huaisang chuckles at him a little, nudging him in the side with his pointy little elbow.

“Told you it was nice,” he chirps and slides across the seat to get out on the driver’s side. “Da-ge be careful!” he trills, his nervous fretting muffled as he scurries around to the bed of the truck. Meng Yao doesn’t pay attention to their bickering or the scuffle of hard-soled boots on dirt, though his attention is snagged at least a bit by the sound of Mingjue laughing at whatever he’s just done to make Huaisang whine at him.

The house is beautiful, is the thing. Somehow he hadn’t thought that it would be, perhaps owing to how many times he’s listened to Huaisang complain about his brother’s lack of taste for anything even remotely fashionable. He should really stop assuming things about Mingjue, he supposes, considering he’s currently scored 0 for 2, and he hates to lose.

He gets out of the car, finally, to better appreciate white-washed wood paneling just beginning to show hints of weathering, blue shutters clearly freshly painted the same shade of the sky overhead with the front door painted to match. There are rocking chairs on the wraparound porch, clearly well-loved if the flattened, sun-faded cushions on them are anything to judge by, positioned to face west. He has a sudden mental image of Mingjue sitting out here in the evenings to watch the sunset over the mountains looming in the distance and has to shake himself all over once (discreetly) to keep from sticking himself in the chair next to him in this little pastoral fantasy. That’s just making it weird.

“You want the grand tour or you wanna settle in?” Mingjue asks; Meng Yao doesn’t jump to find himself standing next to his host he hadn’t heard approaching, but he does feel suddenly…shy in a way he’s definitely not used to. He tilts his head enough to squint up at Mingjue, the sun too bright in his eyes, and finds to his dismay that he’s still just as handsome as he’d been an hour ago.

“I want you to give him the tour!” Huaisang calls from where he’s petting a horse (an actual horse, but are they supposed to be that tall??) that’s come up to the fence at the other end of the front yard, such as it is, to duck down and nose at Huaisang like an old friend.

“I don’t care what you want, you little brat,” Mingjue calls back. “And don’t you dare give that beast whatever candy you’ve got in your pockets, do you know how long it took to train him out of biting people who didn’t give him any after you left?!”

Meng Yao hides a smile behind his hand and finds himself mostly glad that there’s someone else around now to be the recipient of Huaisang’s incessant whining when he’s really putting on a performance. He clears his throat a little and schools his expression back towards pleasant neutrality when Mingjue looks down at him again, clearly unwilling to entertain his brother’s antics a moment longer than necessary.

“I think I’d like to settle in first,” he allows himself to say, and is perhaps mildly startled when Mingjue doesn’t question it, when he simply nods and lets Meng Yao be that tiny bit selfish.

“Come on in then, your room’s upstairs.”

Meng Yao follows Mingjue inside out of the sun and finds himself surrounded by an eclectic mix of antiques and modern minimalism; framed photos and bric-a-brac piled up in out-of-the-way corners of sleek monochrome shelves hemmed in on every side by enormous, dense furniture of the sort that reminds him of a time at least half a century ago, if not longer. The result is antiquated in a charming way with enough touches of modernity that he doesn’t think Mingjue is necessarily out of touch, just pragmatic about his home. If something old will still do, why replace it? It’s a mentality Meng Yao can appreciate, and he finds himself smiling a little again as he trails behind Mingjue up the stairs and down the short hallway to the room in the back corner.

“Here you go,” Mingjue says and slings both Meng Yao’s and Huaisang’s bags off his shoulder, which is precisely when Meng Yao realizes he’d been carrying their luggage in one hand like it weighs nothing. He notices it, allows himself two seconds to admire it, and promptly tucks that little tidbit away for future consideration. Later.

“I’ll be around, just holler if you need anything. I’m sure A-Sang will be in to bother you once he’s finished saying hi to the herd, I’ll let you enjoy the quiet while you’ve got it.”

“Thanks, Mingjue,” Meng Yao says with a smile, and it might be a moment of wishful thinking, or just his imagination, but he swears he sees Mingjue’s gaze drop to his mouth for a beat too long before the man nods and retreats. Meng Yao has no way to know if the flush on the back of Mingjue’s neck is from the sun or, maybe, something else.

–//–

Huaisang does come inside eventually, and though he has his own unpacking to do Meng Yao isn’t surprised at all when his friend comes to his room first to flop onto his bed and promptly make himself at home to start bugging him.

(He wouldn’t want or expect anything different.)

As Meng Yao hangs up shirts and trousers with far more care than they probably need, Huaisang regales him with stories from other trips to the ranch and a quick run-down of the personalities of the horses Mingjue keeps, both his own and some he boards for others who can’t keep their own animals for whatever reason. Meng Yao makes enough leading, noncommittal noises to keep his friend chattering as he settles in, though the chatter becomes decidedly less pleasant as far as background noise goes when Huaisang starts talking about getting Meng Yao to socialize.

Within moments it’s clear he already has a plan on how to do so, because of course he does, and of course it’s some stranger’s houseparty where Meng Yao will know absolutely no one at all.

“Absolutely not, Huaisang,” he says tartly, but of course Huaisang only takes that as an invitation to persuade him.

“This isn’t like parties back home, A-Yao, I promise!” he wheedles. Meng Yao just goes on unpacking his meager belongings into the antique dresser in the corner of his room that holds a window overlooking the equipment-littered space between the back porch and the horse barn, and he very pointedly does not rise to Huaisang’s bait. He’s still not immune to his best friend’s cajoling and they both know it, but he feels the need to deny him a little longer for the sake of his pride, if nothing else.

“Nothing here is like home, Huaisang, your argument is invalid,” he replies blithely and debates the merit of hanging his undershirts in the too-big closet with the rest of his clothes, rather than folding them up into a too-big drawer where they’ll just look sad on their own.

“Okay point taken, but seriously! You’ll have a nice time, it’ll be chill, I swear. Xichen-ge is coming, and he never goes anywhere things will get out of hand!”

