#december tropes

[le-chevalier-au-lion]

the maid of amsterdam: dovquez [g]

@dovquezdecember + charcoal

The mermaid in the fish tank has a perfectly pleasant expression despite it being a remarkably shitty fish tank—except for his eyes, charcoal black and charcoal dull, huge, unblinking.

A shark’s eyes. And a shark isn't trying to be malicious when it bites, it just wants to figure out if you’re food.

Andrea swallows. “Ah, good afternoon. You’re Marc, right?”

Marc, estimated to be 11 ft long, still unweighted as all approach attempts have culminated in conflict, found off the coast of Castelldefels by Rossi and his crew God knows when and God knows why.

The mermaids nods once. He appraises Andrea cooly, with the artful boredom of executives and government officials when presented with his research pitches. It should go into his notes—enough understanding of human interaction to regulate emotional response.

Christ, alright. Very comforting.

“I’m Andrea Dovizioso,” he says. The next words stick to his throat like algae—does a mermaid know the ISPRA? Should he explain it? Tell him he’s a protected species these days?

Andrea sighs, rubbing his face. The mermaid—Marc—raises his eyebrows, snorts, bubbles spilling from his pink, almost harmless mouth. He has to reckon with the fact that he’s being made fun of by a creature he isn’t sure knows anything about comedic timing.

Typical Valentino—making trouble and shoving them on his hands.

“I’m here to help you,” is what he settles on.

Marc’s tail swishes, an odd jolt of movement. It’s too cramped in his tank for it to wave and ripple, so it ends up trapped tight against the glass, its tip dangling out. Like this, Andrea can see his scales, pearly white and orange, over five feet of them. They’ve grown dull, loose in some spots.

He smooths out a frown before it can carve itself on his face, chews on the insides of his cheeks instead. Is Marc sick?

But he manages to surge up anyway, until his torso is out and his tail is in. His gills flutter, and he finally, finally blinks.

“You are.”

Marc speaks in clumps, the syllables strained—like he’s reading out words in a language he doesn’t recognize. It isn’t a question, not quite, but he tilts his head to the side, exaggerated, too low, expectant. His overgrown curls flopping over his forehead are disarming.

Andrea taps his fingers against his thigh, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. Marc keeps staring at him with those eyes, bottomless, flinty. The stark letters of his files flash black in his mind—ambush hunter, mesocarnivore. Opportunistic, clever, cruel, whatever else Valentino wrote on him.

“Yes, we’re trying to get you back home,” he speaks carefully, slowly. Marc mouths along the words, frowns. “Not now, but soon. I hope.”

“Soon,” Marc echoes.

His mouth wobbles, and his whole expression spasms. It isn’t a flinch, goes over quicker than one. Andrea spots the misery in the sudden weight on his shoulders, how he hunches over himself. Still, he can’t get a hand around it. Marc’s expression becomes smooth like sea glass again—remarkably, immaculately empty. It might as well not have happened.

The humanity of that face—the sudden wide-eyed hope—settles on his stomach like lead. Makes Andrea feel like he should be back on ethics classes, bent over a Philosophy book.

It makes him way too aware of how many generations of species ago humans abandoned the sea.

Andrea huffs. Makes himself focus on the problem at hand—the small security tank, and the wildlife trafficking charges Valentino will face, and the reputation of his new charge.

“Are you going to try and bite my arm off?” He raises a single, pointed eyebrow. Marc shrugs, opaque. “Break my legs? Drown me?”

Only Valentino could get close to him—his pool, or his tank. Only Valentino, until one day Marc wrapped his tail around his waist and dragged him under. It took four minutes and thirty-two seconds for people to wrench him from that hold. Wet, incoherent, trying to cough out his lungs.

Andrea saw the video. They were talking before, Valentino very close to the pool’s edge, Marc swishing and almost writhing, kicking up waves. The pixelated security cams couldn’t get more than that, and the blur of white and orange that followed.

Marc makes a face at him. Then said tail snaps up.

Andrea watches its lazy arc in fucking disbelief and doesn’t even flinch when something hits his shoes. The water is lukewarm, thick with brine. His socks are drenched.

He’ll have to do laundry again tonight. Great.

“Right,” he deadpans, “it’ll be nice working with you.”

Marc smiles—tries to, at least. Andrea isn’t sure if he can or wants to or knows how to. It’s more a show of teeth than sincere, each of them white and wicked. If he pushed, he could cut his fingers on their fine points.

“I wanted to get your face.”

[holmesianlove]

Chapter 22 -  Ghosts

After quite a long day interviewing everyone thoroughly at the mansion, and running around after Sherlock all over the estate, John had been exhausted. The hostess had wanted to have them at her table for a formal dinner and John had actually dozed off, sitting upright at the table. He had put in his apologies and headed up to his room to prepare for sleep. In the end, it had been too late to get back to the train, so they would stay the night and head home the next morning.

Sherlock of course, had been right. The daughter was responsible for the theft and had eventually admitted to the crime and returned the jewels all before sunset. John had at least felt useful to some degree, having been the one to go and sit with her and sympathise, until she exploded into tears and admitted it all. Sherlock had lathered him with praise for his work, which felt ridiculous. It really just consisted of him being a good listener, but he would take the praise wherever it was bestowed. Especially when Sherlock was doing the praising.