A party tempting enough to interest Huaisang is typically guaranteed to be anything but ‘chill’, he doesn’t point out, but…well. Meng Yao had just said it himself — nothing here so far is like what they’ve come from, maybe Huaisang’s different here too. Maybe a party’s really not such a bad idea. And if it is, Mingjue, having already overheard Huaisang mentioning the party on his way past Meng Yao’s room with a load of clean laundry in his arms, has already made it very clear that he’s happy to either loan them his truck for the night or else drive them himself. Considering Meng Yao has no interest in drinking so much he wouldn’t be able to drive (because he, unlike his best friend, is a very functional city gay who can drive, thank you very much) it’s a guaranteed exit strategy, should he feel the need to escape.

Meng Yao ignores Huaisang’s pleading eyes for a few moments longer simply for the fun of it as he slides his undershirts onto clattering plastic hangers, and only smiles once his back is turned as Huaisang shouts his delight when Meng Yao sighs, “Well…I guess I’ve got nowhere better to go.”

–//–

This time, Huaisang did tell him the unvarnished truth.

It’s clear from the moment they pull up in the warm violet twilight that this party is nothing like the ones they frequent back home. It’s in someone’s actual house, for one, which he supposes isn’t too strange when not being hosted in a city made entirely of apartments and highrises, but the house itself is in the middle of a giant patch of…nothing. It’s just a house on a dirt lot full of pickup trucks in various stages of rusting, with lights strung everywhere possible on the wraparound porch (except that it’s not really a porch so much as it is a prefabricated metal roof over part of the patch of dirt and sparse grass ‘yard’). He’s pretty sure he even sees a barn lit up the same way some few hundred feet behind the house, but he can’t get a good look at it from here and decides to put it out of his mind.

“Let me know if you end up needing the truck,” Mingjue says over the sound of twanging guitar coming from someone’s massive speakers as they hop down (well he steps down out of the truck like he’s just crossing a threshold; Meng Yao and Huaisang are too vertically challenged to get down out of the thing without at least a little hop). “I’m gonna head in to grab a beer, you two want anything?”

“We’re good, da-ge!” Huaisang chirps, already eyeing up a cluster of guys all dressed nearly identically in tight jeans and threadbare flannels with the sleeves cut off and the resulting gaping holes fraying artlessly, with the main differentiating factor between them being if they’re wearing cowboy hats or baseball caps. Meng Yao glances between his options — Huaisang’s all-too-familiar thirsting over extremely lackluster men who don’t deserve him and Mingjue’s retreating figure carving a path through the crowd — and decides to take his chances with the latter, though he hangs back a little to give Mingjue space.

The house, when he steps inside, at least smells pretty much like what he’s used to at parties. Too many competing colognes and perfumes, the sticky sweetness of alcohol, and the haze of cigarette smoke are almost comforting like this, even as he promptly gets lost amongst the sprawling, dimly-lit rooms crowded with strangers nursing beers or chatting (read: feeling) each other up in dim corners. He finds a staircase in the middle of the house and uses it to orient himself as he wanders in several clockwise circles until he’s mapped out the living room, the den, the kitchen where he snags a beer from the 6’5” cowboy (he’s assuming he’s a cowboy based on the hat and the whole ‘house party on a farm in Montana’ thing) standing at the keg, the door to the back ‘porch’ that’s about as porch-like as the one out front, and an overcrowded room that seems to serve no purpose but to be a place to play beer pong.

He’s just circled his way back to the front door near the stairs once again when he finds his path blocked by someone turned away from him; someone broad and tall and wearing pale blue, which just seems like a mistake when any moment could end in spilled beer and flustered mopping up with a crumpled handful of napkins, perhaps even the removal of said shirt to get it in the upstairs bathroom sink to soak out the stain before it sets —

Alright so it’s been a while and a man has needs, especially when surrounded by ridiculously tall beefcakes on every side. Sue him.

Rather than spilling his shitty beer on this guy to see if he can get him to take his shirt off, Meng Yao clears his throat and taps the guy on his waist once, just the lightest touch of two fingers to body-warmed cotton, and the guy turns smoothly, an apology already on his lips.

“Oh, excuse me,” he says, hardly audible over the music jangling from the beer pong room. Meng Yao tilts his head back a bit — and then a bit more — to meet the guy’s gaze and he’s startled to find he’s also Asian. It takes him roughly three seconds to put two-and-two together when the guy smiles at him like he knows him and ducks down to talk a little closer. Meng Yao makes a conscious decision to stay very still to let him do it.

“Might you be Meng Yao?” he asks and Meng Yao can only nod dumbly. “Mingjue sent me to find you, would you like to come sit with us? Da-ge’s great for commandeering the couch at these things.”

Sitting down sounds great, Meng Yao thinks, especially when the crowd shifts enough for him to catch sight of the ratty old sofa in the living room to find Mingjue currently occupying it alone, manspread more than far enough to make it clear that no one else is sitting on that couch unless he invites them (and he doesn’t look like he’s in a particularly inviting mood).

“Are you sure?” Meng Yao asks, wary, but the man (who must be Mingjue’s best friend, Xichen) just smiles at him again and tips his head in that direction, gesturing vaguely with one of his bottles of beer as if for emphasis.

“Of course! Come on, you’ve had a long day of traveling and I wanted to apologize for not being able to meet you at the house this afternoon. Just sit with us for a while, we’ll introduce you around later if you want us to.”

Meng Yao finds it a pretty tough proposition to say no to so he just nods again and gestures with his own beer (in a stereotypical red Solo cup he’d been amused to receive) for Xichen to lead the way. It isn’t so far that Meng Yao worries about losing him in the crowd, really, but he doesn’t let that stop him from hooking an index finger through the center back belt loop on Xichen’s skin-tight jeans, ‘just in case’. Xichen simply smiles at him over his shoulder as they pass through the nearly-black front hallway and into the scarcely-brighter living room, red Christmas lights around the ceiling and the overhead bulb in the kitchen through the other doorway the only lighting for the entire room.

“Hey, there you are,” Mingjue says as they approach, and though he swings one knee closer to straight in front of himself to manspread a little less he leaves his arm slung casually along the top of the back cushions, reaching up with his free hand to snag the beer Xichen had brought for him and taking a swig of it as Xichen joins him.

On the opposite end of the couch.

Meng Yao hides behind a sip of his own flat beer quickly warming to room temperature as he contemplates the small (small) space between them and, between one disappointing sip and the next, decides he’s feeling reckless enough after a long day of new things and the freedom of traveling so many miles from home that he’s just going to go for it, and fuck the consequences.

Xichen slings his arm over the rest of the back of the couch, fingertips brushing lightly against Mingjue’s elbow where they overlap. Meng Yao sits down right in between them, settles in, and pointedly ignores the way the tired old couch springs squeak in protest of their combined weight and how he seems to pull the other two in like a magnet. It’s like gravity, centers of balance shifting and leaning inwards into his orbit, the pair of them bracketing him on either side, parentheses made of denim and muscle and smiling mouths that he pretends not to notice creeping closer as they keep finding excuses to lean in closer over the course of the next few minutes, not at all subtle. They drift in, in, in to talk to him over the music until they’re both practically kissing him on the cheeks just to be heard as they chat about nothing much at all.

Meng Yao finishes his beer and lets Xichen take the empty cup from him to set aside, and when he leans back in even closer than a moment before, Meng Yao offers him a coy little smile of the sort that’s weakened tougher men than Xichen seems to be and drops his newly-freed hand on his knee, mirroring the caress on Mingjue’s knee with his free hand on the other side.

It would be more than accurate to say that Xichen melts like butter — melts so obviously, in fact, that Mingjue laughs at him, hides it in Meng Yao’s shoulder, and seems to need no further excuse to just set up camp there so he can start nuzzling the tip of his nose into the crook of Meng Yao’s neck until he’s shivering pleasantly and feeling very much like the cat that got the cream.

Huaisang was right — this has never happened to him in New York, but he’s perfectly happy that it’s happening to him now.

–//–

Nie Huaisang isn’t the type to say ‘I told you so’ in so many words, mostly because he doesn’t actually say what he’s really thinking in the first place.

But if he were the type, he’d be saying it right now to anyone who would listen as he sips at a beer some jumped-up bull rider pressed into his hand with enough flustered used-to-be-definitely-absolutely-straight-but-now-he’s-confused flirting that Huaisang had given him an extra kiss or three to apologize for giving him a little sexuality crisis.

Maybe it’s weird for him to be so pleased to see his brother and his brother’s live-in-something tag teaming Huaisang’s own best friend, but, well. Meng Yao works way too hard for very little in return, and Huaisang thinks he deserves nice things. He’s certainly not immune to the ample charms of his brother’s farmer/rancher neighbors at least for a hazy summer, and he’d known that Meng Yao wouldn’t be able to resist either no matter how many fuck-off-I’m-totally-independent vibes he gives off when they’re back home.

Naturally if Meng Yao weren’t interested in sex Huaisang would leave him alone about it, but since he’s not he’d known perfectly well that there would be no resisting not one but two handsome men who could throw him over their shoulders as easily as they do bales of hay or sheep that need shearing. So, to that effect — the scene in front of him. Huaisang watches just long enough to see Xichen turn Meng Yao’s face to his with a gentle finger under his chin to coax him in for a kiss where they’re snuggled up all three together on the couch and then makes his escape to find his own fun for the night.

It’s already looking like it’s going to be quite the summer, and Huaisang basks in the pleasure of a plan well-executed with no one the wiser.

#the untamed fanfic #3zun #Modern AU #Orville Peck Cinematic Universe #officially the name of this universe (because there will definitely be more) lol #3zun but make them cattle ranchers because why not #Nie Mingjue #Meng Yao #Lan Xichen #Nie Huaisang

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violetjedisylveon · 1 month ago

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Birthday Celebration

Little Star chapter 10

Summary: it's Chao-Xing's first birthday! The entire mountain celebrates in Shuilian Cave. Featuring a cameo from 4 yo MK and his parents. And a secret third character

Word count: 4.4k

Warnings: pretty chill chapter honestly, until the end, then there's some death stuff and implications of unsavory behavior

A/N: MK is in this chapter, but he is described with feminine pronouns and the name Yawen because he is trans in all my aus. He's not figured it out yet.

Cracked Family AU Masterpost

____________________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted to offend a goddess on our daughter's first birthday!”

“It's not that big of a deal, Mihou, Nuwa doesn't expect anything from me. She doesn't deserve it either.”

Liu'er clenched his fists at the extent of his mate's ability to hold a grudge. He silently prayed their daughter didn't take after him with that.

“Put your problems aside and pray for your daughter’s sake.” he gestured towards Chao-Xing sitting next to him.

“Bà! Hi!” She waved happily.

“Chao-Xing, do you want Papa to sit?” Liu'er asked his daughter.

She nodded eagerly with a delighted squeak. He looked at Wukong, watching his mate fold to the power of their adorable daughter.

“Do it for her, peaches.” He said.

Wukong let out a loud, exasperated groan, he trudged over to their ancestral shrine. It was a very small shrine, they only had three parents between them, and only one of them was dead.

“It won't kill you to be polite.” He teased.

“I actually think it will.” Wukong shot back.

“So that's how you kill Sun Wukong. I'll keep it in mind.” He snickered.

Liu'er closed his eyes and let his hands rest on his thighs to pray. He heard his sunshine’s tail twitch in agitation. He didn't even need to look to know Chao-Xing had heard it too, he knew the little cub was waiting for the right moment to pounce.

“She's going to attack your tail if you don't stop that.” He whispered.

“Shouldn't she be praying too?” His mate muttered.

“Wukong, she's one year old and knows three words.” Liu'er flicked him gently.

“Hey- ow!” Wukong's retort was cut off by their cub pouncing on his tail.

Liu'er opened his eyes to watch his daughter play her favorite game. Chao-Xing viciously attacked her baba’s tail, clawing and biting with an unrelenting fury. Of course, she couldn't do any real damage, she was still far too small for that, but that sure as hell didn't stop her from trying.

“Alright fluff ball, enough of that.” Liu'er plucked his daughter off his mate's tail.

She gave him her cute pouty face, he tapped her nose lightly, her eyes crossed as she watched his finger.