He and Sherlock had been given adjoining rooms on the second floor of the mansion. There was something comforting about having his own space but also knowing Sherlock would burst through the adjoining door whenever he wanted, as he was prone to doing. He opened the French folding doors which allowed him to walk out onto a shared balcony and take in the beautiful tailored gardens below. John couldn’t imagine what life would like to be so wealthy, that you would own an estate of this size. It felt overwhelming despite its beauty. Standing there, alone, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness. They would be returning home in the morning. Back to London. Back to routine. He could already feel his chest tensing, his mind closing up. Over the last few days he had been sure that there had been… something brewing there with his flatmate. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what had changed to make him think it. Not to mention, he would never make an assumption of someone like Sherlock without actual, verbal confirmation from the detective’s mouth, but even so, it felt like things had shifted with them. Perhaps it was just a shift to a more intimate friendship in Sherlock’s eyes? They had shared more stories, more confessions, but also more physical touch. In any case, John had been enjoyed it all. He wasn’t sure how comfortable he would feel back in London being that way in public with his friend. They endured enough crap as it was. No matter how many times he told people… they never believed him. 

Not gay.

And he wasn’t. Not exclusively. Not entirely. Mind you, he thought he would simply make an effort, try to make an impression on Sherlock, show he was serious about the work and dress up a little bit. And the way Sherlock had looked at him when he came down to breakfast in his suit! But he didn’t expect the detective to wear that shirt. That was a spanner in his plan. He was pleased to see Sherlock was a little surprised by the outfit, and a little thrown, perhaps? Or maybe he was just sleep deprived too. But the man had struggled with words for the entire day. Did it mean something?

John had left Sherlock at the table to speak with their host a little longer and talk her through the next steps now that her daughter had confessed.

He undid his tie and shirt and smiled to himself, as he began to get changed for bed. The last few days had really taken a toll on him somehow though, combined with the sleep deprivation of the night before. It was time for an early night. It took him very little time to fall off to sleep in the large, very soft and comfortable bed, surrounded by fluffy pillows. He intended to sleep well.

He didn’t know how much later it was, but he awoke in the dark, with Sherlock kneeling beside him up on the bed, holding his shoulders.

“Sherlock?” he croaked out, sleepily. “What is it?” He pushed himself up a bit to be able to look at his friend who flopped his weight back to his knees with a heavy sigh. “What? What is it?”

“A nightmare, John. Or a night terror, more accurately, I’d say.”

“Oh, are you alright? Do you need me?” John asked, becoming more alert.

“Not me, John. You. You were screaming.” He swallowed loudly, his voice sounded shaken. “You were screaming my name. Over and over. I was sure you were being murdered in your bed,” Sherlock rasped out, his voice full of worry.

“Oh. God I’m sorry I don’t… I don’t know what that was even about.” He rubbed a hand over his face as he tried to remember what he’d been dreaming about but it completely escaped him now. “I don’t… I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Sherlock said, relaxing further onto the covers. “You didn’t do it on purpose. I had to shake you awake. I hope I didn’t… hurt you?”

John shook his head as he tried to register any feeling in his body. “No. No, I’m fine.” He looked at Sherlock who seemed terrified still. Even in the dark, he seemed to be shaking slightly. “I’m so sorry.”

“Honestly, John. It’s fine." Sherlock straightened his shoulders, his voice sounding more calm now. "Do you really not remember what it was about?”

John looked at his lap, just breathing, trying to remember. “It’s usually just about… the war… ghosts. People I’ve lost, moments I wish I could change. The day I got shot. The day one of my friends died in my arms.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be free of those ghosts.”

Sherlock watched John for the longest time and finally put a hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry.”

John shook his head again. “Not your doing.”

“Is that why…” Sherlock cleared his throat, rethinking the question.

John raised a brow, looking at his friend who suddenly seemed unable to speak. That was very unlike him. “Why what?” “Is that why you don’t like to… make friends? Make… connections with people?” Sherlock asked.

John frowned. “I don’t think I…” He sighed. “I don’t know. I think you’re the very best friend I’ve ever had, closer than any of those blokes,” he said candidly, his brain waking up slowly. “I don’t trust people easily, that’s true. And I don’t like people because they don’t… understand me. But you do, Sherlock. I don’t think I’m… restricting myself. Not with you. And I don't need any more connections than that.” He blushed a little, knowing of course there were some things he wasn’t going to tell Sherlock, but otherwise, Sherlock had access to everything about him. “I protect you so fiercely, when we’re on a case, when people say things… because you’re my very best friend and I wouldn't be able to… survive a loss… of that,” he said honestly. He swallowed hard and flopped back onto his pillow. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“I’ll probably stay awake now,” Sherlock sighed. “It’s three A.M.”

John sighed. “Me too.”

As he lay there in silence he felt the bed move and Sherlock was suddenly lying down beside him, on the other pillow. He had his hands clasped together chastely on his stomach and he looked at the ceiling, not making eye contact. “We could tell ghost stories? While we wait for the sun to rise?”

John turned his head to look at Sherlock and smiled. He always knew how to cheer John up. Sherlock didn’t move his eyes from the ceiling, so John turned his head to look up at the ceiling too. There was an ornate light fixture and beautiful plaster work to observe and the moonlight made shadows that created changing patterns there. He could stare at those and keep his eyes away from his friend lying beside him. “Okay. You go first, though,” John suggested.

“Okay,” Sherlock said with a smile and so he began.

@lisbeth-kk @helloliriels @totallysilvergirl @221beloved @safedistancefrombeingsmart 

@givemesherbet-blog-blog @naefelldaurk @a-victorian-girl @phoenix27884 @peanitbear 

@starlitkeys @lumilama @yorkiepug @talkativeanxiousturtle @kettykika78 

@kittenmadnessandtea @whatnext2020 @egregiously-chuffed @chriscalledmesweetie @catlock-holmes

@battledress @kholkate @randomquadballpun @little-owls-things @daltongraham 

@sillygirlsmindpalace @oetkb12 @odditiesandeverything @johnlockficclub @rainstarboii @bheadhe

@hospitableasacactus @wssh13 @br-nz @solarmama-plantsareneat @givemesherbet-blog-blog

@dw91165 @pileofstardust2106 @moonkeller @surprisinglyokay @r4venlyn  

@therealalexisamess-blog @e-b1838 @rhasima @salmonsown @tropelovingpainter 

@westandforships @fuck-off-watson-rp @notjustamumj @melodious-me @sherlocke3d

@otter-von-bismarck @silvergoldsea @calaisreno

[dovewingkinnie]

donate him enough money and he'll cutely kill your streamer of choice

[writerfae]

Christmas movie AU Advent Calendar 2024 - Trope list

I can’t promise that I actually manage to write a snippet for each of those but I will try

Icicle

Elf

Christmas lights

Christmas decorations

Snowball fight

Scarf

Reindeer

Christmas tree

Baking

Hot chocolate

Presents

Christmas songs

Sledding

Snowman

Blanket

Winter wonderland

Gloves

Mistletoe

Ice skating

Christmas dinner

Snow globe

Frost

Christmas card

Christmas sweater

[bandtrees]

everything can stop on a quarter

[nanaonmars]

one of my favorite tropes ever is knowing something or someone so deeply it goes deeper than what your brain knows. it’s so imprinted on your heart that even though you may not remember, your heart knows. that that familiarity is not something you’re making up. my heart calls your name. romantic, platonic, familial, it doesn’t matter. the yearning that comes with it.

[year-of-whump-tropes]

Hey all! If you have prompts in mind or tropes you'd like to see, please get them in sooner rather than later! I'd like to get the list done within the next couple of weeks so I can be sure to get the event all put together by the end of the year.

Types of prompts needed | Categories that need the most prompts | All themes

[phlebaswrites]

Snow and Sky

Summary:

Hikaku knows his own heart.

(And who it belongs to.)

Rating: Teen And Up Fandom: Naruto Relationship: Uchiha Hikaku/Uchiha Madara Word Count: 440 (Complete)

Entry for @asian-drama-tropes

December Lake/mountain pool/hot spring (sex optional) | Kneeling in snow/storm as a show of penance/devotion | Gifts of hair care items as courtship | The student becomes the master | "The will of Heaven."

Part 12 of Secrets of the Heart

"I'm fully recovered, you know." Hikaku doesn't squirm or kick, but he does insist on protesting the rather undignified position he's in. "You don't have to carry me."

"But I want to hold you." The snow crunches under his clan head's sandals, and Madara-sama flashes him a small but mischievous grin. "You wouldn't deny my wish, would you?"

Put like that, there's no possible way for Hikaku to refuse, and he shakes his head, silently resigning himself to the embarrassment of being carried up the mountain.

Read the rest on AO3.

[meraki-yao]

So I just watched the Mary & George teaser

Here's the thing

I'm usually not really into explicit, both due to my environment (our fucking nation is pretty conservative) and age (I'm only 19)

But HOT DAMN

IT GOT ME SO FUCKING EXCITED

Like, it's spicy as fuck, Nick's a slut (affectionate) in it and it also genuinely looks like a fucking great show

I am SO looking forward to it

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

the basic formula for any fanfic direct to movie feature

main girl, a bit awkward, kind of pretty in the way that is not HOT but cute (she will think she's ugly and dress poorly), should be a relatively good girl and can be mostly virginal, and can have some sort of medical condition that is mentioned several times at first but never worked on or expanded upon and can sometimes be forgotten towards the end of the series

main dude, cold, (can be really toxic but will be ignored for plot reasons,) really rich for some reason, doesn't really work but makes it look like he works, unattached to everyone expect for main girl. has some sort of traumatic past and will not go to therapy.

main girl and dude meet in some sort of circumstance, can be a friendly or mean interaction- does not matter

proximity is forced. they have to interact at some point again. because of underlying circumstances they will be forced to talk and chat about something, main dude will learn one thing about main girl and find it interesting while main girl will begin to think that main dude is kinda cute. boy will become entirely obsessed for no reason other than that one fact he found out OR he is challenged in some capacity to pursue her.

girl will have a friend (can be boy or girl) that will be the comic relief and will fill in the spaces when girl can not talk to boy

they (m boy and girl) will meet again in another circumstance that is outside of their choosing, either friend or business or some other event will force them to see each other.