“You can do it later.” He promised

“Hey!”

“It's not my fault she likes to chew your tail more than mine.” He defended himself.

“Let's just get this over with.” Wukong sighed in defeat.

They finished up what should have been a much quicker prayer, but a certain rambunctious cub made it take a bit longer.

Liu'er scooped his daughter into his arms, she giggled happily when he tossed her gently.

“You are such an adorable distraction, yes you are.” He cooed.

She cooed back. He flipped the hood of her tiger sweater over her head, grinning at her giggle as she pushed it back out of her face.

“She likes that more than the boots.” Wukong commented with a chuckle.

Their daughter chirped insistently at them. She made her little “hungry” motion, tapping her stomach while looking directly at him.

“Looks like someone wants breakfast.” Wukong cooed, kissing the top of her head.

“Want some lychees?” He asked.

Chao-Xing nodded eagerly, Liu'er let his mate whisk their cub away from him off to the kitchen for her favorite fruit. He watched them go with a smile on his face.

Whoever let us have this, thank you.

“Bà!” Chao-Xing chirped for him.

“Coming!” He followed them into the kitchen.

He entered the kitchen to see his mate trying to cut up some lychees and kiwis while keeping their daughter contained with his tail. She was trying to sneak over to the fruit bowl, she looked at him hopefully once she heard him.

“Did you call your Baba on me?” Wukong gasped, holding his hand over his heart like she'd insulted his mother.

The cheeky little cub grinned at her father then wriggled free of his grip. She scampered across the floor, hiding behind his leg. He scooped her up with his tail around her waist.

“I'm not going to help you, your Papa is getting breakfast ready. Wait a little bit Lychee.” He told her.

The year old cub scowled at him, unhappily resigned to doing her time in air jail while Wukong finished cutting up her fruit. He released the little cub from her time out once his mate had set the bowl of fruit on the table for her. Chao-Xing eagerly shoved her little face full of fruit.

“She looks like you when you want peaches.” He commented.

“I don't look like that!” Wukong squeaked.

“Yes you do, peaches~” he teased.

Wukong covered his blushing face, Liu'er tried to hide his laughter. He didn't do a very good job.

“You're mean today, Mango.” Wukong complained.

“Pointing out the obvious isn't mean, Wukong.” he said.

“Bà!” His daughter chirped.

She was pointing to the living room where Ma was standing.

How did she-?

“How long have-”

“Long enough. You do know the whole mountain has been waiting for you all morning, right?” The albino monkey prompted.

“The whole mountain?” Liu'er

“Yeah, pretty sure everyone is here.” Ma nodded.

“Can they all fit in the cave?” Wukong asked

“The cave used to have a massive stone palace in it, we fit many more in there before it was destroyed. One thousand will fit just fine.” She said.

“Oh, right.” His mate mumbled.

Ma snagged a mangosteen from the counter. Liu'er cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I didn't think everyone would be so excited.” He said.

“You say that like you don't call yourselves grandpa Sun and Liu'er.” Ma popped a piece of fruit into her mouth.

“Of course, everyone is excited that your kid is having her first birthday.” She said.

“And it means we're one year closer to someone else being in charge around here.” She added with a snicker.

“Isn't that right, bǎo bèi?” she asked Chao-Xing.

The little girl chirped happily, reaching her sticky hands out to her aunt. Ma picked their cub up, tapping her nose lightly.

“Yes, you are going to be a great queen one day.” She said sweetly.

“Whoa, hold your horses, Ma, she's got a long way to go before that happens.” Wukong said, grabbing their daughter out of his sister's hands.

“Alright, I'll put my plots on hold.” Ma flicked his mate's nose with her tail.

“Now c'mon, we've got a thousand monkeys waiting to celebrate this little one's birthday.” She said.

The moment they stepped out of the house, a quiet chorus of cheers and congratulations came from the crowd. Chao-Xing squeaked, happily clapping her hands. Liu'er glanced down at his daughter.

“You're going to cause so much trouble today, aren't you?”

The cheeky cub gave him a big smile.

XXX

“Shí Hóu, the cubs are getting awfully close to the food.” Liu warned.

The stone brain barely acknowledged her comment. In fairness to him, he was busy answering questions of their visitors.

Of the one hundred immortal demon monkeys who lead troops off of Flower Fruit Mountain, twenty had made the journey to visit, the other eighty had sent messages and well wishes to their king's daughter.

“They're going to knock it over.” Mochou sighed.

“I have a back up.” Liu told her daughter.

“We're going to need it.” Liang said.

The cubs were playing a very active game of tag or hide and seek, they were running all over Shuilian Cave, including right by where the food was cooking.

Lots of fruit and meat were being slowly roasted over a big very fire pit that she and all the other elders were staying far away from, several large bowls of soup were bubbling away, and they had seafood cooking on a separate fire pit for the sake of those who couldn't stand the taste of it. That was all most of them needed or wanted.

The majority of the troop didn't share their kings, or her, fondness for the more human foods they made. It was definitely an acquired taste. The most they would indulge in it was the occasional holiday or festival treat.

They grew enough of the human crops on the mountain that those who did like them, such as Liu herself, would have access to it.

The cubs were currently playing close to the cooking area, the cooks were hard at work trying to manage the rambunctious cubs. Chao-Xing was in the thick of it, the little shit was using her shadow to dodge and grab her friends, sometimes dragging them into the shadows with her.

It was adorable, but they were going to cause a problem soon.

But it's not my problem. Liu thought.

She spotted her old friend Min break away from the crowd of visiting elders.

“I’m gonna say hi to Min before that ends in disaster.” she gestured to the cubs.

Liang nodded and resumed her conversation with their cub.

“Hey Min!” She called out to the other monkey.

“Liu! How've you been?” The smaller monkey hugged her.

“Great, it's been going well here, how’s it been with your troop?” She asked.

“The troop is doing well, we had a very successful spring, we didn't lose a single mother!” Min said.

“That's great! How many cubs did you get?”

“Thirty in total, so far we've got twenty six.” Min told her happily.

“I wish their parents well.” Liu murmured softly.

“I’ll let them know.” Min said.