they will be separated from the group and have another conversation that leads to more interest being garnered from either side

some sort of event (could be tragic or very minimal) makes it so that guy will have to save girl from something. it is merely to get the first soft interaction from guy

she will fall for him slightly. girl will talk to friend about this interaction and friend will call it "irregular" or unusual because of boy's normal demenor

girl will attend school, job, function that is partially funded or dedicated to dude. they will meet at the function and are to be seen together. a potential ex lover from either side is introduced as a foil to main boy or girl

they will go on a date of sorts or will be forced to talk to each other again. (this can end good or poorly, it does not matter) they can also kiss here, but it does not matter.

girl will go further into what she was doing, get new job, move to new place, finish school etc. BUT she will struggle with it for the first while. she will reach out to dude because she will remember one interaction that was good OR she will reach out to a new boy because she wants friendship or a date

she will run into main dude again with the date or by coincidence with new boy. (a conflict can ensue or the date with new boy will fizzle out and she will go and reconcile with Main dude)

they will maybe have sex, (does not matter, but for the sake of shitty fanfic to movie formula, this is our first sex scene between the two main characters.) they will become extremely attached to each other and immediately begin to date

girl will attempt to go back to work or school but will have some sort of issues with main dude interfering. (they can or can not fight about this, it does not matter, just a conflict needs to develop)

friend should be brought back for an update since main characters had sex.

main dude will have his own issues with SOMETHING, does not matter what it is, it will preoccupy his time and make it so that their relationship can not develop normally

they will have some sort of conflict they next time they are together. this needs to be a huge red flag conflict that they can not reasonably reconcile over but they will to some capacity.

even though they are still together, the cracks start to show and main girl begins to doubt main boy from his previous relationships or some sort of secret he has kept from her

secret will be revealed somehow (does not matter from who) and main girl will ditch main dude without a word

main dude will be confused and unsure what to do and will not seek therapy for at least one more movie

they will meet in some sort of circumstance and have to leave each other in a dramatic fashion because something bad happened that was outside of both of their controls

cliff hanger

title card

next movie

[silverselfshippingchaos]

y'know how y.akuza protagonists usually have a drunk gauge on the side of the screen? and you know how my s.ugiura fankid grows up to be protagonist of her own game that I made up? i think it would be so funny if she has a caffeine gauge instead

[its-all-papaya]

"dual POV" but this is the word count split:

[nowthisis-dark]

It's still there in the deepest corner of my heart lurking and beating, it's still there the love I had for you.

I can't unlove you even if my mind craves for me to forget those memories those endless bickerings all with you. I can't.

I still remember the day we first met in that garden which is the harbinger of our love.

You asked me if you could sit beside me on that bench and I totally ignored you being busy in that book, the book you still keep as the last momento of us. You started the conversation and then I looked into those hazel eyes and that was the moment time stopped I kept looking into those hypnotizing eyes , the eyes I still dream of.

I didn't even realize when we clicked so wonderfully that I started visiting that garden just in hopes to see you.

And then on your birthday we confessed our love that was the first time I felt your lips on mines, the feathery touch I still feel whenever I think of that day. Your touch alone was enough to Ignite fire in me, the fire that only you could extinguish.

I was happy with you would be an understatement, my happiness knew no bounds and then suddenly you dropped a bomb on me that you never loved it was all a facade. An event I didn't see happening in my life. Then you left and my mornings started to ache,my nights even more miserable.All this time my mind would ask if anything of it was real that sparkle in your eyes when you would look at me, the love you held

Was it all a pretense? Why did you do this?

You occupied my mind body and soul with yourself and then suddenly you left leaving it all empty with just a void. It's been months since you left me with just a note, I reread that note everytime my mind thinks of, there has not been a day I don't think of the moments with you but now I'll have to let you go, I'll have to let the love I hold for you go.

I know it will take time it will hurt but it will fade everything does. Your love,memories would too.

~Your SKY

The one you said you loved

[shamera]

NaNo day 16

so previously i said fdb video game isekai since i was having a block with the time loop story but still need words

i lied. fbd modern hunter awakening au instead. in honour of solo levelling coming out next month. i have. an idea. dunno how far it will go, but i got pretty excited to write this today, so that's a win for me.

Man'er cameo, i'm so sorry to her. tw for blood and injuries, i guess. nothing fatal yet.

Fang Duobing still had his head in his hands when the loud thwack of files dropped right next to him, vibrating the office table. 

“No,” he whined, already knowing exactly who it was that would do such a thing to him when he very obviously didn’t want to be bothered. If the ‘do not disturb’ sign he’d written and taped to the door hadn’t been the largest indication, him being the president’s son with the corner office that he didn’t even want would have been a deterrent for people to talk to him in the first place. 

“I heard you tried joining Baichuan Court again,” his aunt’s annoying voice cut in. She sounded smug, and also right next to him, which was where she leaned when she was mocking him. “Don’t you already know you’re not going to make it in?”