“What else happened with your troop?” Liu asked.

Min smiled, her tail swished excitedly.

“Liling is expecting, it was a job and a half convincing her to stay, she so wanted to come see the little ones.” Min told her.

“Will they cub be a spring or winter baby?”

“Early spring.”

“Then I'll have to come visit once the cub is born.” Liu said.

“Wonderful, I can't wait for you to see the troop.” Min grinned.

“Oh! How is RinRin doing these days?” She asked.

Liu rolled her eyes fondly at her little sister's mention.

“She's still living on the moon with Yùtù.” She said.

“That's great, tell her I say hi-” Min broke off with a startled yelp at the loud crash that came from the food area.

Liu turned to the source with a sigh. The cubs had indeed knocked over some of the food, luckily none of them were hurt or all that dirty, but it was a big mess.

“Knew it.” Mochou giggled.

Liang glanced at her with a knowing grin.

“Liu dear, didn't you place an order at that noodle shop?” she asked oh so innocently.

“I did. I'll go get it.” Liu said.

“Hey Mihou! Think you can open a shadow portal for me?” she called out.

The six eared monkey shot her a tired glare, he snapped his fingers and a glowing shadow portal appeared near her feet.

“Thanks! I'll be back in an hour!” She said before jumping into the portal.

She came out in Daiyu’s house, the dragon let her use her residence as a safe space to travel to and from the city. Liu quickly shape-shifted into her human disguise.

She checked her reflection, she was taller with a more human face, her shape shifting hid most of her primate features, her eye markings remained in the few forms she knew. She applied a glamor over pinkish red eye markings, making them look like the makeup humans wore.

Her hair was still thick and unruly, that had never caused her a problem before, the humans of this city were used to demons and demons glamoring themselves to make going about their daily business easier. Shape shifting was harder to master than a simple glamor.

With one last check, Liu stepped out of Daiyu’s residence into the busy streets of Megapolis.

The city was bustling with activity, people were running around getting ready for the upcoming Qixi festival.

Soon, she spotted the familiar, adorably drawn sign of a pig chef holding a bowl of noodles.

Liu entered the noodle shop quietly. It was luckily empty aside from the pig, his mate and their daughter.

The little girl was coloring at the counter next to her human father, sticking her tongue out as she he concentrated on what was likely another drawing of the pig chef.

Yawen looked up at the sound of the door’s bell ringing and her big brown eyes brightened.

“Liu! Liu’s here Baba!” She tugged on her father's sleeve, excitedly pointing her out.

The scholar turned to her and waved, she took it as an invitation to come in.

“Hi Tang, how's the kid doing?” she asked him.

“I'm great!” Yawen said before her father could answer.

“Really? Wanna tell me while I wait?” She prompted.

The girl's eyes lit up, she practically shook with excitement.

“I turned four a few days ago! Dadsy made special noodles and then we went to the zoo! Tài pó and nǎi nai were waiting for us! We got to see the monkeys! They got a new baby monkey! It's a little baby with no parents cause they're dead and they brought him in and one of the mama monkeys adopted him and she's really protective and doesn't let people see the baby but she let me see him! He's a cute little baby!” Yawen said in one breath.

Liu smiled at the kid despite the poorly hidden nervousness on her father's face.

“That sounds like it was a lot of fun.” She said.

“It was! And tài pó took me to the gift shop and got me a monkey! I call her Coco cause she's fluffy and brown!” Yawen said.

She suddenly gasped and looked at Tang with big pleading eyes.

“Can I show her, Cocoa? Please?” She begged sweetly.

“S-sure! Just be quick.” Tang nodded.

Yawen squealed happily, the adorably pig ear shaped bangs that hung over her eyes flopped and bounced with her excitement. The little girl took off upstairs, promising to be back down soon.

Liu waited a moment to make sure the kid was out of earshot.

“I don't know what you're so nervous about, I'm a monkey demon ” She said.

“I didn't know how you would take it. I know most monkey demons don't like things like that.” The scholar explained.

“Hmm, fair enough.” she shrugged.

Yawen came running back down the stairs, she nearly tripped over her own feet in her rush down.

“Kid! Be careful on the stairs!” Pigsy called out from the kitchen.

“Sorry Dadsy!” Yawen shouted.

The pig chef muttered something about how reckless the kid was under his breath. It reminded her of Yuze quietly venting how accident prone Wukong and Ma were.

“Here's Coco!” Yawen shouted.

The little girl held the floppy monkey toy up to her.

“Coco is very cute.” Liu said.

“And I got this! Miss Yu let me pick from one her stones for free cause it was my birthday! I got this one! Isn't it pretty?” She shoved the object in her face.

The stone was cut into a six pointed star, the center of the star was yellow and it smoothly transitioned to a rich purple at the tips.

“It's beautiful.” Liu told her.

“Yeah! Miss Yu said it was super special too and that I always had to make sure it was safe!” Yawen said.

Liu glanced at Tang, the man just shrugged. She turned her attention back to Yawen.

“You wanna know something special?” Liu whispered to the little girl.

“What?!” She gasped excitedly.

“It's my niece's first birthday today.”

“Really?!?! That's so cool! We're practically birthday twins!” Yawen shouted.

“Yeah, it is cool.” Liu agreed

“Are you having a party?!” Yawen asked.

“Of course, I’m picking up the food for it.” She nodded.

“Speaking of food, your order is ready.” Pigsy said.

He set the large order down at the counter, Yawen gawked at the amount of food.

“Whoa, you have a huge family!” she exclaimed.

“Yep, sure do.” Liu agreed.

She picked the order up with little difficulty, amazing the little girl again.

“You're so strong Liu! I bet you're as strong as Monkey King!” She said.

Ah, there it is. The kid's fascination with her brother was adorable.

“Why thank you, Yawen.” Liu gave the girl a little bow, holding the flat of food with just one hand instead of two, eliciting a squeal from the child.

She turned to pay for her order with the current human currency, they changed so often it was annoying to keep track.

“Thanks for the food Pigsy, you're a lifesaver.” She told the chef.

“Just doing my job.” The pig grunted.

Gruff and tough as always. She liked Pigsy a lot more than Zhu Bajie.

“And it's always great!” She called out as she headed for the door.

“See you around kiddo.” She waved to Yawen.

“Bye Liu! See you soon!” Yawen called after her.

Yawen was one of the sweetest human kids she'd seen in a long time, she loved getting to hear the kid just talk about anything whenever she came by…

Though there was something less than human about her. She didn't feel naturally human. Something, on some level, was being hidden.

Seeing past the barriers others put up was not her strong suit, detecting that things were hidden was, and she could barely get a sense for it. It was so heavily hidden.

I doubt even Wukong could see what's underneath that. If I could get him to come here. She thought.

Her parents had to know, they were very quiet about where their daughter came from, she was adopted after all. Liu had managed to learn that Yawen was given to them for her sake, a conversation she was probably not supposed to have heard.

Whatever it is, she's lucky to have them as her parents. Yawen was a good, sweet kid, a home full of love was exactly what any child needed.

Maybe I can convince Wukong and Mihou to let me bring Chao-Xing here, I'm sure she and Yawen would be friends.

XXX

“Chao-Xing! You're making a mess.” Wukong scolded his cub.

The little monkey stared innocently up at him.

“Nice try, I know you understand “mess”.” He said.

She grinned and continued making a mess of her food. He sighed and went to pick her up, or he tried to since the little shit dropped into her own shadow and reappeared a few feet away. She still had the peach bun Liu had gotten from the mainland, and was still making a mess of it.

“You're going to get a bath later!” He threatened.

She giggled happily, making an even bigger mess with the bun.

“You like baths too much for a stone monkey.” He muttered.

He kept an eye on his cub as she ate and played with her food, he knew the second he looked away she would disappear. She couldn't go very far yet, it was still a hassle to track her down.

“Hey peaches, what do you think of the food?” His mate asked as he came out of his shadow.

“It's good, Liu likes the place for a reason.” he said.

“Honestly, I didn't expect Bajie’s great-something grandkid to be such a good cook.” Liu'er commented

“What?!” Wukong sputtered.

“Yeah, Caihong told me when she visited, he got the shop from his grandmother I think.” Liu'er shrugged.

“That is a crazy coincidence.” Wukong murmured.

His pilgrim brother’s descendant made the food he and his troop were eating on his daughter's first birthday.

“The sure universe works in mysterious- where did Chao-Xing go?”

Wukong snapped his head around to where he last saw his daughter, sure enough, she was gone. She left her peach bun behind.

He transformed a few hairs into clones, they spread out through the cave. He heard the troop take notice of his clones.

“Shí Hóu? Something up?” Ba asked.

“We lost track of Chao-Xing.” Liu'er told him quickly.

“Oh, shit.” Ba said.

“She can't have gone far, she probably hasn't even left the cave.” Wukong said, ignoring how his heart started pounding in his chest.

“I'll let the troop know to keep an eye out for her.”

“Thank you.” He called after his brother.

He turned to Liu'er, his mate's beautiful ears were spread out to search for their daughter, the luminous petal-like ears created an ethereal glow around his moonlight’s pretty face. The echoes of the cave sometimes messed with his moon's hearing, and the amount of people in the cave could confuse him.

“Do you hear her?” he whispered.

“She's nearby, she hasn't gotten into any trouble as far as I can tell.” Liu'er said.

His ears returned to their neutral state, a much gentler glow came from the all hearing ears. He's so beautiful. His mate grinned smugly at him.

“Peaches, I know I'm pretty but we have a cub to find.” he said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He covered his blushing face as he quickly walked away from his mate, it got worse when Liu'er giggled behind him. Ma approached him with a shit eating grin.

“Don't say anything.” He hissed.

“Why? Is my baby brother embarrassed by his pretty husband?” she teased.

“Stop! We have to find Chao-Xing!” He said.

His voice came out in a much… whinier tone than he would have preferred.

“Aww, Xiao Shí Hóu is embarrassed, poor baby.” Ma snickered.

“I hate you so much.”

“Love you too, xiǎo dí.” Ma flicked his nose with her tail.

“Now, stop being a flustered mess, we've gotta find your cub.” She told him.

“You're the one who-” she covered his mouth before he could finish.

“Zip. Find your kid.” She instructed.

He glared after his sister as she went off to search.

They spend the next half hour searching for Chao-Xing until they finally found her asleep underneath a cushion on the porch bench.

The little cub had tired herself out with all the mischief she got up to during the day. Wukong picked his sleeping daughter up, careful not to wake her, she was like her baba when she got woken up too early.

“Looks like this party is over.” Liu'er chuckled softly.

They bid farewell to their visiting guests and their troop, then headed into their home for the night.

They took Chao-Xing to the bathroom to get a quick bath. She woke up just enough to enjoy bath time, splashing around sleepily in the warm water.

Wukong swaddled his cub in a towel while Liu'er set the nest up for the night. She made tiny little squeaks and chirps at him as he dried her off, the towel was her least favorite part of bath time, she would rather air dry. Tonight she was thankfully too tired to put up much of a fight.

“See? Drying off isn't that bad.” He told her once he was done.

She gave him a tired pouty glare, too sleepy to make a fuss.

He brought her into their bedroom, Liu'er was already in the nest grooming his own tail. He climbed in, setting their daughter between them, she cuddled up in the blankets with a happy purr.

He ran a hand through her fluffy hair, he still couldn't believe she was a year old. Liu'er placed a hand over his own, their tails twirling together.

“We should probably take her off the mountain soon.” Liu'er murmured.

“Have your sisters been asking?” He asked.

“Yeah, RinRin and Yùtù too, they all wanna meet the baby.” Liu'er yawned, patting Chao-Xing lightly.

“That'll be an eventful gathering.” Wukong sighed.

“Hmm… shouldn't do it here…” Liu'er mumbled sleepily.

Wukong smiled at his mate, big gatherings like today tended to tire his moon out. He scouted closer, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“We'll figure that out later, let's just sleep for now.” He whispered.

“M’kay… love you sunshine…”

“Love you too moonlight.”

XXX

The chained demon stirred at the cold blue fog floating into his prison.