“You shut up,” Fang Duobing mumbled out, slouching so that his arms started sliding down on the table as well, until his elbows were pushing the files away and he was nearly face down to scream incoherently into the wood grain. His words were the epitome of rudeness, but his aunt was only a few years older than him anyway, which meant she was the one who literally taught him every rude thing he knew. “They’ll have to accept me one day. I have all the qualifications; this is discrimination.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Tianji Hall, kiddo. What’s not to love here? You’ve got a good job, it pays well, it’s safe—”

It was nepotism, and the entire building knew it. Worse, Fang Duobing didn’t even want to be there in the first place, had tried running away several times the moment he hit legal age to do so, yet had always been dragged back home on the basis that he couldn’t make it out in the real world. Because everyone else took one look at his name, his face, his ID, and immediately backtracked. 

Anyone else might look at the office provided to him and his bespoke suits and claim otherwise, but his family was ruining his life. He wasn’t made to work in an office! Fang Duobing trained half his life to fight, to defend, to help people and clear dungeons!

He just wanted to be a proper Hunter, and didn’t that make sense? Both his mom and aunt were Awakened as well, yet they worked in logistics and defence and wanted to keep him behind-the-scenes as well out of the dungeons where Hunters died on the daily. 

It had been ten years since the laws that drastically changed how Hunters were allowed into dungeons, and Fang Duobing was still seething about them. Ten years ago, the two largest Hunter sects, Sigu Sect and Jinyuan Alliance, were decimated in a dungeon on the eastern sea, the two having turned against each other after the death of the dungeon boss and then caught in the collapse of the dungeon in one of the biggest disasters of the past decade. An entire neighbourhood had to be evacuated, and the fires burned for over a week before it could be put out. 

It was, his mother would insist, one of the reasons why Tianji Hall was needed, because Hunters could not run rampant as they had anymore since the dungeons first began appearing in the world. 

Since then, the government had also placed laws preventing individual or teams of Hunters from entering dungeons alone ‘for their own safety’, and enforced rules on how only sects could sanction dungeon raids. Which meant unless Fang Duobing registered with one of the remaining Hunter sects, no matter how hard he trained, he would be banned from dungeons. 

His aunt reached in to yank at his ear, causing Fang Duobing to sit up again, yelling as she continued to pull even as his hands reached up to shove her away. 

“Fang Xiaobao,” she said sternly, voice pitched with youth and her tendency to forgive him just about anything despite the amount of times she had been called into drag him home, “I understand you’re upset, but you’ll have to live with it! Why are you looking down on our Tianji Hall? Our work is just as important as the other sects!”

“We don’t raid!” Fang Duobing complained, still trying to pry her fingers from his ear. “We don’t even go into dungeons! Why even guard the gates? Even civilian children know better than to get near one, so at best we’re a logistics sect that deals with what people bring out from the dungeons— ow, ow! Okay, just let go already! Stop twisting!”

Thankfully, she did let go, although she sniffed disdainfully as he glared, cradling his red ear. 

“It’s insulting for the heir of Tianji Hall to think we’re not doing anything.” She told him, leaning forward in a threat gesture until Fang Duobing leaned back from his aunt, appropriately scared. “Do you think Hunters can work without us? Without our gear and weapons, without our regulations and support teams? Their casualty rate would be much higher!”

“Then you can be heir,” he murmured, and winced when she moved to grab at him again, “Sorry, sorry! But I mean it!”

“Stop trying to go after the sects,” she advised him, standing straight from where she had been leaning against his desk, brushing off her skirt and straightening her blazer before pulling the wispy strands of her bangs around her face artistically. “I’m going to be busy this afternoon— where’s your lunch?”

“Stop stealing my lunch,” he complained, and then stared suspiciously. “You’re dressed up today. Are you wearing lipstick?”

“Physician Li is stopping by to help us deliver the latest reports to— oh, stop making the face. Just because he reported you twice—”

“Tattled,” Fang Duobing insisted, pushing himself from his chair in indignation. Twice, Fang Duobing tried to run away from his family, and twice he met Li Lianhua who eventually told his aunt where he was. Twice. Even a dog would learn better, and he was definitely better than a dog. “You’re not taking my lunch to give to him!”

“And why not? I’m not a fool, Xiaobao! He would have gotten it anyway—”

Fang Duobing flushed, and began shoving his aunt out of his office. “He’s not— I wouldn’t— go wash your face, your makeup makes you look old!”

Amidst her shrieking over how she was barely any older than him, he finally managed to close the door in her face and breathe a sigh of relief for the soundproofing installed in his office. 

What a terrible morning. To think he personally made another trip down to the Baichuan Court tryouts with a (somewhat questionable) fake identity and a mask, and was almost accepted until they realised who he really was— it went to show that he had all the qualifications! He had the skills! They were banning him just because they were scared of his mother!

His only reprieve today might be Li Lianhua’s timely arrival, so that Fang Duobing could bully the man into eating a healthy lunch because everyone knew that Physician Li was chronically ill but also a terrible cook. Completely trash at cooking, with a tendency to not only skip meals but supplement them with candy like a child. 

(Well, Fang Duobing knew that, having trailed Li Lianhua for weeks at a time the two times he attempted to hide from his family, and having to choke down the ‘creative’ recipes the man would come up with.)

Yes, it was just revenge, after all! 

He was going to write another letter of complaint to Baichuan Court and then heat up his lunch, and Fang Duobing was going to make sure that the rest of his day would go better than his morning. 

— 

The shaking started subtly, like a truck driving too close to the building if it weren’t for the fact they were more than ten floors above ground level. Fang Duobing hadn’t even felt it at first, too busy on his phone until his assistant Li’er knocked on his door and stuck her head in, frowning when he scrambled to put his phone away and look like he was definitely busying himself doing something else. 