“Witch.” the demon growled.

An eerie giggle came from the fog.

“Look at how the mighty have fallen.” Her voice rang out through the emptiness around the chained demon.

“You used to be a king, a conqueror, you had the lives of millions at your fingers, and look at you now, rotting in the underworld.” she snickered.

The demon growled at her. He was a prideful fool, but she could use him on the board. And if he got a little revenge on her enemies in the meantime, she wouldn't say no to that.

“I suppose you haven't heard, being trapped down here and all, but it's quite the talk of the realms.” she whispered.

“Today happens to be the very first birthday of the daughter of Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque. Isn't that nice?” She prompted.

That got the chained demons attention. As an old foe of the Monkey King, and, well his disgusting affinity for the Six Eared Macaque she did not care for, regardless, he was an enemy of her enemy.

She could use him.

“Yes, they have a cub, the little princess has never left the mountain. She must be so much weaker than her parents, she's not solid stone after all.” She hissed.

The gears were turning in the chained demon's head, she had her claws in him, all he needed was a little extra push. His hatred for the Monkey King would drive him right into her clutches.

“Wouldn't you like to meet that weak little cub? I can free you.” She offered.

“What is the catch?” The demon hissed

“All I ask in return is that you free me when the time comes, you're free to do as you please until then.” She said.

The chained demon was silent for much too long for her liking.

“Well? Don't you want to be a king again? Don't you want to get back at the Monkey King who slayed you?” She prompted.

“You have a deal, Lady Bone Demon.” The once king said.

“I look forward to our partnership.” She said respectfully.

She ripped the demon’s soul from the underworld, she reforged his body, he had been dead long enough there was nothing but bones left of it. It would be a painful return, but necessary to ensure her destiny.

The demon King of Havoc had returned to the mortal plain, assured to wreck destruction upon the Monkey King and his family.

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shieldkeeper · 2 months ago

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Writing Prompt: Taken Word Count: 975 (Frostbite AU) - (Continuation from Portentous!) ---> masterlist

“We have need of you…”

As clawed hands nearly grasped around Holou’s sleeping form, his body suddenly jumped as if on pure instinct. A maddening tumble towards the back of the cavern of which he’d chosen his shelter for the night, breathing deep and heavily labored breaths as he grasped his bearings. Daggers in either hand and his trembling eyes wide.

He had sensed it. Even in deepest slumber he realized the danger he was in. The aura of murderous intent that had been hovering over his vulnerable form, now made manifest before him in a bid to ambush.

A man bathed in shadow and darkness. A cloak made of blackest night with a mask that hid one’s truest features. Every ounce of this thing’s being made Holou shiver. He had been cornered. Trapped like prey before a beast ready to have its meal. And he couldn’t even see it well in the darkness of the cave!

“Be careful on your way headed home.” The echo of his elder brother Garen’s voice from earlier that morn rang clear as day in his head. “Truly. Be careful. Come what may, I’m counting on you to make it home safely.”

“Do not falter in this task that I give you.”

Gods damn his brother’s cryptic messages. He had known what awaited Holou! And in typical oracle fashion, warned him in a way that gave no warning of what truly awaited around the corner. Only enough to make him wary to sleep soundly on this night.

And good thing he had. But the situation he had found himself in was not the most fortuitous either.

What he didn’t know… was that this man had been the very same one who had faced Garen and Zura earlier in the day.

“Dear boy,” The haunting voice of the shadowed man hovered ever closer. With a voice as sinister as a snake. “Do not make this difficult on me. Obey me and come with willingly, or I’ll have to resort to more… painful methods.”

“To hells with ye—Like I’d follow yer nasty mug without a wit o’ what you want from me!” Holou spat at them, daggers at the ready.

“As it goes with you Vikings. Very well.”

Holou acted first. He’d skidded some sort of material against the wall of the cave, causing a spark that kindled smallest flame in his hands. A match. One that he chucked at the shadow which just as swiftly caught flame.

It did nothing to falter the shadowed being from attacking. But it gave Holou all the advantage in being able to see his surroundings.

Holou fought like a bat out of hell. Cutting and digging into this mysterious form that never seemed to take much damage from his strikes—but was dangerously closing in with strange shadow like abilities. Lingering in the air and surrounding them, slowly but surely… Struggle as much as he could to take the guy down and make for his escape, the shadows dogged his every step.

They wrapped around his ankles and forced him prone. Other dark magicks struck at his body—one impaling after the other. Nothing lethal or anywhere vital, but enough to burn his body like mad as he screamed from each strike.

“Twas your own fault, I’m afraid. Your struggle wasn’t necessary. I’d say you put up a good fight… but your flimsy knives never stood a chance against me.”

“Curse you…” Holou swore as his vision began to blur. The feeling of his body being picked up against his will. No good. His consciousness was fading.

Garen… Ma and Da… all his little siblings… the village… their faces flashed in his thoughts as he feared the worse—that he’d never see them again after this.

Nor would Veidanfisk ever receive news of the prophecy’s aftermath and their success. As neither son returned home…

…

Holou still yet lived. But in what state?

Much of the time that passed was a blur. In and out of consciousness. Feelings of immense pain and electrifying lightning in his veins before slumbering once more. Wounded but revived. An overbearing presence trying to force it’s ways through his inner walls. Again and again. Over and over. Something that dared to take control while he was at his weakest.

When finally he did regain proper awareness with the world around him, he found himself confined. Alone and secluded in a back room of some unknown place. Where he could just barely make out conversations going on in a room just beyond a door.

“This age has come to a standstill for far too long.” A familiar voice. The one that struck him down. “And I would usher in a new one. No more stalling.”

A softer murmur joined in on the conversation. A gentle voice so quiet Holou could barely make it out. Were they making excuses? Reasonings? They were so hard to hear, but the darker voice was clear as day.

“I’ve already witnessed two of your making, so I have no doubt you can invest in another. This one is one of their kind and thus has potential. Make it happen.”

And then… silence.

Unbearable silence as Holou shifted in his constraints. Until the door beyond his confinement opened to reveal the voice he had such difficulty making out. An unknown viera man… who looked much like a corpse walking. A life that looked drained of all joy and enthusiasm, bound to whatever work had forced him into this position. His physique telling him more than words could convey.

“I see that you are finally coherent.” His lips flattened… almost displeased. For what reason, Holou could not discern. “Allow me to introduce myself then… I am what your people call the Alchemist. And I fear I shall be hosting you here for some time yet.”

#ffxiv #writing #ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2024 #holou #frostbite au #viking au

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fishklok · 2 years ago

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In an effort to combine both of my interests, I decided to expand on my Dragon Age!Metalocalypse AU in the style of Dragon Age: Absolution. I'll do more detailed designs later, I just wanted to get the basic concepts down

The general concept of this AU is that 5 musicians discover that weird magic shit happens whenever they perform together, due to demons or old gods or something like that. They're being watched over by a mage who's trying to study this anomaly and the Prophecy behind it. Also Crozier (not pictured) is a former Templar commander who's being mind-corrupted by Salacia (not pictured), the reincarnated visage of an old god.

Nathan: Qunari warrior (reaver). Nathan was raised by his adoptive human parents who love him very much (they're still alive; his backstory is very wholesome). However, Nathan started to manifest these weird magic-like abilities that could only be activated by screaming. Over time, he learned to finesse these abilities and now he can use them for cool pyrotechnics and stuff when he performs. Death metal exists in Thedas now.

Pickles: Dwarf rogue (tempest). Pickles was born to a very traditional merchant caste family in Orzammar, specifically a region in Orzammar where everyone has Midwestern accents. After being fed up with always getting compared to his twin brother, Seth, and not being able to live up to his ancestors and family expectations, he left for the surface. He expected to spend the rest of his life drinking his sorrows away, but then he met Nathan and they started a band.

William: Dwarf rogue (legionnarie scout). William is a casteless dwarf who was infamous for his abrasive personality. This ended up getting him into trouble when he was overheard badmouthing a particularly sensitive noble, and he was banished to the Deep Roads as a punishment. However, he actually enjoyed his time in the Deep Roads and felt a lot of pride dedicating his life to fighting the Darkspawn. His new purpose in life became wanting to join the Legion of the Dead. He manages to escape the Deep Roads sometime after the Blight, but he's still very proud of his legionnarie duties. He's a very good bassist because spending so much time in caves has given him a better understanding and appreciations for deeper sounds and vibrations.

Skwisgaar: Elf rogue (bard). Skwisgaar was well known in his Dalish camp for being the best musician in his clan. But over time, the novelty of that started to wear off and Skwisgaar wanted to be the best musician in other larger communities. He left home in search of a way to truly hone his potential as a musician. Also since he has a wolf motif in the show, there's probably some kind of Dread Wolf connection somewhere, I'll wait for the DA lore to update.

Toki: Elf mage (blood mage). Toki was born to an isolated village that was definitely ruled by a cult (think DA:O Haven). He spent his childhood being plagued by nightmares that eventually manifested in him accidentally summoning a demon that killed everyone in his village. But that didn't stop Toki from befriending the demon. Now Toki is just wandering around Thedas, developing an increasingly large arsenal of demon friends and being uncomfortably chipper despite his horrific abilities.

Charles: Human mage (knight-enchanter who is blood magic curious). Charles is a Circle Mage whose noble background has made his time in the Circle a bit smoother than most. After the Circles fell, he became the magical advisor to a few nobles, but he always felt intellectually unfulfilled. He decided to give up assisting nobles and instead chose to monitor this weird group of musicians, not knowing the kind of power he just tapped into. Also he's been secretly studying blood magic and necromancy.

Knubbler: Elf mage (rift). Knubbler is one of the mages Charles brought on to help him with his efforts. His time studying rifts left him blinded and a bit corrupted in the head, but his knowledge of magic is almost unmatched. Charles is the only person in Thedas still willing to work with him.

Abigail: Human mage (force). Abigail spent most of her life trying to be a perfect, by the books Circle Mage. But then the Circles fell and Abigail realized that none of this shit matters, so she might as well have fun. She joined Charles' team where Knubbler works as her assistant.

Melmord: Human mage (knight-enchanter). Melmord is a mage who fronts as a rogue. He was caught trying to steal Charles' research and Charles thought he could easily defeat him with magic, but oh no Melmord is a mage too. They have a homoerotic magical swordfight before Melmord falls off the tower. No one hired Melmord for this job. He just showed up and started causing problems.

Seth: Dwarf guy. Seth is Pickles' twin brother who did everything a merchant caste son in Orzammar is supposed to do. He married a merchant caste woman and had a kid, he honors the ancestors, he brings in coin, etc. However, Seth tends to get in trouble with the law quite a bit, specifically gambling, working with smugglers, fixing Proving matches, etc. But he's always able to pay off his crimes, so no one seems to care.

Amber: Dwarf lady. Amber is Seth's wife and another merchant caste dwarf. She has a pretty spotless record and tends to go unnoticed. I thought about making her secretly a former Silent Sister to explain why she never speaks, but I think even Seth would notice if she literally didn't have a tongue.

Magnus: Human mage (necromancer). Magnus was born in Seheron, but he moved to Tevinter in the hopes of expanding his knowledge of magic (and probably changed his name too to fit in). Unfortunately, even Tevinter thought he was too dramatic to put up with, so he was cast out of every group he joined. After getting fed up of his cool ideas not taken seriously, he joined forces with an escaped Qunari Saarebas, who is definitely going to listen to his ideas instead.

The Saarebas: Qunari mage (saarebas). The Saarebas is Qunari mage who escaped from his Aravaarad and went on a rampage across Tevinter to try and find his long-lost brother who was taken there. When he discovered that his brother was killed, he went on another rampage. He was able to escape Tevinter with Magnus' help and the two joined forces.

#metalocalypse #dragon age #nathan explosion #pickles the drummer #william murderface #skwisgaar skwigelf #toki wartooth #charles offdensen #dick knubbler #abigail remeltindtdrinc #melmord fjordslorn #seth metalocalypse #amber metalocalypse #magnus hammersmith #metal masked assassin #dragon age au #my art

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