“Sir?” She asked tentatively, arms clutched around several case folders. “Should we sound an earthquake warning, sir?”

It was only then he noticed that the glass of water on his desk had the slightest of ripples within. Earthquake? It was unusual for this region to get earthquakes, and the rumbling was likely from construction nearby, but there hadn’t been any construction scheduled nearby. 

Fang Duobing thought for a moment and then figured, why not? It would be a good excuse to take the rest of the day off and also give the rest of the people some extra time to rest— “Yes, that’s a good idea, better safe than sorry—”

As if on queue, the slight rumbling increased dramatically that moment, starting to shake books from his shelves, and Fang Duobing gripped at his desk in shock before staring up at Li’er who screamed and dropped all her files. The scent of ions in the air like a sudden thunderstorm hit him, and despite never having been in close proximity to a dungeon, he knew the rulebook. 

“Incoming gate!” He yelled out, hearing people screaming outside his office as the rumbling grew to be violent shaking, and then it felt as if the hold of gravity lessened on them, and items went tumbling every which direction in a surge of purple light, the feeling like static shock on the skin. 

For several seconds, the world faded away and there was nothing at all, his vision brightening and then darkening, the air cold and then still and then like it didn’t exist at all, frozen in time. There was a terrifying moment where he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel, but that passed quickly until he registered the ringing in his ears to be the sounds of people screaming and crying around him. 

And then— cold. 

Fang Duobing shivered as his palms hit the stone floor, grit and bits of sharp sand pressed against his skin as he blinked himself to awareness again. The ground was uneven, and he could still hear people around him, although the screaming stopped. Most were groaning in pain, some whimpering from fear, and the thunderstorm smell in the air was slowly fading into something like rainwater and algae. He fumbled a moment in the pitch black, and then reached into his pocket for the pocket he just shoved in, pressing a button to light up the screen. 

The bright picture of a happy yellow furred dog sitting on a kitchen chair with both front paws held up by someone out of frame stared up at him, and Fang Duobing fumbled to thumb toward the flashlight app so he could better see his surroundings. 

The light revealed a large cavern, too big to actually see with his phone light, and several other figures slumped across the cave floor a ways from him, some shapes obscured by various furniture that had been transported along with them. 

Two others were also now fumbling for their phone light, and he could identify Wangfu and Li’er in the chaos. 

“Is everyone okay?” He called out, and got some groans of confirmation in return. Fang Duobing pushed himself up, getting his feet beneath him and relieved that he hadn’t been injured in the transfer. 

“Sir, I think… Man’er fell badly…” 

Amongst the small handful of people who ended up where they were, there was a college age girl grimacing on the ground, a hand clenched tightly around her bleeding calf. Fang Duobing hurried over with his phone to see clearer, and saw her leg twisted in an angle that meant bad news. 

There was a young man holding her shoulders to keep her up, although her complexion was pale even in the darkness. 

Within the confines of the dungeon, blood was very bad news. Not to mention most of the office workers in Tianji Hall were not Hunters, and therefore would be unable to fight back against whatever came at them. 

The young woman’s pale face only seemed to drain further at his severe expression, so Fang Duobing attempted to smile reassuringly. “We’ll have to bind that up somehow. Does anyone have…?”

Li’er came to his side, ripping off the white frills off the end of her dress with some difficulty, her eyes wide with both fear but also trust as she handed him the fabric. 

The others were also all looking at him expectantly, and Fang Duobing felt a rush of fear, a different kind than finding himself in the dungeon, as he took the fabric. He wasn’t— this wasn’t… but he had lived with Li Lianhua for weeks at a time, and read through the medicinal books when he got bored, having turned off his phone so he couldn’t be tracked. While the books were more on herbal knowledge and energy pathways for traditional chinese medicine, there were also basics for handling and treating sounds. 

As he came closer, Man’er whimpered and clutched harder at her leg, “Please don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” he told her, hoping the panic wouldn’t show in his voice. Then to the man standing behind her, he said, “Make sure she has something to bite on. We don’t know what’s here, and she might attract something by screaming.”

With the blood spilled, and what noise they already made, they would have to move, and move fast. There was a reason Hunters were only allowed into dungeons in experienced teams, and that was something the handful of them definitely were not. 

The man nodded, his movements frenetic, and pulled a pen from his shirt pocket even as the young woman whimpered and bit back a sob, shoulders shaking at the pain. 

There was a chance that Fang Duobing could make everything worse, but it was a chance he would have to take as there was no way Man’er could be moved otherwise. With her leg that twisted, every movement would be agony and they wouldn’t be able to bind her wound up. A wrong move, however, meant that he might nick an artery attempting to set her broken bone, and that would lead to even worse bleeding. 

“Don’t worry,” he tried to soothe her as she bit down on the pen, tears flowing silently down her face even as she shook. He reached for her leg and she jerked away, immediately regretting the slight movement as her breath hitched. When he touched her leg above the wound, her skin was burning under his fingers. He grimaced and looked up at Li’er’s expectant eyes and said, “I need splints. Chair legs, wood— anything that can hold her leg straight.”

She and Wangfu immediately acknowledged his words and went around to search through the furniture that came along with them, taking their lights with them. Fang Duobing looked back at Man’er and attempted the reassuring smile again. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. This will feel like it sucks for a little while, but you’ll be okay once we get out of here.”

She just closed her eyes, leaning back into the man holding her up. 

“Here!” Wangfu came back with a contemporary table lamp, the base and bulb taken off so that it was mostly just two long pieces of metal folded in the middle to allow for adjustments. 

Fang Duobing accepted the pieces, thinking that it really was exactly the kind of thing he needed, and then thought, am I really going to do this? 

There was so much blood, and he knew that it was best to not disturb the wound and leave it to professionals, but they were in a dungeon and no one expected a new gate to appear right in their office building, and no one was prepared and that meant that any rescue teams would need time to organise and get to them. Even minutes could mean life or death in a dungeon if they were unlucky. 

“It’s okay,” he said again, feeling like he was reassuring himself. “It’s going to be okay.”

His hands were trembling as he took apart the metal pieces of the lamp to make two sections, and then set it down on the stone next to the girl’s broken leg, staring incomprehensibly. 

Luckily, before he could gather up the courage to act, there was a voice behind him, “Move aside.”

He turned his head into the darkness, relief running through his veins as he recognised his aunt and Li Lianhua jogging up to them, both of them looking scraped up but otherwise uninjured. His aunt had blood running down her arm where she lost a sleeve, and a scrape against her cheek, but looked alright overall, features concerned rather than pained. 

Li Lianhua had his hair tied back in a low bun, his usual baggy clothes dirtied but undamaged, although there was a cut running down his brow that hit the outer corner of his cheek, streaking blood down his face. Despite this, he looked unphased, frowning as he crouched down next to Fang Duobing to examine the girl’s leg. 

“Physician Li,” the man behind Man’er breathed a sigh of relief. “She… is she…?”

“She’ll live.” Li Lianhua said curtly, his touch clinical without inciting any reaction from the girl like Fang Duobing’s had. “You got lucky here. The break’s not as bad as it looks, it’s still a closed fracture, you just happen to also have a deep cut above it. It really hurts, doesn’t it? The bone is dragging right against some nerves, so let’s—”

His hands were braced against her leg, and he moved, and the young woman didn’t so much scream as she wheezed out a breath around the pen between her teeth, ending the noise with a whimper before she slumped down further. 

“Good, good,” Li Lianhua told her, tone soothing. He braced the metal pieces against the young woman’s leg and reached to pull the ruffle that Fang Duobing had been clutching onto tightly in his nervousness. The woman made sounds of pain and discomfort through the first two wraps, but eventually settled as her bones were wrapped tightly, with the fabric soaking up the blood from her cut. He reached into the shoulder bag he always carried with him and pulled out a powder packet. “Take this. It’s just a mild painkiller, but it will help. It won’t hurt as much from here on, but you’ll have to be carried, and you’re not going to like it.”

“You couldn’t have given it to her before that?” Fang Duobing asked, dismayed. 

“It doesn’t work immediately.” Li Lianhua answered him, as Man’er shakily took the powder with a whispered thanks. “And it tastes bad. If she vomited from the pain, not only would she feel worse afterward, it would be a waste.”

“You—!”

“Xiaobao,” His aunt admonished, a hand coming to grip Fang Duobing’s shoulder tightly. “Let Physician Li work.”

Li Lianhua looked up, counting the heads there and frowning. “...This is a big group.”

They weren’t a large group, merely seven people in total, but Fang Duobing understood his meaning immediately. 

Short of defeating the dungeon boss, the surest way of exiting a dungeon was defeating the creatures within. One kill per one person if they wanted to leave, as each monster within the dungeon had a core which could be used to transport them out of the dungeon. With it being illegal to kill dungeon bosses, that meant it was their only way out other than waiting for a rescue team. 

Of the group, only Fang Duobing and his aunt were Hunters, which meant only they would be able to fight. 

Neither of them had ever fought in a dungeon before. 

(And, Fang Duobing would never say aloud, his skill was not… fighting oriented.)

“It’s best if we do this fast, then,” Li Lianhua said, “and get the injured out.”

“You know what’s in this dungeon?” Fang Duobing asked, surprised. 

“They look like centipedes,” his aunt confirmed. “We passed a corridor while looking for you with several dozen of them together, so they would all attack at the same time. If we could take those down, we can get everyone out safely. But the numbers are…” she trailed off, her eyes flickering over to the injured young woman. 

Li Lianhua pushed himself back to his feet, the phone light casting heavy shadows under his eyes. 

“Someone will have to carry her.” He said. “Because we have to move or we’ll be swarmed very soon.”

— 

In the end, the young man holding Man’er before ended up carrying her on his back, although Fang Duobing offered to do so as well and reassured him that they could switch when he got tired. Li’er revealed her injured wrist for Li Lianhua to wrap, and only Wangfu and Fang Duobing ended up without injuries entirely. 

“I’m fine,” He Xiaofeng waved her nephew off from her bleeding arm, turning a flirtatious look over her shoulder. “Physician Li looked at it for me earlier. It’s unfortunate, but won’t hinder me. I can still fight.” Her Awakening as a Hunter gave her a skill that ensured almost all of her hits would connect with its target. It was a physical enhancement, meant to control minute fluctuations of her muscles for terrifying accuracy, but it wasn’t anything close to magic. If it wasn’t possible to make a shot, then she wouldn’t be able to do so. 

With the deep cut in her arm, Fang Duobing worried that it wouldn’t be her accuracy affected, but the strength of her hits. With his aunt’s sniper-like reflexes, her greatest weakness would be not taking out her target on first hit. 

And without weapons, they were practically sitting ducks. 

“It’ll be fine,” Li Lianhua said to him, likely after seeing his woebegone expression. Thanks to their lack of injuries, it was Fang Duobing and Wangfu taking point, scouting out the area ahead little at a time to give others time to run if they attracted unfavourable attention. Li Lianhua was wiping away the blood from his cut with his sleeves and grimacing at the stain to his cream coloured clothes. Fang Duobing worried that the wound was still bleeding sluggishly, but Li Lianhua, like He Xiaofeng, waved his concerns off. 

“The gate appeared in a high traffic area,” Fang Duobing observed as they moved along the cave, three of them with their phone lights out to illuminate the way in front and behind them. He stopped a moment to scan the light around, making sure there was nothing lurking along the walls or ceilings where they were. If they were in a dungeon with insects, it was better to be safe than sorry. “It shouldn’t take the closest sect longer than ten minutes to mobilise, and then… five minutes to get here?”

“Ten if you’re lucky,” Li Lianhua corrected in a tired murmur, wiping at his brow with a frown. “If a gate appeared, then traffic would be awful around the area. There might be accidents on the streets, and abandoned vehicles. That means more pedestrians, which means it might be hard to even get runners to the location for the first while. I’d add another twenty minutes, likely. Maybe half an hour.”

“And then they have to find us in the dungeon.” His aunt volunteered. She didn’t sound very enthusiastic. “As we haven’t seen anyone else so far, we don’t know how large this place actually is.”

“We’ll have to keep moving,” Fang Duobing deduced, brow furrowing as they continued to walk. The scent of blood would attract predators, and if they weren’t getting help very soon, their best option really would be to find monsters they could defeat, and acquire the cores to get out themselves. 

This was an opportunity, Fang Duobing determined. So long as he could keep everyone safe and get them out, then that was absolute, irrefutable proof that he should be allowed to join Baichuan Court. He just had to… keep everyone safe. 

He thought of another instance, a reassuring voice and a warmth surrounding him, and steeled himself. 

“I’ll take point,” he said. “Wangfu’s with me. My aunt and Li’er at the rear, and we can keep Man’er safe that way.”

“Li’er’s wrist is injured,” his aunt protested. “It’d be best to have Physician Li with me at the rear.”

Fang Duobing gave her a dubious look, not at all convinced by that argument. Ideally, his aunt would take the lead as she could make use of anything to attack, but with the way things were, he was making do with what they had! Besides, he was also taking into account Li Lianhua’s unpredictable health, with his heart condition and all. “He’s the only one who knows what to do in case something happens to Man’er.”

His aunt made a noise in protest, but then pouted as Li Lianhua didn’t glance her way. Her lipstick was still the same dark shade of red from earlier. 

“Keep against the wall,” Li Lianhua suggested. “It will be one less side for ambush.”

They did just that, slowly but carefully making their way through the cave and staying out of reach of smaller pockets illuminated by the light. Once they found another site of destruction, with various office equipment that had been transported into the dungeon, and Fang Duobing picked up a waiting room chair with steel legs, figuring it was much better than having no weapon at all. Wangfu found a water bottle, and they stopped for a minute to give Man’er a break and some water. 

“She’s not doing so well,” the young man carrying her said, hitching her higher up his back as gently as he could, but she still gave a sharp inhale of pain. 

“Broken bones don’t like being jostled,” Li Lianhua agreed, but couldn’t give any way of comforting the young woman. 

“Don’t worry,” Wangfu told her quietly, “We’ll be out soon! And then the doctors can take a look at you… no offence, Physician Li.”

Li Lianhua merely shrugged with a slight smile. “I don’t often get patients with broken bones coming to me. If there’s still water left, you should use it to clean up some of the blood. We might be able to divert attention if we clean with a cloth and leave the cloth in other locations.”

“That’s a smart idea!” He Xiaofeng exclaimed. 

“Of course, that could backfire depending on the monster in the dungeon,” Li Lianhua warned. “If there are other types of monsters than what we’ve seen. We’ve been lucky so far.”

“Yeah,” Fang Duobing interjected. “And we should get going again.”

The brief respite took less than three minutes, but all of them were too jittery to stay for long, understanding the type of environment they were in. That they hadn’t seen others… There should be dozens of people on the floor of that building, and there were only seven of them here now. 

Li Lianhua lingered toward the back of the group this time as they left behind the ruined office furniture, his eyes lingering on the shadows behind them, moving and writhing just shy of the light.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

It hardly gets mentioned that, despite the ‘The Jilted Groom’ special taking place during December,

the skies are clear and sunny throughout the run of events. Not to mention there’s too much greenery in the trees and bushes.

[catcake24]

I am such a sucker for cheesy romance novels. Is it groundbreaking? Not at all but I love it. They give me secondhand diabetes from how sweet they are.